# Fear the Walking Dead: 1.05 "Cobalt" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774 "2015-09-27T23:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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 28, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/41 "2015-09-28T21:37:58Z")
> [@LurkerInNJ](#): > > Really? > > So far, he’s been the quickest to react. > > He was the first person we saw to point out that the dead are indeed dead, that there was a real problem, he didn’t waste a single second in getting his ass out of the church and away from his brain snacking girlfriend, he was smart enough to talk the nurse into doing something with his restraints and he ended up making a break for it, he not only gets away from gun-toting Calvin but he ends up killing him AND saving his mother and step-father’s life shortly afterwards because of his quick thinking, fast reaction and lack of denial about the situation; i.e no Calvin, are you sick? b.s. True enough. But in the very next episode, he gets his fix and seems intent on coasting along same as always, despite the fact that EVERYONE is starting to wake up to the fact that things are changing. Still trying to figure out if this is Nick being a junkie, or just the writers sliding the scale back and forth on his native smarts… ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/42 "2015-09-28T21:47:01Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > I’d like to see what it looks like for an infantry platoon to actually be wiped out by unintelligent monsters with no ranged weapons. Original-recipe TWD got around that by starting mid-apocalypse, and I guess FTWD won’t be bothering either. So, my usual complaint remains intact - the zombies just aren’t a serious enough threat to bring civilization to its knees. Agreed completely. They even lampshaded that fact this episode, with crazy commander guy telling the grunts to quit their bellyaching, skin bags don’t shoot back. Armed military squads should be able to mow these things down with impunity. They have no range attack, they have no stealth capability, they have no survival instinct. They’re just barely one small step above shooting range targets in terms of their threat to trained soldiers. EDIT: I can imagine scenarios the zombies “win”, like say the soldiers are clearing a building and 50 zombies are in the apartment above them and the floor collapses, dropping a swarm of walker directly onto the soldiers. But every plausible scenario that results in soldier casualties is about as exotic as that. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/43 "2015-09-28T21:47:57Z")
> [@grude](#): > > You could be generous and see it as character development, the kids are now realizing none of it matters that family is never coming back to that house and it is a new world where none of the old shit matters anymore. Or as The Far Side’s Gary Larson says - > **[Le Chat Noir Boutique: Far Side - No Size Restrictions Fishing 1986, Far...](https://lechatnoirboutique.com/proddetail.php?prod=FSNSLCM)** > > Far Side "No Size Restrictions" Fishing coffee mug. Reads: "I'll tell you what this means Norm - - no size restrictions and screw the limit". ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/44 "2015-09-28T21:58:55Z")
_World War Z_ (book, not movie) did a decent job of showing how the military could suffer defeats initially: overwhelmed by sheer numbers, an enemy that never tires, over-reliance on conventional fighting tactics that don’t work with zombies, and the non-Hollywood reality of running out of ammunition. There are ways FTWD could have made the skin bags seem like more of a threat; it’s unfortunate they haven’t bothered (yet). ---
**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 28, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/45 "2015-09-28T22:03:25Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > _World War Z_ (book, not movie) did a decent job of showing how the military could suffer defeats initially: overwhelmed by sheer numbers, an enemy that never tires, over-reliance on conventional fighting tactics that don’t work with zombies, and the non-Hollywood reality of running out of ammunition. There are ways FTWD could have made the skin bags seem like more of a threat; it’s unfortunate they haven’t bothered (yet). **TroutMan** beat me to it; the book is quite explicit on exactly how several million zombies marching in a horde can break an infantry platoon. So naturally, the movie did not show this pivotal scene from the book. And neither has anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/46 "2015-09-28T22:34:30Z")
> [@Gothic](#): > > I liked it, Cobolt was darker than I expected, but do watches and cufflinks have any value at this point? That struck me as a particularly ineffective bribe, in a world full of abandoned jewelry stores. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/47 "2015-09-28T22:53:22Z")
It dawned on me just now: I don’t have a working TV, and I always watch the next day online. Never ONCE have I forgotten to watch TWD on Monday morning. This is the 3rd time I totally forgot to watch FTWD. I think that kinda says something… ---
**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 28, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/48 "2015-09-28T23:31:14Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > That struck me as a particularly ineffective bribe, in a world full of abandoned jewelry stores. True, but the world’s only been ended for two weeks. Some of 'em are quicker on the uptake than others. That being said, you’d think the military would be in a position to know, particularly how we’ve found that they’re keeping a LOT from our survivors… ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/49 "2015-09-28T23:49:07Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I started out being bored with Travis. I am now actively disliking him. This is a guy who is apparently not very smart, does NOT know how to deal with his SON, of all people, and a disturbingly weak person who compulsively calls the Lieutenant “Sir” despite the