Fear The Walking Dead

[Mister Ski]

I don't think they made especially stupid decisions, given where they are in the mess. They haven't figured out that people are the real danger. It makes sense for them. But, it doesn't help the pacing of the show.

Honestly, I think The Walking Dead may have killed off the zombie genre. It's done it so well, so thorougly, and so far past the initial outbreak, that the audience can't feel for characters that aren't battle-hardened. So far, this show is pretty much a standard pre-TWD zombie movie ... couple of nameless nobodies get trapped and periodically attacked by a dead guy or two. But, the audience has changed. The audience is essentially part of Rick's crew. We've seen it all, we've been through the blood, the guts, the attacks, the Governor, the cannibals, etc. We're a solid 4-years farther into this than the characters on FTWD. Zombies aren't scary anymore -- man-up, knife 'em in the eyeball, and move on. But, this show is still trying to sell zombie jump-scares to people it's sister show has taken to hell and back. It doesn't work.

I don't think FTWD is bad. They've tread some new ground with the military safe zone, the yacht, water zombies, and potential pirates. But, it's still pretty standard Romero schlock -- with a few trapped know-nothings panicked at a couple of zombies -- rather than something with characters as far developed and battle-hardened as TWD. The difference between TWD and FTWD is, the audience isn't with the survivors anymore. We're past them.

Somebody said "there's no Rick, Daryl or Carol" in the FTWD crew. That's true. But, 7 episodes into TWD, there wasn't a Rick, Daryl or Carol in that one either. Daryl was a racist nobody. Carol was a weakling battered wife. And Rick ran off into the woods by himself chasing after a little girl ... for like 10-straight-episodes. They were no smarter, or grittier than these guys are. But, we weren't either, so we were with the characters. Now, we're smarter than the characters we're supposed to identify with. We're battle-hardened ... and they end up looking like idiots for decisions that might've seemed completely reasonable to us 8-years ago.

SnakeDoc

The "stupid" decision that sticks out the most in my mind is Chris' decision to just jump in the ocean, fully clothed, for a swim without telling anyone. Sure it can be attributed to the whole teenager "know-it-all" attitude, but still a dumb decision.

I disagree with there not being any standout characters on TWD after 7 episodes. I can only speak for myself, but I was invested in Rick as a character right after episode 1. In episode 1, we get just enough background on Rick (he is married and having a tough time with his wife, he has a son he loves more than anything and he is a sheriff in a small southern town and gets horribly injured in the line of duty) before the zombie apocalypse hits. He then has a mission to reunite with his family once he awakens from his coma. The character development and what drives them is what hooked me into TWD. Daryl was interesting because he had a strong survival instinct and was driven to find out what happened to his brother, Merle. Carol was a non-entity in my book for the first two seasons, but Rick and Daryl characters allowed for other characters to be developed later on. I am sure this will happen with FTWD, but what is missing right now is that one character that the audience can identify with and invest in.

Maybe part of the problem is that Rick was an easier character for viewers to invest in because he was immediately viewed as a "good" guy due to his profession and the fact that he was ripped from the family he loves and has to navigate a new and dangerous world to find them. FTWD doesn't have that one main charactre to initially invest in. Arguably Nick is the one character in episode 1 that the viewers are supposed to invest in and I like him, but not invested in him. His character is a selfish, self-centered junkie - hardly the hero archtype, and he isn't trying to do much of anything but get his next fix.

The other big problem I have with FTWD is that the writers have gone out of their way to isolate the characters from the zombies. In S1 , they were isolated in the fenced in community and now they are off on a yacht. While this makes sense to a certain point that the characters would be trying to get away from the zombies, it also stunts the character's growth/development with respect to how they figure out the new world order and what do they need to do or become in order to survive. I hope the yacht sinks next episode and forces them to land and get these characters engaged in their new environment. I think (hope) all of this is coming up later this season and then this show should really take off. Until that happens, this show is not as enjoyable for me.

 

[Darth Snoopy]

Hey! Maybe I'm a teenager.

​

"SAFE!"

The tiger agrees.

 

[evenflow]

I felt like this first episode was better than all of last season.

 

[Centurion]

"SAFE!"

The tiger agrees.

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The Tigers fan disagrees!

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

 

[The Ween]

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The Tigers fan disagrees!

Wow Benedict Cumberbatch is a Tiger fan?

 

[Devil_666]

Wow Benedict Cumberbatch is a duel-weilding-BJ fan?

 

[Darth Snoopy]

 

[MIKE M]

I watch but can't stand it at points as they are all a bunch of idiots

 

[The Ween]

​Well, there's one kid I like...or should I say, liked. MUNCH!

 

[ApeManRyan]

Not too bad but a filler episode.

 

[MegaPrime33]

I gave up on this show now. I really needed to struggle to get through a 6 episode first season, and couldn't even manage to sit through the season premiere.

 

[The Ween]

I liked this episode, though I hope they don't get into a habit of just stopping at different places and running into people who are off kilter.

The young daughter was

 

[Darth Waller]

I really need to dump this show. I just don't care for any of the main characters. The druggie is rummaging around in people's medicine cabinet and the mom is confrontational with everybody. She's going to be fun when she gets with the lady from the plane.

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

I was disappointed with this show's first season and it's not looking like season 2 is interested in fixing any of those issues I noticed. It's got some cool elements, but it doesn't have a beating heart in my opinion. It's pretty telling that the first characters I found myself caring even a little about were the family on the island in last night's one-off episode.

I'm probably out on this one for a while, what with GoT coming roaring back to dominate my Sunday nights this coming weekend. panic

I may catch up on-demand down the line, but it's just not appointment TV for me anymore. I don't hate it, but it just hasn't grabbed me like the original show.

 

[Mister Ski]

I liked this episode better than the season premiere. Still not close to TWD standards, but an improvement from last week. Next week's episode looks good as they run into the survivor(s) from the plane webisodes. I'm guessing Strand was a smuggler of some sort (drugs?) prior to the apocalypse? I wonder if the shot of the zombies at the resort was a nod to the Dead Island game? Being a zombie fan, it was tough to watch the kid zombie, but cool at the same time.

This week's like/hate list...

1.) Strand
2.) Daniel
3.) Madison
4.) Nick
5.) Curtis
6.) Alicia
7.) Chris
8.) Ofelia

 

[Darth Snoopy]

I liked this episode, though I hope they don't get into a habit of just stopping at different places and running into people who are off kilter.

Agreed. If that happens, I'm out.

 

[pixletwin]

Hmm. I liked this episode. I did hope the older kid and his little brother would go with them.

 

[The Ween]

Hmm. I liked this episode. I did hope the older kid and his little brother would go with them.

​Me too. Or at least the younger one. Would've liked to see one of them live.

 

[azurepred]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see them again at some point. I assume the father died though?