Mankind has evolved into increasing needs and dependencies while actively making bad survival choices. Why? Because we feel safe. We think we have everything we need without having to push ourselves to get it. It makes us soft. It shuts down our survival instincts and makes us oblivious to the most clear and present danger. This is where we find the group in this week’s Fear the Walking Dead. After the surviving the riots, hungry neighbours and a society that seemed to be falling apart, now, under their military protection, they are being told they’re safe. Or is this instilled delusion safety merely blinding them to real dangers both outside and within?
Not Fade Away – After over a week inside the fenced and military enforced safe zone, life has returned to some state of normality for the collective families. Yet as events transpire, many come to question if the hope they are being given is as genuine as it seems.
This episode continues the running series theme of exploring the psychological effects resulting from the larger more expected events. The military state setup is harnessed well to delve into captor/captive mindsets. The commanding officer has one clear enemy and that’s not infected corpses; its panic (feeling in keeping with his military background of order and discipline). Like any smart rule,r his biggest fear is the rash actions of his subjects and treats threats to community harmony with a swift and decisive approach. In his conversations with Travis, he appears almost amoral in the way he views people’s problems. His mind is focused on the bigger picture: any notations about feelings or none essential needs register like white noise. Then by contrast, we have the fears the captives/survivors. This delivers the episode’s best scene as Travis comforts his (sort of) friend Doug in a moment of mental breakdown over hopelessness and helplessness. His inability to believe in a brighter future has broken has ability to act as a carer and protector to his family. Then there’s Madison struggling with a lack of purpose. Early on she comments on how Travis is helping military and Liza is busy tending to patients while she stays home to care for the kids. She’s gone from being a contributing carer woman to an unwilling housewife and is fighting the transition. This fuels her over the fence venture as she sees it as a something more important that she can do. Finally, there’s even a nod to Helsinki syndrome of co-dependency as Ofelia Salazar finds a romantic attachment to one of the soldiers. Their connection isn’t necessarily about mutual affection but mutual need. For their own reasons, they need to feel close to someone; Ofelia’s worried about her mother and Andrew is in over his head, looking for comfort.
The jump in time (Chris confirms it’s been 9 days since the last episode and the military’s arrival) has both good and bad sides to it. The good is the established “safe zone” scenario we’ve now arrived at. It’s almost like the gaps between The Walking Dead Seasons 3 & 4, returning to find the prison now fortified and flourishing without having to troll through the lengthy setup. The result also draws nice comparisons to last season’s Alexandria safe zone location, with its residents largely clueless and sheltered from the outside reality. Here, we see a more literal interpretation of that as the neighbourhood residents have no idea what’s beyond their fences other than the “from command” information the military gives them. There are plenty of good holes poked in the urban insecurity as the several characters echo our own curiosity. Chris’s unknown signallers in the supposedly evacuated “Dead Zone” immediately start painting grey between the black and white. Then Madison makes some great speculations about the lack of communications; are they keeping them down deliberately to stop them learning what’s really going on (again, through fear of panic). The bad comes from what we haven’t seen. We left the last episode with LA turning into a war zone through riots and slowly prominent walker activity. In many ways it feels like we’ve been Charlie Browned out of that reward as the show snatches the football at the last moment. This also makes the episode feel more sedate by comparison, being almost devoid of action. The biggest moment, being Madison’s wondering into the devastation, feels injected to help with this but comes across like a set piece just for the sake of it (see Michael Bay films for further examples). Although there’s less tension and suspense due to the implied security, there’s still enough satisfy and keep the serious feeling consistent.
Overall, Not Fade Away is a more interesting episode but slightly less entertaining. Its fresh scenario packs intrigue and curiosity into every scene as we try to look beyond the perceived tranquillity (brilliantly setup with the “Perfect Day” opening) but ultimately, it doesn’t quite deliver enough reward either in the bigger picture or small. Neither Nick’s pill sourcing nor Alicia’s continued BF mourning carry the impact the episode intents. However, it does producer a promising ending with the group once more divided and this mysterious nearby hospital about to be explored. This immediately harks back to the season one facility. Will we see the origins of the “Test Subject 19” program or something similar looking for a cure? What’s more Sandrine Holt’s (Hostages, House of Cards) Dr Exner makes an excellent cast edition as she balances empathy with darker Government motives. This week marks the first slip for this debuting show but it shows no signs of falling, or fading away for that matter.