6.12: Fear the Walking Dead - In Dreams

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Grace wakes up with a case of amnesia and sees what has become of her friends after she has been gone for years, and she struggles to put the puzzle pieces together on what has transpired.

 

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Well, as always and I don't know why, but the dream scenes seems to be the weakest ones in any series. This is no different to the Fear. Maybe the reason for it is that it breaks the traditional world model and introduces something that might be or most likely never happen.

I know when we write dream scenes in the books, it is the same problem. So what is the solution?

I personally hated the pink trees and white haired zombies. Why would the Dead age? Then again, looking at everything, extra 16 years has done nothing to solve the problem and somehow, after 25 years they haven't turned to dust.

I think that's a problem with the dream worlds, especially in the genre settings. The sense of disbelief becomes so, so very narrow. In this episode those twenty five years has brought up a community of survivors that could be living in a small town in the US. They even have plastic bags to store fertilizer.

The Old Man Morgan couldn't believe Grace's presence in the future and to be frank, it would be freakish to see my own grave. Grace however wasn't shocked. None of them were as all of them seemed to be perfectly fine with Grace-from-the-past. Even "Dr Dorie" wasn't freaked out by the encounter.

That is the problem with the dream scenes. But I loved seeing the old person versions of our beloved main characters. Maybe the most amazing thing was seeing Daniel being almost fine in his old man barber role.

Dwight, however, scared me. With that beard he looked like the pale rider.

Thing is, Grace started to disbelief in the world she'd imagined. She didn't think it was plausible, as the real world one is reeking and teetering in its joints. When the car blew up and Grace woke for second time, the plausibility of the dream world went further down and I couldn't figure out what could they do to save the episode.

So I just let it roll.

The reality was super bleak. Why Morgan didn't tried to deliver the baby in the Dam camp, why he thought that he needed June's hospital to get the baby out. I'm pretty sure there's other people who could've acted in the midwife role instead of driving into Riley's trap.

I get why they chose to show Athena, because losing the baby is one of the hardest things in the world. And one of the first things I thought when I saw the pink trees was that she was in the Heaven. What I didn't get is that she was visiting angels.

Did the baby absorb all the radiation from mum? Is that what happened?

The key. Dave was right. It's the nuclear Armageddon that Teddy wants. Athena said, "It is the cost of peace," which made me to think about that submarine marooned on dry land. Maybe it is still functional after sitting there all these years. Now, the question is, is there going to be a launch or one big boom?

 

[REBerg]

I'm with you on the dream thing. Emotional story here, but a long, tedious way to deliver a dead baby.
Dream or no dream, the idea that Athena's birth and Grace's death somehow inspired all the bickering factions to live together in peace and harmony was only slightly more believable than the concept of hungry corpses roaming the earth. Does somebody in the upper Fear hierarchy harbor some really negative Mother's Day memories?
This episode seemed to clarify the importance of the much-sought-after key. That again made me wonder why Teddy's cult is wasting time and resources eliminating other communities if the grand plan is to create a nuclear wasteland. Just killing time while searching for the key?

 

[ctg]

Does somebody in the upper Fear hierarchy harbor some really negative Mother's Day memories?

According to them it was an unfortunate accident. The episode was shot way before and somebody cocked the broadcast date in the office. It was not planned.

 

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That again made me wonder why Teddy's cult is wasting time and resources eliminating other communities if the grand plan is to create a nuclear wasteland. Just killing time while searching for the key?

Thing is and I already explained it before, a nuclear launch is not an easy thing to do even if you had the key. Also they key in her dream was copper, while the one Morgan was carrying was metal colour.

 

[REBerg]

Thing is and I already explained it before, a nuclear launch is not an easy thing to do even if you had the key. Also they key in her dream was copper, while the one Morgan was carrying was metal colour.

Not easy in our world, perhaps, but in the chaotic Walking Dead alternate reality? Who's going to be updating launch codes and accounting for keys?
Maybe Crazy Teddy was in the Pentagon when DC went down and collected a few trinkets on his way out of town. Could be the reason he's built his new society underground.

 

[ctg]

Maybe Crazy Teddy was in the Pentagon when DC went down and collected a few trinkets on his way out of town. Could be the reason he's built his new society underground.

Maybe, he certainly is a mystery. If he is as you say then we are in deep doo doo.

 

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I was thinking last night about how to make this episode better or at least how to fix it with a minimum intervention. And I believe AMC only needs to add a very brief segment at the beginning that shows a crash (cracked windshield etc.) and then while it fades to black, we hear Morgan going mental, saying: "Oh, no, no, no... Grace! GRACE..." as his voice gets distant.

