Fear the Walking Dead: The Best and Worst of Season 2

Fear the Walking Dead is a point of contention for TV viewers, especially those who love The Walking Dead. It’s hard not to compare the two shows, and the main complaint seems to be that it’s boring and that the characters aren’t likable.

The characters on Fear the Walking Dead can be a little whiny, a lot self-involved, and spend way too much time dealing with family drama. However, it’s still the zombie apocalypse, so there are plenty of thrills.

Season 2 is longer at 15 episodes (compared to what I think is a brilliant 6 episode Season 1) so there is more time to deal with character development and the break-down of society.

Read on to see the Best and Worst of Fear the Walking Dead Season 2.

THE BEST

Zombies:

You’d think that combined with the 6 seasons of The Walking Dead, we would have seen zombies in all shapes and forms. Nope. On Fear the Walking Dead, there are water zombies, zombies lured into a riptide, crab infested zombies, and the best visual ever– zombies falling from hotel balconies and then getting up and lurching again.

Female Characters:

Alicia, Madison, and Ofelia have certainly grown into stronger characters over the course of Season 2. We don’t meet Luciana until the second half of the season, but she is immediately a complex character who can certainly handle herself well.

Madison blossoms after Travis runs after Chris and Nick dissociates from the group. She’s the one in charge now and is able and willing to make difficult decisions. That being said, she doesn’t always make the right decisions.

Alicia has gone from brooding teenager to smart, capable, and pretty good with a knife. She’s grown up considerably in Season 2. Ofelia shows more grit this season and now that she’s off on her own, she will do what she needs to to survive.

Luciana is a badass and we need to see more of her. The Nick/Luciana romance is a nice touch because they’re not spending too much time dwelling on it.

Victor Strand

Victor Strand is brilliantly played by Colman Domingo. He’s still mysterious and cutthroat but there is a more tender side to Strand. He bonds with Alicia and Madison but can we see him with Nick again? They had such a good connection.

Strand can be selfish and he is not really into helping people who are in need. However, he is just so cool, that you can’t help but be compelled to watch him every time he’s on the TV screen. Plus, the man knows how to wear a suit.

Locations

The Walking Dead has had its fair share of interesting locales, but Fear the Walking Dead has them beat. Southern California and across the border is so much more populated than the Atlanta area and there is more danger because of that.

Although there seems to be more at stake on land than there is by sea, it’s interesting to see the perils of being on a yacht after the fall of society. More could have been done to ramp up the tension, but the idea of being out at sea is intriguing.

The episodes shot in Mexico are great. Not only is it visually stunning, but it really feels different from the woods and farms of Georgia and Virginia that we’re so used to on The Walking Dead. It gives a better idea of how far reaching the apocalypse is.

Immunity?

Alejandro, the leader at the Colonia has supposedly been bitten by a walker and somehow survived. Alejandro knows that Nick thinks he’s lying.

Nick: I don’t believe in miracles.

It’s revealed at the end of Season 2 of The Walking Dead that people come back as walkers no matter their manner of death. So, what if we find out on Fear the Walking Dead, that there are people who are actually immune?

Nick

Nick is made for the apocalypse, thriving when the world has gone to hell. In a show called Fear the Walking Dead, Nick is actually fearless. He’s someone you would definitely want by your side.

Out of all the characters, Nick is the most multi-dimensional. He can be really sweet and kind, but because of his history, he knows the shadier sides of life and is street-smart.

If anyone does make it to a cross-over with The Walking Dead, it should be Nick.

THE WORST

Flashbacks/ Characters Alone

Several episodes show characters off by themselves and unfortunately, flashbacks are used. Flashbacks can help us know more about a character and their motivations but what is the point of Ofelia’s flashback about getting proposed to? Or the conversation she has with her mother about love and family?

Ofelia has not been in the second half of the season that much for us to really care or remember the significance of her flashbacks.

“Grotesque” features Nick only which should have been a good thing but instead, the episode is slow. In the episode, we see Nick in rehab, find out about his father’s death, and we meet the first zombie, Gloria, from the pilot. His flashbacks are interesting as a whole but they aren’t necessary to the present story.

The flashback that works successfully is Strand’s. It not only shows more of his backstory but also his motivation to get to Mexico. When we meet Thomas Abigail, we already feel a connection to him because of Strand’s flashback.

Waste of Flight 462

During Season 1, there was a short web series called Flight 462, which took place on a plane just as the zombie virus was wreaking havoc on Los Angeles. A character from the webisodes was promised to be in Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead.

Alex from Flight 462 makes an appearance in “Ouroboros” and then again in “Captive,” however, she ends up being an antagonist of the main group. From watching the web series, Alex had the potential to be an interesting, smart, and tough character, but she barely makes a mark.

Daniel/Chris

Daniel could make the hard decisions that others couldn’t. Suddenly, Daniel started seeing and hearing things. We last see him setting fire to Celia’s cellar as flames brush against his feet. The change in Daniel’s character is so sudden that it doesn’t seem plausible. Daniel is seemingly dead and it’s too bad because he was a really compelling character.

Chris goes from mopey teenager to psycho killer in the span of a few episodes.  In Season 1, Chris is playing dress-up with Alicia and then early in Season 2, he’s killing people with no remorse.

Both Daniel and Chris suffered devastating losses; Daniel lost his wife, Chris lost his mother. Considering the lawlessness of the new world, it wouldn’t be hard for someone who is predisposed to violence to suddenly embrace it like Chris.

The problem is that both of these characters change at the same time and it is confusing.

Zombie Guts Laziness

Rick Grimes discovers the trick of using zombie guts to disguise himself among zombies in Season 1 of The Walking Dead. Nick realizes this in Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead, in a super tense scene.

But then, the tension disappears when nearly every character (including random ones) use this same trick. If you can walk among the zombies without being detected, then the stakes are low.

We should feel our heartbeat quicken when the characters are amongst the walkers. Instead, that feeling is stripped when we know that the characters aren’t in any real danger. This is the biggest disservice to the show.

So, what will the final two episodes of Fear the Walking Dead have in store for us? Find out on the two-hour Season 2 finale Sunday, October 2 at 9/8c on AMC.

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