Fear the Walking Dead, Pilot

I’ve had a couple weeks to digest my disappointment in HBO’s dismal sophomore season of True Detective.  As I embark on reviewing this series, I’ve had time to contemplate what makes a good series. I’m happy to report, AMC looks like its got a winner judging by the pilot episode of Fear the Walking Dead.

The series is the prequel to the hugely popular “The Walking Dead.” 

This series focuses on a newly blended family, including a middle-aged couple trying to parent their three teenage children.  This situation is very relatable and makes us instantly feel connected to the characters.  The second factor is making the supernatural seem relatable.  Unlike the hardscrabble folks of The Walking Dead, these characters haven’t faced the undoing of their comfortable world.  The viewer can enjoy the certain superiority over the characters horror and confusion because we know what is about to happen.  But it’s still fascinating to discover how the zombie-apocalypse began with small, seemingly unrelated events.  The tension is palpable from the opening five minutes and doesn’t let up for the next hour and a half.

The series opens with a long hair boy waking up disoriented in a trashed church.  (English actor Frank Dillane is channeling a serious young Johnny Depp circa “Nightmare on Elm Street.”) He fumbles around calling for a girl named Gloria.  He hears banging and the occasional scream as he makes his way down to the first level of the building.  Finally, he sees a man with his throat ripped out.  He calls out more frantically to Gloria, finding her over a corpse feeding!  She stands up and a knife is sticking out of her chest as she moves towards him, groaning.  He runs out of the church and is immediately hit by a passing car.  Given the reaction of the people who respond to the scene, the world is still “normal.”  The bystanders call 911 and surround the teen to help.

Madison (played by Kim Dickens of Sons of Anarchy and Deadwood) is having a hectic morning.  She steals a tender moment with her new live-in boyfriend Travis (Native New Zealander actor, Cliff Curtis) as her teenage daughter Alicia (Aussie actress, Alycia Debnam-Carey) radiates annoyance with both adults and her situation.

Meanwhile, Nick is in the hospital being interviewed by cops.  Since he ran out into traffic, they assume the teen was trying to kill himself.  Madison enters the room and orders the cops out.  Nick has a long history of heroine abuse.  His sister Alicia has tagged along and seems frustrated at how her “bad” brother always is the center of attention.  Nick tells his mom it was an “accident” being hit by the car.  Travis attempts to call his ex-wife to reach out to his son Christopher.

Leaving Nick in care at the hospital, Maddy goes to her job at the high school where she serves as a guidance counselor.  At the metal detector at the door, she pulls out a troubled kid and escorts him to her office for a talk.  He had a knife in his pocket and has some cryptic observations. “No one is going to college. Nothing is going to be the same. There is safety in numbers.”  Tobias speaks of the conspiracy theories surrounding a new deadly virus.  Madison confidently dismisses him stating, “If something was wrong, the authorities would tell us.”

Alicia finds her boyfriend who is busy painting a mural on the school grounds.  At the hospital Nick gasps awake.  Travis is at his bedside; he asks if he was hallucinating.  Nick tells Travis the incredible story of what he saw at the church.  Travis dismisses his account, saying, “You saw what the drug saw.” Nick is alarmed, “If that came out of me, I’m insane.”

Travis decides to go to the derelict church to investigate Nick’s wild claims. Travis calls out, a frighten man yells at him and then flees terrified.  Travis finally finds a large spot of blood and gore.  He leaves in a hurry.  Travis finds mother and child sleeping in the hospital bed.  When Nick wakes, he promises to get clean.  Alicia sounds annoyed at this familiar promise. Madison is also skeptical.

Alicia finds her boyfriend Matt on the school grounds.  She sounds very world-weary for a sixteen year old.  She looks at the time until she graduates as a prison sentence in which she has one more year before she hopes to attend Berkley.  They agree to meet later for some romantic alone time.

Travis is a teacher at the high school; the lesson today is “Call of the Wild” by Jack London. The theme is survival. Madison pays a visit to the principal, who is listening in to Travis’s class. (The actor could be an Obama impersonator.)

Nick tries to charm the nurse to release one of his wrist restraints so he can use the bedpan.  Nick expresses concern regarding his roommate, who has been breathing noisily throughout the episode.  While the nurse is out of the room, Nick unties his other hand and drops the steel bedpan. (Obsolete in hospitals, but more dramatic!)  The noise, which brings the nurse, is the monitor on the roommate, a “Code Blue” is called.  Nick dresses and leaves the hospital during the action. Nick walks out and down the middle of the street.

