Lorenzo James Henrie, Chris Jericho, & a surprise cast member are on Talking Dead. For greater clarity the open spoilers warning includes everything that airs on Talking Dead; including any previews.
Again how clueless are these people?
Once I got I’m Madison according to the story sync. I’m pissed that Strand cut the rope, but I see his point. I’d like to see more of Alex; at least enough to find out why she seemed to know more about what has happening than anyone else on the plane. I’m really surprised Jake is still alive at this point. :eek:
In my role as nit picker of nautical details I’ll mention that raw water for engine cooling doesn’t go through elaborate filtration or a mess of pipes all over the engine room. There should be a screen inside the inlet, to stop trash and aquatic weeds, then straight to the engine. And the lights wouldn’t come on when you started the main (propulsion) engines. The generator motor will also be water cooled, and may share (unlikely but possible) a seacock with the mains, but it would start and run independently.
So we get to see the different ways people demonstrate the end of the social compact, or civilization as we know it. Some struggle with the change, others almost embrace it. Conflicts ensue. Unfortunately, the characters are so poorly developed that I find it difficult to give a flying fuck about any of them. Even what’s his name, Latino daddy, for whom I held out hope, acted as stupidly and as superficially as the rest in the end. I mean, c’mon! One minute they’re in a hand to hand survival situation against a horde, barely fighting them off with sticks and an eau de zombie fragrance. Next minute they’re arguing about “rescuing” a woman and her near-zombie.
Strand cutting the rope was the high point of the episode.
Yeah, more “I’ll wander off alone” moments from the cast. At least this one was the angst-ridden teen who has lost his mom; you kind of expect that type of person to make bad decisions.
Why were they towing the raft?
They didn’t want to invite them onto the boat, but didn’t want to just turn them away.
This episode was a little better than the others, mostly with the Alex storyline. But I want Chris dead. Rule #1 of the ZA: You do NOT wonder off alone. No one cares if you put your own worthless life in danger, but you are endangering everyone else, too.
I have been enjoying this season. The setting on the sea is interesting and this story made sense. It is logical to investigate a plane crash since it cold yield food and other supplies.
I almost hope they stick with the boat for a long time. For one, it helps make the show feel very different from the other series and the other I could see this show kind of became the anthology I had hoped the spin off would be where they just travel around and get into different ports and adventures. Kind of a Walking Dead/Star Trek.
I will say this payoff to all of those short films we watched for over a year was kind of lame.
Best episode of the season so far. Finally had some action, even though it was pretty predictable.
If you’re investigating a plane crash, you have to realize that most didn’t survive and they would turn into walkers! :smack:
Sorry, John, but I want them all dead. I know they’re in shock, I know the ZA isn’t real to them yet, and all that. But they’ve seen and interacted with zombies, and by this point no one with an IQ above room temperature or the survival instincts of a grapefruit would keep making all the bad decisions this group churns out.
They go to land to look for needed supplies, OK. Then they all go wandering around the dunes, mooning in their own private worlds, trying on hats, falling off cliffs. Dipshit Chris goes so far as to nearly get killed, then has his existential moment of euthanasia. (Are skulls stronger in the Fear universe? He seemed to need a lot more bashing than our heroes from the Walking side of the continent.) I’m screaming at the screen “NO!!!” You land, and leave someone at the boat to watch, in case a horde comes along. The rest climb the cliff where again someone stands watch while the rest go deliberately, suitcase to suitcase, looking for items on the list. When zombie #1 shows up, everybody retreats.
Meantime, back on the boat, Strand disappears while Travis and Madison fix the boat. I’m sure Strand has the Master’s Stateroom, and on a boat like Abigail that can be fairly lavish. But it’s still a boat, and after not very long even the Master’s digs become pretty claustrophobic. What the hell is he hiding from? Why isn’t he out (just out, anyplace), watching the horizon, checking the radar, maybe handing Travis a wrench or a drink? Trusting an auto mechanic to fix their only means of transportation all by himself seems unreal.
Then there’s the whole diving alone in zombie infested waters with a known zombie actually plugging up the seacock thing. No safety line? Really? Diving under a boat is dangerous! Currents move you around, the boat moves around, it isn’t a swim in the pool. You can get bashed, or tangled, or simply swept away. Stupid? Yeah, golly! And what about pulling the zombie out of the pipe by hand? Nope, not me, not if I lost the bet! Take a rope, get under him and pull a slip knot on his leg, then get back on the boat where it’s safe and pull on the rope!
