Fear the Walking Dead: 1.05 "Cobalt" (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
61

The budget doesn’t HAVE to be the excuse. They pulled off some convincing riots with a couple dozen extras and a couple of burning cars.

I don’t NEED to see all three million zombies marching into San Bernadino. A low camera angle and a couple of dozen zombies all clawing at the chainlink would do it. That’s where “informed ability” comes in. Two dozen zombies clawing at the chainlink, and a burst of radio chatter, “There’s THREE MILLION of them! It’s every zombie in LA, and they’re HERE!” In much the same way that you didn’t need horses in the studio to do a radio show. There are shortcuts, there are ways around this.

And FTWD gives us Travis sitting in the humvee.

Perhaps what I’m irked about is that I want to see these characters reacting to actual events, as opposed to reacting to their own ignorance. I wanna see Travis react to that newscast from *Night Of The Living Dead *where the incredulous newscaster says, “…the recently dead are… reanimating… and they are eating their victims!” We did get a little of that. We could have used more. Travis is learning, but mighod, he’s doin’ it mighty slow, and very much in contrast to Salazar’s cold pragmatism, Madison’s rapid adaptability, and Nick’s calm recognition of the facts (and prompt ignoring of them when opiates become available).

Salazar at the stadium was the last scene of the episode, where the zombies are growling and banging at the chained doors.

Funeral rites: neat idea, but unlikely. A plot point early on in the original Dawn Of The Dead involves a tenement full of Catholics who can’t bear to mutilate their dead… so they dump zombies in their basement. And plenty of zombie movies have situations where a loved one dies… reanimates… and bites two or three relatives who are still paralyzed with grief. Hell, *Walking Dead *does this at one point, with the family who takes in the Governor, when Grandpa dies of lung cancer… and only the Governor’s rapid action saves everyone.

62

He’s already woken up. His family was sitting in the house like chum when he figured out he better get next door and steal that gun. He’s been first in line all along.

There is a difference between taking a wait and see attitude while you watch things unfold and coasting along. Junkies always have one eye open for opportunity.

When you’ve already caught on to what is going on and you are not in immediate danger, why run around in a circle screaming?

63

oddly - that and the scene with the 50 was the closest we got to building a “fear” - this character slowly coming to the realization that everything he thought he knew was about to change - and that he would have to come to terms with this change.

He was trusting the military to do the right thing - he was believing that ‘everything would return to normal’ - and that world just got nuked.

blond and blades was to show us that they are already moved beyond that theory and were willing to do ‘anything’ - blond knows these aren’t human, blades now realizes the ‘real’ threat as well as teh secondary one (and what the secondary one was willing to do).

64

I’m still very disappointed at the holes in this tale. Last episode, it seemed that nobody knew squat about reanimation. Certainly nobody talked about it. They saw a couple of people who had changed, but nobody witnessed a transformation. The Army was there to deal with “infection”. Certainly none of the main characters were at all worried about people dying among them. Presumably, if you weren’t “infected” in your quarantine zone, you didn’t have to worry about zombification. Unknown to us, and unknown to the characters we’re following, was the fact that all dead people rise. Presumably the ‘authorities’ knew, which brought forth their protocols for removal of the sick, and the captive bolt gun. But that didn’t seem to be general knowledge.

Then comes this episode, and somehow, magically, everybody seems unfazed at the sight of a zombie. Travis is upset at the idea of killing one himself, but doesn’t raise a word of question about the fact of zombies nor the long distance identification of one. Or, indeed, about the irreversibility of this “disease” they’ve been quarantined against. And ex-wife seems equally unsurprised, even nonplussed, at the captive bolt gun. She accepts the hurry-up admonition, but seems to already know about and expect transformation.

Bad enough the 9 day gap, which was exactly the part of this fake history we all wanted to see. But now, unless there was a similar gap between these episodes, no explanation is offered and no plot development explains the quite different mind set of the players. Bad writing, once again.

65

This small group (and probably other safe zones) do not yet have the information they need to “think harder”. Less than two weeks have passed since the start of Zombiegeddon and TV, radio, phone systems, and the internet are not functioning. THAT fact alone would be driving me crazy. With no information (except what is being supplied by the armed defenders), I would assume, and prepare for, a worst-case scenario. What happens when the MREs and bottled water stop being delivered? While money and gold may still be important, lead would become a necessity.

Shortwave radio operators and DIYs with crystal sets would/should become the main stream media. As a fan of zombie movies I can buy into the reanimated dead storyline, but it’s very difficult to believe the relative calm shown by people who have no idea what’s going on in the world outside of the fence.

66

Was it? I’m not sure because I already deleted the episode. Either way, we’ll find out what he does next episode.

67

I’ve been griped at about my complaints here. “What, you want the same stuff as every other zombie movie, with screaming crowds and news broadcasts and stuff?”

Not necessarily. But news broadcasts, internet communication, and all this other stuff is very much a part of our daily lives. It sets the background. And it’s the first real clue a lot of us ever get when something is off.

