2.08 Fear the Walking Dead - Grotesque

[REBerg]

Nick is an extreme survivor -- not your average drug addict. Interesting flashbacks to his troubled past.

 

[ctg]

I'm sorry I forgot. I didn't mean to. Thank you for putting this up.

 

[ctg]

Coming back from the holiday, Nick looks like he as got some Mexican pie, taken from the smile on his face. He is his own master. There is no one else to determine what he should do, where he should walk. Mexico is a large country and it looks mostly desolated after the zombie apocalypse.

No wonder why he's remembering old arguments, memories that are frustrating to handle as they never go away. At least not from young man's mind. He is carving his own destiny, without caring what might have happened to the only people in his world that mattered.

But he's no Michonne. No Daryl. Not even Glenn, even though he has their skills and smarts to survive in the apocalypse, and hostile foreign country against well armed cartel men, who aren't exactly vary of pulling the trigger. In fact, it looks like they have adapted quickly to the anarchy. No lives outside their own matter them any more. There is no "federals" to force their way.

There certainly aren't any of them to tell Nick that he's doing badly for eating poisonous catcus, vomiting and then drinking his own piss without filtering it through sand, and his own sock (or something). And that is something that will put him down, if he doesn't learn the skill of survival. Not just dressing in zombie clothes, but actual skills to take the desert.

If you have watched your own share of Bear Grylls, you know that desert is one of the worst places be, because your main problem is dehydration. A man can survive only so long before he start to hallucinate from lack of liquid. Adding on top of that wounds is going to be certain problem.

One that would lead eventually to a death.

What did you think? How many mistakes he did?

 

[REBerg]

I was impressed with Nick's survival efforts, but that may simply be an indication of how quickly I would die in the desert. At least for purposes of a television show, he succeeded.
The next question: can he survive now that he is again among the living? It seems as of things never get really bad on the WD shows until immediately after they have gotten better.

 

[Dave]

I thought this episode was exactly what early TWD should have shown, and what I had expected with the packs of dogs and difficulties of survival. I think Nick did okay. There is much discussion online regarding the cactus eating, which the FTWD writers apparently got exactly right.

Now they have split up, are we going to get a different group story each week? When they did that in TWD last season, I wasn't sure that it worked that well, but this episode was great and if they are all as good as this, then I have no problem with them focusing on just a few people each week.

 

[ctg]

I was impressed with Nick's survival efforts, but that may simply be an indication of how quickly I would die in the desert.

I think Nick is one of those people who can survive all on his own and adapt to the situation. His survival skills could do with a lot of practice to counter the flaws seen in the episode. And to be honest, he did amazingly for surviving forty mile trip to Tijuana. What's more amazing is that their camp looks better than Alexandria or Woodbury, while the people understand the dead, as they have in Mexican/Incan culture for so long time.

Now they have split up, are we going to get a different group story each week?

Well, let's hope this will give strength and dimension to these characters, while they wander around Tijuana, and North-Western Mexico. We had this same thing going after on the way to Terminus. In this case we don't know much about Tijuana Safe-zone.

What we know is that the zombies haven't massed to hordes at this point. At least not into massive one. Although I suspect there's quite large population of them in the urban areas.

Another thing that surprised me was the stupidity of dogs, and their willingness on attacking the dead, while they presented larger group. Would hungry dogs do that?

an he survive now that he is again among the living?

If they have oxy or other opioids, the answer is yes.

 

[nixie]

One of the best episodes we've had from fear, Nick is a complex character, more at home with the dead than the living. If he is to survive he needs to develop a killer instinct and not just a survival.

 

[Dulahan]

All and all I thought it was a descent enough episode. Nick and Strand at the moment are the only two characters I have interest in so I am happy with any stories revolving around them. I think we have to remember that with The Walking Dead we are working off Rick Grimes' narrative, the events of the show start months after the initial outbreak and the WD crew have already retreated to the woods. Once could imagine they put up with many of these hardships but we just didn't see them.

I thought Nick's Bear Grylls moment was fun. Nothing says desperation like drinking your own urine. I have a suspicion that the Cactus Nick 'ate' was not the one he ate. What I mean is, I took the illness and following hallucination of the zombies speaking to him as him having eaten peyote (a hallucinage of the cactus family. American Indians would eat them to go on vision quests and things of that nature.) The thing is, though, what he ate wasn't a peyote plant -- I think this was AMC trying hoping you GET their meaning without going through the liability of showing the viewer what to forage for if they want to get high. I have eaten Cacti before, breaded and fried they a quite good, raw they can be a little bitter. Eating a regular old cactus isn't going to make you sick, more over, they are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and are a source of water in the desert.

