Fear the Walking Dead: Captive
May 8, 2016 7:12 PM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe

Alicia works toward reuniting with her family; Travis comes across a familiar face; Madison and Nick try to save their family against all odds.
posted by tobascodagama (9 comments total)
 
GUYS! IT FINALLY HAPPENED! A Walking Dead show acknowledged that maybe doing the fucking over everybody you meet might have negative consequences!

Anyway. I really like Luis. Not as big a fan of Daniel hearing voices, but I guess we'll see where that goes.

I thought it was really interesting that Jack turned out to be basically a good guy after all. That's a kind of character we don't see enough of on these shows, the banality-of-evil guy who turns into a pirate because he's hanging out with pirates but doesn't really have his heart in it.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:16 PM on May 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


A Walking Dead show acknowledged that maybe doing the fucking over everybody you meet might have negative consequences!

This is why you proofread before clicking post, people. Especially if you've already reworded a sentence multiple times.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:26 PM on May 8, 2016


Best episode of the series by far, imho. Almost everyone was not dumb (except for Chris, and I'll give him a pass since he's young and feeling guilty to begin with for letting the pirates on the Abigail). And Daniel wins the MVP award for the episode.
posted by longdaysjourney at 8:43 PM on May 8, 2016 [3 favorites]


Can we come back now? Is the show worth watching? Hmm.. maybe I'll binge this season and catch up.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:04 AM on May 9, 2016


Yeah, that wasn't bad.

Stuff:
* I liked everyone pulling together. In Strand's case, there was enough buildup - the flashbacks about his past offered a good window into why he'd give Madison just a little leeway for once, here. Daniel, I'm less sure about, and I'm hoping they cover it - nevertheless, it was nice to see him help with the group for no immediate personal gain.

* Ofelia gently calling Daniel on potential torture was good. Surprisingly subtle, and it was nice to see him taking her side about it instead of getting defensive. I expected Daniel to be my least favorite character on this show, but he did pretty well here.

* That said, the voices thing wasn't good, and it had better not be more Lori On The Phone nonsense.

* Alex wanting Travis over Strand was weird. I'm going to assume she wanted them both had Strand been picked up, but was willing to settle for 'torture Travis and be content Strand died of drowning or hypothermia.'

* Jack really did seem sincere, didn't he? That was a refreshing change of pace out of the franchise.

* It's true that Connor was bad at his job, but it was telegraphed enough that I actually believe this was intentional on the part of the writers. The bit where he fixes Not!Lexa a steak and the pregnant gal swiped it was a nice, subtle way to show off the lack of discipline in his organization despite everyone's protests that he was 'keeping everyone together.' I vastly preferred that to Negan's Ninjas - this was a believable enemy faction with internal disagreements, basically *just* like them confronting another group like theirs. That was pretty great.

* I believed Chris' stupid stunt. He's going to be a problem, and they're actually setting it up fairly well.

* Got some forward motion on 'why Strand picked Nick.' I am amused that both the theories I was toying with hold: Nick actually *is* pretty handy in a post-apocalyptic world, *and* Strand probably thinks he's cute. Nick also has a pretty good attitude - if a story is going to embrace how people have to 'make the hard calls,' what Nick did last episode and Madison did here are a lot more appealing than the crap on TWD lately. Both of them volunteered to do something risky and stupid for their loved ones, and that's a much better story than 'why we have to kill 20 guys in their sleep on the word of someone we just met.'

* I liked that Travis didn't try to shift blame to Strand about the raft.

So... huh. Yeah. I'm becoming cautiously hopeful about the show.

Upon preview:
Can we come back now? Is the show worth watching? Hmm.. maybe I'll binge this season and catch up.

... possibly? I don't want to commit yet, but they're showing that they could tell a decent story if they stay the course.
posted by mordax at 10:17 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


I believed Chris' stupid stunt. He's going to be a problem, and they're actually setting it up fairly well.

I also thought the ambiguity of that scene worked really well. Chris could be telling the truth, Reed was in pretty awful shape, and both shows have made it clear that it can sometimes take hours for a dead person to finally turn, if the plot doesn't need them to stand up and start walkin' right away. But it's also pretty easy to believe that Chris executed a prisoner in a fit of adolescent pique, to make up for his "failure" to man up and murder a bunch of strangers who were asking for help.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:33 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


I also thought the ambiguity of that scene worked really well.

Agreed, this is a rare case where I'm glad they didn't show us exactly what happened. I also like how it flows from Chris' reaction to trauma in recent episodes - he has a real character arc.

(I'm now actually holding out hope that Not!Lexa and Ofelia get similar treatment. I actually already like what they're doing with Nick, and Ofelia was genuinely good for all five seconds she was around this time.)
posted by mordax at 12:12 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


I feel like we haven't seen the last of Alex.
posted by larrybob at 1:00 PM on May 12, 2016


I certainly hope not!
posted by tobascodagama at 1:28 PM on May 12, 2016


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