1.06: Fear The Walking Dead - The Good Man

As civil unrest grows, and the dead take over, Travis and Madison try to devise ways to protect their families.

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Behold the power of the zombie!
Alone or in small numbers, they are fish to be shot in a barrel. Release 2,000 of them from a local arena and Pied Piper them to your friendly, neighborhood military outpost, and they command a little more respect.
I liked Daniel's advice to the guards who were threatening to shoot him before his new zombie friends lurched into view: "You should save your ammunition." Master of understatement, that Daniel.
Non-stop action from 10 minutes in, this "finale" of the six-episode season yet again made it clear that AMC knows how to create quality television. Daniel and Ofelia contemplating the pile of cremated human remains outside the field hospital, knowing that Grisdelda's ashes were among them, was heartbreaking. Equally sad was the death of Liza.
I was surprised that the doctor gave up. She was a strong character who would have made an excellent and useful addition to the group, especially with Liza gone.
Other memorable moments included the near-beating death of soldier Andy at the hands (literally) of Travis. The man obviously had a lot of pent-up rage to release. I liked Strand having the nerve to retrieve his cufflinks from the pocket of the guard, even as the zombie was feeding on that slimebag's legs.
"Keep the watch," he tells him. Small moment of humor.
I thought both Strand and Nick were goners, about to leave the cast, TWD Noah-style, when they were trapped between the zombies and the locked door.
I guess that wouldn't have worked out, given the role Stand was to play in their escape. Very smart using the concrete drainage ditch instead of the clogged streets to get to their destination. I've never previously seen them used for anything but chase scenes.
Strand's yacht will also prove useful for the group's survival. Looks like we'll be seeing something of another The Last Ship when the series resumes.
I'll be watching.

Indeed, it was worth to see finally zombies in scale that we could expect to see in the city of Los Angels after the dead has taken over. Still, two thousand is small number compared to 10.4 million people used to live within the city limits.

REBerg said:

I liked Daniel's advice to the guards who were threatening to shoot him before his new zombie friends lurched into view: "You should save your ammunition." Master of understatement, that Daniel.

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I thought it was stupid of those guards to open full auto on that hoard, and then seeing rest of them joining party so that it would become really evident to all living dead about whose still around. Would they have kept real quiet, they might have survived.

REBerg said:

Strand's yacht will also prove useful for the group's survival. Looks like we'll be seeing something of another The Last Ship when the series resumes.

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They need bigger ship really if they're going to sail around the world. But thing about the ending is that I believe Kirkman is planning to show more world than he could ever do with the TWD. However, AMC lied when they made the audience to believe we were going to see more about the beginning than what we were privy. To be honest, although I want to see what's elsewhere, I wish there would had more to the origin than what they gave us. But, who knows, maybe as they sail around the world, Kirkman and other writers dip into the pot.

I'm sure that I read that the series was going to be set in Hawaii. Which was why I was surprised when I found it set in Los Angeles. Maybe I really did read that, and not imagine it, and they are sailing to Hawaii. If the disease has not reached the islands yet then they may be able to hold out as a last refuge of man. An island somewhere is certainly the answer, but probably a smaller island that can be protected more easily. For a community to survive, they will need more than they can take on that boat though - something I know we have discussed in TWD before so I won't revisit it.

I don't get Strand though. I get that he is meant to be a man of mystery, but he is way too mysterious. Would you trust him? Would you go on his boat? Well, probably yes, even if I didn't trust him, he does have a boat, and the other option is... well, they are all out of other options. I don't think the driving into the desert was ever a good plan, but they'd never get there now.

These lads in AMC know how to do season finales. This was superb by any standard. Intense action and powerful emotional scenes.

Has Travis got what it takes to be another Rick. He showed sudden violence in the scene with Andy and strenght in that final scene with Liza.

I also like Strand. I can see future conflict between himself and Travis. It also looks like Strand could be king of the one liner

Excellent way to end the season, glad we finally got to see a horde, although as pointed out that pales in comparison to the number of people actually living in and around LA. One thing that annoyed me though, were these people all born in a barn? They literally left every door open, from the gate of the enclave onwards, although in fairness about the only time they didn't leave a door open it locked behind them, so maybe their fear of locks outweighs their fear of skinbags.

Did wonder at the stupidity of the guards at first just firing at everything, but then when I saw the extent of their troubles I can see how they might have panicked. It looked to me like order had broken down in that camp a little ways before the horde arrived, maybe the chiefs had already bugged out?

Strand definitely has some of the best lines, but the enigmatic style of his character won't sit well with me for long, especially if no-one asks him who he is, I half expected him to have a room full of guns in that property, true tremors style, shame i didn't see it if there was one.

Not sure I bought into Travis' sudden turnaround, from peacekeeper to psychotic in two seconds flat. Yeah, I get he wasn't happy about the soldier betraying him, but seriously? Very few people have that capability to do that, and he exhibited no mannerisms in that regard, seemed a little out of character to me.

But yes, great finale, can't wait for TWD next week

Gnrevolution said:

Not sure I bought into Travis' sudden turnaround, from peacekeeper to psychotic in two seconds flat. Yeah, I get he wasn't happy about the soldier betraying him, but seriously? Very few people have that capability to do that, and he exhibited no mannerisms in that regard, seemed a little out of character to me.

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He had been harbouring some anger. and it boiled so much that it burned away the pacifist in him. Either that or Travis finally realised, he couldn't be one in the world that had completely turned upside down. Hence his willingness on pulling the trigger at the end.

Am I wrong?

Note, pacifism is a mental condition and they can change, when enough of reason has been given. But it doesn't mean they're going to like it.

Dave said:

I don't get Strand though. I get that he is meant to be a man of mystery, but he is way too mysterious. Would you trust him?

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Would you trust a drug dealer? I think he hinted enough about his past with his quip on Travis, "You're a class A heroin addict." He has been really high in the organisation, and he probably knows the Pacific area pretty well. If the kingpin theory is correct, it might mean that he has hidden caches all around the world. His past might also turn him evil at some point in the future.

ctg said:

He had been harbouring some anger.

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Some anger? I thought they were going to need to use a tranquiliser or anti-psychotic to calm him down. That was some serious crossing the line he did there...

Another excellent episode. In some ways superior to The Walking Dead series standard again. It was great to finally see a stage of the military's eventual defeat. That said I would expect there would be some locations in the country where the military would not bring in people for treatment and would be secure for a long time (years?) with solid barriers and supplys.

With Travis's change I think the writers wanted to show him change from weak to strong/violent but gave themselves little episode time to do it. Letting a man free and then him returning with murder on his mind was the final straw for Travis.