For Nick the world hasn't changed much, the zombies are not much different than 'the walking dead' who used to inhabit the slums and back alleys where he would get high. They've made that point a couple times now that this world isn't much different than being a Junkie.

Below is a possible spoiler related to the Graphic Novel and how it might relate to the show. Not all that important but if your in the process of reading the GN (which is way way way ahead of where The Walking Dead is right now) you might not want to look.

Spoiler

Post Negan in The Walking Dead there is a new enemy called, The Whisperers. They are a group of Survivors who wear zombie skin and walk with the hordes. They view themselves as quasi-Zombies themselves. I wonder if this will tie in with Nick somewhere down the road? Could he eventually make his way back to the US and to Washington DC to become a Villain a couple seasons from now? It's a long game to be sure but is an interesting possibility.

 

[REBerg]

As I watched this episode, I thought that Nick's hallucinations were due his dire dehydration, not the cactus he tried to eat. Eating raw cactus is not a good thing, according to this article.

‘Fear the Walking Dead’: Can You Drink Water from a Cactus?

"Fear the Walking Dead portrayed Nick’s reaction correctly. Cactus typically isn’t a good source of potable water."​

 

[Dulahan]

Well I am not an authority on the topic but I have eaten cactus before and I know for a fact that Prickly Pear Cactus the article mentions has been eaten by Mexicans for centuries.

 

[ctg]

Nothing says desperation like drinking your own urine. I have a suspicion that the Cactus Nick 'ate' was not the one he ate. What I mean is, I took the illness and following hallucination of the zombies speaking to him as him

In medical terms Nick hallucinations were probably from heat stress and extreme dehydration. The cactus caused him to vomit and lose a great deal of fluids that he went and replaced with saline rich unfiltered urine in his desperate attempt to keep his fluid in balance.

Here's where the science goes a bit fussy because Nick get extremely thirsty, his kidness try to refilter the stuff, while the amount of salts drive his mind to hallucinate. In a way, that is what happens to dehydrated people in desert. They lose ability to comprehend the details, and while you add to being lost, one can see in how big problem Nick was during those forty six miles to Tijuana.

It's doable in one long hike, but having his leg in such bad shape, the feat Nick pulled out is incredible, and to be honest, he was in God's hands many times out there for being a noob to dangers of Kirkman's world.

 

[Dulahan]

The idea that people hallucinate from dehydration is debatable. It's agree that in sever cases of dehydration you becoming delirious, meaning the inability to understand what is going on around you. People suffering from sever dehydration babble gibberish, but they don't have visions.

I still believe it was a wink and nod toward peyote. Look into what happens on a trip or try some yourself, I think you'll see a relationship to what the show was recreating in the scene.

 

[ctg]

I still believe it was a wink and nod toward peyote. Look into what happens on a trip or try some yourself, I think you'll see a relationship to what the show was recreating in the scene.

Sure. A lot of people see different things in these scenes. Not all those experiences are equal, but at least we can understand that Nick went quite a torment on his way to Tijuana. He also prayed and that was answered.

Anyways this episode was very well done. And @nixie's right as this was better than any other that FTWD has so far produced. Hopefully they continue on this line. I love exploring the Mexican angle.

 

[Dulahan]

I agree, it was the best of the series so far ... but like I said a post or two back ... I am partial to Nick and Strand so anything around them is good in my book.

Over all though I think the show needs to put in some heavy work because it's no where near the quality of The Walking Dead prime.

 

[Judderman]

Very good episode! I wondered if the dog carcass Nick ate from should really have been tainted due to bites from walkers. Remember the problem for that gang who ate infected meat in Walking Dead.
The Walkers seem to leave a lot of meat behind considering how many of them have some bites to eat.

The amount of distance shown on the signs that Nick covered probably should have been reduced but it wasn't totally unbelievable.

It will be interesting to see how the Mexicans are protecting their safe area. The people seem pretty relaxed so obviously they have some supplies access for the moment.

 

[svalbard]

A very good episode. I for one wouldnt mind if the series just stuck with Nick, especially now that Daniel is no longer with us(forgot about his ending). The other characters leave me a bit cold and I wonder how I will get on with an episode devoted to Nick's Mom.

The only jarring thing in the episode was how easily the desperadoes were taken down. They were on a open road facing slow moving zombies. Come on, even I would get away from that.