Fear the Walking Dead, S2 Ep3

This week’s Fear the Walking Dead raised the stakes a little higher as some characters made the ill-judged decision of going on shore, while a couple of characters from the webseries also made an appearance. The pacing was significantly faster and the dangers were greater but yet again, these could have been easily avoided had the kids not made dumb decisions. And a little bit more was also revealed about Strand’s mysterious itinerary.

This episode ties together with the end of the web series, Flight 462, as the plane full of crazy zombies crash landed near where the Abigail was sailing. The vessel had to drop anchor for a bit because of some blockage in its systems. While Travis attempted to fix the problem, Alicia, Nick, and Chris decided to go ashore to salvage whatever useful supplies they could from the wreckage. They were chaperoned by Daniel, who was out to look for some useful medicines for Ofelia.

Meanwhile, the tension grew aboard the Abigail after Daniel let slip to Madison that Strand was planning to sail to Mexico. Madison confronted the latter and managed to negotiate a deal where he would bring them all to his mystery secure, well-stocked location, complete with all the necessary supplies and even the luxury of a garden. Whether this paradise really exists is another matter and despite everything, Strand continues to be a shady individual whose motives are never that clear.

While he gives in to Madison’s demands, he is firm about not letting the two survivors of Flight 462 on board. And even when Madison and her family negotiate enough to keep Charlie and Jake’s raft tied to the boat, in a sudden but understandable gesture, Strand cuts them loose on the open sea. I’m not sure that this is the last we’ll see of them. But one does not need to have watched Flight 462 to appreciate this episode. Brief though her screen time was, Charlie was a dynamic and interesting character whom I would have loved to see more of, even more than some of the main characters of Fear the Walking Dead.

As the kids rummaged through the wreckage, Chris made another dumb decision by wandering off and exploring the battered ruins of the air plane. He gleefully killed the zombies who were conveniently still strapped to their seats. But when he met a suffering survivor, he struggled to make the difficult decision of mercy killing the guy. Chris is beginning to learn the hard way that tough decisions like these need to be made to survive.

Nick continued to prove that he was among the most well-equipped to survive in Fear the Walking Dead, with his knowledge of pharmaceuticals proving useful to Daniel. And even when he seemingly stumbled into a terrible situation, almost devoured by a walker who was already being devoured by crabs (a unique and creative image), he emerged victorious.

Because just as the horde of walkers from the plane crash began swarming down the beach, Nick saved the day after accidentally discovering the classic The Walking Dead strategy of covering one’s self in walker blood and guts so that one can walk freely among the un-dead. Nick was so hardcore that to test his newfound skill, he went so far as standing face to face with a walker and making the same growling noises. This kid is gonna make it.

So Nick picked up a valuable lesson that hopefully the rest of his family is going to learn from. It’s pretty cool that they’re learning about this trick as early as now, and hopefully they won’t be too squeamish about covering themselves in blood and guts because this might well save their lives. It still feels weird to see people still dressed in clean clothes and who have access to running water and adequate food supplies. They don’t know how good they have it and no one knows how long such luxury will last.

It’s good to see that the characters on Fear the Walking Dead are learning how to make it in their new circumstances, albeit still slowly. But if they continue to encounter threats as great as hordes of walkers out to eat them, they might have to speed up their progress. And there’s still no knowing what perils are in store for them with whatever Strand has planned.