When Madison learns of Nick’s flight from the hospital she asks Travis to take her to the church, figuring he might return.  Travis observes there are no bodies, but lots of blood.  Madison finds the area Nick was using as a “bedroom”.  She spies a book belonging to her son, only to recoil when it reveals his “works” inside. (Needle kit.)

The couple makes their way to an old friend of Nick.  Sirens and choppers hum in the background, but that’s not uncommon in LA.  The friend, Calvin, is vacuuming a mini-van and denies knowledge of Nick’s whereabouts. A blue placard and a wheelchair are noted near the van. Who does Calvin take care of in the wheelchair?  The couple gets back on the road, Maddy verbalizes frustration regarding her son’s addiction.  Nick has bought a “burner” phone and sends a text and hides under an overpass.  Alicia waits at Venice Beach for Matt.  He doesn’t appear and she leaves frustrated.

Travis and Madison are still on the road in the darkness.  Traffic has come to a halt ahead and police are ordering people to stay in their cars.  Our couple defies the order and step out to see what the problem is.  Gunfire is heard, and Travis decides to make a break through the traffic to flee the scene.

Alicia and her friends are in science class the next day, watching the hottest viral video.  It depicts a man being resuscitated by an EMT, when he suddenly attacks the man, then keeps walking menacingly towards the police who shoot him with no effect.  The teacher takes the kids phones and heads into her lecture. “In science, there are no non-linear things.”  The kids see the video’s end later, the police finally hit the reanimated man in the head and he stops moving.  Alicia complains to a friend her boyfriend Matt has been AWOL.

 In the principal’s office, staff views the same video.  Travis sees it and says, “This is what Nick was describing.” He is becoming more concerned the boy was telling the truth.  Startled by the video and the large number of absences, the principal declares school over for the day.  The kids excitedly hurry out. Travis tells Madison they should leave the school too, in order to not get “blocked in”.  From the school bus, Tobias looks worriedly at Madison.

Nick finds a diner and wanders in like a zombie. (On his way he passes a gas station with a posted price $2.39, come on I can believe folks raising up from the dead to eat us, but that price is completely unbelievable!) He meets his friend Calvin in the back. (Obscure song reference, “Deals dope out of Denny’s, keeps a table in the back. By the band David and David from the song “Boomtown” about LA.) Calvin chastises Nick for having his parents come to seek him out. “Nobody can connect us.” Nick swears he would never betray his dealer. He tells Calvin about what he saw in the church. Calvin scoffs, remarking, “Gloria isn’t 90 pounds soaking wet and can hardly pierce her own veins.” Cal hugs Nick and promises him a free fix.

Calvin and Nick leave the diner in his black Honda. They head toward the viaduct. It’s clear to the viewer Cal is looking to get rid of his friend in a permanent way. The men exit the car, and there is a struggle. Miracoulously, Nick turns Cal’s gun and shoots him in the gut. Nick falls to the ground, frantic that he’s killed his friend. Nick runs away.

Madison and Travis come across Nick as he flees. “I did a bad thing! I shot Calvin!” Maddy blames herself, and they race off to see if they can still help Calvin. They find the Honda, but no sign of Cal. Maddy embraces her son, wondering if he has truly cracked mentally. As the three leave the area, they encounter Calvin walking toward the truck in the dark tunnel. The adults rush out to see he has a gunshot wound to the chest. Cal is not responding to their questions and struggles with Travis, attempting to bite him. Nick warns the adults away and hits Calvin with the truck. They look back to see Cal rising again, with an open fracture to his right arm. Nick drives forward to hit his former friend again. Cal is down a little longer, but then turns his head and starts to rise again. Travis, Nick and Madison stare in horror at what they are witnessing. Travis muses, “What the hell is happening"? Maddy replies, “I have no idea.”

So ends the first episode of Fear the Walking Dead. It had a perfect blend of suspense and surprisingly less gore then Walking Dead. But as the viewers know, things are about to get momentously worse. Questions remain for the next episode. What happened to Matt? What happened to Nick’s roommate who died, is his reanimation about to wreak havoc in the hospital? Will Tobias lead the conspiracy nerds to war against the walkers? And how bad will the highways become in LA trying to flee the zombie hoards? This short six-episode season looks like an awesome thrill ride into the zombie-apocalypse!