# Fear the Walking Dead: 1.04 "Not Fade Away" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030 "2015-09-20T23:38:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/21 "2015-09-21T15:32:57Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > This encapsulates my reaction nicely. I didn’t hate this episode, but when they opened with “it’s been nine days…” I was really disappointed. This show gets away with not having any walkers by purporting to be a consideration of how people react to society collapsing during the start of the ZA. > > They essentially skipped over one of the more fundamental periods of that collapse. Society apparently has already collapsed, and the audience has been in a nine day coma. > > Beyond that, the show was just kind of confusing about what is going on. As \*\*grude \*\* pointed out, it doesn’t make much sense to just select a small group of people and exterminate the rest. Moving from where we are at to a fascist state could be one narrative path, but it doesn’t really feel realistic given a starting point of our current reality and just 9 days. If that’s the way you want to take things, fine, but it’s not a yada yada yada kind of situation. You can’t just skip over step 2 and have me buy in at step 3. > > Also, what is up with this show and driving golf balls? Is this the only way they can imagine to convey a detatched and lunatic tyrannical leadership? I agree about it not making sense. I’m hoping it does make some sense as we find out more, but I’m not confident. From my reading between the lines, I’m thinking the setup is something like this. They originally quarantined the area under actual orders through the normal chain of command because it was less infected than other areas, but as things broke down and the local military units got disconnected, they started making up their own rules. Now they are trying to set it up as their domain with the civilians under their control. They are clearly implying that people are being taken away to be killed or isolated so they can die without endangering others, but if that is the case then taking Liza with them doesn’t make sense. It has to be some combination of isolation/culling and an actual hospital, or why take the nursing student? Another possibility might be to try and convince her to become another medical resource by offering her a high status position like that of the doctor. It really makes no sense that the safe zone has had nobody coming from other neighborhoods to try and join. There is no way the military could kill them all before they got seen by the civilian inhabitants, plus many of the rank and file would not just follow orders to kill uninfected children, women, or even unarmed men. I’m hoping they at least address some of this and it’s not incredibly stupid reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/22 "2015-09-21T15:35:18Z")
I liked the tone of this episode. I hope the hospital is a warm and caring place rather than a human trials experiment, just for a twist. What can I say? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/23 "2015-09-21T15:50:06Z")
> [@Gothic](#): > > I liked the tone of this episode. I hope the hospital is a warm and caring place rather than a human trials experiment, just for a twist. > > What can I say? Well, if there’s a sign out front that says “Terminus”, that’s probably a bad omen. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/24 "2015-09-21T16:15:06Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Then again Grady Memorial demonstrated it’s possible to have a functioning hospital once you get the right protocols in place. Wasn’t that the same hospital they tried to take crushed-foot-lady to while it was being overrun? ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/25 "2015-09-21T16:17:19Z")
This show can really become a huge hit if they show Nick getting beat up every week. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/26 "2015-09-21T16:29:48Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > OMG, that mother is just too stupid to live. She cut open the fence, right? Show of hands: who believes she did anything to secure it back once she was inside again? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/27 "2015-09-21T17:20:59Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Wasn’t that the same hospital they tried to take crushed-foot-lady to while it was being overrun? Not likely, this show is set in LA and TWD in Atlanta. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/28 "2015-09-21T18:08:03Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > …Also, what is up with this show and driving golf balls? Is this the only way they can imagine to convey a detatched and lunatic tyrannical leadership? I assumed the officer (First Lieutenant? Second Lieutenant?) found golf balls and clubs in one of the abandoned homes. The fence has been erected, guards posted, patrols being conducted, and food/water is being distributed. He was bored so… why not kill time hitting balls between killing zombies? ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/29 "2015-09-21T18:08:53Z")
Sooo Mom is an Alcoholic. (my guess) And other than mom leaving the compound it was a pretty solid episode. It was certainly the one with the lowest dumb/not dumb ratio yet. but the one scene where mom spots the military guys coming right at her ON AN EMPTY STREET OVER A HILL and we are somehow supposed to believe that she not only sees them first but that by running over to a nearby lifted truck and scooting under it the same military guys COMING OVER A HILL with a direct line of sight at the only moving thing (mom) all manage to somehow not see her. This idiot style writing is why no one gets it when they try and convey anything on the show ever. If I had to infer what they were trying to convey here it would be that the military guys deliberately ignored her because it was so fucking obvious that there is no other explanation. Its a lot like the scene where Morgan ties those guys up and puts them in a car and then honks the horn to summon the zombies to the car…only for some reason we were supposed to believe that Morgan was checking to make sure it was safe for _Reasons_ ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/30 "2015-09-21T18:35:34Z")
