Fear The Walking Dead: A Grievance

I’m not giving up on Fear The Walking Dead by any means, but, I can’t say I liked what episode two showed me. I can’t be silent. This is why.

“We’re going to make it our home, even if we have to take it over.”

Pop quiz: Who said this? If you’re thinking of answering “Rick”, congratulations, you already see one of my problems.

I suppose I should clarify things a bit. I don’t have issue with Madison’s attitude paralleling Rick’s circa the end of Season Five of The Walking Dead; I mean, they’re existing in the same universe, in the same zombie apocalypse; Reaching that parallel is not a huge leap.

However, would I be alone in saying that Madison reaching this point seems…a little rushed?

If my calculations are correct, we’re around a month into the apocalypse. A month.

And, yet, Madison is behaving almost exactly as Rick was (By a rough estimate) at least six months in.

Once again: Doesn’t this seem rushed to you?

Even in real time, this seems very sudden. Think about it: Madison is behaving this way at the beginning of Season Three.

By comparison, Rick wasn’t this way until the end of Season Five; It’s like someone’s trying to jump our characters in Fear ahead to where their The Walking Dead counterparts already are.

I guess it wouldn’t bother me quite so much if I felt like Madison had made a more natural progression to get to where she presently is, but, from where I sit, this all just feels…abrupt.

Let’s look at what happened to Rick before he reached that point, for comparison, shall we?

Just within the previous two seasons, Rick had gone to war with The Governor, twice. He lost the prison and nearly all the refugees he tried to save. He thought he lost Judith. He threw away all the work he’d done to go away from Crazytown, to kill Joe and “Deserved it” Dan. When he thought he’d finally found himself, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl sanctuary, he discovers it’s run by cannibals. He lost Oscar, Axel, Merle, Andrea, Hershel, Bob, Beth, and Tyreese, and had to lead The Group on a death march through Virginia before reaching that point.

And, if you’re thinking “Well, Rick just didn’t have the chance to want to take over any place til Alexandria”.

Wrong.

If you recall, while he was suspicious, Rick wasn’t talking anything about “taking over” Terminus when he, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl first arrived. Rick was just happy to have found a place he thought was a sanctuary. “Taking over”, as far as we know, never even crossed his mind.

Which brings me back to my point: Madison tossing around this idea of “taking over” Broke Jaw…doesn’t feel right. While she and her group (Or what’s left of it, at this point) have gone through some serious shit, it’s nowhere near what Rick went through before entertaining hostile takeovers of otherwise friendly groups.

Yeah, you could argue she lost a lot of friends in L.A., but, I’m not sure I really believe that.

I mean, she made a point of deciding not to warn her neighbors about Cobalt, probably dooming them to a horrific death. The only neighbors Madison seemed especially concerned about were the Trans, but, frankly, Alicia seemed much more devastated than Madison did.

(On a side note: Madison’s beef seemed to be her neighbors not doing anything to help when Nick got taken by the military, but, I don’t recall her being that concerned about Patrick Tran or Doug Thompson when the group came to the makeshift hospital, do you?)

What would Travis have done? Would he get more violent? Or, would he attempt to be a real father (As opposed to just a step-father) to Alicia and, especially, Nick?

Now, we’ll never know, and Chris’s very abrupt death, which you’d have thought was to affect Travis over the long term, now kind of looks…pointless.

Which brings me back to ultimate point: Over the last four episodes or so, it seems like almost everything in Fear The Walking Dead feels rushed.

Why is this happening? More importantly, is this problem even treatable? As much as I enjoy Fear, if this continues, I’m afraid we may be doomed to see the characters change, seemingly, out of the blue. To have them behaving differently from how they did the previous season with little explanation as to why and major events occurring with the fallout blowing past us.

I’m hoping this merely an anomaly, that these abrupt character changes or events don’t become the norm. I thoroughly enjoy Fear The Walking Dead and its characters, but, these problems feel too glaring for me to ignore. Will things change? Hopefully, but, only time will tell.

Next: Fear The Walking Dead: A Bad End

What do you guys think? Am I crazy? Is this simply how I’m seeing it? Or, do things in Fear The Walking Dead seem a little too sudden to you, too? Let me know in the comments!

And, of course, if you like this and want to hear my thoughts on how to survive the zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book: The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!