Fear The Walking Dead 1x06 episode discussion...**SPOILERS WITHIN**

[Neil]

OK! I enjoyed the final episode BUT, two things annoyed me slightly:- 1) How how heroes seems to happily leave a trail of dead people in their wake:- When leaving their gated community, they didn't seem bothered about closing the gates? Walkers just happily wondering in now to munch on their neighbours kids. Charming! All for want of pressing a button to give them a better chance! Inflict all that death and destruction on the military, doctors, nurses and civilians by letting out the 2000 walkers at the stadium? Really? Are they now uncaring butchers? 2) How a number of people seemed so willing to give up and die. The doctor seemed certain there was no where to go - ok maybe she'd just seen and done too much, but Liza? Surely she'd at least wait a few hours or a day to see if any infection had been transfered? Or at least make it clearer she's now running a fever and recognises the symptoms etc rather than ho-hum, I suspect I might be infected so shoot me just in case... But those aside, so far so good. Guess the next season will tell us where it's really headed I guess ps: Shame the army doesn't have hand grenades or flame throwers I want to see a season of them sailing up and down the coast raiding towns. It would definitely make the show distinguishable from the main series I was wondering about that, but suspect it would be too expensive to film? Give the quality of the CGI used for the boat, I'm even more certain of that! That said, it would be a good way to inject them into lots of different stories. eg: Each week or so they're landing somewhere and encountering some new scenarios etc...

[MinionZombie]

Aye - them leaving the gate open really did annoy me. Even just seeing someone push the button and dart out as the gate closed would have been fine - but we didn't see that at all - that really did bug me. Although the sight of that happy family sitting around the candles in their living room was chilling - they've got no idea what's coming their way ... ... more so now that our guys left the sodding gate open!!! They somewhat redeem themselves by letting out the other captives in that compound ... but they also unleashed hell on the place and caused Exner to kill all her patients (which is the clear reason she was so hopeless and wanted to top herself). Yeah, the CGI for the boat was rather iffy. It looked pasted on ... I think it maybe looked too clear ... perhaps it should have been a bit hazier to take into account the distance, and any temperature hazing or whatever (the shadow cast on the water was particularly dodgy). As for 'zombies taking over L.A.' - well that's not really the case. During thost 9 days the people were evacuated, or the vast majority were, so there aren't that many walkers stumbling about the city (as we saw at the end - it was more of an abandoned ghost town with a few shamblers). We don't know what's happening in the rest of the city - the story our folks got was that people were evacuated. That'll be true - but probably only to an extent - there might very well be other pockets of people/imprisoned walkers just waiting to get out. It makes sense for the show to been seen through the eyes of our protagonists - it's the same in TWD ... but it would have been nice to get more of a look in to those 9 days ... however, unlike some, I don't think there would really be that much we could really get out of it in terms of story telling. On the one hand it might be daft for our characters - particularly as they'd safely got back to Madison's house - to get themselves in another fine mess right in the middle of a mass evac situation. However, a montage would have been nice (albeit expensive and practically problematic) to open that episode to ease us in to what happened over those 9 days. I think we've seen an awful lot though. Just think of the first episode and how much we get to see, and then in episode two - I for one didn't need gushing blood and mass shootings to make the riot scary - it was terrifying as it was. The violence that mankind is capable of, brought about by piss-poor communication on the part of the authorities and the determined lack of listening on the public's part. We saw isolated incidents (e.g. the traffic jam, videos online), we saw dropping school attendance, we saw cops stocking up and bugging out early. We actually saw quite a lot happening. We got a nice good look at a quarantine/safe zone situation - we got to see lots of stuff. Even though we didn't see some of that stuff in those 9 days (frankly, there might not have been a huge amount to really see - many of those 9 days could very well have been the same as the day seen in that particular episode when Chris is looking for that flashing light on the hillside, with not an awful lot actually happening in the city), we did get to see the failed evacuation in the finale. Exner trying to convince that chinook to land while it just hovers there and the pilot very politely and officially tells her to wait ... that was, yes I'll use it again, chilling. While FTWD is coming on the tails of TWD's success - it won't have TWD's current budget. It'll have more than Season 1 TWD had, but it certainly won't have TWD Seasons 5 or 6 levels of cash to splash about. Frankly it's amazing we got to see as much as we did.

