Fear the Walking Dead - S02E02 We All Fall Down (2016)

Review

The team are still on the waves and Victor Strand is concerned about the other vessel tracking them, especially since Daniel can confirm that the tracker can mount a 50 calibre machine gun similar to the one that sunk the yacht discovered last episode. Speaking of which the log from that yacht states that San Diego has been carpet bombed by the military, making it an undesirable destination. Immediate concerns first, the decision is made to hide in a Cove that will mask the Abigail from radar. A Cove is found that has the added advantage of being near a ranger station that just might have a short wave radio and well needed supplies.

The Abigail puts in at the Cove, which has a handy Jetty, and Madison, Travis and the kids head inland to check a house that flashed its lights a couple of times. They meet the Geary clan, and this isn't going to end well for one group due to Nick's drug addiction, hey got to call it. The Geary tribe have isolated themselves and built fences to keep the undead out of their preserve. George Geary can confirm the whole of the Eastern seaboard of the U.S is gone, either overrun by the walking dead or napalmed by the U.S military in an attempt to stop the virus spreading.

We All Fall Down is pretty much the first self-contained episode we have had thus far in Fear, though it still keeps on the table the clear and present danger our team are facing by forces unknown. There's a dark edge to things as naturally not everything is as it seems, George is happy to bunker down but his wife Melissa wants Madison to take her kids with them as she believes the Geary clan are just binding time till the inevitable goes down. Naturally this leads to a split between Madison, who wants to take the children, and Travis who doesn't believe he should "take the man's kids". Things become more complex when Nick, in the search for drugs, discovers George has a stash of pills with Nick thinking George is planning to Jonestown the family.

Things look like they may become explosive till we discover Willow, the young daughter of George and Melissa, dug into Dad's pills. Enter Sandman, oh wait enter the Walking Dead, as everyone learns you don't necessarily need to be bitten to become infected. Hold onto your linen folks we have an undead outbreak and a surprising twist coming at us. So what are we believing here, an idyllic setup that may or may not have a chance to survive - it was never going to thrive, is pretty much destroyed by our L.A survivors. As stated I'm pretty much blaming Nick for the walking dead outbreak, Bro you really do need to go straight, and everyone else is pretty much ineffectual. Okay guess the Writers are trying to get us on board the whole notion of lack of rest to think things through for Madison and team, but they are like a plague of locusts currently to anyone who has the misfortune to run into them.

Excellent stand alone episode that rocks the house down

Guess the major theme through the first couple of episodes is whether or not they help people or simply look after themselves. Victor Strand is at one extreme, frack everyone else, while Nick is at the other extreme, "we are still helping people". Madison can bounce between viewpoints, Travis is as usual a non-participant, Chris and Ofelia don't seem to care, and Alicia has proven to be a liability in this regard. So would you save someone at the cost of your own Crew? The show is asking us to make that choice. Have a few ideas that individual characters and their fates will be wrapped up in the decisions they make regarding the people left behind or helped.

Speaking of Chris, trying to cover all bases here, he is still grieving over the death of his mother but seems to be coming out of his shell somewhat. If by "coming out of his shell" you mean he hangs around being creepy, then that pretty much sums him up at this stage. On the bright side he does managed to pick up a few life skills during this episode. Mainly these revolve around the walking dead and their abilities, and how to kill them. Not surprisingly Chris takes to killing the dead with some gusto, guess this is therapeutic in nature or something. Would imagine Chris has quite the path to follow and there might be a hint that path is going to be very twisted indeed.

Confirmation this episode that Victor Strand has other goals than reaching San Diego, which by all accounts is a smouldering ruin about now. Victor contacts someone via satellite phone, indicating he has allies out there somewhere. Meanwhile taking advantage of Victor's absence Daniel discovers his store of hidden papers and a military grade firearm. Daniel, given his past of working for a military regime, is well aware of plots and intrigues and is right across the possibilities here. One thinks Victor might have some explaining to do when Madison finds out he has been at the very least deceiving them. Of course Daniel isn't exactly Victor's number one fan so perhaps things are not as sinister as they appear on the surface, no pun intended.

Pretty much have the episode covered, for once a departure from the constant running that FTWD pretty much spends its story time covering. I dug the content and am pretty hopeful the signs are there that the season is going to pick up a head of steam and deliver the stories we all want. Okay so I'm still not across the characters, besides Nick and Daniel, but I guess this could change if the writing improves and we get further characters that are able to push the situation to their advantage rather than simply react. Still recommending this episode, it shows what the show could be if the characters were given a bit more meat, things are starting to get interesting at least.