Fear The Walking Dead 1x01 episode discussion...**SPOILERS WITHIN**

[MinionZombie]

Please keep all talk of episode 1x01 "Pilot" specifically inside this thread. If you have a theory for a following episode, please use the "spoiler tags" (visit the HPOTD FAQ to find out how to use them if you don't already know). Enjoy! Directed by: Adam Davidson Written by: Robert Kirkman & Dave Erickson

[DayoftheZ]

I have to say I was concerned after reading the initial reviews that this was going to be poor but I really enjoyed the first episode and the second one is now a must watch. I don't think the acting is up to the standard of TWD but it is the first episode after all. The family seem likable for the most part which should make us care enough about them going forward. I also liked seeing TWD universe right at the beginning an can imagine myself if years to come watching this before or alongside TWD in a marathon session. All in all looking forward to seeing where it goes from now, especially as it seems the proverbial is about ti hit the fan. Solid 6/10 for me.

[MinionZombie]

I have to say I was concerned after reading the initial reviews that this was going to be poor but I really enjoyed the first episode and the second one is now a must watch. Solid 6/10 for me. I'll give it 7.5 or 8.0. I agree though, I was a bit wary about this when I first heard it was an idea being kicked around a year or two ago, and then I was a bit wary again with those couple of iffy reviews that were linked to the other week - but yeah - I also thought it was really quite good! I'm fully onboard with the central duo of Travis and Madison (Cliff Curtis and Kim Dickens) - particularly Madison as I'm a big fan of Kim Dickens - and Nick the junkie son seems like an interesting character. They could have easily waded into eye rolling territory with the junkie angle, but going on this first episode, it seems like there's some good material to work in. I particularly liked the very human thing of rationalising crazy things - not believing the video on the Internet of the guy getting shot and attacking the ambulance workers, for example, but also Travis and Madison dealing with the things Nick was saying. I also liked how the two of them kinda saw it from both sides, Travis in particular, who was more open to begin with and then started second guessing himself - and obviously you wouldn't jump to "they're zombies!" (especially as in this world zombies don't exist as a cultural thing) - when seeing the dealer guy after he'd been shot. Loved the music, too, and visually the show is strong - the same, but different ... much like the show in general. It feels close enough to TWD that it feels part of that same world, but it feels independent enough that it stands on it's own two feet. I don't understand the gripe of the show "rushing" to get a zombie in there, that some of the critics seemed to be complaining about ... no doubt they would have been whining if there wasn't a zombie in the first episode, and frankly, with an extended opener you have to end on a strong point - and that's naturally going to be the first encounter with a zombie. It's plain and simple screenwriting common structural sense - I thought the pace was pretty spot-on. We'll see how the other characters start to work into the show, but so far so good - I'm really looking forward to seeing episode two. Oh, and naturally I couldn't resist and did a couple of memes:   http://deadshed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/...x01-memes.html

[DayoftheZ]

Great work on the memes   I am so dense that I didn't draw parallel with Nick and Rick! I agree with what you say about the quality matching TWD. I am hoping going forward we get a great series at the start of the "rising" to complement the later stages found with Team Rick. I suppose the critics were more concerned with the Gloria walker at the start but I thought it was quite well placed, although you have to ask where she and the other church walkers ended up in the day or so after Nick woke up. I thought the whole sequence with Nick shooting his pal (name escapes me) then him coming back was cool as fudge and well executed. I also liked the panic of the asian nurse as old man walker was clearly going ape somewhere behind scenes. I hope they take their time with the spread of the crisis.

[MinionZombie]

Oh right, yeah, the Gloria walker ... well, to be fair to the show makers, that does set up a whole big chunk of the story - you get an early jolt of zombie stuff straight off the bat to offset the quieter, slower-paced storytelling that follows - and it does provide the impetus for the entirety of Nick's story in this first episode. He's seen this go down, but he doesn't know for sure - because of the junk - and his mother and step-father likewise assume he's talking bollocks - again, because of the junk - so it works out. There should be quite a lot of material to mine for the first season (and hopefully some of season two) in the first few weeks of turmoil as the world changes. By the time Rick wakes up the new order has established itself, it's chaos, but it's the new routine ... if that makes sense ... Rick slept through the change of society from an ordered and civilised world into one of humans vs walkers. There's a lot of initial change - and therefore material to put on our telly screens - in those first few weeks, so I hope we don't rush over that too quickly. However, I wouldn't want us to dawdle either. It'll be a case of getting the balance right - showing us enough of the downfall without making us get bored of it either. A strong start, I think.

[kidgloves]

I thought this was excellent. It has a Breaking Bad feel to it stylistically, especially the score. I hope they pitched it the network as Breaking Bad meets TWD. Loved the sense of dread building in the background and the slow storytelling. The people who are into the genre for the zombies only need to hang on in there if it hasnt caught their attention already. The evolution/deteriation of the zombies is clearly going be front and centre with Nicotero involved. I really hope we get to see the militarys response in detail. Can't wait for episode 2.

