Fear the Walking Dead Review: Red Dirt (Season 3 Episode 6)

For a show called Fear the Walking Dead, there are shockingly few zombies.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 6, “Red Dirt” is a slow episode, but we once again see how far Madison is willing to go to keep her family safe and it explores the strange, twisted relationship she has with Troy.

“Red Dirt” would have been better if there was more action and less dialogue. This is a show that takes place shortly after the end of the world as we know it, with the undead walking among us, and yet, the biggest threat is a Native American named Walker who wants his ancestor’s land back and psychotic, but interesting man-child Troy.

Broke Jaw Ranch isn’t exactly LA, but surely, there would be a hell of a lot more undead hanging around and causing trouble for our survivors.

Maybe they all just migrated to Georgia.

The walkers have always been a surface-level threat, but both Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead have taught us that the living are the real antagonists.

When Madison, Troy, and some of the other militia return from Walker’s, wounded and shoeless, those who live at the ranch are frightened. Their fears increase after an intimidation tactic leaves even the founders feeling unsettled and panicked.

One of the founding members of the ranch, Vernon, takes his family and leaves. Troy takes this personally. The scene where Troy tells Madison how Mike, Vernon’s son, was always there for him, is a great scene. We see that Troy is vulnerable and has the potential to be a good leader.

And then he goes off and kills Vernon and his family and well, yep, Troy is a psycho again.

The scenes with Madison and Troy are compelling because we can see her grooming him. At one point, he even looks back at her and she gives a little nod as to say “Mommy approves.”

The Clarks are all doing their part to get in close with the Ottos. Troy and Madison have their strange relationship and Jeremiah recognizes that Madison is a strong, smart woman who will do what it takes to keep the ranch safe.

She shockingly covers for Troy and blames Walker for the deaths of the Trimbol family. She knows that this will rile up the rest of the people at the ranch and that they will stay and fight. Perhaps she is thinking of a way that she can work out a deal with Walker but in the meantime, use the Otto resources.

Jeremiah and Nick continue to bond, but Nick is seemingly just playing along. He’s a survivor and doesn’t trust easily.

Lastly, Alicia and Jake are regularly sleeping with one another and Alicia acknowledges that she likes him, but she also knows that he is important.

We last see Jake head off to try and speak to Walker and it looks like Alicia is going to follow after him.

Ugh.

The characters on Fear the Walking Dead have actually been playing it smart. So, it makes sense that right before the mid-season finale, someone is going to get stupid. Jake is too good, too idealistic for this new world.

Overall, “Red Dirt” is an average episode with some good scenes, especially between Madison and Troy. With the mid-season finale, I’m hoping that the action ramps up and that we see some zombie thrills.

Walker Nibbles:

• The most unbelievable part of this episode is that the ranch would stock birth control.
• Sayonara, Gretchen! We hardly knew ye but we’ll always have Bible study.
• Nick picked up shooting really quickly. He could barely hit the targets when practicing with Jeremiah but he got an expert shot with Gretchen.
• This list makes me feel like I should be talking about Walker the character. Who names a character Walker on a show that refers to zombies as walkers? Even if that is not the most common term on Fear the Walking Dead, it certainly is on The Walking Dead.
• Ofelia returns for the mid-season finale!

What did you think of this episode of Fear the Walking Dead? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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

 

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