Fear the Walking Dead - S02E03 Ouroboros (2016)

Review

Unfortunately for our survivors their yacht grinds to a halt due to a blocked input pipe, which is really unfortunate for Madison as she was about to get some, and even worse for Travis who is assigned the task of cleaning the pipe and associated pumps. It turns out a zombie has got its arm caught in the intake and the appendage has been ground into slush. While Travis gets into it arm deep the kids decide to take a quick trip to the shore to check out a load of luggage for clothes, meds etc. Daniel decides to accompany them and ensure their safety giving Madison time to have a talk with Victor about their ultimate destination.

Over on land the kids are searching for supplies under Daniel's less than watchful eye as Chris takes the opportunity to slink away for some self-time. Seems the luggage is a result of a plane crash, and you'll never guess but the flight was 462! Anyways Chris finds a survivor with a broken back, and has to put the random dude out of his misery, which takes a bit of doing as Chris discovers the living are harder to conk out than the resurrected. Anyways Daniel spies someone he thinks is Chris running like they have their bum on fire, which they pretty much do as the walking dead are following in large numbers. Pretty quickly it's down to a battle on the beach, though Nick discovers something about the undead and uses it to his advantage to save the day. And hey Travis also got the intake and pumps unblocked, happy days kids.

Prior to the start of season two the show runners had promised they were going to tie in the characters from Flight 462 with Travis, Madison, and crew. We start Ouroboros immediate after the plane crash, with Alex finding herself swimming for her life. Thankfully there is a raft nearby with a few other survivors, including Jake who is badly burned. Life on the waves in a small craft proves to be as dicey as weaving your way through a herd of the undead. The survivors are whittled down one by one until only Alex and Jake are left alive, though we still have no idea how Alex had knowledge about the undead before anyone else. That is one mystery that I would like to be explained before the end of the current season.

Of course that's not the last we see of Alex and Jake through the episode, the duo link up with Daniel's shore party as they flee to the water in the face of a zombie onslaught, huge assist by Nick in this one. Without giving away too many spoilers, Victor isn't too pleased with his new boat guests and takes action to ensure they aren't included in the yacht crew list. On the surface this seems pretty anti-climactic, but I'm guessing we'll see plenty more of Alex at least in due course. While Jake is more of a plot device at this stage, he isn't recovering; Alex would at the very least have been a worthy addition to the Abigail's fighting force. I don't know maybe Alex will hook up later in the season.

This one has the season pumping finally, hang onto your linen from here

There was one really cool thing that went down during the episode which Walking Dead fans are already right across. Nick is wandering around on his own, after giving Daniel a pharmaceutical lesson, when he comes across a zombie stuck in a pit. Cool aesthetic there, the zombie is munching on crabs that are in turn munching on him. Anyways naturally over the side Nick goes and he is in battle mode, dispatching the zombie which ends by unanimated on top of him, well hell that's not good enough so another zombie falls into the pit and Nick ends up covered in gore. Naturally he discovers this is like zombie off thing or something and he can walk around the undead no problems. Walking Dead alumni are already rocking to this element, Guts season one, but it was a nice touch with Nick discovering the wonderful properties of undead blood by almost osmosis.

Before I forget Ouroboros continues the slightly weird character development of Chris, who is certainly displaying some odd aspects to his personality. We already know the kid has a love affair with taking down the undead, swing that pick Bro! Unfortunately Chris runs across a survivor of the plane crash who has a broken back and wants Chris to put him out of his misery. Our boy is soon into the swing that club thing as he brains the random dude. Is it just me or are they setting Chris up to go John Wayne Gacy on us?

Madison, whilst being simultaneously concerned for the kids on the beach and Travis diving below the yacht, takes time out of her busy schedule to confront Victor about his destination plans. Seems Mr Strand has a distinct destination in mind, and as opposed to what we thought previously there is no devious intent to making that destination. Victor promising they will have running water, food, and more importantly fortifications against the undead. So I guess that will cover the next few episodes or so, though naturally there will be some obstacles in the path to keep things interesting.

Excellent episode, moving both the plot and characterisation along, while added gravy was the introduction of Alex to the main plotlines of Fear. Okay so she is left adrift, both figuratively and actually, but beat your bottom dollar she'll be back in action before the end of the season, even if it is only as a recurrent character. We now have some semblance of framework for the season, rather than simply meandering between encounters with no fixed goals or purpose. Enjoying the season thus far and have no problems recommending either this episode or the show as a whole.