Fear The Walking Dead | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Not Fade Away [AMC] [SPOILERS]

NUTZZ

Fear The Walking Dead - Season 1

Episode 4 - "Not Fade Away"

Airdate - September 20th on AMC at 9/8c | September 21st on AMC UK at 2am (and again at 9pm)

Note; AMC UK is now airing new epsiodes at the same time as the US airing on AMC, at 2am on Monday mornings.

Madison and Travis see different sides of the National Guard's occupation in their neighborhood; the family tries to adapt to the new world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVInZRoRxyc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKyxlugfGwE

Paddy Cow

Things are starting to get really interesting. The ending was fab. Can't wait for the next episode. Shame there's only two left. It's been a slow burn but the tension is building up nicely.

clever user name

6

My only gripe is that I wish they would speed things up slightly. But other than that I'm liking it. I'm guessing the 6th episode is where the sh*t finally hits the fan.

Washout

7

Not one walker to be seen. I think the idea of doing that was excellent. It gave a full perspective of how the army tried to handle the situation before imminent failure.

Paddy Cow

Washout wrote: »

Not one walker to be seen. I think the idea of doing that was excellent. It gave a full perspective of how the army tried to handle the situation before imminent failure.

Their reaction was shoot to kill, whether infected or not. Imagine the carnage when a walker inevitably breaches the perimeter. Travis and Maddy have woken up to the fact that the army are not their benevolent saviours and I hope they put together a plan with the Spanish dude to go to the medical facility, get their people and get the hell out of dodge.

crushproof

8

This is brilliant, top episode and contray to many others I'm loving the slow build up - properly portrays the fear among both citizens and army - as well the delusion of some army officers.
After seeing the shooting at the end I hope they hatch a plan to get the hell outta there asap.

Sudden Valley

6

Yeah good episode with a strong storyline. Great sesne of dread built up through this episode. only weakness so far, for me, has been the lack of engaging characters. The older Hispanic guy is good but the family members are a bit boring- even the junkie.

expectationlost

has the sister gone a bit nuts too?

Diabhal Beag

Good ending.

duridian

7

expectationlost wrote: »

has the sister gone a bit nuts too?

I was wondering that myself. Was she trying to tattoo something onto her arm with a hypodermic needle?

Liza going along to the "hospital"/quarantine camp will probably give them an advantage in the long run when it comes to the breakout, even though the others blame her for reporting Nick as an addict.

The light signalling person could turn out to be this show's Morgan, or it could be someone who has already escaped from the "hospital", maybe even a bit of both. With just two episodes remaining, clearly the rescue from the "hospital" is gonna be the finale, with the next one laying the groundwork. Similarities with the main series mid-Season 5 finale?

If this is how the military/authorities have behaved cross country towards the citizens then it is easy to see why they fail to contain the zombie apocalypse, as they will come to be fighting both the living and the dead. (Yikes, that sounds like something out of a religious creed.) :eek:

Paddy Cow

duridian wrote: »

The light signalling person could turn out to be this show's Morgan, or it could be someone who has already escaped from the "hospital", maybe even a bit of both.

Travis told the army dude that there was someone trying to signal. The army guy told him there was no one out there and to forget it. At the very end, Travis is sitting on top of the house and is looking over at the building, where he can see and hear machine gun fire. The army murdered whoever was surviving over there and also Travis's naivety. It echos what Madison said to Daniel about seeing bodies shot to death who weren't infected. The army hasn't a clue what is going on and is in overkill mode.

Dandelion6

8

I was thinking maybe the building that the light was coming from is the "hospital"?

Superb episode anyway, and I really didn't like the last one.

pc7

6

Much better episode really well done, so glad Salazar didn't go to the hospital he's going to be great when the **** hits.

my only gripe is that nick put back in the old man clothes he robbed from the hospital, it's very irritating.

Lovely Bloke

duridian wrote: »

I was wondering that myself. Was she trying to tattoo something onto her arm with a hypodermic needle?

the bf drew some kind of design or symbol on her arm with a marker in Ep1, and she was doing a "prison tattoo" kind of thing with a needle and ink over that design so she can keep it, it looked kind of faded, and according to the son of Travis it's "Day 9", so over a week since she got drawn on, no wonder it's fading.

I don't think she's nuts, but she hasn't seen many zombies

unreg999

Paddy Cow wrote:

Travis told the army dude that there was someone trying to signal. The army guy told him there was no one out there and to forget it. At the very end, Travis is sitting on top of the house and is looking over at the building, where he can see and hear machine gun fire. The army murdered whoever was surviving over there and also Travis's naivety. It echos what Madison said to Daniel about seeing bodies shot to death who weren't infected. The army hasn't a clue what is going on and is in overkill mode.

