FEAR THE WALKING DEAD
The zombie-dodging spin-off gets an unexpected uptick in quality. Time to start watching?
The first season of Fear The Walking Dead was basically one long narrative – a triple-length zombie movie structured in three two-hour acts. Season two was more varied, running at a slightly faster pace – it was a failure, but an admirable one. The first half of season three is insane.
Major spoilers follow, because there’s no way to discuss this season without talking about some big moments, very early on.
The double-length opener is a masterclass in setting up a brand-new location, with Madison, Travis, Alicia, Nick and Luciana finding themselves stuck on a military base packed with complex characters in powerful situations. Madison and Alicia are the well-treated captives of a handsome sociopath named Troy, with Travis, Nick and Luciana in a slightly less charismatic place – trapped by Troy’s henchmen, who are murdering people to work out how long it takes them to turn.
Set-up established, we sit back, break out the popcorn, and expect this to be the main location for the first half of the season. Then everything kicks off, and before the opening two-parter has finished, everyone’s escaped in one of the most spectacular scenes seen in the series so far, and a main character has been killed off, taking a tumble out of a helicopter.
Yep, Travis is the first major casualty of Fear The Walking Dead, and it’s a shock. Madison aside, he’s the lead. It’s like Daryl dying (with a slightly less intense Twitter reaction). But before we’ve had a chance to recover, we’re at a new location, with a new set of characters who are so weird and unpredictable that the tension feels constant.
Thus begins an eight-episode run that’s arguably the strongest, and most surprising, chain of instalments yet – with a brave bottle episode (the almost entirely Spanish-language “100”), big cliffhangers (the midseason finale is hugely compelling) and more.
Contrast it to The Walking Dead’s bizarre/boring recent season, and we can’t shake the feeling that the majority of zombie fans are stumbling after the wrong show. Catch up, tune in and join the fun when it returns. Sam Ashurst