Talking Dead Recap : Fear the Walking Dead midseason finale

Executive producer Gale Anne Hurd,  Cliff Curtis  and 2 surprise cast members joined Chris Hardwick on Talking Dead to discuss the midseason finale of Fear the Walking Dead tonight.

After 7 episodes, I think nobody saw some of these things coming in tonight’s midseason finale. Talking Dead aired one hour and a half later because of Preacher so we had time to process before our group processing with Hardwick and the gang.

Surprise guests were Marlene Forté, who plays Celia, and Rubén Blades, who plays Daniel Salazar. Rubén thinks people love him because he is a character who picks up things quickly and is loyal to his principles and his people. He knows how to react and what to do in an emergency.

We had a discussion about Rubén’s last name. He said growing up it was always “blades”. But after becoming popular in Latin America, people started pronouncing it with the Spanish pronunciation of “Blah-days”. So either way is good for him.

Marlene Forté was never a zombie fan, but her 78-year-old father loves The Walking Dead. She said he was thrilled when she got the part. Marlene binge watched all 6 seasons of The Walking Dead and completely understands now.

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Gale Anne Hurd said we did not see Daniel dead. In a behind-the-scenes clip they talked about how the culture of Mexico has influenced the their storytelling. The Mexican people have a different viewpoint and relationship with death and that needed to be taken into consideration in a story about the undead.

Daniel thought everything about Celia’s place/the Abigail estate was evil and damned and that Strand should burn Thomas or he was condemning him to never rest. Rubén made interesting observations about Nick and Chris and Madison.

He said that the dead don’t judge Nick. He thinks it’s interesting that with Chris we might be seeing how a villain is being created. With Madison, he told funny stories about how cold she can be. He reminded us about how she asked if he got the information from the soldier after he emotionally confessed about Ofelia.

Next: Adam's review of the midseason finale

We got a sneak peek at the August midseason premiere and the usual questions and polls and extras. Gale Anne Hurd, who is wonderful, was so polite; she gave great answers, but let her cast shine in this episode of Talking Dead. The couch was on fire tonight.