Fear the Walking Dead: “Not Fade Away” Review

By Matt Fowler

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…

Giving us, in a way, a second mini-season within Fear the Walking Dead’s already short freshman run, “Not Fade Away” jumped us ahead more than a week’s worth of time (way more time than we’d spent with the characters so far) and kicked off a whole new angle for the series. A new story that featured our heroes living in a fenced-off “safe zone” – one of twelve below the San Gabriel mountains, if the military is to be believed.

And that became the rising question this week, right? What to believe? Who to trust? And while not every element landed in the right way here, it was pretty daring of the series to basically cut short the story so far, right when it was starting to pick up speed, and set us all down into a – for the most part – zombie-free environment. I’m not saying “daring” is intrinsically good, but for a slow-burn series to switch things up like this, right when everyone was expecting things to get way more intense for everyone on the undead front, takes guts.

And there were certainly parts that I liked about it. Yes, Nick’s drug habit became a big issue here, like I feared it’d become. One would hope Nick, who was slowly becoming one of the more sensible characters on the series, would be able to put aside his addiction in the face of overwhelming horror and world change (see my review of the premiere for thoughts on TV teenagers acting selfish during times of extreme horror/sci-fi crisis).

Unfortunately, residing in a guarded, sectioned-off suburb allowed Nick to indulge in his addiction (borrowing some of his ailing neighbor’s morphine). But – there were consequences for him! Not only did Madison, hitting a breaking point, slap the utter s*** out of him, but he got carted off in the end. Too harsh a consequence? Perhaps. But also consider that while the military may not know everything, they know more than the Clarks. And they know there’s no time/room for Nick’s bulls***.

So, in a very frightening scene, Nick got dragged out of his own home – presumedly to never return (unless someone goes after him). I mean, that’s the big mystery. Not only had Madison seen bodies of totally healthy people riddled with bullets out on the streets (when she snuck out of her confinement), but Daniel’s scary words about the particular type of army intervention he was witnessing, based on his own past experiences, sure made it seem like the troops were taking people down the road, out of earshot, and instantly executing them. Anyone who causes a disturbance. Even if that person just can’t hack things emotionally, like that Doug character.

And if you think about it, Doug and Travis weren’t all that different. Travis may be able to put on a calm exterior, but he’s just as freaked out and powerless as Doug. And still just so passive. So sending him around to try and keep the peace is sort of a joke in its own right. And yes, Travis still being so nonresistant, and still making almost everyone around him angry for various reasons, continues to be a frustrating part of the series.

After last week’s episode, it sure seemed like this week’s chapter would be a good time for Travis to harden up a bit. But due to the mid-season reboot, he remains ineffectual. Though now, after seeing the signal lights (Tobias?) off in the distance for himself, up on that roof, I’d be very surprised if this series went another episode with him acting like this. I get that there’re only six episode to, perhaps, tell a month’s worth of story, but the jump forward felt strange because it skipped over the introduction of a few characters.

So the way we met Shawn Hatosy’s Reynolds was by finding out that he and Ofelia had already started up a fling – though we’re not sure, fully, if she was using him to try and score medicine for her mother (who’s gone nine days with a rotting foot?). Same goes for Jamie McShane’s Lt. Moyer. We first meet him after he and Travis had already spent some days working together to try and keep everyone calm. So these characters felt a bit short-sheeted. Especially if Moyer winds up becoming a big villain.

Still, though, I like the vague terror behind being controlled by a battalion of guys with guns who may not be acting under well-defined orders like everyone assumes they are. At some point, the entire army apparatus is going to collapse and these men will still be “in charge.” And that’s a frightening prospect. It’s sort of like how the Atlanta cops threw their weight around in the aftermath of the original series because they had guns, resources, and strength. Some may not enjoy the Fear’s break from creeping, gnashing walkers, but I think it works.

I will tell you where the episode lost me though. For better or worse, it happened right at the end. Right after the great scene where Nick got taken away and Liza chose to go with Dr. Exner (Sandrine Holt, in a role that did get properly introduced this week). It was when Madison turned to Travis and blamed Liza for Nick being captured. Uggghhhhhh. I hated that so much. Again, I’ve been looking for unifying moments on this series ever since it began. Big, game-changing scenes that will get everyone on the same damn page. And that Nick moment felt like it could finally be the one. But no. It splintered everyone even more. And, frankly, Madison seems smarter than to truly believe that Liza purposefully marked her son for detainment. This now makes her seem rather dense.

Overall, I’m looking for this family to pull out ahead of the pack somehow. The first three episodes had them ahead of the game. They knew what was going on long before most of the city knew. And they had a plan to flee. Now, they don’t know much at all. It’s a big reversal of power. And despite the fact that there’s an authoritarian presence now, we still don’t know what anyone knows. So these final two episodes have a lot to prove.

Also, if Alicia’s arm becomes infected because she carved over Matt’s spiral drawing, I’m going to be super pissed. Because that means that she really never was allowed to evolve into anything more than a grieving girlfriend.

And in closing here…nice use of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.” Sure, it’s hard not to use that song well, juxtaposition-wise, but it still set the stage nicely. In fact – slight spoiler – you may even hear that song again on another notable TV premiere this next week.