Fear the Walking Dead Review: Pilot (Season 1 Ep. 1)

The wait is finally over, people. We have been waiting months for this moment and it has finally come. This is it. It’s showtime (literally).

At last, we finally have the highly anticipated AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead “Pilot” in our grubby, zombie-loving hands, and it did not disappoint.

Let me tell you right now that if you came here looking for hoards of walkers, you came to the wrong place (I suggest you re-watch The Walking Dead if you’re eager to get to that point, but I gotta warn you that you will be missing out on something potentially amazing). The series 90 minute premiere is a slow build that leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat while your wide eyes eagerly scan and search for any signs of the apocalypse that you just know is on the way — and that is what makes it so good.

Is it a slow start? Yeah, absolutely.

Do we care about everyone? About their mundane lives? Their real-world problems? Nah, not really. We all know that’s not what we’re here for.

But every time the pilot is in danger of becoming too slow, the writers throw in something to keep you hooked, to keep you waiting — watching. They give you glimpses of the hell that is about to break loose and, suddenly, you care again.

Right at the start of the episode, we get to watch Gloria having a snack in the church. Then we hear the old man in the hospital bed next to Nick (you can’t honestly tell me that his breathing didn’t have an undead edge to it, alright?). Later, we get an eerie glimpse of what looks an awful lot like a walker in the park when Madison and Travis are driving to the Church in search of Nick after he makes his escape from the aforementioned hospital.

What makes the premiere’s slow burn interesting rather than monotonous is the fact that it means that we are on this journey with them. As the characters go through this — as they start to see these unbelievable things, question everything — we are questioning ourselves right along with them. We start to question what we know, what we think we know. We start questioning what we see and hear.

Is that really a walker in the park? Is the old man lying in the bed next to Nick’s slowly becoming one of the undead mere feet from our little anti-hero? Or is it all in our heads? Are we just being paranoid?

Maybe that “walker” is just a drunken homeless man. Maybe that sick old man really is just a sick old man…

By the time the viral videos start popping up, we’re eager and ready for them. The suspense has built leading up to this moment and it is a moment that sends chills down your spine.

That, my friends, is the beauty of a slow burn done well.

With that being said, however, the real gem of this premiere is Frank Dillane as Nick Clark. He is compelling, he is exciting, he is outstanding. It is easy to care about what happens to Nick, and care we do. Prior to watching Fear the Walking Dead, I had never seen Frank Dillane in any substantial role and now I can honestly say that after a single, 90 minute premiere, I am a fan. If there is no other reason to stick around for this series, I urge you tough it out with me just to watch Nick’s journey.

I’m going on record right now and saying that Nick Clark has one hell of a story ahead of him. He is going to be well loved by the Fear fandom.

My main complaint about the pilot?

It was hard to care about any of the other characters who paled in comparison to the intriguing, emotional Nick. I can only hope that the other characters can keep up with him because, as it stands, not a single one of them is even close to being on the same level as he is in terms of holding a viewer’s interest. Not yet.

However, thus far, I have no reason to doubt that the team behind this series will flesh out all of their characters beautifully. We are only one episode in, after all.

What do you guys think of Fear the Walking Dead so far? Are we loving it? Leave me your thoughts in the comments below!

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Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.