Episode Title: “The Dog”
Starring: Kim Dickens. Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Ruben Blades
Directed by: Adam Davidson
Network: AMC
Instead of “Fear the Walking Dead” I really think we should start calling this show “Fear the Stupid Living” because this show continues to deliver some of the dumbest characters on TV today. How dumb? Let us count a few of the more laughable examples…
First, while sitting in their home waiting for her husband Travis to return, Maddie and her kids Alicia and Nick decide to hold family game night and play a spirited game of Monopoly. Guess what…DO NOT PASS GO! THERE IS A FRIGGIN ZOMBIE WAITING TO EAT YOU!
Second, the three go to their neighbor’s house, navigating a backyard maze of plants, for the express purpose of getting their shotgun before heading back to their house, and promptly forgetting the shotgun shells.
Third, even though they have encountered zombies already a couple of times, Travis insists that his neighbor, who is trying to claw her way through their fence to rip their faces off, is merely sick. Even if we start with the premise that the concept of zombies is completely alien to this world, It won’t take much to convince me that a guy who can get rundown by a pickup truck, have half his face smashed off and limbs broken, yet still try to get up, is more than JUST sick.
Anyway, Travis, his ex-wife and son have escaped from the barber shop owned Daniel Salazar. The group, which also includes Daniel’s wife and daughter make a harrowing trek through the rioters in L.A. and manage to make it to Travis’ truck which has somehow escaped being overturned or set on fire like the other vehicles on the streets. Daniel’s wife is seriously injured and the attempts to take her to a hospital are fruitless as they are under with cops firing on the zombies.
Right now the tough, El Salvadoran immigrant Daniel (Blades) is easily the most interesting character in the show and has more sense than anyone. While Travis (stupidly) wrestles with his zombie neighbor trying to reason with him even after he’s eaten his dog, Daniel shoots him in the head point blank with a shotgun. But the Salazar family is not without their own family drama as Daniel and daughter Ofelia argue over whether to flee the house with Travis and his family. The episode ends on a rather ominous tone that hints at better things to come.
Maybe one of those better things is that next week’s episode will be the first to be directed by someone other than Adam Davidson. I’ve never quite understood the reasoning behind episodes of shows these days all being written by a different person. It seems to me that this is the reason there is so much inconsistency on TV. Hopefully someone can make these characters more interesting. Or at least smarter.