Fear the Walking Dead Review: Shiva (Season 2 Episode 7)

Fear the Walking Dead rushes Celia’s safe haven toward a fire-y end in it’s midseason finale, “Shiva.”

Which should be cool — surely the writers were hoping that this would be a shocking twist — and yet…

We are underwhelmed.

The problem is that Fear likes to rush moments such as these so that they can move on to the next interesting thing. We spend so little time with each potentially major, interesting event that it’s difficult for us to care about any of them.

Beyond that, this show does not seem concerned about whether or not things like Daniel suddenly completely losing his mind are going to make sense to their audience.

This development in Daniel’s character — stoic, stable Daniel (or so we thought) — seems so out of the blue that it’s almost like the writers just threw this idea on the table at random one day and just decided to run with it without actually taking the time to show his descent in to madness.

They should have shown his hallucinations in the episodes leading up to “Shiva!” The complete lack of build up just makes this whole ordeal seem so, so random and out of character.

Chris losing his mind, at least, makes some sort of sense. We’ve been able to watch him crumble ever since his Mother’s death, so, at least we understand when he tips over the edge, even if we hate him for it.

But this seems to be the only character development they really spent any amount of time planning.

That being said, the plotline between Chris and Travis is one of the only highlights of the episode. It’s chilling when Travis tells Nick that he can’t bring Chris home — just the implication behind that decision is scary. His own Father is wary of what Chris might do.

It’s a creepy thought.

But, of course, since we were discussing shoddy character development, we need to just take a minute to groan at the excessive use of Nick the Walker Whisperer this season. This idea that Nick somehow relates to the walking dead has been cringeworthy since the first time we encountered it, and it hasn’t gotten any more tolerable as the season has gone on.

He was such a promising character in season one.

What happened?!

Please, make it stop…

What did you think of “Shiva?” Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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

Becky Peters

Becky is a television, literature, and pop culture enthusiast who spends more of her time exploring fictional worlds than she does living in the real one. Post-apocalyptic and dystopian settings are her kryptonite, and she has a strange soft spot for anything that involves the walking dead (the creatures themselves, not the show -- but the show is good, too). You can usually find her engrossed in shows like Preacher, The Walking Dead, Sense8, or any one of the many other series that tickle her fancy. Follow Becky on Twitter: @epic_bcky