REVIEW: Fear the Walking Dead, S3 Eps 7& 8 – The Unveiling/Children of Wrath

The Fear the Walking Dead mid-season finale focused on the vicious human conflict between the inhabitants of the ranch and Walker’s nation of wronged Native Americans. It was an eventful two-part story that tested loyalties, brought back familiar faces, and attempted to bring some social relevance to a show essentially about zombies taking over the world. While it did not succeed completely, one has to give the show credit for being so ambitious.

Madison was at her most ruthless and we learned how she so easily adapted to the brutality of the new world. Strand wandered around in a subplot essentially cut off from the main story line, but still ended up being poignant and fascinating.

We also finally catch up with Ofelia as she reunites with the Clarks and is caught in a conflict of loyalty towards the people who treated her like family when the world first went crazy, and the people who had saved her life in the desert (after a particularly unsavory encounter with Jeremiah Otto, more proof of how horrible he really is). But she has proven to be her father’s daughter: brave, strong, and resourceful, a born survivor and one willing to make difficult choices.

But the mid-season finale was really about the war between the Ottos of Broke Jaw Ranch and those from the Black Hat reservation. The more we learned about this fight that goes back generations, the more we learned how awful and racist Jeremiah Otto really was. And for all her harsh pragmatism, Madison began to realize that she might be on the wrong side of the fight. She was so caught up with trying to stay on the ranch for the security and the resources that she failed to see the kind of horrible people she was forming an alliance with. She decided to make a bloody deal at the end just to broker some form of peace.

She also revealed her tragic childhood, which gave some more context to her character and why she so easily adapted to the madness around her. Even before the world collapsed, Madison Clark was willing to do anything to protect the ones she loved. Nick has pretty much followed in her footsteps, and Alicia, though capable and practical, remains the most sympathetic of the family, somehow still holding on to her humanity amidst the chaos.

Everyone in the Fear the Walking Dead universe is problematic but some, like Jeremiah and Troy, are real monsters. For all his violence, Walker’s anger against the Otto’s is justified, and considering the way his people have been treated by the whites for centuries, there is a certain justice in them taking back what is theirs when the world falls apart. The walker infection has unveiled a new and darker reality, but one where some form of fairness may finally reign and where the people who were wronged and oppressed by the wielders of power can finally fight back.

Strand’s story seemed completely divorced from everything else going on with the cast, but was still an interesting watch. He has always been an isolated character, and much of his journey this season was towards the realization that he cannot take comfort in the life of luxury he once knew. He found the Abigail again, abandoned and beached, a shell of its former glory. Over a few bottles of champagne, he managed (in a surreal but touching way) to converse with a Russian cosmonaut, who easily traded literary last words and who confirmed that the whole world was affected by the darkness. In another badass scene, Strand burns the Abigail and walks away, deciding to survive the horrors somehow.