The audience needs to understand the Heaven aspect more clearly and using the Dead in there is a kind of wrong thing to do. It might fit Kirkman's world Heaven, but it's not matching with the general audience understanding of the place. But taking them out and redoing the whole scene is too monumental. So, with that little change in the beginning the idea of something horrible happening introduces the switch and then, when we see Grace again, it makes more sense.

It also shows Morgan's instabilities and fits more into his character and what he used to be in the TWD. A dangerous man with a shattered, unstable mind.

 

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"What I saw... they weren't my last moments," Grace realizes. "They were hers. I thought it was going to be different. But it was just a dream. It was just a dream."

"Roy Orbison sings in the song about ‘in dreams, I walk with you,’ and that's what we've seen her do with Athena. So for Grace to be listening to that, she's manifesting this idea that 'all I have to do is get through this, and then that dream can happen,'" co-showrunner Ian Goldberg explains on Fear the Walking Dead: Episode Insider. "And of course, the devastating part is everything she experiences is ultimately only a dream, and that none of it's going to come to pass in reality."


In reality, Goldberg explains, "Grace knows from her experience working in the power plant that often pregnant moms, the radiation exposure they have will go to the baby. And it was something that she believed based on the dream that maybe it was the opposite, where she absorbed it all and the baby didn't get it. You know, her initial instinct turned out to be right."

Fear the Walking Dead Showrunner Confirms SPOILER's Cause of Death

Spoiler warning for Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 12, 'In Dreams.' Grace (Karen David) [...]

comicbook.com

"The moment when Lennie put the baby in my arms, it just broke me," David told Decider about filming Athena's death scene, released online in the video above. "You know, I've done a lot of research, I talked to my family, my dearest friends who have been through this, I sat through copious amounts of interviews with different families who were so brave and courageous to talk about their experiences of infancy loss. My tears were for all of them. My tears were for my family, my tears were for my dearest friends. I cried hard for them. And it wasn't really acting in that moment."

"It just broke me," David said. "But to be surrounded by such an incredibly supportive and loving crew you know, even Ramon [Engle] and Kris [Hardy], our cameramen, AD cameraman, they were right there with me. They were there, like they said, 'we've got you Karen, we got you, you don't have to worry about a thing. You just do what you have to do.' The whole crew just kept coming up to me right from day one giving me hugs and cheering me on saying, 'We love you. We love Grace.'"

Fear the Walking Dead's Heart-Wrenching Delivery Scene Released Online

Spoiler warning for Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 12, 'In Dreams.' Grace (Karen David) [...]

comicbook.com

 

[REBerg]

Nice try, FTWD showrunners.
Even if they had had the foresight to avoid scheduling this episode on Mother's Day, it was still flawed by the dream presentation.

 

[Dave]

Well, as always and I don't know why, but the dream scenes seems to be the weakest ones in any series.

I'm with you on the dream thing.

Me too. In Star Trek: TNG, Star Trek: DS9 and Stargate-SG1, they remain the weakest episodes. Writers seem to love them though. They can show scenes and put characters in situations that couldn't happen any other way, but it isn't real; the audience dismisses it because they know it isn't real. In the end, it seems like a waste of time and just a missed episode, when the real story could have been advanced further instead.

The key. Dave was right. It's the nuclear Armageddon that Teddy wants.

Yes, I remembered the key from earlier. There is also the nuclear sub in the middle of the desert (which may have been a dry river bed and could be something to do with the dam not containing any water???)

This episode seemed to clarify the importance of the much-sought-after key.

I already explained it before, a nuclear launch is not an easy thing to do even if you had the key.

Yes, you did say about launch codes.

Who's going to be updating launch codes and accounting for keys?

True, but on the other hand, who is going to have written them down on a pad next to the key. They'll be in a folder inside a locked safe, or in a password protected computer file.

That again made me wonder why Teddy's cult is wasting time and resources eliminating other communities if the grand plan is to create a nuclear wasteland. Just killing time while searching for the key?

That doesn't make much sense does it?

 

[Jeffbert]

Gray-haired Morgan reminded me of a character in SOUTHPARK'S IMAGINATIONLAND story. Though unidentified, I was thinking he was supposed to be Uncle Remus.

I hope nobody is offended by this!


But, anyway, this was definitely a weird episode.

 

[nixie]

Not sure I've I liked this one, Grace's dream was more on how she wants the world to be. We now know Teddy has the key, I'm no military expert but surely a run of the mill key wouldn't launch a missile or give you entry into a submarine. It could be the key to a strong box that they think contain the codes.
I liked Athena, shame she was just a dream and we won't see her again.

 

[svalbard]

That was a stark ending. Grace lives and the baby dies. Utterly stark. From the almost beauty of the dream surrounds to the grime and filth of the real world. TWD universe at it's depressing worst. The lady who plays Grace is a wonderful actor.