5.03: Fear The Walking Dead - Humbug's Gulch

[L.L.Lotte]

So, surprise appearance of another crossover character in this episode. Dwight showing up was completely unexpected. I honestly had completely forgotten that he was still alive. His attitudes and actions were interesting, still working towards redemption.

Was nice to see John in his natural habitat

"That's a San Antino Split!" While completely implusible the shot was an impressive feat.

So the kids are stringing up the dead. Seems a bit of a forced twist to me...

 

[REBerg]

Unfortunately, Dwight's return was no surprise to me because I had been trusting enough to watch a trailer which revealed Morgan greeting Dwight. That also took the suspense out of Dwight's suicidal contemplation, as he had not yet re-encountered Morgan. No more trailers for me.
I am surprised that the showrunners thought so little of Dwight's reappearance that they threw the revelation away in a promotion. Maybe he won't be around for long.
The whole wild west aspect of setting the episode in a walking dead ghost town had its moments. June was certainly amused to get a peek at John's former performing livelihood.
I don't personally know any kids ambitious enough make such a labor intensive effort o set up protective borders. Their repeated pronouncement that the Fear Gang has no idea about what it has gotten into is making me highly curious about what these children of the corn are protecting.
I suppose that's the intent.

 

[L.L.Lotte]

Yeah, I never watch next episode trailers. Always full of spoilers.

 

[Dave]

So, you've said everything I was going to say. Dwight was a surprise to me because I never watch trailers. It annoys me that the BBC put them just before the News.

Yes, the "San Antonio Split"! It must have been quite a show that John put on when he worked it. Health and Safety must have been a problem though.

And the children. Did they deliberately injure one of themselves to pull that stunt. It does make you ask what they think is so important that they must hide it?

 

[nixie]

I knew for awhile Dwight was coming into fear.
Weird John had to ask Dwight what he meant by Walkers.

After TWD episode when they had to put down the kids nothing surprises me.

Annie and Max used Dylan as a decoy doesn't surprise me, they know more about the g-suits than they are letting on, they also know that they took Al, either they are working with them or have some sort of agreement.

The other question is what are they protecting? A stash of supplies seems unlikely they know about the truck stops. My own theory is they've a colony of younger children to young to fight or scavenge, they've had bad experiences with adults and want to protect them.

 

[ctg]

I love that the trail of zombie-blocks lead to the radio dead zone. To me it was kind of obvious that they were heading into the jamming zone and whoever was other side of it, is very capable of dealing with the technology issues, when there is no supply or spare parts.

I know I often say that they are there to be picked up, but Fear makes it obvious that the work is harder than normal scavenging. It's just I didn't expect to find a Wild West town full of zombies. Also I love that John in very much like me. To him and me, the love is the most important thing. So, it is good to see it flourishing in the small screen.

It is what I need. I am what I am, and it was good to see them finding that armoury. What is better than a cabinet full of ammo and well maintained weapons, when you have almost nothing? Especially in the Dead wasteland.

Lousiana is also right when she said, "There are words and there's action. We took action. If we can crash a plane for someone ... we could die for someone. What ever comes next, how bad can it be?"

I don't get why the dead can walk through a dust storm without getting their face sandblasted off their skulls. Maybe their skins get barked over time. Whatever it is, they are super resilient. More so than the humans. They can even overcome the death by starvation.

Dwight showing up was completely unexpected. I honestly had completely forgotten that he was still alive. His attitudes and actions were interesting, still working towards redemption.

I loved that Dwight got butted in the head for putting John in danger. He deserved it for all he did in the TWD. He killed so many and he did so many horrendous things. And even though he did turn at the end, it wasn't ever going to make him better man, because he had lost his wife.

All he ever wants is to get that love back. Just like I miss Viv. John did right thing, when he saved his life, because all life is precious. You have to love the other, because that's all we have.

It doesn't surprise me that John told Dwight the whole story about Judith. And he knew that D had been driven. If you'd meet me in real, you'd think me as mix of two as I'm scary, but lovable.

The whole wild west aspect of setting the episode in a walking dead ghost town had its moments.

I liked the piano escape and the whole, but I also agree that the whole "walkers" line could had been replaced by something better. What I didn't like was that John kept shooting and attracting more of them. It's like he cannot get the sound aspect. Then again, Dee wasn't better. He got himself in trouble for the note, he could have gone to get later.

I lost a loved one, but it doesn't mean I have to act stupidly. Dwight had made his mistakes and he never had forgiven himself for those. I had not choice but to accept who I am, and try my very best to make Viv's life the fullest.

She said to me at the end, "You are a good man, and a good carer. You gave me so many lives, when I could have passed away."

