Title: Fear the Walking Dead “Pablo & Jessica”
Network: AMC
Air Date: September 11th, 2016
Genre: Serial Drama, Horror
After a pretty intense ending last week in the episode “Do Not Disturb,” Fear the Walking Dead returned with “Pablo & Jesscia” and kept things at a fairly slow pace. This episode revolved around Madison, Strand and Alicia in the hotel as well as Nick in Colonia. Both groups here are suffering in a way from the loss of a loved one, hence the name of the episode. More backstory of Strand was revealed when he opened up to Oscar who is still reeling from the loss of his wife Jessica. We also got to find out more about Luciana and who she was looking for… her brother Pablo.
We flashed back briefly to see how Strand and Madison escaped their predicament down at the bar. I was glad not much time was spent with this flashback because at the end of last week’s episode we already found out they were alive. Therefore there wasn’t any real concern from me for these characters because I knew no matter what happened, they would live. Thinking back, I feel they should have ended last week with just Alicia pounding on the door and then going to black. It is nice to see the guts trick being used more here. Having that as a personal camouflage against the dead seems like something that should be used considerably more, especially in the Walking Dead.
Ofelia remained MIA and it appears… or we were led to believe… that she took the truck and ran off. Now, here’s how I hope this pans out. I’m hoping Ofelia did run off and ends up heading back to Celia’s compound or finds Daniel in some way. I don’t believe Daniel is dead, despite it looking like he may have burned up in the compound. So, I’m really hoping that’s how that whole business turns out and it would give Ofelia reason to live. I also expect Daniel to have his head cleared and be on a much straighter path if we do end up seeing him again.
Travis and Chris ended up sitting this episode of Fear the Walking Dead out but I do want to throw out some interesting news. For anyone unaware, the Ghostrider is joining the MCU in this season’s Agents of Shield. As it turns out, Lorenzo James Henrie has been cast as a recurring character in that series. After last week’s episode I heard a lot of chatter about Travis potentially biting the bullet soon. For me, I think it’s Chris who’s going to bite the bullet. Part of me believes Travis will be the one to kill Chris after realizing he may be too far gone. That’s just me though so we’ll see how it plays out.
Now we have Madison at the hotel trying to unite the wedding guests with them. The goal here is to clear the infected and make the hotel a home. While there was some action in this grand scheme, the strongest parts of the episode were through dialogue. Madison explaining their situation to Oscar and why they need to work together was certainly something I enjoyed. It slightly reminded me of Kyle Reese explaining how dangerous the Terminator was to Sarah Connor. I liked seeing Madison begin to take on the leadership role in the group. This could be the female version of Rick moving forward. Strand also had some powerful dialogue with Oscar regarding his wife, who, as it turns out, is being held in the honeymoon suite.
Nick showed his usefulness over at Colonia by helping Alejandro make more Oxycontin, cutting it down with powdered milk. I can certainly see this leading to a significant conflict down the road. Nick also pressed Alejandro on being bitten and not turning. Nick isn’t necessarily saying Alejandro is lying but he also doesn’t really believe he was bitten. I thought that segment was done very well. It appears Nick also may now have a love interest with Luciana which is another compelling angle given Nick’s history. The last girl Nick was with turned into one of the undead.
My biggest gripe about Fear the Walking Dead lately is the lack of… danger. You never really feel afraid for any of these characters and I think that is largely in part due to the group being so broken up at the moment. When we saw Madison and Strand stuck at the bar, I wasn’t concerned. Of course they were going to get out. You can’t kill them off that fast with so few other cast members to focus on. The same goes for Nick over in Colonia. He’s just getting established there so any danger he gets in, he’s going to get out of. Sure Alejandro and Luciana are up for grabs but we really have no emotional connection right now to anyone outside our main group. Not to mention, with all the jumping around, it’s hard to get such a connection.
Did you see this week’s Fear the Walking Dead? If so, what did you think? Do you feel like the characters are ever really in danger? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and check back next week for our new review.
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