Fear the Walking Dead : Aug 23

[corporatejay]

Did I miss an episode?

We went from them trying to leave and being rounded up by the military to having an established society. I was so confused.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Count me as one of the few that is actually quite enjoying discovering the horror of the walker apocolypse alongside the characters in the show. I think it's quite intriguing to see how the initial days and weeks of the outbreak broke down in such a densely populated area such as LA. Again, considering nobody in this universe has the concept of zombies it actually lines up well with how the story is unfolding.

The lack of walkers isn't really surprising as we are really limited to a view of the 'safe zone' with brief allusions and glimpses into the 'dead zone'. We have to remember that the military has essentially instituted a kind of marshall law, and it seems that they are culling walkers and the living as a sort of immediate, preventative measure. Caught in the 'dead zone', then you're dead.

The end was definitey muzzle flashes of what we can only assume was an execution. Travis indirectly got those people killed.

Regarding caring for the characters, I don't remember having sympathy for any characters in TWD except Rick. I developed that sympathy for characters like Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, Dale, etc. as the story unfolded. It's going to take some time to get to know and care for these people as well. Travis is struggling to reconcile the tear between civilization and what he knows he needs to do. Madison is beginning to relenquish some of her humanity in light of what she has seen (abandoning the neighbor, contemplating killing Susan, etc.). Kids and cursorary female characters on TV tend to be disregarded unless they are badass.

Some complaints seem to forget that this group has no idea what is going on. Their minor glimpses into what is happening hasn't registered, and some of them still believe this is temporary and these walking corpses are just sick and can be saved. Daniel and his wife have the benefit (in a sick way) of seeing the dissoution of society into violence and chaos, and are thus the only characters with an understanding of what it will take to survive.

I'm glad the show-runners didn't just thrust us right back into the walker melee ala TWD. I'm liking the build-up to what I know is eventually to come. It's interesting to see the remnants of society fall away, starting with the assumption of control by the military and the projected rebellion of the citizens as they come to grips with what is really happening.

Not sure it's the taking it slow thing that has people complaining...it's actually the exact opposite. They skipped a major step. The military showed up at the end of last episode, and now at the beginning of this episode the majority of LA has been cleansed and they live in a military society? A bit of a leap, no?

[Igster]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Count me as one of the few that is actually quite enjoying discovering the horror of the walker apocolypse alongside the characters in the show. I think it's quite intriguing to see how the initial days and weeks of the outbreak broke down in such a densely populated area such as LA. Again, considering nobody in this universe has the concept of zombies it actually lines up well with how the story is unfolding.

The lack of walkers isn't really surprising as we are really limited to a view of the 'safe zone' with brief allusions and glimpses into the 'dead zone'. We have to remember that the military has essentially instituted a kind of marshall law, and it seems that they are culling walkers and the living as a sort of immediate, preventative measure. Caught in the 'dead zone', then you're dead.

The end was definitey muzzle flashes of what we can only assume was an execution. Travis indirectly got those people killed.

Regarding caring for the characters, I don't remember having sympathy for any characters in TWD except Rick. I developed that sympathy for characters like Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, Dale, etc. as the story unfolded. It's going to take some time to get to know and care for these people as well. Travis is struggling to reconcile the tear between civilization and what he knows he needs to do. Madison is beginning to relenquish some of her humanity in light of what she has seen (abandoning the neighbor, contemplating killing Susan, etc.). Kids and cursorary female characters on TV tend to be disregarded unless they are badass.

Some complaints seem to forget that this group has no idea what is going on. Their minor glimpses into what is happening hasn't registered, and some of them still believe this is temporary and these walking corpses are just sick and can be saved. Daniel and his wife have the benefit (in a sick way) of seeing the dissoution of society into violence and chaos, and are thus the only characters with an understanding of what it will take to survive.

I'm glad the show-runners didn't just thrust us right back into the walker melee ala TWD. I'm liking the build-up to what I know is eventually to come. It's interesting to see the remnants of society fall away, starting with the assumption of control by the military and the projected rebellion of the citizens as they come to grips with what is really happening.

Well, then they should have made the characters more interesting and the overall show more appealing. I don't mind slow or a build up and I certainly don't want walkers everywhere already but we don't care about these characters and the storyline couldn't be any more boring.

If we were watching alongside these characters wouldn't we have seen some walkers shot and taken down? Wouldn't we have seen fences going up and people being kept inside more within this time period?

Sorry. Awful pacing, acting and character development imo.

[DuffMan]

I know I'm not supposed to think too much, but why did the army end up in their neighbourhood? Kind of good luck I guess.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Count me as one of the few that is actually quite enjoying discovering the horror of the walker apocolypse alongside the characters in the show. I think it's quite intriguing to see how the initial days and weeks of the outbreak broke down in such a densely populated area such as LA. Again, considering nobody in this universe has the concept of zombies it actually lines up well with how the story is unfolding.

