3.01 - Fear The Walking Dead - Eye of the Beholder

[ctg]

Travis (Photo by Michael Desmond)

The Clark family find themselves in a dire predicament. They must work together to discover a path to safety.

 

[ctg]

I cannot say it's good to have FTWD back in the screen after such dreadful weekend. But thing is there's no fear without terror, this time done by US military at the crossing by and beyond. To be honest, it feels as if they never left but actually accelerated the war on terror with corpses stretching on both sides of the border.

What I don't understand is their mission, when all of the government has melted away? It cannot be finding enemy intelligence, with their crude methods, when the enemy is a pretty simple zombie. Everyone dies and if they aren't capped, they will come back. Rest can be figured out through behaviour analysis on the walking dead at the streets.

US army cannot fight the army of the dead. Not when they're everywhere.

The fight is futile. It cannot be won. The only game left is for the survival of the fittest. Nothing else matters. So it's good to see there's a lot of that within the season opener. I grinned when they dropped Travis in the pit and thought he weren't going survive the fight with the dead.

What perplexes me is his ability to summon peace after he has let the beast out. How does he do that? Killing should be the ultimate thrill for the psychos. How can he turn it off?

 

[Dave]

Were they ex-military or just kids playing at soldiers? The younger brother said their father had sent them from his protected "ranch" (presumably where they are going to now.) He also said that the father had sent away the older psychopathic brother to get rid of him. Which tends to mean he has always been that way inclined, and not as a result of the zombie apocalypse. Hardly army-type material then? Don't they have psychological tests you have to pass before you join? Also, some of the others seemed quite young to have been soldiers for two years. Their immaturity is also shown by the question @ctg asks about the point of the tests. Where were the majors and more senior, older officers? My take was that they were dressing up as soldiers in an abandoned base they had found. On the other hand, not everyone can fly a helicopter, so maybe some were actually soldiers. But then why take orders from a civilian?

Anyway, that isn't really important. I thought it was a good, full-of-action opener to the new season, and created a situation we haven't seen before in TWD. If they transfer to this "ranch", then I don't know how they can make it very different to Hershel's ranch, or the Prison, or Alexandria.

 

[ctg]

Were they ex-military or just kids playing at soldiers?

To me they were real soldiers that the situation had brought together. They mostly worked as a unit but on the personal level they were failing and acting as if they were the king on the hill.

Don't they have psychological tests you have to pass before you join?

Not any more. Not in the US army. Even the police force has been dumped down, because they couldn't get enough of smart recruits. But those smart people are now wandering around as dead people. Not like their less intelligent cousins who were handed the keys and weaponry.

I'm sorry if this hurts some people, but it's the truth.

But then why take orders from a civilian?

I don't think the old man is a civilian. He is far too intelligent and knowing for being a normal person. He might be the senior military person that is missing. Notice how they look up and take his words as the command.

I thought it was a good, full-of-action opener to the new season, and created a situation we haven't seen before in TWD. If they transfer to this "ranch", then I don't know how they can make it very different to Hershel's ranch, or the Prison, or Alexandria.

We'll see. Kirkman is just a consultant in this project for this season. Next one is under his guidance.

 

[nixie]

Good opening episode, I don't think they are military more like spoiled rich kids playing at soldiers, some of them maybe.

Think Madison made a mistake letting Troy live.

The rats in wall I found disturbing, not many scenes make me wince but that did.

 

[ctg]

The rats in wall I found disturbing, not many scenes make me wince but that did.

I knew what was going to happen. Well, not the rats but as soon as he pressed ear against the wall I knew was going to be bitten on face. But I agree that many, massive rats would caused me a scream in terror. And then there would have been a lot of stamping and asking why the cats haven't done their jobs? Where are all small animals?

 

[svalbard]

I took them to be militia or rogue military from the off. It was a good opening episode although it suffers from the same flaw of TWD and that is how easy it is for these slow, shambling zombies to creep up on everyone. One second there is not a one in sight and suddenly they are everywhere. They are like Special Forces Zombies or SFZ if you like

 

[Judderman]

Great start and encouraging follow up from an excellent season 2. The settings keep changing so far unlike TWD which gets bogged down in single locations for many episodes.