Fear The Walking Dead: Season 3 discussion...

[MinionZombie]

This thread is to discuss all of Season 3 of Fear The Walking Dead - bear in mind that there will be spoilers current to the latest episode aired as the conversation continues.

I'd totally forgotten it was even on! Anyway - here's a thread, so have at it.

[Moon Knight]

Talk about coming out of the gate running! My favorite character is gone so soon, not sure how to feel about that. Good gore though.

[zomtom]

Two damned good episodes!! Wow!! If the show continues down this road, it could very well be improving. For those of you who have given up on this show, you might want to reconsider. I'm still totally shocked. How could they have kept that character's death a secret for so long? I'm also glad we're finally out of Mexico. I know I missed my zombies but there is no denying, these were two really good episodes. Hope it continues.

[JDP]

I'm also glad we're finally out of Mexico.

Strand is not out of there yet.

[MinionZombie]

They were probably able to keep it a secret because most people don't give much of a bugger about FTWD's secrets - TWD is the main point of interest for that sort of thing out there in the web.

As for the episodes? Meh. The whole point of this show was completely abandoned in season one. What, really, is the point of FTWD? It's just going through very similar motions that we've already been through on TWD. It just feels like TWD: Mexico, like a CSI spin-off or something. It's a damn shame. :(

They just seemed to throw away Travis, the most interesting character on the show. Also, was he bitten on the belly, or was it a gunshot wound from the incoming fire in addition to the one on his neck? That helicopter scene was a bit messy and I had a hard time figuring out exactly what was going on in the scene. The show kind of feels like it's constantly abandoning places and people at the drop of a hat (dispatching the grieving mother in the hotel felt like a plot thread that should have been dealt with last season - and what a preposterous waste of food!!!). The various parts of the story don't really gel together well enough for me, it's hard to explain.

And more military bad guys (surely we've seen plenty of that as a storyline by now?) ... spoon eye is already irritating me as a pantomime villain. Madison and Strand are about the only real interesting characters left on this show for me. Nick as a character has got a bit uninteresting in the last several episodes, and the sister character is still annoying.

The 'zombie in the rat wall' was a fun sequence (the head snapping back) - but how on earth could it have that much strength to break through the wall and pull the guy through firmly enough to snap his head off?! :rolleyes: On TWD the most you get in terms of walkers overpowering humans comes from their numbers, or falling on top of them (i.e. their own weight is used to their advantage to down a human - not a walker hauling a human off their ruddy feet!)

Interestingly, showrunner Dave Erickson is leaving the show at the end of this season. I wonder who'll takeover for season four...

[JDP]

The 'zombie in the rat wall' was a fun sequence (the head snapping back) - but how on earth could it have that much strength to break through the wall and pull the guy through firmly enough to snap his head off?! :rolleyes: On TWD the most you get in terms of walkers overpowering humans comes from their numbers, or falling on top of them (i.e. their own weight is used to their advantage to down a human - not a walker hauling a human off their ruddy feet!)

But do we know for sure that it was just one zombie behind that wall pulling the guy in? Maybe there were several of them who got a hold of the guy and pulled him in. In any event, that scene reminded me of one in the 1988 The Blob remake where the deputy gets pulled through a hole in the wall by the Blob and is "bent" in half, 180° backwards!

[MinionZombie]

But do we know for sure that it was just one zombie behind that wall pulling the guy in? Maybe there were several of them who got a hold of the guy and pulled him in. In any event, that scene reminded me of one in the 1988 The Blob remake where the deputy gets pulled through a hole in the wall by the Blob and is "bent" in half, 180° backwards!

We only saw one zombie, so we must assume it was only one zombie. If it was supposed to have been more we would have seen more of them - at the very least we'd have seen three or four or more arms - but we didn't. So it was just one.

[Moon Knight]

The actor had to leave. Guy is in high demand in Hollywood and is about to start Avatar. Big money right there.

I don't even get upset with this show anymore. I already came to the conclusion it won't get much better than what it is. I watch to pretty much see what's going on. The retread of already existing storylines is the biggest mistake. Nick was my favorite and now he is my least favorite along with his girlfriend. Only person I'm rooting for is Strand.

As cheesy as it was I loved that super zombie wall gag. As long as it's done here and not on the main show I'm ok with it haha.

[JDP]

We only saw one zombie, so we must assume it was only one zombie. If it was supposed to have been more we would have seen more of them - at the very least we'd have seen three or four or more arms - but we didn't. So it was just one.