No it wasn't machine gun fire he saw it was the same flashing light the son saw earlier.

NinjaTruncs

unreg999 wrote: »

No it wasn't machine gun fire he saw it was the same flashing light the son saw earlier.

I thought it was gun fire myself, it look like it. My initial thought that it was some kind of killing chamber. I doubt it's the hospital as why would the doctor bring the ex-wife to that.

NUTZZ

7

unreg999 wrote: »

No it wasn't machine gun fire he saw it was the same flashing light the son saw earlier.

It was absolutely gun shots that were seen and heard.

This episode ends with Travis seeing gunshots in the same windows where his son Chris saw S.O.S. signals the day before, suggesting that the national guard may be executing everyone outside their controlled zones, whether they're zombies or not.

Footoo

7

NUTZZ wrote: »

It was absolutely gun shots that were seen and heard.

Definitely ...... And presumably gunshots from the army after he inadvertently tipped them off.

duridian

7

Paddy Cow wrote: »

Travis told the army dude that there was someone trying to signal. The army guy told him there was no one out there and to forget it. At the very end, Travis is sitting on top of the house and is looking over at the building, where he can see and hear machine gun fire. The army murdered whoever was surviving over there and also Travis's naivety. It echos what Madison said to Daniel about seeing bodies shot to death who weren't infected. The army hasn't a clue what is going on and is in overkill mode.

Doh!
I remember that scene, it was set around sunset/sunrise, darker time anyway and I thought at the time that the flashes were the signaler using a torch to signal instead of a mirror/sunlight. Can't believe i didn't connect the gunfire with it, I think i believed it was closer to the enclosed "safe" zone or something.
What you said makes a lot more sense.

ricero

8

I'm really enjoying this. Heres hoping the quality can continue for the last two episodes. I expect a few of them to die by the last episode

Larsso30

ricero wrote: »

I'm really enjoying this. Heres hoping the quality can continue for the last two episodes. I expect a few of them to die by the last episode

hopefully and i hope some strong characters materialise. Im just not taken by the lead characters in this at all.

5starpool

Interesting episode, although fairly predictable as well. the army were never going to be good guys in this scenario. They are essentially trying to maintain a prison camp for only healthy people while they try and kill everything outside of the 'safe' areas, but obviously it'll all fail and fall apart for them soon as well.

I wonder will the army guy who was with the hispanic daughter become a regular? I know he was a main character in Southland for a few seasons, so I'm guessing his role will be more than a cameo. I hope that if/when a group of survivors leave that camp that there aren't a few army guys as them being in charge will be a storyline in itself, and we can do without that really.

The woman cutting the wire to get out could well lead to the dead getting in at some point, but I'm assuming they will just use that to escape soon as well. The junkie being at the 'hospital' though will complicate things as I'm sure they'll want to go rescue him.

There is no way the mother/ex wife would have voluntarily got on that truck though and I thought that was a bit silly. The world is falling apart and she voluntarily leaves her only child to go with people she doesn't really know and have proven themselves untrustworthy? That doesn't stack up at all.

duridian

7

5starpool wrote: »

There is no way the mother/ex wife would have voluntarily got on that truck though and I thought that was a bit silly. The world is falling apart and she voluntarily leaves her only child to go with people she doesn't really know and have proven themselves untrustworthy? That doesn't stack up at all.

My take on it was that once Liza realized that Nick being taken forcibly to the "hospital" by these military guys (now revealed as untrustworthy aholes) was her fault she decided that
1. Madison and the rest were gonna be severely pissed at her if she stayed
and
2. She thought she might be able to redeem herself and help rescue him by going along. I think she was trying to say something in to Madison but couldn't be heard through the windows glass and commotion outside.

suffering golfer

7

5starpool wrote: »

Interesting episode, although fairly predictable as well. the army were never going to be good guys in this scenario. They are essentially trying to maintain a prison camp for only healthy people while they try and kill everything outside of the 'safe' areas, but obviously it'll all fail and fall apart for them soon as well.

I wonder will the army guy who was with the hispanic daughter become a regular? I know he was a main character in Southland for a few seasons, so I'm guessing his role will be more than a cameo. I hope that if/when a group of survivors leave that camp that there aren't a few army guys as them being in charge will be a storyline in itself, and we can do without that really.

The woman cutting the wire to get out could well lead to the dead getting in at some point, but I'm assuming they will just use that to escape soon as well. The junkie being at the 'hospital' though will complicate things as I'm sure they'll want to go rescue him.