The lack of walkers isn't really surprising as we are really limited to a view of the 'safe zone' with brief allusions and glimpses into the 'dead zone'. We have to remember that the military has essentially instituted a kind of marshall law, and it seems that they are culling walkers and the living as a sort of immediate, preventative measure. Caught in the 'dead zone', then you're dead.

The end was definitey muzzle flashes of what we can only assume was an execution. Travis indirectly got those people killed.

Regarding caring for the characters, I don't remember having sympathy for any characters in TWD except Rick. I developed that sympathy for characters like Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, Dale, etc. as the story unfolded. It's going to take some time to get to know and care for these people as well. Travis is struggling to reconcile the tear between civilization and what he knows he needs to do. Madison is beginning to relenquish some of her humanity in light of what she has seen (abandoning the neighbor, contemplating killing Susan, etc.). Kids and cursorary female characters on TV tend to be disregarded unless they are badass.

Some complaints seem to forget that this group has no idea what is going on. Their minor glimpses into what is happening hasn't registered, and some of them still believe this is temporary and these walking corpses are just sick and can be saved. Daniel and his wife have the benefit (in a sick way) of seeing the dissoution of society into violence and chaos, and are thus the only characters with an understanding of what it will take to survive.

I'm glad the show-runners didn't just thrust us right back into the walker melee ala TWD. I'm liking the build-up to what I know is eventually to come. It's interesting to see the remnants of society fall away, starting with the assumption of control by the military and the projected rebellion of the citizens as they come to grips with what is really happening.

I don't feel like the show fully committed to that approach, though. Count me among those who think there was a missed opportunity there to show some critical stuff during the nine day jump. People have come to expect a certain amount of zombie gore from TWD. It's Nicotero's thing and he's good at it. It must be really hard to hold back on the zombie stuff while the tension builds with the rest of the narrative. If you show the military securing the neighborhood, you could have tossed the zombie fans a few bones with some sweet walker action AND helped to build up the fall of society story. It could have made the time jump less jarring too.

[undercoverbrother]

Put me in the enjoy this camp.

I am willing to invest a few more Sunday nights to see where it goes.

At the end those were muzzle flashes in the house on the hill.

Like all shows like this there needs to be a suspension of disbelief. With this show I especially try to not look at it through eyes that have watched 5 seasons of the Walking Dead. I try to use the same eyes as the characters, this is all new and unknown.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I don't watch TWD for family dramas....

I was also thinking it has the feel of family drama that you would watch on ABC or CBS. At this point, I give it like a 6.5/10. Watchable, but not totally compelling like some shows where you start counting the days until the next episode.

I am still holding out hope that it will get better. I also hate being the guy to point out fakey stuff in a show about zombies, but the part where the mother was using that little flash light to try and signal to that building out in the distance. I sincerely doubt you would see that little light from that distance. It would be so dim.

I also don't like the father. He is the worst actor out of all the leads (or it's just poorly written).

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I was also thinking it has the feel of family drama that you would watch on ABC or CBS. At this point, I give it like a 6.5/10. Watchable, but not totally compelling like some shows where you start counting the days until the next episode.

I am still holding out hope that it will get better. I also hate being the guy to point out fakey stuff in a show about zombies, but the part where the mother was using that little flash light to try and signal to that building out in the distance. I sincerely doubt you would see that little light from that distance. It would be so dim.

I also don't like the father. He is the worst actor out of all the leads (or it's just poorly written).

Agreed, at first I thought it was a LED light, but clearly it wasn't.

[fredr123]

I agreed with Alicia when she flipped out on her mom and Travis in the kitchen. Stop doing normal things. Nothing is the same. Nothing will be the same. Hopefully they are starting to get the message what with the military on their front door and members of their family forcibly being removed from their homes.

[Finger Cookin]

How come everyone in a position of authority seemingly always abuses the trust and responsibility that comes with the position? Are there no good people who happen to be soldiers, or bureaucrats, or officials? Where are all the #######s among the group of scrappy citizens?

[Yamer]

Getting back to issues of the time-jump, it didn't really bother me. I really didn't need to see the military shooting walkers/people and putting up fences. The suggestion worked just as well as the action. An episode dedicated to the 'normalcy' of the safe zone does the job, thanks.

We are certainly going to get enough walker violence as the series unfolds (along with TWD). I think the primary cast has already seen enough to begin to develop an understanding of the chaos (culling at the hospital, the drug dealer's turn, Madison whacking the principal, neighbors stumbling around, Susan being shot, etc.). We are meant to be kept away from the worst of it just like the characters have been, which in turn will make the revelation that much more shocking on these people and the audience.