That's the point: we don't know because we can't see what's going on the other side of the wall. For all we know there's a dozen or more zombies behind it. So we can't conclude it was only one zombie pulling the guy in. We only see one because that's how many of their heads can fit through that hole in the wall, but for all we know there might be more.

[zomtom]

That's the point: we don't know because we can't see what's going on the other side of the wall. For all we know there's a dozen or more zombies behind it. So we can't conclude it was only one zombie pulling the guy in. We only see one because that's how many of their heads can fit through that hole in the wall, but for all we know there might be more.

When I watched, I was under the impression there was a mob of zombies behind that wall. That whole crowd of walkers chased Nick and his girlfriend into the tunnels. I just figured they were able to make their way behind the walls. As for me, I'm glad they seem to be changing course with this show. Travis was a bit of a wuss and I'm not terribly sorry to see him gone. This show can't compare with TWD and I will never forgive them for not following showing the downfall of society as promised. It still gives me a daily dose of zombies and I'm alright with that. I'm old enough to remember when there were slim pickings in the zombie department.

[Moon Knight]

I'm so happy Daniel is back. :)

[JDP]

I'm so happy Daniel is back. :)

It'll be interesting to see how did he survive.

[MinionZombie]

Unless he really is just a figment of Strand's imagination - but hopefully he is actually real. I'd wondered about that as we never saw Daniel die, and if you don't see someone die in the TWD universe, chances are they're coming back.

This episode was better than the last two. There's some interesting bits here and there (e.g. throwing people off that bit behind the water dam into a pile of broken up zombies as punishment for pre-ZA sins, and the whole doomsday prepper thing).

[Moon Knight]

If you look closely you can see burn marks on Daniel. Salazar and Strand are enough to keep me invested. This one was a bit slow but it did its job. The Ottos are pretty interesting, especially Jeremiah.

[JDP]

Unless he really is just a figment of Strand's imagination - but hopefully he is actually real. I'd wondered about that as we never saw Daniel die, and if you don't see someone die in the TWD universe, chances are they're coming back.

There was a spoiler about this on the Talking Dead episode that followed. Salazar did indeed survive. But we were not shown how in the spoiler. The situation he was caught in was almost guaranteed death, so it will be interesting to see how did he escape (which I suppose they will show us.)

[Moon Knight]

Daniel is a badass and has been through some rough shit in the past. If anyone could escape that dire situation it's him.

[MinionZombie]

Ah, so he is real. I'm not bothering to watch Talking Dead episodes relating to FTWD now. Last seasons they struggled to find enough to fill the hour, and being that I'm not that fussed about FTWD in general, I'm not bothered about watch an hour of people talking about it with little to really say. :lol:

I'll naturally go back to Talking Dead when TWD proper gets back underway, though. :)

[zomtom]

Ah, so he is real. I'm not bothering to watch Talking Dead episodes relating to FTWD now. Last seasons they struggled to find enough to fill the hour, and being that I'm not that fussed about FTWD in general, I'm not bothered about watch an hour of people talking about it with little to really say. :lol:

I'll naturally go back to Talking Dead when TWD proper gets back underway, though. :)

Since you haven't been watching Talking Dead relating to FTWD; you are missing out. Earlier you questioned how Travis was shot in the helicopter. During Talking Dead, this scene was explained. Seems the bullet came through the bottom of the helicopter, up into Travis' bottom parts and traveled north to his throat. That whole wound in his nether regions was caused by the same bullet which came out his throat.
I can't speak for the rest of you but I'm really excited about this new season. I think they needed to go down another route to change it up some. As for Daniel!! I NEVER thought he was dead. Hell; he was one of the most compelling characters on the show. There is no way in hell, the writers would kill him off. Can't wait to see what he brings back to the show. As I said before; the more zombie action I see, the better. There was a time one could go years without zombies. A lot of you zombie enthusiasts have no idea how great you have it these days.

[Moon Knight]

3X4 "100": Better than most of TWD season 7.

[JDP]

A bit disappointing that they did not show how did Salazar survive and escape the situation he was caught in. Instead we got a vague "I survived but I don't really know how" blurry account by a puzzled Salazar himself.

[Moon Knight]

A bit disappointing that they did not show how did Salazar survive and escape the situation he was caught in. Instead we got a vague "I survived but I don't really know how" blurry account by a puzzled Salazar himself.