There is no way the mother/ex wife would have voluntarily got on that truck though and I thought that was a bit silly. The world is falling apart and she voluntarily leaves her only child to go with people she doesn't really know and have proven themselves untrustworthy? That doesn't stack up at all.

You forget they have been there for 9 days without major incidents and that the doctor has been moving freely so there was no reason for the ex-wife to not think her son wouldnt be relatively safe and that she couldn't get back, obviously she would have doubts (hence the hesistation) but ulitmately she has no real reason to not trust them.

At the end of the day we (the viewers) have the benefit of knowing what going to happen but in their situation, given they have no clue what is going on or what happening elsewhere, it is only natural that they will make load of mistakes and naive decisions as they have no prior experiences to draw on.

In a way we are their hindsight thinking for for them, and actually that is what is making this series so great is that it is coming from a viewer angle that haven't been done before.

Hate the main family though, and am I bad for hoping they all die

Also Starring LeVar Burton

9

That was my favourite episode of the series so far. I always think the opposite to the people saying it's not moving along quickly enough, because I really enjoy the slow pace set up and character development - which is something they neglected on The Walking Dead until the second part of season 4 with everyone split up and making their way to Terminus, which were some of my favourite episodes (contrary to popular opinion, I know)...

Tony EH

7

Loving the pace of this show and can't understand all the guff from some people about it being "slow". In fact, to be perfectly honest, I'd have made it some what slower. The 4 episodes seem to have gone from A to B to C to M. But, I'll hold off judgement until the current series is over.

For years zombie film fans have wanted to see how shit falls apart and it's often been too expensive or awkward to film. Romero had to simply show the lights go out in the city, because his 2 million dollar budget couldn't stretch to anything else for 'Dawn of the Dead'. 'Fear the Walking Dead' is handling things very well in that regard. It's a slow, steady collapse, apparently exacerbated by humanity's own corruption, with riots in the streets and a ham-fisted, OTT military response.

There's also a lot of interesting questions being raised. What's happening at these "facilities" and why exactly are the army shooting living people, when their basic remit should be to protect them and kill the walkers? Did the "flasher" know something and were they trying to inform the people in the compound? Why were they murdered?

Over all, this has been much better than I thought it would be, with some decent performances too. Kim Dickens and Frank Dillane being particularly good.

My only gripe is that there's just 6 episodes in the running. That's just bloody annoying.

Hyzepher

My take is that the Army are looking out for themselves and have no real orders from any authority

dori_dormer

They'd also know there's a finite number of resources, and a certain land area they can properly protect. I'd say they are sourcing important/ useful people. Anyone not a doc, or teacher etc will probably be shot.

Why are they suddenly shooting everyone sick or healthy, when they allowed everyone on their estate stay in the safe area? Maybe they think anyone out there that long has to be infected? As they don't know how it's transmitted?

Or why are they taking the sick away? Is it because they know when you die you turn? Or because they want to kill anyone who could weaken the group?

Too many questions! I think the southland guy will be our link to the thoughts/ movements of the army. Although he annoyed me in southland....

nix

Well i do also think its moving waaay too slow, they probably should have left this army rescue until season two. Not that im not a fan of slow pace/tension building. Its just theres only 6 episodes this season and this only leaves two left, so i dont see much happening, other than them escaping which as you can see, is predictable

Dandelion6

8

nix wrote: »

Well i do also think its moving waaay too slow, they probably should have left this army rescue until season two.

Wouldn't that make it move even slower?

i dont see much happening, other than them escaping which as you can see, is predictable

I don't think it's that predictable, they could easily just kill them all off.

Calibos

Dandelion6 wrote: »

I don't think it's that predictable, they could easily just kill them all off.

Well, we can live in hope...

Yakuza

I binged watched (well, a mini-binge) 1 through 4, I have to say I'm enjoying it. I thought it was going to quickly turn into TWD in another locale but the arrival of the army at the end of ep. 3 has put a new twist on things. However we know it's only just putting societal collapse for perhaps a few more weeks or months at best.

I like Kim Dicken's character, the boyfriend needs to have his face chewed off, stat. I'm glad they dragged off the junkie son, wouldn't miss him at all but I guess he'll be back. Daniel looks like he'd be handy to have around once things go south.
I'd imagine Shawn Hatosy's character will join the group once things go to pot, perhaps along with a few other soldiers (red shirts, if you'll excuse the Star Trek meme in a TWD forum )

I know people aren't happy at only 6 episodes but TWD also had six in its first run. I guess they're going to wait for ratings to see if they do a longer season for the second one (if it gets the go-ahead).

