Fear the Walking Dead, Season 1, Episode 2: An Uneven Game of Russian Roulette
There's a strange flaw that 'Fear the Walking Dead' contains in its DNA, and it starts to rear its ugly head in episode 2. The fact is, no one is coming to this series with fresh eyes (or if they are, I envy them). We know far more than the characters do, and it's creating a disconnect.
Fake-outs aside, we know when a walker is coming. 'The Walking Dead' has taught us how to predict these things. They aren't shocking anymore. It's all suspense, but even that falls short so far in 'Fear'. The characters say and do things that obviously we know are totally wrong or stupid. And even though they don't know that, it's kind of hard to ignore that little voice.
Apart from that, 'Fear' still feels like its missing a step in the collapse of civilisation. The acne-faced boy whose name still doesn't matter says in this episode that when it does end, it ends fast. It felt as though, in the third act of the episode, we plummeted from the edge to the bottom without any hang-time.
Ultimately, the most interesting plot-line of the episode is the one unfolding between Nick (Frank Dillane) and his sister Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). The depiction of a heroin addict gone cold turkey is spot on, and so too is the impact it has on loved ones. Compelling television isn't when we're tricked into thinking there's a walker (because that trick doesn't work anymore), it's in these moments. Hopefully, Nick and Alicia take center-stage in the series going forward, because they're far more compelling than the rest of the cast.
Which is no real flaw to Cliff Curtis and Kim Dickens, playing Travis and Madison respectively. While the two characters share little time together in this episode in order to start splitting the narrative up even more, it's still difficult to care or sympathise for either of them. They lack any sort of character or personality, and so far they're entirely forgettable. As Travis paced in the safety of the barber shop along with his ex-wife and son, as well as the other less important family, it became a game of 'who gets to die first?'.
The show succeeds when it tries less to shock us or scare us. A lot of the time, they're simply pushing it too hard, but then there are scenes that show us less. Particularly in one scene, in which Alicia peers out through the window to see a walker attacking the neighbouring family. When Madison blocks the door from her daughter, who wants to help them, it resonates (and finally gives the mother something intelligent to do).
Though, this took place early in a montage with a front-and-center, tension-inducing soundtrack that felt undeserved. As bizarre as it is, it feels like the show isn't ready for that big statement, that moment when every character realises the world is going to hell.
'Fear the Walking Dead' still hasn't reached a level that matches its predecessor's early stages, and it's not for a lack of trying. There are areas in which it falls flat, primarily in that the characters are 50/50 on a scale of interesting. That the whole premise of 'The Walking Dead' franchise centres on 'character before plot' means that there's a lot of work to do. And there are already signs of great potential in the relationship between Nick and Alicia. Hopefully that doesn't go to the wayside in favour of other, less interesting directions.