Damn, dude, that was a really good episode and that's what you comment on? Haha.

Anyway, Daniel just got out before it collapsed on him, nothing really to see there.

[JDP]

Damn, dude, that was a really good episode and that's what you comment on? Haha.

Anyway, Daniel just got out before it collapsed on him, nothing really to see there.

But how did he get out? Of course there is "something" to see there. We were tempted to assume that he had died, that's how bad the situation was for him when we last saw him, yet now that he is all of a sudden brought back into play we are given this vague "somehow I managed to escape, I really don't know exactly how, but I did" cheap cop-out??? It was a good episode, but this part was disappointing.

[Moon Knight]

To each their own then. I can see being disappointed if you really wanted to know. I just always assumed he just got out before the collapse. The writer said it himself on Talking Dead that same night Daniel wasn't dead and that he will be back one day.

If there is anything to be mad about it was the lightning striking the zombie. Howeve, I won't complain, I loved it. Fear does some great cheesy B-movie stuff that the main show could never get away with; like the wall zombie gag from 3X1.

I don't expect much from this show so I stopped looking for negatives and enjoy all the good stuff it has to offer. The lighting and rain in the dark is something we don't get enough of. The atmosphere was spooky and the music complimented it.

Was Daniel's escape narative lazy writing? Most likely. I guess I didn't really care because as long as I got Daniel back all is good. Great character.

[MinionZombie]

3x04 was a good episode, but better than all of season 7? Don't be daft! :lol: Season 7 of TWD had various problems, it surely did, but FTWD can't compete.

Anyway ... 3x04 was a good episode. I enjoyed it. I didn't mind the lightning strike walker ... it kind of played into the more religious aspects of Daniel's character.

It was pretty cool when he went rogue on the bit behind the dam and took over. I wonder where they'll go from here. Will the dam be abandoned, or is it under new ownership, will we continue to follow that on the show itself? It's interesting to see a basic resource's place within an apocalyptic scenario getting played with (i.e. the importance of water). It's a glimmer of what the show was supposed to be at the beginning (but which was totally abandoned in the second season). To see some of the earlier practicalities is interesting.

[Moon Knight]

I said Most of season 7. Great premier and mid season finale, good mid season premier and finale. With the exception of "Bury Me Here", everything else was ok. Let's be fair haha.

- - - Updated - - -

About the dam- I didn't really think about that but I'm assuming Efrain and his people will take it over. Strand is going to tell Daniel that Ofelia is still out there and he's going to quickly hit the dangerous streets again. Speaking of Ofelia, wasn't it Jerimiah who picked her up last season? Where is she?

[Buzzbomb]

Speaking of Ofelia, wasn't it Jerimiah who picked her up last season? Where is she?

It sure looked like Jeremiah...
1445

So far season 3 has been excellent :skull:

[JDP]

LOL @ Snooki being in Talking Dead. Jersey Shore meets zombies.

[Moon Knight]

FTWD continues delivering the cool gags. Hope the main show gets its balls back for Season 8.

[JDP]

BTW, Strand was also puzzled as to how did Salazar escape the fire. Salazar gave him the same vague "answer" he delivered last week. Still very disappointing, no matter to whom he tells it. Or maybe the producers are taunting us with this vagueness and they will finally one day show what actually happened???

Another thing: were Salazar's actions regarding Strand really justified? Getting the guy caught in the middle of a bunch of encroaching zombies and abandoning him there seems like blowing it out of proportion. Maybe just punching Strand in the face and telling him to cut the crap with the semi-lies (because Strand in fact is telling him half-truths, not full-blown lies) would have been enough.

[MinionZombie]

Yeah, Salazar went a bit over the top on Strand. Like you say, he's a half-truther more than a flat-out liar.

A while ago elsewhere on the forum I'd mentioned that I really wanted to see a zombie with it's false teeth not inserted attacking someone, but just 'gumming' their flesh - and finally I got to see that in the opening of this episode. So that made me quite happy. :elol:

As for the rest of the episode? It was okay. It feels like there's too much filler floated about in FTWD to fill the episode order. I'd much prefer a single shot of 10 episodes, rather than two doses of 8 with this particular show. Indeed, TWD would quite possibly benefit from two doses of 6 episodes. Alicia is still a fairly pointless character who's just irritating, unfortunately, and Nick's sinking as a character a bit now as well. It's like they, and the show's writers, don't really know what they want or how to achieve it. :confused:

[Moon Knight]

You're about Nick and Alicia. They really need to make Alicia more interesting instead of constantly giving her love interest. Lazy writing. However, it's a shame what they did to Nick; was once my favorite character.

