Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs.
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…
Aside from the fact that – a few changes to the cast aside – Fear the Walking Dead could have essentially skipped over the last two episodes and just cut from our heroes leaving the house at the end of “The Dog” to everyone driving out to the coast in their caravan at the end of this episode with very little difference done to the overall story, “The Good Man” still stands as a decent season ender.
Because, honestly, the whole military presence was never quite handled right. Nothing clicked. Dr. Exner seemed to be working with totally different rules and agendas than the soldiers, who’d randomly either follow orders or go AWOL. And the Andy Reynolds character that Shawn Hatosy played never made sense. Not only was it silly that the army’s evacuation plan needed to be tortured out of him when he supposedly cared for Ofelia, but then he comes back in the end, (predictably, after being let go by Travis) and purposefully shoots Ofelia? It’s not like he accidentally hit her while trying to kill Daniel. He went for her. So he was just a bottom-line evil person then.
At least – in the very least – Travis got to beat Andy’s face to a vile pulp. That was “six episodes of not being able to do s***” exploding out of Travis right there. Pent up aggression on both a character front and an audience front. Later on, Travis would be tasked (and more importantly he’d be up for the task) of shooting Liza, who got bit at some point during the chaos back at the army base. Yes, he objected, because that was the guy’s main gimmick this season: objecting. But it didn’t go on for too long and he did the dirty deed, taking that big initiation into the new world of tough choices and “damned if you do/don’t” decisions.
I don’t know that Liza’s sacrifice/death was the best way to end the finale since she’d been away from everyone for two episodes and there hadn’t been that much time spent getting to know her outside of her treating patients. I guess I liked her enough. More than Madison perhaps, but that’s probably only because Liza never did anything outwardly stupid that made me cringe. She was sort of neutral on the ol’ frustration meter. Plus, as Travis’ ex, she came with a sort of underdog quality. You know, as the working woman left behind to raise their kid mostly on her own.
Mostly, this episode ticked up because it had a lot of walkers in it. And while Daniel’s plan – to release the Forum’s 2,000 zombies (last week I wrongly ID’d it as Dodger Stadium, sorry) was dumb on paper, it definitely livened up the episode and caused a ton of bloodshed (that one bit solider stumbling into the back propeller didn’t hurt matters). And while we can blame Travis for letting Andy go, Ofelia’s probably going to live. While Liza, who got bit because Daniel let loose a Coachella of crazed walkers, died. Still, Daniel casually walking up to the army base’s gate while being followed by that many skin-bags was a very cool moment. And, as a pragmatist, he still remains one of the most likable dudes on the series.
Strand, as someone who’s now willing to “embrace the madness” of the new world, could also be up there with Daniel. Though he can’t help but come off as an oddity in both speech, mannerisms, and lifestyle (guy’s filthy rich and has an awesome home and luxury yacht!). So he still feels “less real” than someone like Daniel. I mentioned The Stand’s Randall Flagg last week and – yes – there are still elements to Strand that give off that vibe. Though seeing him get into actual danger this week worked to humanize him a bit. He and Nick had a very close call in that one corridor.
So the walkers definitely helped add some spice to this one, though there were still parts that felt off. The way Travis, Madison, Daniel, and Ofelia seemed to walk though the base as slow as possible during their rescue mission. That drove me nuts. Hustle it up. There are screams and machine gun fire all around you and you left two of your kids in the parking garage. Oh, and as for Chris and Alicia. What did their predicament add to the episode? The soldiers knocked Chris down and took the truck. It’s not like there was a problem getting another truck when everyone came back together, right? That skirmish was all for nothing.
Overall though, it was nice to finally shake free of this entire sub-story and see LA, now weeks later, in all its hollowed out wreckage. I feel as though the “safe zone” aspect of this season’s back half worked to hurt the show. I get the challenge of this series though. There are so many ways this story could have gone. There were almost too many options when you consider all the possibilities a city crumbling under zombies provides. It seemed like, at the end of “Not Fade Away,” that the military would become an actual antagonist. The season’s biggest adversary/enemy. But it didn’t. It never reached that point. It was all too uneven. So the Madison and Travis, essentially, just went back to their original plan of getting the hell out of town.
“The Good Man” finally took Travis to some dark places of action and consequence, though it may have been “too little, too late” considering how some fans already desperately want him gone after such a small amount of episodes.
And while the show lost one of the “good ones” in Liza, I am surprised at how little tragedy, overall, this group suffered during the collapse of LA. The army storyline shielded them from so much that it kind of put a damper on the drama. Still, this one had a lot of zombies and a lot of death and sometimes that works to zap a pulse back into a flailing series.