I've done zero research on this, but am I right in thinking there are no comics to base this off?

Tony EH

7

Yakuza wrote: »

I know people aren't happy at only 6 episodes but TWD also had six in its first run. I guess they're going to wait for ratings to see if they do a longer season for the second one (if it gets the go-ahead).

Yeh, but the world was already gone to hell by episode one in 'The Walking Dead', so the main focus was the trek to the CDC. That's ok for 6 episodes.

This series is supposed to be about the actual breakdown of society in the face of a zombie apocalypse. That alone needs at least a 10 episode arc to play out in a credible way.

Already we've talking about a few "safe zones" and cities being cleared of people. Wait...what?

We're just four episodes in and already we're half way through the shit hitting the fan and all we've seen is some G8 style rioting and the army moving in.

I like the show, I just think it needs to be slower, more considered and it needs to show us more. We're half way through the apocalypse already and nobody really knows how we got there.

duridian

7

Yakuza wrote: »

I like Kim Dicken's character, the boyfriend needs to have his face chewed off, stat. I'm glad they dragged off the junkie son, wouldn't miss him at all but I guess he'll be back.

Nick is very possibly the "Rick" of this show. So you will very likely be seeing quite a lot of him. See my explanation for this theory on the Episode 5 thread.

Yakuza

duridian wrote: »

Nick is very possibly the "Rick" of this show. So you will very likely be seeing quite a lot of him. See my explanation for this theory on the Episode 5 thread.

I saw that, interesting theory. I just find him a weak, selfish asshole and a very unlikely candidate to be any kind of leader. Rick was already an authority figure pre-collapse so people tended to listen to him from the get-go.

NUTZZ

7

Yakuza wrote: »

I know people aren't happy at only 6 episodes but TWD also had six in its first run. I guess they're going to wait for ratings to see if they do a longer season for the second one (if it gets the go-ahead).

The second season was already green lit back when season 1 was given the go ahead. It will consist of 15 episodes and air in 2016.

I've done zero research on this, but am I right in thinking there are no comics to base this off?

That's correct, it's not tied directly to any of the original TWD comics.

dori_dormer

I just and a horrible realisation.

The junkie kid got dragged off in those ridiculous clothes. They are obviously gonna go save him/ break him out. That will mean they are unlikely to be let back in the safe zone with the army, so will be on the streets fending for themselves.

Which will mean that boy will be permanently in those clothes! :mad:

I mean if he won't change his clothes in his own home, why would he change them on the streets.

His clothes are the most annoying thing about the show!

Dandelion6

8

Yakuza wrote: »

I saw that, interesting theory. I just find him a weak, selfish asshole and a very unlikely candidate to be any kind of leader. Rick was already an authority figure pre-collapse so people tended to listen to him from the get-go.

Who would have thought Carol would have turned out to be a leader when she was cowering from her abusive husband. Part of what the show is about is how people adapt to the zombie apocalypse. Nick is clever and resourceful and if the show lasts long enough for him to fully detox (which he'll have to do eventually if he survives) I expect him to play a Rick type role too.

Maybe the clue is in the name... Nick/Rick.

DuckStab

6

Tony EH wrote: »

Already we've talking about a few "safe zones" and cities being cleared of people. Wait...what?

We're just four episodes in and already we're half way through the shit hitting the fan and all we've seen is some G8 style rioting and the army moving in.

I like the show, I just think it needs to be slower, more considered and it needs to show us more. We're half way through the apocalypse already and nobody really knows how we got there.

Definitely. When Chris said at the start "it's been 9 days since the fence went up" my heart sank a little bit.
From what I understood about the premise of the show its main selling point was that it would spend more time on the collapse, which from his other line of "everything outside is dead", seems to have happened in that off-screen 9 day interval. Well I assume it took a few days to get the fence set up, so probably about 2 weeks passed since the previous episode.
Pretty much the key 2 weeks that should have gotten the bulk of the show's focus. Instead we get a jump from isolated encounters, nothing in the media etc. to a literal wasteland? Sort of defeats the purpose of the show.

The world seems to be almost at the same stage it's in in TWD; the dead have taken over except for certain pockets - Woodbury, the prison, the farm, Alexandria etc. - all of which are oases turned mirages which it looks like this one may be too (efforts to make the army guy look like a sociopath), so it begs the question what's the point? We know how things go from here. Like the S3 episode Walk With Me where we learn of a National Guard outpost that was overran, almost a carbon copy.
I think back to an article I read about FTWD before it aired where Kirkman was quoted "The opportunity to make a show that isn't tethered by the events of the comic book, and is truly a blank page, has set my creativity racing." yet it seems all we're getting is more of the same.