[Buzzbomb]

A splendid episode - the only niggle was how quiet the 2000 or so walkers were when Daniel was doing his 'pied piper' bit on the approach to the hospital. I watched the 1st three shows again in one go & the 9 day gap worked better when not having to wait a week for the next installment... I just hope they don't now set off in search of an island & end up caught in a long-standing family feud

[Neil]

Aye - them leaving the gate open really did annoy me. Even just seeing someone push the button and dart out as the gate closed would have been fine - but we didn't see that at all - that really did bug me. Although the sight of that happy family sitting around the candles in their living room was chilling - they've got no idea what's coming their way ... ... more so now that our guys left the sodding gate open!!! They somewhat redeem themselves by letting out the other captives in that compound ... but they also unleashed hell on the place and caused Exner to kill all her patients (which is the clear reason she was so hopeless and wanted to top herself). ...and you didn't find them basically destroying the military base, causing the death of dozens/hundreds of soldiers, doctors, nurses and civilians rather morally questionable for them to be doing?

[Buzzbomb]

...and you didn't find them basically destroying the military base, causing the death of dozens/hundreds of soldiers, doctors, nurses and civilians rather morally questionable for them to be doing? The military were abandoing the civilians and planning to kill them under 'cobalt'...

[Neil]

The military were abandoing the civilians and planning to kill them under 'cobalt'... Ahhhh... That was the military location and not the neighbourhood? Why kill them in the base and not the neighbourhood?

[Buzzbomb]

Ahhhh... That was the military location and not the neighbourhood? Why kill them in the base and not the neighbourhood? The Military were withdrawing from the area of LA including the neighbourhood where Major Travis lived, which in '1x05' was said by Andrew to be scheduled for bombing at 09:00 the next morning as operation 'cobalt'. Given that all the civilians were going to die soon enough, leaving the gates open is no great shakes... Similary Daniel using the walkers as a diversion so they could get into the military base, and rescue their kinfolk was I think justified given the miliary plan to kill the civilians in the neighbourhood.

[Neil]

I clearly missed some of this... The Military were withdrawing from the area of LA including the neighbourhood where Major Travis lived, which in '1x05' was said by Andrew to be scheduled for bombing at 09:00 the next morning as operation 'cobalt'. ...and they didn't feel the need to share this information with their neighbours? Similary Daniel using the walkers as a diversion so they could get into the military base, and rescue their kinfolk was I think justified given the miliary plan to kill the civilians in the neighbourhood. But what about all the soldiers just doing their jobs, and the doctors, nurses and civilians in the base? Surely dozens/hundreds of them lost their lives because of the walker hoard brought down on the base?

[MinionZombie]

...and you didn't find them basically destroying the military base, causing the death of dozens/hundreds of soldiers, doctors, nurses and civilians rather morally questionable for them to be doing? The military were abandoing the civilians and planning to kill them under 'cobalt'... ...and they didn't feel the need to share this information with their neighbours? It did bother me - I would have ruddy well told them at least ... it's then up to them whether they want to flee, but I'd at least tell them! There's a time factor, sure, so perhaps they could have told one family and then said "pass it on to everyone else, because we've got shit to do". At least give them a chance ... and hell, the barest minimum would be to close the gate (even if that would be futile in the grand scheme of things). The compound thing is a give and take thing. That was their only real way of getting in - they're not a crack squad of commandos or spec ops infiltrators, they just civilians with no real tactical knowledge (although Daniel knows a thing or two from his war experiences). It was Daniel's method, but the others also stood back and allowed it to happen. The innocent blood is on their hands, but they also did it to rescue people who had been snatched away and otherwise abandoned in filthy facilities. However, plenty of innocent people will have died ... medical staff wise there were barely any of them (Exner tells Liza that most had fled or been moved elsewhere, so it was those two and one or two other medical staff who we don't know what happened to them). On the plus side for the group, they did let out all the people who were trapped in the cages. I wonder if their actions will come back to haunt them. While yes, we might very well see Tobias come back (hopefully!), I wonder if Erickson was also referring to the likes of Adams and Exner. We don't see them die, so it's entirely possible that they come back. Not certain, but possible. I think some of these murkier aspects will become clearer (or even darker) upon a second viewing of the whole season.

