Title: Fear the Walking Dead “Do Not Disturb”
Network: AMC
Air Date: September 4th, 2016
Genre: Serial Drama, Horror
Fear the Walking Dead just aired another all-new episode where we finally get to see what Travis and Chris have been up to. A good portion of the episode also revolved around Alicia, who found herself stranded on the upper floors of the hotel. Fear the Walking Dead has certainly been trying to mix things up in a way by no longer having one large group as the focus. We do still see the members of the large group yet they are no longer together. Travis and Chris are looking for shelter, Alicia is stranded in a hotel, Ofelia is MIA, Strand and Madison are in trouble and Nick is off at a colony in Tijuana. I think this method is good for showing individual character development but it’s also a strain on the viewer to try and constantly remember where everyone was the week before.
Massive heart attack aside, this wasn’t a bad episode for Fear the Walking Dead. I have not been crazy about the second half of season two so far, especially the Nick-centric episode. You can check out that review here. The massive heart attack in the beginning was just a bit too convenient for me. One minute the guy is talking with his wife and the next he’s on the floor dead and turned in 30 seconds. Sure, I get that something crazy had to happen, but it just felt cheap. I did like the concern about the rumors of “sickness” though. I will admit that I would have liked to see just a little more time invested into the opening chaos of the infection. AMC should do another show called “Chronicles of the Walking Dead,” where you spend every three episodes or so with a group of survivors at the start of the outbreak. If AMC runs with this idea, just know where they got it from.
Travis and Chris were the highlights of this Fear the Walking Dead episode. They touched on some interesting topics and the duality that Chris is facing is captivating. Throughout the episode, Chris does seem to have some genuine moments with his father. In particular, the post-apocalyptic father-son driving session. Ultimately, Chris still feels out of place. His mindset is still far from his father’s. What compounds that is when these new young survivors have the same mindset and encourage it. He also disagrees with the idea Travis has of eventually going back to find Madison and Alicia. It’s something that is in the same vein as how a little kid would act when they do something wrong. Instead of going out and admitting what they did and say sorry, they’ll go hide in a corner. The most powerful moment between the two however, was in the barn.
The moment in the barn was emotional and powerful. Cliff Curtis as Travis did an amazing job showing that emotion. The moment after Chris shot that farmer and we cut to Travis, you could just picture the thoughts that must be going on in his head. I for one am beginning to think that Travis believes Chris is too far gone or beyond where he could help him. Despite the world ending and there seemingly being no rules or law, Travis keeps to a general moral code. Chris and his new group of friends look at this new world as a big party where they can do what they want. As someone who worked at a college for over four years, I can absolutely believe that there would be jabronis out there just like that.
At the hotel, Alicia meets a woman named Elena. This is the hotel manager from the flashback in the opening segment. This character reminded me a little bit of Father Gabriel from the Walking Dead. In the same way Father Gabriel locked his church to keep everyone out, Elena locked all the guests in to prevent the infected from getting to the rest of the hotel. My only gripe here is the hostage situation that Elena has found herself in. Hector, who is Elena’s nephew, was captured at some point when he left to look for food. Elena eventually has to give up the keys to the guests to get Hector back. So… why would Hector go and look for food alone and without keys? Especially with guests who are gunning for Elena? More poor choices from the survivors of Fear the Walking Dead.
“Do Not Disturb” was a fairly solid episode minus a few ridiculous decisions and that timely massive heart attack. I am really interested to see how things with Chris and Travis are going to turn out given what went down on tonight’s episode. You can check my review of “Shiva” if you need a refresher on why Chris feels like an outcast.
Did you see tonight’s episode? Is so, what did you think? How do you feel about the second half of the show so far? Be sure to let us know in the comments below. Also check back next week for the all new episode of Fear the Walking Dead.
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