Fear the Walking Dead Episode 2 “So Close, Yet So Far,”

“So Close, Yet So Far,” the second episode of Fear the Walking Dead premiered yesterday and it would be smart to completely ignore my praise for the first episode because the show decided to bomb itself into oblivion. The ratings compared to last week dropped slightly but still held up pretty well against the VMAs, which I find impressive; if the ratings dropped after a good episode, then after this week’s episode I would expect next week’s ratings to drop even more. The show has a two-season commitment, so for now they’re safe from being cancelled if the first season keeps going down hill, but if they don’t get back on track soon I can see the fans turning on this show really fast.

“But why was it bad, Joel!?” I can hear you all from LA asking me this simple question so let me give you an equally simple answer: I don’t think they know what they want to do with this show. This is a personal review, so of course this is just what I think and I know people that thought this episode was just fine compared to last week’s but I started sensing an err of thinking they could do no wrong with the name “Walking Dead” attached to the show.

Fear the Walking Dead episode 2

First off, I think they know their best characters are Cliff and Nick and that everyone else is mediocre (personally I think Madison is an atrocious character who I hope dies really soon) so they’ve split them up so people care about different storylines in the show. Cliff goes to find his biological son and his ex-wife while Madison leaves her hormonal teenage daughter, Alicia, to take care of a heroin-withdrawing Nick so she can go to the school and find some painkillers to help Nick with his symptoms. The latter is especially stupid considering the beginning of the episode depicts Madison and Cliff literally having to rip Alicia away from her infected boyfriend because she “wants to take care of him.” Stupid teenagers.

Speaking of stupid teenagers, this show is full of them! We’ve got Alicia, Cliff’s son Chris and one of Madison’s students, Tobias. Chris is a son of divorce so of course he hates his dad like an emo kid straight out of 2004; instead of coming home from school he attends an impromptu social justice rally that just so happens to take place at the beginning of the apocalypse when his family is trying to skip town before things get really bad. By the time his parents are able to get him to listen to them, a full on riot has broken out because the cops shot a homeless man that was really a walker. They eventually hide out in a barber shop ran by Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades) who’s reluctant to let them in the first place… Because a family not destroying cars on your street appears as a real threat.

Then there’s Tobias… Oh Tobias. Madison saves this kid from getting expelled in episode one for bringing a knife to school and he comes back in this episode at the exact moment Madison is raiding the drug closet and asks for his knife back. Is this the only knife in LA? He was smart enough to predict the end of civilization but can’t find a new knife? C’mon, man. While raiding the kitchen for canned food, they discover the zombified principal and Madison tries to talk to him… Because she didn’t learn from her experience with Calvin. She ends up having to kill her dear friend and they both escape the school with none of the supplies they gathered during the adventure… God I hope she dies.

Fear the Walking Dead

The episode ends with Alicia trying to escape, again, to help a neighbor being attacked by a walker. Madison stops her, but instead of explaining to her daughter what’s happening she just slams the door, leans against it, and cries. On the other side of town, Cliff and co are still stuck in the barbershop while the riot rages on. Someone’s Abuela blows out the candles that are the only light source in the shop and the show ends. Don’t worry, everyone was ready to sleep at the same time as you, Grandma.

As excited for the pilot as I was, this episode was a huge let down. I found myself realizing there was only five minutes left in the episode and thinking, “But they haven’t done anything yet…” Even the slower episodes of The Walking Dead are still somewhat exciting; this episode just left me annoyed with everyone that wasn’t Cliff or Nick. I’m not one to stop watching a show mid-season (unless it’s Gotham) so I’ll keep coming back every Sunday night, I just hope this was a fluke episode.

About Joel Reaves

Joel (Aka The LA Nerd) is an independent filmmaker and podcaster that loves comic books about zombies, really short walks to the bar, and redheads named MJ but he's definitely not Spider-Man so stop asking, okay? Jeez.

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