As an aside, I think a lot of people, purposely or otherwise, conflate 'poor acting' with not liking the character. If you don't like the characters, that's fine. I don't know them well enough this far in to make a judgement, but I am intrigued by a few of them (particularly Travis, Madison, and Daniel). It's rare that I immediately pick a stable of characters at the outset of a show to like. Of course, I don't expect to do that either.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by Yamer

I really didn't need to see the military shooting walkers/people and putting up fences. The suggestion worked just as well as the action. An episode dedicated to the 'normalcy' of the safe zone does the job, thanks.

Well, each to their own, but if they wanted to take it slow and wanted to show us (as per what we were told before the show even started by the creators) how society fell and what happened, then why leave out such an important part? They jumped ahead and it feels disjointed and the pace of the show is not as good as it could be.

Originally Posted by Yamer

As an aside, I think a lot of people, purposely or otherwise, conflate 'poor acting' with not liking the character.

Nah. The acting has been poor overall. For me, nothing to do with liking the characters or not (although they haven't given us much reason to like them with poor development and boring storyline). The acting has just been poor. I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the material they have to work with. The writing has been sub-par at best.

This just feels like "Hey, we're The Walking Dead so we can throw this against the wall and they'll eat it up".

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Igster

Well, each to their own, but if they wanted to take it slow and wanted to show us (as per what we were told before the show even started by the creators) how society fell and what happened, then why leave out such an important part? They jumped ahead and it feels disjointed and the pace of the show is not as good as it could be.

I just don't understand how showing fences going up and the military culling would have benefited the story any more than the most recent episode did. We figured out, alongside Madison, that the military is on a general killing spree and, alongside Travis, they are lying and really don't give a #### about the people they are protecting. It feeds into the idea that these people are kept in the dark...being manipulated and controlled to maintain order. The truth will come out (if it already hasn't surfaced in some of the characters).

I don't think showing the day-to-day stuff in the safe zone would have accomplished anything more than the 43~ minutes of the recent episode did. I'm all caught up in the summary of the dialogue.

And besides, look at the response of the pacing during the prison stint in TWD. Maybe I'm just missing or misinterpreting what you and others feel was important enough to show?

Nah. The acting has been poor overall. For me, nothing to do with liking the characters or not (although they haven't given us much reason to like them with poor development and boring storyline). The acting has just been poor. I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the material they have to work with. The writing has been sub-par at best.

This just feels like "Hey, we're The Walking Dead so we can throw this against the wall and they'll eat it up".

I guess we can settle to agree to disagree on this point. I haven't cringed at the majority of the acting (although I'll admit there are spots that are clearly forced). I think the performances have been on par with TWD and haven't detracted from my enjoyment of the show.

[fredr123]

I feel like we were sold on a show that takes place before the outbreak. The implication was that we could see how things went down when the virus or whatever it was started to spread. The first couple episodes made good on that promise. Unexplained viral videos of zombie attacks. An alarming rise in people calling in sick. Traffic jams. Riots in the street. Runs at the grocery store on supplies. People in denial. All that stuff.

No one really knows what's going on and everyone is learning about what's happening and how to deal with it at a different pace. We have families gathering together and planning to make a break for someplace save, because it looks like even home isn't safe anymore and then blam. The military shows up. Fast forward nine days and our protagonists are living in one of what, twelve?, safe zones in the city inside a fence with a 6 mile DMZ surrounding them.

If the focus of the show is more on the period of time leading up to the downfall of society than it is the kind of survival themes that we see in TWD, then the military's involvement is important. The amount of carnage they must've caused to secure the area is also an opportunity for the effects team to showcase their talents and for the show runner to give TWD fans a taste of the zombie gore they have come to expect. By skipping over the military set up, in my opinion, the show has done a disservice to the goal of showing what happened during the initial stages of the outbreak AND they blew a chance to show a bunch of sweet zombie killing. Like missing two birds with one stone. Or something.

The time jump may prove to be a minor thing, but at this stage it was too obvious and noticeable. The show only has 6 episodes this season and we've already had a two week week break after the second episode. That's not the show's fault, but it makes it harder for the show to build momentum and for the pacing of the plot to make sense. The show may as well have run some words at the bottom of the screen that said "Nine Days Later" because the soliloquy by Chris to his camcorder felt forced and out of place.

I'm going to stick it out to the end for a few reasons, not the least of which is that I've already purchased the season pass on iTunes. There are only two episodes left this season and I'm enough of a fan of TWD show and comics to give the rest of this series a chance.

[dubc80]

LA proper has what, like 4M people? The greater LA area has maybe 10 M people?