This season will actually last 6 weeks per half. Two episode premier and finale. It ends next weekend. Smart move this time.

[MinionZombie]

You're about Nick and Alicia. They really need to make Alicia more interesting instead of constantly giving her love interest. Lazy writing. However, it's a shame what they did to Nick; was once my favorite character.

This season will actually last 6 weeks per half. Two episode premier and finale. It ends next weekend. Smart move this time.

Ah! Good idea.

Though even better would be six episodes per half over four weeks. :D :sneaky: :D

I see the ratings are continuing to slip - 3x01 had 3.11m but 3x02 immediately slipped down to 2.70m (on the same night) - 3x04 was the lowest so far with 2.4m, while 3x03 and 3x05 have both had 2.5m. Sure, there's the other time shift ratings to take into account, but there has been a consistent slide in the ratings throughout it's entire run. Season One started on 10.13m and ending on 6.86m, while Season Two started on 6.67m and ended on 3.05m (live showing figures) ... I wonder if the ratings will drop even further down from 2.5m throughout Season Three?

There's a new showrunner coming in for Season 4, so they're going to have to make some drastic changes if they want to pull up these figures. :shifty:

[MinionZombie]

heh, it says a lot when the last two episodes of the half-season have aired and nobody's had anything to say about it even a week later.

The last three episodes pulled in 2.2, 2.6, and 2.4 million respectively. Season One ended on basically triple that figure. :shifty:

There's been some character decisions along the way in these last several episodes that don't make an awful lot of sense at times, or that show the characters up as making mistakes they should be too smart to have made etc. All-in-all, generally underwhelmed.

[Buzzbomb]

EP 12: Finally zombies... a good un.

[Neil]

Is that the biggest horde we've ever seen? Bigger that TWD's one?

Still wondered why they didn't simply fence of as well as they could and then hide, rather than firing off guns and the like and just drawing more and more of the horde to them?

[MinionZombie]

The FTWD thread crawls from it's half-covered-over grave. :elol:

The past episode was a bit iffy in some ways - Nick acting so high and mighty, yet HE was the one who tackled the good brother, thus tumbling him down into the zombie ditch where he got bitten. Also - you've got a frickin' grenade launcher - how about blasting a few rounds in the opposite direction to try and draw the herd away?!

Generally the show feels full o'filler. It was the same last season, too. All these added episodes and not enough plot to fill them, so relatively small story tasks take entire episodes of wandering about. It lacks drive, and it certainly lacks any new kind of viewpoint on the zombie apocalypse - it feels like it's just plots that TWD did years ago, only done less well, and set in a different location. :|

It's not a total disaster, but it's far below what it could - and should - have been. :( The main live numbers continue to slip (down just over another million since Season 3 began). The new showrunner for Season 4 is going to have to do something spectacular to pull this back from the brink. That all said about the ratings, it's still doing well enough to justify itself (I assume from various time shift numbers being included), and apparently it's AMC's second-most-popular drama series logging live numbers above the likes of Better Call Saul (and infinitely superior show by comparison, and one of my current faves), Into The Badlands, and Preacher. Halt & Catch Fire's live ratings have always (bar the first episode) been under a million for live views - and are currently as low as 0.3m - and that's still going (I believe it's the last season now, though).

Anyway - other things - I think TWD still has had a bigger walker horde, definitely on-screen. We saw a sizeable herd in this episode, but TWD has definitely had larger numbers in previous seasons (e.g. the road full of walkers that blocked the car, the attack on Alexandria), and of course we get far more real walkers on-screen within the frame. FTWD has to be a bit more suggestive (wobbling RVs - which I enjoyed) and use clever camera angles etc.

Generally, though, despite the production values and cast's efforts, I find the show a bit lacklustre. My excitement to see an episode during Season 1 has evaporated. I continue to watch in the hope that it'll improve, but it just feels kind of pointless as a show. They really should have explored a different world and group of characters entirely - we basically never get to see the government side of things during these zombie apocalypses, and if they had done that (and focused on the initial outbreak for far longer) we would have had something far more interesting that would have absolutely set itself apart from TWD and stood on its own two feet.

