REVIEW: Fear The Walking Dead, S3 Ep 12 – Brother’s Keeper

This was one of the most thrilling episodes of Fear the Walking Dead yet, with the Clark siblings continuing to deal with the Otto brothers while the ranch has to face its greatest threat yet.

Naturally, Troy Otto is the author of this new misery and at the end of the episode, he is called upon to fix the colossal mess he has made. It’s due to Daniel Sharman’s charismatic performance that Fear the Walking Dead gets away with making such a problematic character watchable. Basically any character in the zombie apocalypse is pretty problematic, but Troy really pushes the envelope with his sadistic tendencies and “experiments.” He proves that exile was never going to be a good option for punishing him as he lures the horde of walkers towards the ranch, shows up to warn Nick and Jake about it, and brings them out to see what he has done.

The episode also does a lot to build up Nick’s guilt over killing Jeremiah and make him feel like he “owes” Troy for taking his father away. Alicia rightly points out that Jeremiah was a terrible person and Troy is likewise hardly a saint. Still, the burden weighs upon Nick and influences his actions later on, to disastrous effects.

Jake calls out Alicia on her manipulation of him, questioning the nature of their relationship harshly. Her reactions pretty much confirm his suspicions though she does manage to sincerely tell him that he is the “last good man she knows,” which is pretty much a foreshadowing that he will not make it out of the episode alive. As another reviewer notes, the world of Fear the Walking Dead and its mother show is never kind to the noble characters. They eventually die out in most horrendous fashion.

It doesn’t help, of course, that Nick found it necessary to interfere in the confrontation between the Otto brothers and inadvertently become responsible for Jake being attacked by the walkers. There was no guarantee that Jake would have survived the season but Nick pretty much pushed the guy into harm’s way. And so now we’re left with the problematic Otto brother to try and sort things out.

Alicia, Ofelia, Crazy Dog, and the other ranchers try to keep the walkers out with a wall of RV’s, a temporary solution that does not last very long. As the horde takes over, and this is the biggest group of walkers on the show so far, really ramping up the danger, the people have no recourse but to hide out in the pantry and wait for some eventual rescue.

So what finally unites both the white ranchers and the members of the Black Hat tribe is the desperate need for survival against a horde of the undead. This was a powerful moment, seeing them all scared and united, and now, as Alicia and Ofelia realize with horror, trapped in the pantry while the crowd of walkers bang on their door.

Madison, Walker, and Strand will have a lot to deal with when they get back from their trip to get water.