The major lifeshocking event that altered my whole society that I can think of offhand is 9/11. If you made a TV show about ME during that time, it would begin with some spooky chatter on a bus… a few remarks made by passersby… and finally, my determination, during a break in my day, to go find a news outlet of some sort and find out what the hell was going ON.

“But a zombie apocalypse happens slower than that did!” I am told.

Yes, but when half the kids weren’t showing up at school because of some kind of plague or fear of plague, as shown in the pilot episode, doesn’t that kind of demand some sort of information gathering response? What, the mainstream media just didn’t cover it? Either that or it makes our protagonists look like idiots. Except when they’re breaking into private property and/or killing their employers and then sneaking off and not telling anyone about it.

The fact is… most zombie fiction simply isn’t very good. I’m fond of the art form, but even I will tell you that only one in ten zombie movies are any good at all, and the ratio is worse for written fiction. And I’m astonished that TWD developed into a pretty good series, particularly after that wretched second season.

So if Fear The Walking Dead is going to take a paint by numbers premise, peachy. But let it make sense, folks.

68

I’m with you.

The elements of good fiction apply to all, not just to “great works”. The plot should make rational sense, and the characters should act in a believable manner. Our suspension of disbelief can deal with the elephant in the parlor (ZOMBIES EXIST!) perfectly well, that being the motivator for the actions the authors’ characters play out. But the world is still the rational world that we know (except for the strange lack of zombie literature) with a 24 hour news cycle and some folks who own HAM radios. And the people are still people, who should act like the actual people we know, not like – well, like characters provided by a poor crafter of fiction.

Twain describes a scene from a Fenimore Cooper novel wherein The Injuns are hiding up in a tree over the river, down which is passing an enormous flatboat occupied by Cooper’s heroes. The Injuns watch, and watch, and watch as the huge boat passes slowly beneath them, until finally one of them jumps – barely hitting the aft end of the boat. So the next Injun jumps, and lands in the water behind the boat. Followed by the next Injun, who lands even farther behind the boat…

I’m beginning to see the characters in FTWD more and more as Cooper Indians.

69

Well, I could fill a whole thread with annoying plot holes.

  1. Why does Travis sneak out to the junkie church, find a big puddle of gore, and then not tell anyone? Why does he then sneak his WIFE out later to go look at the puddle of gore, and then NEITHER of them tell anyone?

  2. When Madison bludgeons her boss to death to save a student, why doesn’t SHE tell anyone? At this point, she doesn’t know he’s already dead. If MY boss went insane and tried to eat someone, I’d at least try to get medical help (yeah, yeah, the lines are jammed, I know, but SHE didn’t.)

  3. Does NO one in this community own a radio? Or has the govvamint shut down all the radio stations? Or censored them? We don’t KNOW!

  4. Why is everyone so determined to keep everyone else in the dark? Travis won’t tell Nick what he saw in the church, Madison doesn’t tell ANYONE that she smashed her boss’s head in, and the military doesn’t seem to want to do anything except belittle the civilians. Does NO one understand the value of communication, even in LIES? Or propaganda? Man in real life, if you isolate a group of ordinary civilians in ANY part of the USA, and cut off their communications… bud, you’d better be ready to break out some really first class lies, and have some mighty long arms. Because in LA, at night, you can get AM radio from Mexico easily enough, and I am told when reception is good, you can get stations out of Vancouver, with a good antenna…

…and every car I’ve ever owned had an AM radio.

70

If the power is out, how would the radio stations be broadcasting?

Its possible everything is dark everywhere, not just right where the protagonists are right? Or are we assuming that life is normal everywhere but L.A.?

If the radio station has a backup generator, why assume that the DJ is going to still come into work, maybe they want to be with their family too, or maybe the radio station was overrun with zombies and nobody is alive there.

I don’t think its unrealistic to assume there’s nothing being broadcast on the radio at this point in the ZA. At least I don’t really think its a horrible plot hole or anything.

71

AT THIS POINT, no. But ham radios have been mentioned, and did all the radio stations just keep broadcasting top forty and Rush Limbaugh until suddenly, the power went out? No Emergency Broadcast Signal, no shock jock speculations, no questioning news reports or anything? Just… voop?

72

The first episode referenced incidents outside the LA area.

73

Well they did show the school kids watching the viral video from the news, and they spent all that time with Travis’ kid at the riots while he was filming and there was news coverage there as well being broadcast. They’ve shown the media reporting on something that nobody could explain yet. So are you just disappointed that they haven’t shown scenes of the characters sitting listening to the radio? With only 6 episodes I’m not sure that would have been the wisest thing to spend time on really.

74

Yea family game night while society is crumbling was much more compelling.

We don’t need to see characters sitting for 30 minutes listening to the radio, a few seconds of TV footage or radio broadcast and then them speculating among themselves would have been sweet though.