[facestabber]

I enjoyed it and will continue to watch. It's more story in the universe we all love and it doesn't involve ceiling scaling zombies. Now it didn't come close to ep 1 season 1 of TWD. But in fairness I consider the later the greatest zombie story on screen or print. One thing I was surprised to see was that the virus is completely airborn from the jump. Bites didn't kill the drug dealer and he came back. So I wonder why it was so shocking for the Atlanta group when Jenner told Rick/rick told group. I thought the airborne infection would develop some time into the incident. I thought the family didn't really sell their emotions when they started running over the drug dealer. The suburban white mom, in all reality would have been freaking the fuck out.

[sandrock74]

"The suburban white mom, in all reality would have been freaking the fuck out." That's painting with an incredibly broad brush!

[facestabber]

"The suburban white mom, in all reality would have been freaking the fuck out." That's painting with an incredibly broad brush! I felt it was under acted. Not meant bigoted or biased. But women show their emotions more than men. And unless she is used to seeing family friends get run over repeatedly I would expect more passion from her.

[MinionZombie]

One thing I was surprised to see was that the virus is completely airborn from the jump. Bites didn't kill the drug dealer and he came back. So I wonder why it was so shocking for the Atlanta group when Jenner told Rick/rick told group. I thought the airborne infection would develop some time into the incident. Well with Rick and the group it's a case of them not seeing anyone die of 'natural' or 'non-bite' causes before that point. Anyone who had died before meeting Jenner (e.g. Jim, or Amy) had been bitten, and they'd been safely camped outside of Atlanta with little in the way of communication, so their assumption of it only being trasmitted via a bite had reason. It's good to see these FTWD folks see the airborne nature of it early on (i.e. everyone is infected - although they don't know that specifically - but they do know you can become one without getting chomped on) so they can skip forward a little bit to catch up with us TWD viewers. Hopefully they can work in a few little shortcuts like that along the road so we viewers don't end up waiting for the FTWD folks to catch up with our knowledge too much. However, seeing how they played with audience expectation - and the knowledge that we as an audience have over the characters on the show - worked well. We know what's going on, but they're not quite clued up ... had a good, chilling vibe to it ... a tragic inevitability. They don't yet know just how much horror is coming their way.

[DayoftheZ]

I really hope we get to see the militarys response in detail. Yes please!! Hopefully it will be everything that WWZ should have been but ended up not being.

[rightwing401]

Yes please!! Hopefully it will be everything that WWZ should have been but ended up not being. I hope it will be to a degree. But we have to keep in mind that it's bound to take a while before the "go for the head" is figured out. So I'm expecting to see a few scenes of walkers being unloaded on and not dropping. And i dont think the viral video in the first episode would count, i think there was a space of 5 to 8 seconds from the walker being unloaded on by the cops becore the head shot, which could be easily dismissed by anyone as "well, he would have died soon anyway after all those bullets". I'm betting that they'll make the military turn out like they were in the hospital scene with Shane, shooting people because they think they're 'infected' and capping them in the head while wearing full biological protective gear.

[facestabber]

I hope it will be to a degree. But we have to keep in mind that it's bound to take a while before the "go for the head" is figured out. So I'm expecting to see a few scenes of walkers being unloaded on and not dropping. And i dont think the viral video in the first episode would count, i think there was a space of 5 to 8 seconds from the walker being unloaded on by the cops becore the head shot, which could be easily dismissed by anyone as "well, he would have died soon anyway after all those bullets". I'm betting that they'll make the military turn out like they were in the hospital scene with Shane, shooting people because they think they're 'infected' and capping them in the head while wearing full biological protective gear. I actually believe the opposite regarding headshots. Police and military are trained in failure drill. Which is a shooting practice which tells shooter if center mass hits are not having affect, shoot the head. Now the reason for that in our world is to defeat body armor but the drill would still be applied out of habit in my opinion.

[kidgloves]

I felt it was under acted. Not meant bigoted or biased. But women show their emotions more than men. And unless she is used to seeing family friends get run over repeatedly I would expect more passion from her. You have to take into account that this is a mother whose son is a drug addict. She even says it's in his blood implying that his father, or even herself is/was an addict. I once had a young guy who worked for me that was an addict and when I met his mother I was shocked at how much of a shell of a human being she was from all the stress. Completely shutdown.

[rongravy]

I'm still somewhat on the fence about the show. Did I like it? Yes, but it was kind of slowwwwwwwwww. Not saying I need nonstop action, but it definitely did drag at times. I also was not a big fan of the addict son, it just looks like they tried to plug in the freshest, hunkiest little heartthrob they could find. I need a few more episodes to decide if I'm down for more than just the gory FX...