I was looking forward to them showing the downfall of society a bit more. All they really showed was traffic jams, a hospital being overrun, and a riot.

Now there are fences up, a few safe zones, and the notion that everyone outside the fences was dead.

I personally wanted to see more detail on how they got to where they are now. Controlling and corralling 10M people can't be easy.

[dubc80]

Originally Posted by fredr123

I feel like we were sold on a show that takes place before the outbreak. The implication was that we could see how things went down when the virus or whatever it was started to spread. The first couple episodes made good on that promise. Unexplained viral videos of zombie attacks. An alarming rise in people calling in sick. Traffic jams. Riots in the street. Runs at the grocery store on supplies. People in denial. All that stuff.

No one really knows what's going on and everyone is learning about what's happening and how to deal with it at a different pace. We have families gathering together and planning to make a break for someplace save, because it looks like even home isn't safe anymore and then blam. The military shows up. Fast forward nine days and our protagonists are living in one of what, twelve?, safe zones in the city inside a fence with a 6 mile DMZ surrounding them.

If the focus of the show is more on the period of time leading up to the downfall of society than it is the kind of survival themes that we see in TWD, then the military's involvement is important. The amount of carnage they must've caused to secure the area is also an opportunity for the effects team to showcase their talents and for the show runner to give TWD fans a taste of the zombie gore they have come to expect. By skipping over the military set up, in my opinion, the show has done a disservice to the goal of showing what happened during the initial stages of the outbreak AND they blew a chance to show a bunch of sweet zombie killing. Like missing two birds with one stone. Or something.

The time jump may prove to be a minor thing, but at this stage it was too obvious and noticeable. The show only has 6 episodes this season and we've already had a two week week break after the second episode. That's not the show's fault, but it makes it harder for the show to build momentum and for the pacing of the plot to make sense. The show may as well have run some words at the bottom of the screen that said "Nine Days Later" because the soliloquy by Chris to his camcorder felt forced and out of place.

I'm going to stick it out to the end for a few reasons, not the least of which is that I've already purchased the season pass on iTunes. There are only two episodes left this season and I'm enough of a fan of TWD show and comics to give the rest of this series a chance.

Exactly. I was hoping for more of this.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by dubc80

LA proper has what, like 4M people? The greater LA area has maybe 10 M people?

I was looking forward to them showing the downfall of society a bit more. All they really showed was traffic jams, a hospital being overrun, and a riot.

Now there are fences up, a few safe zones, and the notion that everyone outside the fences was dead.

I personally wanted to see more detail on how they got to where they are now. Controlling and corralling 10M people can't be easy.

Exactly. Kirkman said the plan was to show the beginning of the outbreak up until about the time TWD starts. That's what? Maybe a year? There's a limited window of time to deal with stuff so it might not be a good idea to run through time so quickly.

Of course, plans could change and the series could carry on beyond it's originally-stated end date. But if the plan indeed is to show the beginning of the outbreak skipping over stuff isn't staying true to that vision.

Edit: Nevermind. Later interview said they plan to overlap the events in TWD with FTWD so I'm wrong: http://www.cinemablend.com/televisio...ine-72311.html

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by fredr123

No one really knows what's going on and everyone is learning about what's happening and how to deal with it at a different pace. We have families gathering together and planning to make a break for someplace save, because it looks like even home isn't safe anymore and then blam. The military shows up. Fast forward nine days and our protagonists are living in one of what, twelve?, safe zones in the city inside a fence with a 6 mile DMZ surrounding them.

This just made me think, what happened to all the people that lived in the now DMZ zone. It's not like all of them were turned\killed. There had to be survivors, where are they? Did they get moved into the safe zone? If so where are they living? Also if they are just killing anyone that is in the DMZ zone it would have been good to have gone over this. I guess it kind of was but more explanation of the zones and what happened would help

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

This just made me think, what happened to all the people that lived in the now DMZ zone. It's not like all of them were turned\killed. There had to be survivors, where are they? Did they get moved into the safe zone? If so where are they living? Also if they are just killing anyone that is in the DMZ zone it would have been good to have gone over this. I guess it kind of was but more explanation of the zones and what happened would help

I envision it went down like it like this:

People were asked to move and be taken to a safe zone, which is where our merry band of characters live. We saw shots of people coming in carrying their possessions, like refugees. I suspect that it was chosen because it was easy to fence, or defend.

Those that didn't come out or evacuate get evacuated by a bullet. We saw buddy in the street with a pistol next to him, clearly he had no interest in leaving via a truck.

[dubc80]

Yep.
Overall disappointed that they skipped over how the military would control all of LA's infected, suspected infected, and non-infected over those 9 days. Like I said around 10 million people. That's a lot of people.

Missed opportunity there, I think.