[shootemindehead]

Franlkly, I thought this episode was a bit meh, TBH. It was an ok way to to end, I suppose. But Lisa's death was just so obvious. It would have been preferable NOT have killed her, or anyone else. I suppose her cards were marked. Two wives, one of them has to go and it's not going to be the one with the most screen time. The whole thing with 'Fear the Walking Dead' is WTF is the point? We're already in "apocalypse stage" after a meager six episodes and practically near a situation that the main show is at. We have 'The Walking Dead' and now we have what simply amounts to 'The Walking Dead L.A.'. It's all a bit of a head scratch. If I was AMC, I'd have simply pumped the money into the main show. I'll watch again next year, but I don't get it's reason for existing. I suppose it good for filling in time between 'The Walking Dead' seasons and $. - - - Updated - - - I don't know. Am I the only one bothered that FTWD essentially thrown out the collapse of society? The one good story FTWD had--the one it, in fact, exists to tell--was how civilization collapsed and was overrun by the walking dead, and that's the one story the series has aggressively refused to tell this season. No... - - - Updated - - - I talked about this in the previous episode's thread. They built up episode 1-3 nicely and just as it was about to go down they skip over everything the show was promising to tell. When they came back it was 9 days later and society had already crumbled. Dissapointing. Yeh. AMC needed a bit of balls and made this a 10 episode series. fck sake...FX can commission 13 episodes for 'The Strain', a show that nobody had an idea how it would be received. Why the hell could AMC not take the risk with a show that practically mirrors their biggest seller? It had a built in audience an all. Just stupid. - - - Updated - - - A splendid episode - the only niggle was how quiet the 2000 or so walkers were when Daniel was doing his 'pied piper' bit on the approach to the hospital. How did Danny boy know that the zombies weren't simply going to run him down and scoff him, 'Dawn of the Dead '04' style? As far as I know, he has very limited knowledge of the living dead. He certainly wouldn't have known that they are all shuffly, slow feckers. :/

[Buzzbomb]

...and they didn't feel the need to share this information with their neighbours? When they were leaving the house & their neighbur was out walking the dog, it did cross Madison's mind, but Ofelia said something along the lines of 'they didn't lift a finger when they came at night & took our people away, why should we help them?' I guess it might also have jeapoardised their rescue attempt, but that was probably unlikely... - - - Updated - - - How did Danny boy know that the zombies weren't simply going to run him down and scoff him, 'Dawn of the Dead '04' style? As far as I know, he has very limited knowledge of the living dead. He certainly wouldn't have known that they are all shuffly, slow feckers.:/ Opening a door with even a load of the 'shuffly slow zombies' behind, would be a risky move, especially if they presumably would have tumbled out & fell all over those steps... I would have liked to have seen that scene! Daniel probably has gleaned quite a bit of info from the guy he torchered & I'd have expected Team Travis to have discussed their experiences with Susan etc?

[MinionZombie]