Unless everyone in the family was munching Nick’s narcotics it made no sense that we saw no effort at information gathering or discussion. Just oh look the neighbors have gotten infected with some disease going around and are attacking each other, lets stay quiet and not turn on the TV. We could have spent a few seconds on at least trying to call police or authorities even if the network was overloaded etc.

75

Most people seem to have hated Signs, but I liked it quite a bit. Even though it only had a running time of 106 minutes, I thought some of the best scenes were of the main characters huddled in a closet watching the chaos unfold on tv.

76

My irritation is not so much “wanna see characters listening to the news” so much as “the media very abruptly fell silent for reasons unclear sometime in that nine days a while back we didn’t show you.”

That, and our characters STILL don’t seem to have a clue what’s going on. Even Salazar is operating off of his knowledge of El Salvador in the eighties, as opposed to plague, famine, war, or what?

That, and no one seems to have anything to say. It’s standard playbook that when the military takes over an area, they establish channels of communication, even if it’s only “Good day, citizen, everything is peachykeenerino, everything is under control and will return to normal shortly, please return to your homes and observe a strict 7 pm curfew, thank you for your cooperation!”

The reason it’s standard is because people wanna know what’s going on, and if you don’t tell them SOMETHING, this leads to unrest and trouble.

I could understand Travis’s idiocy if he was listening to soothing propaganda on the radio. He WANTS to believe the strange two legged creatures that feed him and protect him from wolves. But when the Lieutenant makes it clear that Travis’ responsibilities to his community are less important than his golf game, it just makes Travis look stupid.

In the absence of information, and the way the soldiers act, it’s a wonder half the neighborhood doesn’t have one tied up in the basement by now. I’m exaggerating, of course, but if 9/11 happened, the news went dark, your neighborhood came under martial law, the power’s only on four to six hours a day, and you aren’t allowed to leave… and you’re telling me everyone in your neighborhood would behave? With the exception of a junkie kid and some guy with an anxiety disorder?

I am not so confident in my own neighbors. Somebody’d have got shot by now.

77

It’s a safe zone. For… only the people who live there? There’s an awful lot of LA out there. Everyone else died off and couldn’t be brought in? That many people die between the riots over a shooting when most everything was normal and 9 days later?

The episode after the military moving in should have shown a lot of people being brought in to the safe zone. The military is trying to bring people into camps to protect them, so let’s show it. Extra families in each house. Packed uncomfortably close. Tents in yards. But the plague is still going around, and some of them are going to hide their sickness and get sick. People die and rise again. Families hide reanimated members because ‘they’ll get better’. Military does health checks, opens the door to a house, and 40 zombies swarm out, overrunning soldiers in front. Panic with those in the streets. Not just zombies are getting shot in the confusion. Some shoot soldiers to protect infected loved ones. Some think the military is overreacting and work hider to hide those that are bitten or have risen, increasing the problems. Internal order in the zone starts breaking down. Military rule becomes harsher as the soldiers are way outnumbered, but have to keep ‘killing’ those loved ones ‘who surely will get better.’

Outside refugees are captured and brought in to be protected, but some are criminals who resent no longer being able to loot to their hearts content. Holes are cut in the fence as people escape outside the zone. Security lights attracts swarms at night who exploit the holes and swarm the holes. More soldiers and civilians die. Houses catch fire and spread with no one to stop it. Conditions get worse and draconian measures by the military to maintain control, leading to increasing problems. Operation Colbalt starts looking better and better to those higher up – abandon zones considered lost and focus on those you can save.

Yeah, lots and lots of potential lost in this show. :frowning:

78

I think the focus of the show isn’t really the ZA, but rather Travis’ journey of discovery into his own identity. At some point he is going to look into a mirror and say, “Gosh darn it! I am a cis-male, and I am going to start playing the part!”

In the next season I expect him to start displaying more and more masculine traits and behaviors. After a certain point nearly everyone will agree that, yes, Travis has grown a pair, and therefore his new-found gender identity will be publicly affirmed.

What will he do with it? Dunno, that is many, many episodes away.

79

yeah… this… sigh.

Give us the despair, the sadness… the outrage… and then give us a few sunshine spots.

80

I liked Strand, Salesman That Won’t Sell Insurance. The opening scene was awesome. The main characters (Travis and Madison) are really clueless although but Rick also frustrated the heck out of me early on in TWD with his idealism and naivety. Nick to me has been the star of the series. Daniel Salazar has been a pleasant surprise.

As far as the nitpicking in some posts, I understood why the teens destroyed the house- hopelessness, taboo sexual frustration- note the scene where he sees her bare shoulder, class warfare- note the rich people comment, and a symbol of bonding between the two families. If I am looking at it too deeply, teens don’t NEED to have an excuse to destroy stuff if there are no rules anymore.

Not sure why some comments are nitpicking timeline, the realism of how this could happen, where the other troops are, etc. but to each his own.

After 9/11 and Katrina, I would have thought that we would understand that the government cannot protect us when the crap hits the fan, and our military has no experience with domestic peacekeeping.