Fear the Walking Dead Recap: Monster

Fear-the-Walking-Dead-Season-2-Episode-1-Monster-Recap

So Fear the Walking Dead premiered the first episode of season 2 last Sunday, to which I was (less than) thrilled about. The Fear the Walking Dead episode Monster picks up shortly after where we left off last season.

Her thoughts on Fear the Walking Dead‘s Season 2 Premiere
His thoughts on Fear the Walking Dead‘s Season 2 Premiere

Fear the Walking Dead episode – Monsters: The Group Heads to Sea

We have Madison staring out at the ocean as her son Nick and Strand head to Abigail, his boat. Travis and the rest of the group prepare on land to get on the pontoon boat while Chris mourns the loss of his mother. Strand gets the boat all started up, and tells Chris to head back for the rest of the group. Strand warns Nick that others will want their supplies, and tells Nick move along and pick up the team.

On land, the group sees the “Walking Dead” approaching the beach. Travis and Madison have to fight off a wave of the walkers, when Nick finally arrives, and gets everyone boarded. Chris refuses at first, demanding that his mother’s body comes along. What a waste of time–but hey at least maybe they can bury her proper in the future. But they head back to Abigail after Nick uses the outboard motor on the small boat to slice and dice a walker’s face.

All Board the Abigail

Once aboard, Strand takes the group out to see, as they all look back to the shore, seeing Los Angeles burned to a crisp by the air force bombing it. Strand tells the ground, they have quite a number of resources to stay “afloat’ on the Abigail, which we finally learned the identity of in the season finale of the first season.

There’s a number of situations that set up some characters for the future though. We have Alicia and Madison wanting to save a group of people on a raft begging for help, that Strand refuses to stop for. We have Daniel and Travis who are on Strand’s side in terms of not rescuing these people. Meanwhile we have Chris just mulling about his dead mother’s corpse.

Strand tells Nick that apparently their destination is San Diego, but there’s no set plan–at least one that Strand will tell anyone about.

Travis and Madison seem to be at odds, with Travis seemingly set on saving who they can on the boat, and not wanting to risk their own people to save the others.

Mystery Man on the C.V. Radio

We also have Alicia who is listening to the C.V. radio, and hears nothing but horrible pleas for help and the Coast Guard saying that can’t provide any assistance to anyone. She is pretty obsessed with the radio, and after some time comes across a channel with a man on the other side. Alicia is shy “as the person on the other side of the radio seems to have so “cleverly” deduced. Alicia does break her silence though, and the two seem to kick it off, having some meaningful conversations about whatever teenagers talk about when the world ends. She learns this guy is held up with his brother and a couple others in some cove. They seem to be doing okay, for now.

Jack seems to play coy, worried about revealing his position. The two share about their experiences when it “happened”. The man seems to start asking questions about her current situation…asking about the size of the boat, and what they have aboard. The man then appeals to her emotions, telling her about all the people he has lost, including his own girlfriend.
Later, Alicia hears from Jack, and he says he is losing water. Jack asks for landmarks so they can meet up. Alicia goes to Travis and asks to help Jack. Strand overhears the conversation, and Travis tries to calm him down. Strand reinforces his rules of this boat–that it is his boat.

Chris and his Mother

Chris is still sticking around his mother’s dead body, which I am surprised is so clean given she had a gunshot to the head–the blood apparently all washed away. But he heads out for a bit to talk to Daniel. The two chat some, about fishing, what they would catch on the ocean and such. They both mourn for each other’s loss.

Travis comes and talks to Daniel after Chris left, and Daniel tells Travis that one day Chris will understand what Travis did for his mother.

Travis decides to have a funeral for Liza. Chris is the only one not in attendance. Travis says a few words, and eventually Chris walks over. He is still pretty angry though, and dumps his mother’s body overboard. Travis tries to talk to him, but Chris is furious–to the point he punches his father in the mouth. He is pretty upset about Travis shooting her.
Nick meanwhile follows Strand out–asking him what use he is to him. Strand seems to appreciate Nick’s fearlessness due to his drug addiction. Apparently Strand does think Nick fears the walking dead monsters.

Madison tries to comfort Chris some. She tries to bond with him, telling him that the first time he hit her father it “didn’t end well”. Seems to be a different situation–as Travis is trying to help, but it sounds like Madison’s father was just being abusive. I am not sure how that is comforting at all.

The group has some semblance of normalcy though. They all gather for some dinner, and it looks like a familial gathering one would have for a holiday, or family reunion. Chris eventually wanders by the area at least to see what is going on.

The Capsized Boat

Chris decides to avoid dinner though, and sees smoke on the water. He decides to take a swim. Nick is the first to find Chris in the water, and jumps in after him. Nick asks him what he is doing, and Chris says he just wants to swim. The two have fun just drifting in the water. Nick goes diving, and eventually comes across a body–a walker (or swimmer…?)

Nick decides rather than returning to the boat where it is safe, he swims farther out. He finds plane, which has crashed in the ocean. Inside, he looks around, and finds that the hull seems to have been shot by some sort of gun. It looks like that at least. Travis, worried about Nick, jumps into the water after him. Inside the boat, Nick decides to grab the Captain’s Log, and gets in a tussle with a walker. Travis provides a distraction though, and both Travis and Nick make it back to the boat.

Wrapping Up Monster

A couple other things come up–Nick bumps into Ofelia, and offers to help her with her bandages. She shoots him down, but he tries to at least give her some pointers to take care of her wound.
Madison and Daniel also talk about Strand, and Daniel seems to distrust Strand, thinking he has ulterior motives. Madison is not convinced yet, but they resolve to “watch him”.

Oh and Alicia tells Jack that she can’t come save him. But he says, “don’t worry Alicia, I got you.” That can’t be good.

Madison sees something in her binoculars, and goes to look for Strand. She hears his voice, but has trouble finding him. Strand acknowledges he was talking, and says he was talking to the Ghosts. The two talk some.

Strand meanwhile is picking up a boat on his sonar, and it is coming in pretty fast–faster than Abigail can go. Madison gets everyone on board and tells Strand to get going.

Fear the Walking Dead – Monster: His Review

It was a struggle to finish all 6 episodes of the first season. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities. There seemed like no one to root for. The only intriguing person in the show so far is Strand. Season 2 seems to be continuing that so far. This is just one of the two hooks this show has so far, given they actually pay off well. What is Strand after? He can’t just want this group of people for the heck of it. Was it safety in numbers and this was about the only option for people he had? Is he going to trade these people as slaves/something worse down the road? What is the plan? Was Strand talking to himself when Madison found him? Or does he have a radio to which he can communicate with others? Again, he is about the most compelling question.

The second, mildly barbed hook the show has is whoever this Jack character is. It begs the question though–why is Alicia given free reign over the ship’s C.V. radio? Strand should be more careful about these types of things. But regardless, it looks like there might be some sort of pirate-esce encounter coming up. Will the group lose the Abigail, along with its supplies and desalination system? Seems like a likely scenario to take away the “cushy” life these characters have.

Still, these are about the only two interesting aspects of the episode. Nick swims into a ship filled with walkers for what reason? Seems like it was just a plot device so the group could see what was in the Captain’s Log. This “pirate” group might not even appear this episode, and just teased within the Captain’s Log retrieved.

Hopefully things pick up for the show. So far, there is really little to enjoy about it so far. But trudging on, we will, and see how the second episode of season two works out. Please get better Fear the Walking Dead, please.