fact he’s a civilian. Does he cowboy up, or does he get kilt and his wife takes the ball? And can we get TO that anytime soon? Ditto, and this week I actually said, “Would you GROW A PAIR ALREADY?” to TV Travis. > [@](#): > > As usual, Ruben Blades carries it off with quiet aplomb. I just kind of figured he’s already figured out that his wife is toast, and is simply doing what he can, trying to save his daughter. He’s the best thing about the show. My live FB comment (there’s a group) was, “Daniel Salazar is a badass is a sea of bourgeois namby-pambies. Then again, he survived El Salvador in the 80s.” \* His character’s background also reminds us that, nope, you \*really \*don’t want to get on the truck when the military shows up and tells you to do that at gunpoint. Not that, at gunpoint, you have much choice, but at that point you have to be wary and think fast. > [@](#): > > And yeah, we knew that the military’s bugging out, I saw that coming last week… but now we know they’re going to “humanely pacify” the surviving civilian population. Do we get a big battle next week? Is this what we’re saving up the budget money for? Or do we get Travis sitting in the house looking constipated while we hear screams and gunshots and explosions outside? > > I’m in suspense for the finale… but for all the wrong reasons. I think we should let Daniel Salazar and Nick the Junkie handle it. With a side of Satanic Black Guy Who Won’t Sell Insurance. I wouldn’t bet someone else’s farm on Travis. I don’t think he’ll realize that things are well and truly screwed until a millisecond before a soldier’s bullet “humanely” pierces his brain. Maddie, though…she’s coming around pretty quickly. She’ll be a survivor, I think. > [@grude](#): > > They need to do a fucking draft or something like it, the zombies go down with regular caliber guns the military must have access to an armory. This does make me wonder how small we can go. How about a nail gun, with a good-sized nail inside? And why wouldn’t the military vet people, figure out who can and will shoot once they know what’s up, and get them working? I was also yelling, “PULL THE TRIGGER!” at Travis. I’d love to try a 50-cal. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > That struck me as a particularly ineffective bribe, in a world full of abandoned jewelry stores. Soldier guy’s brain hasn’t processed this yet. He’s on the mission, and probably hasn’t figured out (or doesn’t know?) that the rest of the world is the same as LA. \*I’m assuming the time was the 1980s, since Daniel has mentioned the forced disappearances. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/50 "2015-09-28T23:51:24Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > My WAG is that those agencies are technically civilians and they are going to prioritize taking care of their own families. Plus a lot of them got et during the riots… The military would run into the same problem. Though it’s possible they’ve secure d military dependents on the bases; that’s be an even more effective way of discouraging desertion than summary execution, but if everyone already has the dormant pathogen in them even the most well guarded fortress can fall from within. By the current setting of TWD Mt Weather is likely a giant hermetically sealed tomb filled with zombies. > [@doorhinge](#): > > …The English teacher’s ex-wife is learning to be the nurse she always wanted to be. While the government has reassigned trained hospital staff to St. Anywhere Else, they would have no control over where a civilian volunteer would be assigned, especially if the government didn’t know the ex-wife was working with the detention center doctor… Civilian volunteer or not Liza’s stuck at the detention center know; they’re too short staffed to allow her to leave willingly (on the plus she might qualify for a seat on the evac choppr). > [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > …The whole point of the show was to “show how the zombie apocalypse began, whatall happened when Rick was in a coma.” They have not. They have shown us a screwed up dysfunctional family standing around being confused while a zombie apocalypse happened somewhere in the background…Last week, I thought the Lieutenant was an idiot for his attitude toward civilians. This week, I decided he was insane for not allowing his men to sleep after fifty hours of patrols, and setting up a fifty caliber sniper rifle to shoot a zombie less than fifty yards away…As usual, Ruben Blades carries it off with quiet aplomb. I just kind of figured he’s already figured out that his wife is toast, and is simply doing what he can, trying to save his daughter… Agreed, they’re skipping over as much of the being of the zombie apocalypse as they can so we can cut to TWD 2.01. The only reason this is a prequel at all is avoid having to start out with seasoned survivor’s with their own backstory. The Lieutenant is a Hollywood cliché left over from the Vietnam war era. On the other hand I liked the reveal that Mr. Salazar was part of the death squads during the Salvadoran Civil War instead of just a refugee. 🙂 > [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > …although now that I think about it, if we’re shooting civilians to cut down on zombies, why the hell are we locking up thousands of zombies in a convention center and then just walking away and leaving them to beat on the doors? They’re going to break those chains eventually… Poor planning and/or they’re waiting for air support to show up and bomb the stadium. > [@Sampiro](#): > > Rumor is there’s an English series underway that’s set in the Walking Dead-verse. Has anybody else heard this? I can’t find anything online except passing mentions. > > ETA: Perhaps that should be “Rumo_ **u** _r is”. Cue Prince Charles finally becoming King only for his mother rise up from her deathbed and bite him. 😃 > [@Quimby](#): > > …My prediction: HardNosed second wife dies (I am terrible with names, she is the Junkie’s Mom) leaving bleeding heart husband stuck learning to survive in a hard edged world by himself with both their children. I sure hope Maddie doesn’t die right away. We only 2-3 weeks into the apocalypse and she’s already total cool with a US soldier being tortured (possibly to death) in her basement if helps her find her son. :eek: If she lives long enough for the timeline to catch up w/ TWD she’s going to make Carol look like the upper middle class soccer mom she’s pretending to be in Alexandria. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/51 "2015-09-29T01:09:45Z")
The problem with this show is the budget. The collapse of civilization is expensive. Showing a realistic threat to trained soldiers is expensive. Instead we get “stay in the car Carl…err Travis” and “nine days later…”. If they were going to half ass it they shouldn’t have bothered. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/52 "2015-09-29T02:07:58Z")