Random musings - There are 12 safe zones south of the San Gabriels (the mountains?). The main characters are located in one of them. Nick the junkie acts like a self-absorbed junkie. My wife called it when NtJ refused to take the medicine that his mother offered. If he doesn’t need the medicine - he’s getting his high from somewhere else. Distant light flashes could be an attempt to signal others, random reflected light, muzzle flashes from a silenced firearm??? Does the Nation Guard in California have corpsmen or medics? 3 2 Echo told Ofelia he couldn’t get medicine from the “corpsman”. Are the Marines, or Navy, supporting the NG units? _3 2 Echo this is Bravo Actual standing by while you try to enter the local. Over. 3 2 Echo where the hell is the damn truck._ ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/31 "2015-09-21T18:44:35Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > Junkie kid needs to die! No way; he’s the Great White Hope. Seriously, this show was very deliberately set up to “demonstrate” that even the most screwed-up Anglo-Saxon guy is ultimately going to be a better Leader than anyone else, no matter how much Personal Growth he needs to go through, first. (And clearly the showrunners are planning on a multi-season arc, given how screwed up the Nick character is. “Ultimately” is going to take a long time.) Cliff Curtis and Ruben Blade are both highly-respected performers. But they’re being set up to take the fall for the non-Aryans (as the Kim Dickens character is being set up to take the fall for females). The target demographic for the Walking Dead franchise wants to see that, and that’s what they will get. > [@grude](#): > > You would think US soldiers would have major issues with an order to assume every civilians is infected and shoot on sight, even those not hissing and advancing after center of gravity shots. I mean I am the single most paranoid of government and cynical guy I know without descending into nuttery about FEMA death camp crap but to assume a large amount of soldiers would go along with this 2-3 days after zombies become public info strikes me as like North Korea propaganda level stuff. > Too fast. Yeah. The target audience \*does \*want to see the Gubmint being shown to be a force for evil and incompetence. But the showrunners are using a sledgehammer; they are over-pandering. A bit more subtlety would head off the danger of offending an audience that knows when it’s being manipulated. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/32 "2015-09-21T18:55:10Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > The target demographic for the Walking Dead franchise wants to see that, and that’s what they will get. Written, produced and viewed by rednecks? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/33 "2015-09-21T19:00:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Written, produced and viewed by rednecks? 🙂 You said it; I didn’t. 🆒 But rednecks deserve their own shows, don’t they? PRIDE IN THE NAME OF BADASSERY AND FRIED MOONPIES!! (Or something.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/34 "2015-09-21T19:11:09Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > You said it; I didn’t. 🆒 > > But rednecks deserve their own shows, don’t they? PRIDE IN THE NAME OF BADASSERY AND FRIED MOONPIES!! (Or something.) And they have that duck thing. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/35 "2015-09-21T19:19:07Z")
Then why does the time slot conflict with Nascar? I think the target audience are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/36 "2015-09-21T19:22:39Z")
> [@Gothic](#): > > Then why does the time slot conflict with Nascar? I think the target audience are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. Little bastard shot me in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/37 "2015-09-21T19:26:57Z")
I’ve been wondering how this will get so out of hand as to have these huge hordes or zombies when the military policy seems to be to shoot everyone in the head, infected or not. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/38 "2015-09-21T19:47:48Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > I like the way the episode ended. When I first heard it, I thought Fear the Walking Dead was a dumb title, but Daniel explained it. It isn’t about how zombies destroyed civilization, it’s about how they wounded it, and fear of zombies killed it. This is a really interesting point. I like it. This episode was pretty good. I don’t think they skipped too far ahead. The previous episode ended with the Calvary arriving and they skipped a few days to get the busy work done. Now we get to see the effects of the Military in place. I am curious to see what happens at this hospital We saw the Military murdering civilians in Atlanta hospitals in flash backs on the Parent show but it seems kind of early for order to be that fully gone. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/39 "2015-09-21T20:04:23Z")
In the parent show, we see the Air Force bombing Atlanta. They seem to have missed most of it, considering Rick is seen riding a horse into the city well after this event. In last night’s episode, we see that a guy with a gun got shot by the military. I’d like to think he came out and justified his shooting in some way. On the other hand, our Morse Code guy and the ending seems to indicate that the Army is simply shooting anything that moves in the hot zones. This seems a bit much… but considering we’ve never had a Plague Protocol in real life where the plague victims get up and go hunting for fresh victims to infect… well, I can think of several politicians who’d order it in a minute in real life. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030/40 "2015-09-21T20:11:24Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I’ve been wondering how this will get so out of hand as to have these huge hordes or zombies when the military policy seems to be to shoot everyone in the head, infected or not. We’ve not watched it yet. Does the military know at this point to shoot zombies in the head? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-04-not-fade-away-open-spoilers/732030.md?page=3)