How did Danny boy know that the zombies weren't simply going to run him down and scoff him, 'Dawn of the Dead '04' style? As far as I know, he has very limited knowledge of the living dead. He certainly wouldn't have known that they are all shuffly, slow feckers. :/ He's seen them in action - up-close, even - for example when he shot that neighbour guy in the face with a shotgun. Also, in TWD/FTWD land there's no such word as "zombie" and no such thing as zombie movies (geez ... what a living hell that must be! ) When they were leaving the house & their neighbur was out walking the dog, it did cross Madison's mind, but Ofelia said something along the lines of 'they didn't lift a finger when they came at night & took our people away, why should we help them?' Ah yes! I'd forgotten about that ... still quite cold, though ... they could have at least closed the gate! Interesting way for the characters to go about it though ... essentially they've done something evil ... ... and hey, imagine if someone from there, one of their neighbours, survived some kind of zombie incursion, found the open gate, and figured out it was them who did it, set out into the world, and stumbled across them somewhere down the line. ... Defining the show in contrast with TWD will be a tricky thing to do as we get further into the apocalypse. I wouldn't say we're 'full on' into it yet. There were very few walkers on the streets when they drove through, we're a bit shy of two weeks into proceedings from my estimations (10 or 11 days?) ... and I think I saw pockets of light in random houses and buildings when we saw some of those dusk/night shots of the city. I'd say there's people out there, folks who laid low. Could the military really have done an entire room-to-room evac of the entire city? Doubtful. I'd wager plenty of people hid out ... and I'd reckon a considerable number of them will be utter bastards hell bent on some lawless 'fun'.

[slayerized]

Interesting way for the characters to go about it though ... essentially they've done something evil ... ... I have a feeling that is why this is "FEAR" the Walking Dead...I am pretty convinced that these people (or at least some of them) over the course of time are going to evolve into a pretty ruthless group...they've already done some pretty shitty things in just the first 6 episodes...

[facestabber]

Aye - them leaving the gate open really did annoy me. Even just seeing someone push the button and dart out as the gate closed would have been fine - but we didn't see that at all - that really did bug me. Although the sight of that happy family sitting around the candles in their living room was chilling - they've got no idea what's coming their way ... ... more so now that our guys left the sodding gate open!!! They somewhat redeem themselves by letting out the other captives in that compound ... but they also unleashed hell on the place and caused Exner to kill all her patients (which is the clear reason she was so hopeless and wanted to top herself). As for 'zombies taking over L.A.' - well that's not really the case. During thost 9 days the people were evacuated, or the vast majority were, so there aren't that many walkers stumbling about the city (as we saw at the end - it was more of an abandoned ghost town with a few shamblers). We don't know what's happening in the rest of the city - the story our folks got was that people were evacuated. That'll be true - but probably only to an extent - there might very well be other pockets of people/imprisoned walkers just waiting to get out. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the groups decision to leave the gate open let alone not tell people. Ophelia's little jab about the neighbors not helping them: Soldiers came in large numbers with capable firearms. They are following orders and protocal. They were in fact there peacefully to help. Granted they could have done a better job explaining why and where but I have been on the end of carrying out orders and sometimes the more you try to accomodate and explain stuff the more people fuck you over. Back to the point, what was the neighbors supposed to do? Yell, "please stop taking the lady with the shattered foot and fever". So to Ophelia and Daniel I say piss off. The lady needed surgery, and it wasnt gonna happen on the bed. I dont know Minion about the zombies taking over L.A. Strand told Maddy to not drive through the city because it will be filled with those things. He seemed to have an inside track to what was happening and why. We know they took over Atlanta while Rick was in a coma and that is with the military fire bombing the city. I'd imagine once the numbers got to great, the military retreated and regrouped. And us Yankees are stubborn sons a bitches when it comes to evacuating our homes. See New Orleans/Katrina. People living below sea level with 5 days warning of a colossal hurricane and they stayed. Add to that the people that actually took head and tried to flee L.A ended up stuck in impossible gridlock. All those people went somewhere.

[shootemindehead]

He's seen them in action - up-close, even - for example when he shot that neighbour guy in the face with a shotgun. He saw one or two. I wouldn't be calling myself an expert after that. I certainly wouldn't be opening any doors that contained a few thousand. You never know...he might have got a could of Day '08 style ceiling zombies. Also, in TWD/FTWD land there's no such word as "zombie" and no such thing as zombie movies (geez ... what a living hell that must be! ) zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie - - - Updated - - - Opening a door with even a load of the 'shuffly slow zombies' behind, would be a risky move, especially if they presumably would have tumbled out & fell all over those steps... I would have liked to have seen that scene! Well, yeh, that WOULD have been a good scene.