Taking into consideration the fact that the new AMC show Fear the Walking Dead, companion series to the original juggernaut that is The Walking Dead, is a little slow-moving, maybe we can understand. It is about lifeless, undead hoards encroaching on the people of America. But when the plot moves slow”er than the shambling zombies themselves, we’re left wanting more. This weekend’s episode, “The Good Man”, was a power-hour of undead mayhem that provided a strong conclusion to the somewhat wobbly debut season.
As with the original series, and in spite of the show being ultimately about a zombie apocalypse, it’s the characters that are ultimately responsible for providing the driving force behind its success. For most of this first season, character development for some of the main characters was shaky at best, leaving the audience to wonder how long we’re expected to put up with whiny, self-absorbed teenagers and pacifistic, wavering adults. There were some standouts – particularly in the character of Daniel Salazar, who left us wondering right to the end if he should be considered friend or foe – but others stalled out before we could begin to care about them.
Fortunately, the season finale seemed to know exactly what we’d been craving; both a zombie buffet and an action-packed, life-or-death situation that forced any weak characters to literally develop or die, or in at least one case, to do both. Following the crucial information at the end of the previous week’s episode (namely that the Cobalt Command referred to the “humane extermination” of the civilian population prior to the military’s full evacuation) the season finale served to detail the search-and-rescue attempts made to reunite characters with those previously taken away by the military.
After two zombie-free episodes that firmly established the military as the bigger threat so far, Salazar’s strategy of releasing the 2,000 plus newly minted members of the undead community from the previously chained and barred arena gave us our first zombie herd of the new series and reminded us that the other threat to our main characters is never very far away. Doing so with such cold-blooded casualness further cemented the view that Salazar is either a valued ally or dangerous enemy.
This scene had the added bonus of further highlighting the arrogance of the military in assuming they could hold the upper hand simply by virtue of possessing the guns and ammo, an arrogance that quickly deteriorated into panic as they wasted round after round of said ammo firing wildly into the oncoming herd. It also emphasized the metaphorical nature of the “zombie” in pop culture as representative of contemporary fears of looming climate disaster. As in the case of a fictional zombie apocalypse, global warming may have been contained or possibly prevented if appropriate actions had been taken in the beginning instead of ignoring or discounting the signs and symptoms as they appeared.
Like him or hate him, the season finale finally furthered the complexity of Nick’s character as he showed himself an equal to his new friend, Victor Strand, a man with a murky past indeed. The other welcomed character change was seen in the development of Travis, who seemed to finally realize that his faith in the system would ultimately fail him and his family. From finally snapping and dealing with his frustration over having the soldier he chose to release come back and shoot a member of his group to having to face the reality that his ex-wife Liza was bitten, Travis has finally come to terms with the reality of his zombified world. It will be interesting to see whether this strengthens or breaks him in season two.
As with any good season finale, we’re left wanting more — luckily, you can catch anything you’ve missed online on AMC’s website, cable, and via Hulu. Season two, when it premieres, should hopefully continue the trajectory and momentum of season one, while giving us further insight into the strength of various characters. Just as with the original series, we can now confirm that no one makes it out alive without a fight.
Written by Maria Rosita
Maria is a writer interested in comic books, cycling, and horror films. Her hobbies include cooking, doodling, and finding local shops around the city. She currently lives in Chicago with her two pet turtles, Franklin and Roy.
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