It would be wrong for me to abandon what I love, and I am now proud of what I've become, even if I'm hurting at inside. If I could, I would love to write an episode for the Fear. I would never touch TWD, but this series is better. It has that shine that makes it feel good, even if the setting are dire. That's what life was for Viv for twelve years that I cared for her.

She gave me love and I did everything I could to keep her alive. It was a survival situation and maybe that is the reason why I love Kirkman's world so much. It just reflects the reality so very well. We can all do so much for each other, if we don't give in to the anger.

The other question is what are they protecting?

It is a good question. Anyone who's able to do that know much about the dead, and they don't want anyone inside the perimeter. I'm suspecting a government base, or something similar.

The best Dead - a sign zombie. The Fear really has done better with the Dead than TWD. They really have listened us and made sure that all incarnations are better than before. It made me laugh to see him warning passerby's.

 

[Judderman]

I quite enjoyed this, though the last few mins were a letdown. The absurd axe gunshot trick was poor comedy. And then the kids being responsible for the cool Walker fences and heads on trees meant there was no interesting threat reveal. And people could easily have cut one fence and then moved into the centre of the circle. But maybe there are enough threats already. Earlier on there was some entertaining stuff. I think radiation is supposed to pass to the air though..

 

[Dave]

...And people could easily have cut one fence and then moved into the centre of the circle. But maybe there are enough threats already...

This bothered me too, but I didn't think to mention it. If they are so concerned/intrigued/interested in what is in the middle of the circle, then why spend all of that time mapping it, and clearing all the fences? They only need to clear one of the fences for access. It isn't important or necessary for every road to be cleared. Just go to the centre of the mapped circle and find out what is there. As far as the characters go, the threat/danger imposed by the unnecessary clearing of every road block makes no sense. So, as a plot device to increase the tension, as viewer it breaks my suspension of disbelief, and it takes me out of the story.

 

[ctg]

Just go to the centre of the mapped circle and find out what is there. As far as the characters go, the threat/danger imposed by the unnecessary clearing of every road block makes no sense. So, as a plot device to increase the tension, as viewer it breaks my suspension of disbelief, and it takes me out of the story.

It's just they didn't really have a time to go into it, before they were pulled away from the fence at the end. They could have advanced the plot quite a bit, but I think it was fine there was enough of it to get a clear picture.

And then the kids being responsible for the cool Walker fences and heads on trees meant there was no interesting threat reveal.

I don't think that they were building them, but taking a part and they were heading into the circle to explore. Hence they needed to get Fear gang to go back to the truck stop.

 

[Dave]

They have gone right around in a circle mapping every fence with an X on a map. Why waste time doing that?

 

[ctg]

Why waste time doing that?

To have an easy away in, a hidden backdoor that you could use to get in and out from the zone, without having to rebuild the zombie-fences. The shot that dropped the zombie on the fence, came from the inside, but we saw no living. All we really know that somebody alive is doing all this. So they must have a way to do things outside the zone. I mean how could they have been able to drive the Zombie-wagon in it? The kids could not have been able to do it, could they?

 

[REBerg]

They have gone right around in a circle mapping every fence with an X on a map. Why waste time doing that?

I didn't think about it while I watched, but yeah. The whole "X marks the spot" thing would have made a lot more sense if they had been trapped in the middle looking for a way out.
At least the procedure gave Luciana something to do while she recovered from her injury.

 

[Jeffbert]

Is this show on the same timeline as TWD? As I recall, 6 or 7 years had passed, and most cars & other motor vehicles no longer run. But, in fear, there is no shortage of working cars. Unless I am mistaken, gasoline will degrade after so long. lead-acid batteries also will fail. For that matter, any kind of battery will.

I like Dwight; he got stuck in a bad situation, along with others who served Negan. Unlike them, Dwight did not enjoy his job.

 

[Dave]

Is this show on the same timeline as TWD?

Yes, we had a big jump in time between Seasons, that allowed it to catch up, and for Morgan to join them.

Gasoline might get contaminated with water or dirt, and it might evaporate, but inside a closed tank it should be okay after 10 years. Cars have mostly stopped running because they ran out of fuel or crashed, but they would have had mechanical failures too. I'm assuming that the cars still running were stolen from someone else. I doubt that you could find a car on the road and get it to work. There will be people (like whoever Daniel got his garage from) who could fix vehicles up given time, materials, equipment and protection (people like Eugene in TWD.) I'm assuming that the SWAT tank vehicle came from that garage too (which is how Althea knows Daniel.) I think you do have a point about the lead-acid batteries though. A 5-year life is average for them.