Then there’s the unresolved issue of rescuing kittens. I guess “unresolved” is supposed to advance the story somehow, but it just frustrates me. They don’t have food, don’t have clothes, and don’t trust each other. However empathetic they were in their former lives, they’re not in a position to rescue anybody, especially somebody they know nothing about. She might be a psychopathic ax murderer, for all they know. And she has an almost-zombie for a sidekick! Yeah, let’s add her to the group. We need another mouth to feed, plus the presence of someone who, at a moment’s notice, might try to feed on us.
Finally (yeah, I know, TLDR), while everyone expresses questions about Strand and his secret destination, including doubts about its existence, nobody asks the flamingly obvious question – who’s there? Strand is confident his fortress remains, fully supplied, and just awaiting him. And he’s spoken to someone, perhaps someone at the destination. So who is minding the store for Strand? His family? His militia? Some paid third-world employees? Will they recognize Strand as leader when he arrives? And if they do, will Strand recognize “our little group” as being under his protection? Or is he likely to say “Been fun, been real, but I’m back with my buds now, so the rest of you can fuck right off.”
The beach scenes were just insultingly stupid. I really think the writers should be able to come up with more believable ways of putting the characters in jeopardy. Instead, we get Chris wandering off on his own and going into a confined space with zombies in it. And Nick prancing around at the edge of a gulley until, lo and behold, the dirt gives way and he falls into the arms of the zombie below. And when a large horde of zombies are shambling toward him, Daniel decides to stand his ground with a freakin’ pistol? Oh, and while the zombies are hot on their heels as they reach the skiff, the sister decides to stop and take a few moments to give her brother a leisurely hug, rather than, you know, get the dang boat in the water and get the heck outta harm’s way.
I did like seeing the woman and boy from the plane, but it that it for them?
I don’t think so. They invested a lot of film in the mini show to write them off.
“Mom, we’re going to go to this coastline with scattered debris and look for stuff.”
“Okay, but watch out for zombies! And be back in time for supper, and see if you can find me some Crocs!”
What do you think is in Mexico?
I liked how Nick just happened to stumble onto Rick Grimes’s patented zombie camo there. No sarcasm.
How gross was the part with those crabs eating the zombie as the zombie in turn eats the crabs? I love it!
I loved that zombie scene! Very creative gore!
It’s the circle of life!
Just watched the opening again. Suit-guy on raft kills bitten guy. Then that night he tries to kill dying necrotic Jake but Alex kills him instead. Polo shirt tries to reason with her and leaves an open threat hanging regarding Jake. When we see the raft again, polo shirt is distinctly absent. So far, Alex owes Jake (her statement) at least two lives.
When you rescue survivors of the ZA, they likely skew toward types who, shall we say, are uninhibited in cancelling real or perceived personal threats. Having a murderer or two around may prove useful. But I’d want to be really certain that such a person had damn good reason to count my life as definitively advantageous to that person. That goes for Alex but just as much for Daniel, or Strand. The rest of them just haven’t developed the murderous – err, the survival instinct.
Who, the writers? 
Yeah, I know. Our castaways are a pathetic lot. But I’m still holding how that the show improves…
The show is profoundly underwritten. There was only about ten minutes of plot: one minute with Alex and co. on the raft; one minute of ‘boat needs fixing’; potentially about three minutes of ‘let’s find supplies in the plane debris’ and associated perils; potentially three minutes of the showcase Zombie Slaughter; and maybe two minutes of ‘Strand is a douche who secretly plans to head for Mexico and won’t let the Internet Mini-episodes duo onboard.’ And that ten minutes had to be stretched into the 40 or so that makes up a one-hour show.
So we had the suitcase searchers holding up an item from a suitcase and staring at it for ages and then wandering around aimlessly and gazing into the distance and all of that annoying implausibility, while people on the boat replayed the same squabbles we’ve been seeing since they got on the boat (Madison and Travis must Work Out their Relationship!!!11!!!) and other tedious filler.
(I watch shows I don’t think highly of when they are wildly popular, because massive popularity is interesting even if the show itself is not. But apparently the ratings for this spin-off are not all that stellar–and it may well be crushed quite thoroughly by Game of Thrones. Then I won’t feel any impulse to watch Fear, any more!)
I think Strand is a drug runner and they are going to a drug dealers compound, which is probably very well protected like he claims. The “gardens” are probably growth operations, which would also be quite handy. Also he seemed to know druggies pretty well.