[JDP]

They had a debate on yesterday's episode of Talking Dead regarding whether the word "zombie" was said in yesterday's episode. There are no "ifs" or "buts", though. When Troy asked the waitress what is the "sesos" (brains) in his quesadilla, she very clearly tells him in Spanish "antojitos zombi", which means "zombie snacks/appetizers". The whole thing could easily have been clarified by Ruben Blades and Mercedes Mason, both of whom know Spanish, but strangely enough they did not. This marks the first time in a Walking Dead TV show where the word "zombie" has been used. It can no longer be said that this word is supposedly "unknown" to the characters in this universe. The word does exist in this universe as well, so it seems that it is just that most people in it don't choose to use it.

[MinionZombie]

They had a debate on yesterday's episode of Talking Dead regarding whether the word "zombie" was said in yesterday's episode. There are no "ifs" or "buts", though. When Troy asked the waitress what is the "sesos" (brains) in his quesadilla, she very clearly tells him in Spanish "antojitos zombi", which means "zombie snacks/appetizers". The whole thing could easily have been clarified by Ruben Blades and Mercedes Mason, both of whom know Spanish, but strangely enough they did not. This marks the first time in a Walking Dead TV show where the word "zombie" has been used. It can no longer be said that this word is supposedly "unknown" to the characters in this universe. The word does exist in this universe as well, so it seems that it is just that most people in it don't choose to use it.

Or whoever wrote this episode/the writing team on the underling show weren't paying attention to the lore of The Walking Dead (possibly flinging it in to be clever), as clearly laid out by Robert Kirkman, who has said on numerous occasions that the whole concept of a "zombie" doesn't exist in the popular culture of the world in which TWD takes place.

Much like the inclusion of blue meth in occasional scenes (e.g. Season 1 of TWD, Season 3 of FTWD) doesn't mean that Breaking Bad is a precursor to TWD. It's a non-serious wink at the audience. The blue meth you can get away with as a gag, but dropping the word "zombie" in the TWD universe goes against Kirkman canon.

[Moon Knight]

The word zombie has always been around and wasn’t always associated with flesh eaters until after Night of the Living Dead.

[DayoftheZ]

According to reports on the internet we may be having a cross over between FTWD and TWD. It could just be Robert Kirkman trying to keep interest in Fear but I guess we shall see.

If it happens it kind of confirms that FTWD was basically a pointless project. I've still not watched the back half of series two, or any of series three so don't know if the show has improved.

[MinionZombie]

According to reports on the internet we may be having a cross over between FTWD and TWD. It could just be Robert Kirkman trying to keep interest in Fear but I guess we shall see.

If it happens it kind of confirms that FTWD was basically a pointless project. I've still not watched the back half of series two, or any of series three so don't know if the show has improved.

It was interesting when he was saying about FTWD having it's "own identity" and wanting to keep the two shows separate - and then immediately announces there'll be a crossover. :rolleyes: It does smell of trying to keep interest from waning from FTWD. FTWD does have it's own identity, but it's little more than on the surface - the location - and the fact that it's inferior to it's big brother.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a TWD character appearing in FTWD as an earlier version of themselves, possibly even a character who died on TWD, to try and increase Fear's ratings. I'd rather see a good character from Fear, such as Madison, rock up in TWD on their own as a ravaged wanderer of the apocalypse and for Fear to go quietly into the night. As soon as it abandoned the "early days of the outbreak" concept it lost all purpose, which is really frustrating.

[DayoftheZ]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a TWD character appearing in FTWD as an earlier version of themselves, possibly even a character who died on TWD, to try and increase Fear's ratings. I'd rather see a good character from Fear, such as Madison, rock up in TWD on their own as a ravaged wanderer of the apocalypse and for Fear to go quietly into the night. As soon as it abandoned the "early days of the outbreak" concept it lost all purpose, which is really frustrating.

As I haven’t been watching for a while I wondered if the timelines were close to when TWD started. If they are maybe Morales and his family could have ended up crossing paths having been to Birmingham and finding that their family has all gone.

I think I would prefer a small character from TWD turning up in Fear than a bigger character from FTW turning up on the main show. That said from the series and a half I saw I would have like Daniel to turned up as a bad guy on TWD.

[Moon Knight]

If Fear heads towards Texas next season then it’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing Abraham.

[MinionZombie]

If Fear heads towards Texas next season then it’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing Abraham.

Interesting theory!

It'd have to be something good, though. I wouldn't like to see a great character squandered on a pointless plot gimmick, especially when we've already seen a bit of the character's backstory in TWD done quite efficiently.