I also thought having it in LA would lead to the series being a lot more city-focused yet the bulk of it has been in the suburbs; indistinguishable from the "safe haven" locales of TWD. Maybe they didn't have the budget to do a large scale city breakdown but it's still disappointing.

I didn't immediately think that the gunfire at the end was the army killing the survivor, rather I thought that walkers had gotten in and s/he was trying to defend themselves. If it was a healthy survivor it doesn't make sense that the army would just go out and kill it, especially given that they were bringing survivors in the gates that the start. Unless said survivor was bitten, but who knows.

I do like the show and I'll stick with it regardless but the timeskip was a really bad move in my opinion.

Dandelion6

8

DuckStab wrote: »

I also thought having it in LA would lead to the series being a lot more city-focused yet the bulk of it has been in the suburbs; indistinguishable from the "safe haven" locales of TWD. Maybe they didn't have the budget to do a large scale city breakdown but it's still disappointing.

LA pretty much is just a big suburb though. If they wanted to do a large scale city breakdown they should have gone to New York or Chicago.

Yakuza

Dandelion6 wrote: »

Who would have thought Carol would have turned out to be a leader when she was cowering from her abusive husband. Part of what the show is about is how people adapt to the zombie apocalypse. Nick is clever and resourceful and if the show lasts long enough for him to fully detox (which he'll have to do eventually if he survives) I expect him to play a Rick type role too.

Maybe the clue is in the name... Nick/Rick.

You're probably right. Regarding Carol, I didn't take an instant dislike to her like I did to Nick. Yes, she has changed from a doormat to a warrior (not sure if I'd describe her as a leader, but definitely an asset to a group).

There is plenty of scope for the writers to transform Nick from a dope fiend to a leader (maybe this is what they wanted to do, to take a character on a long journey, as opposed to just re-hash having an authority figure (in this case a teacher/ counsellor) taking up the reins off the bat). If the writers do transform him from waster to warrior, fair play to them!

Tony EH

7

DuckStab wrote: »

Definitely. When Chris said at the start "it's been 9 days since the fence went up" my heart sank a little bit.
From what I understood about the premise of the show its main selling point was that it would spend more time on the collapse, which from his other line of "everything outside is dead", seems to have happened in that off-screen 9 day interval. Well I assume it took a few days to get the fence set up, so probably about 2 weeks passed since the previous episode.
Pretty much the key 2 weeks that should have gotten the bulk of the show's focus. Instead we get a jump from isolated encounters, nothing in the media etc. to a literal wasteland? Sort of defeats the purpose of the show.

The world seems to be almost at the same stage it's in in TWD; the dead have taken over except for certain pockets - Woodbury, the prison, the farm, Alexandria etc. - all of which are oases turned mirages which it looks like this one may be too (efforts to make the army guy look like a sociopath), so it begs the question what's the point? We know how things go from here. Like the S3 episode Walk With Me where we learn of a National Guard outpost that was overran, almost a carbon copy.
I think back to an article I read about FTWD before it aired where Kirkman was quoted "The opportunity to make a show that isn't tethered by the events of the comic book, and is truly a blank page, has set my creativity racing." yet it seems all we're getting is more of the same.

I also thought having it in LA would lead to the series being a lot more city-focused yet the bulk of it has been in the suburbs; indistinguishable from the "safe haven" locales of TWD. Maybe they didn't have the budget to do a large scale city breakdown but it's still disappointing.

I didn't immediately think that the gunfire at the end was the army killing the survivor, rather I thought that walkers had gotten in and s/he was trying to defend themselves. If it was a healthy survivor it doesn't make sense that the army would just go out and kill it, especially given that they were bringing survivors in the gates that the start. Unless said survivor was bitten, but who knows.

I do like the show and I'll stick with it regardless but the timeskip was a really bad move in my opinion.

Yeh, pretty much agree with everything you say, especially about the "point" of the show. It sort of reminds me of 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'The Bionic Woman'. It's "Here's 'The Six Million Dollar Man' again, but with a woman!!!" This is "Here's 'The Walking Dead' again, but in L.A.!!!"

Don't get me wrong, as a fan of "zombie apocalypse's" and all that, I'm happy we have more to choose from and it's been a fairly decent few episodes so far, irrespective of the pitfalls, but I'm left to wonder what its reason for existing is?

Also, if 'Fear the Walking Dead' is siphoning off money from the original shows budget, that (in my eyes) is a very bad decision on behalf of AMC. A company who isn't known for their sterling decision making, it has to be said, as evidenced by their handling of some areas of 'The Walking Dead' (firing Darabont, etc).