I think the entire reason for the kids trash a house to because the only reason daughter is even on the show is to be the young hottie and they needed a reason for her to play dress up. As usual I find myself asking Why to I watch this crap? the writers of this show seem to have the concept of random reinforcement down, every so often they come up with an episode worth watching and you kinda get your hopes up again. ---
**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 29, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/53 "2015-09-29T02:15:13Z")
Well, they only had six episodes to work with. You’d think they could give us six half decent episodes without having to drag it out. I am inclined to agree with **DigitalC**. But this is the kind of thinking that durn near sank TWD back in the second season, when AMC was shoveling all the money at “Mad Men…” ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/54 "2015-09-29T02:23:46Z")
Also, i don’t think Ruben Blades went to check if the soldiers story was true. They are going to get slaughtered in the morning, there is no time for a side trip. He went there to free the zombies to either create a diversion for the soldiers or wipe them outright. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/55 "2015-09-29T02:39:53Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Also, i don’t think Ruben Blades went to check if the soldiers story was true. They are going to get slaughtered in the morning, there is no time for a side trip. He went there to free the zombies to either create a diversion for the soldiers or wipe them outright. I think it was both to check to see if it was true so he could use them as a distraction. Or we are both wrong and he has season tickets. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/56 "2015-09-29T04:51:33Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The problem with this show is the budget. The collapse of civilization is expensive. Showing a realistic threat to trained soldiers is expensive. Instead we get “stay in the car Carl…err Travis” and “nine days later…”. If they were going to half ass it they shouldn’t have bothered. I dispute this often offered excuse, action scenes involving zombie hordes assaulting the military are expensive. But a bunch of extras rioting and looting a grocery are cheap, and showing neighbors talking to each other about disease paranoia, or EMTs or ER personnel dealing with newly risen dead are no more expensive than showing us family game night. We’re not supposed to be in the time period where zombie make up is award winning, these are supposed to be people who superficially look alive. The budget excuse is horse doody. I wanted to see the early paranoia and fear and creeping realization that this isn’t going to pass and life and society is changed forever. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/57 "2015-09-29T04:54:16Z")
Does it occur to anyone else the real tragedy at least in this universe is that there was no reason for society to collapse if people just culturally adopted a new funeral rite? Your loved one passes you do the thing. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/58 "2015-09-29T10:00:40Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Does it occur to anyone else the real tragedy at least in this universe is that there was no reason for society to collapse if people just culturally adopted a new funeral rite? > > Your loved one passes you do the thing. Good point. As a bonus, capitalism would take over, and there would be people you could pay to do the thing. And religions would figure out how to work it in to a ceremony. They aren’t thinking hard enough! > [@grude](#): > > I wanted to see the early paranoia and fear and creeping realization that this isn’t going to pass and life and society is changed forever. Me, too. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/59 "2015-09-29T14:02:49Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Also, i don’t think Ruben Blades went to check if the soldiers story was true. They are going to get slaughtered in the morning, there is no time for a side trip. He went there to free the zombies to either create a diversion for the soldiers or wipe them outright. Everyone keeps talking about Blades going to the stadium, but I don’t think that happened yet. That was in the preview for the next episode, and we all know how the previews can be deceiving. For example, it shows him going to the stadium after he says to the soldier that he went there to check it out, so either the preview re-ordered the scenes or it is shown as a flashback after he talks to the soldier. If it’s a flashback, you’re probably correct because they will show him releasing the zombies for later in the episode and only show part of the stadium scene before that. Something like it will have him tell the soldier that he confirmed the soldier’s story, then flashback to him confirming it, then at or near the end of the episode continue the flashback to show that he actually released the doors. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774/60 "2015-09-29T14:46:20Z")
I thought it was the last scene of the episode and also on the preview. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-1-05-cobalt-open-spoilers/732774.md?page=4)