Fear the Walking Dead, Episode 1.06 “The Good Man”

Written by Dave Erickson & Robert Kirkman

Directed by Stefan Schwartz

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC

Here we are, us chosen few who have made it through the infection, the outbreak, the destruction of an entire city, and some moments of terrible TV — here we are, at the finale of Fear the Walking Dead. I have to say, I expected very little going into this show, and while yes, there were some poorly written scenes, dialogue, and overall concepts, things were much better than I could have hoped for. And here, at the show’s final hour (well, 90 minutes), Fear the Walking Dead delivers on everything it promised — a better more and succinct version of The Walking Dead.

Episode 6, entitled “The Good Man,” finally kicks the show into high gear. After an effectively eerie overhead shot of the city of Los Angeles, that shows the entire city in a state of total devastation, we see the same shot we left off in the last episode, the doors of the arena being pounded by the hundred and hundred of zombies locked inside. While I really didn’t like this shot in the last episode, due to the lack of context — when Daniel’s plan comes together, it is very satisfying. Back at home the Clarks (I’m just going to refer to the whole gang as The Clarks from now on…) are packing up to leave town, after learning that Operation Cobalt is in effect. Daniel’s plan to save his wife and Nick from the medical center is pretty genius. He walks up to the gates nonchalantly and says “you better save your bullets,” as the horde of zombies from the arena come walking behind him.

We are treated to the first real intense moments of the season in this episode. Dr. Exner realizes that the zombies breaching the facilities perimeter means that her e-vac isn’t going to risk landing. In the chaos she stays behind to finish off the last of the critical patients, sending the rest of her medical team out to escape (hopefully). Liza makes it out into the yard and is about to board a transport when she has second thoughts. She looks over and watches a bitten soldier stumble into the spinning propeller of a helicopter. The confusion and chaos is palpable in this season, and if you remember in my episode 2 write up, it’s the exact scenario i chastised the show for avoiding as the just drove by a hospital full of zombies. It pays off so much better here, where we get to experience the chaos from the point of view of all of the main characters instead of just in passing.

Nick and Strand are making out pretty well on their own for awhile. They manage to be the only ones who escape the chain-link prison (and seriously, its chain-link fence guys… just climb the hell out of those cells). That is until they are backed up against a door that only a key-card can open with a hallway full of zombies coming at them. This scene was genuinely horror-inducing, with the way the hall lights would go out and seconds later the zombies were a few feet closer. Luckily Liza comes to the rescue, and Nick and his mother are reunited.

This is where we come to the point we’ve all been screaming at our televisions for the past six weeks about. Everyone in the group comes to terms with the fact that you either bash these things in the head until there brains pop-out, or you get eaten and die. So, with that — we get to see out first real assault as the team makes its way out of the medical center. This is where I feel the show is just a little better than The Walking Dead — because instead of having cartoonishly skilled people easily hacking down the zombies, we get to watch normal people, clumsily just trying to stay alive. And that’s really what this is all about right? Survival — not crossbows and swords.

Everyone escapes unscathed, and after a decidedly cloying bit where the soldier Daniel tortured shows back up to murder him because Travis let him go, which I can only assume is a story mechanic to build some kind of rift between Travis’s moral compass and Daniel’s lack thereof, the team is back on the road. Luckily, now they have cool guy Strand in tow, and they head to his oceanfront vista where he has promised Nick that Abigail awaits to help them out.

Remember when I said unscathed a minute ago? Well, turns out that’s not the case, as Liza reveals to Madison a giant chunk taken out of her abdomen by a zombie. Liza wants Madison to assist her with offing herself, when Travis comes upon them, and after a brief argument it seems like he comes to terms with reality. We hear a gunshot from back at the house — cutting to an overhead of Liza’s dead body, and Travis breaking down on the beach. It’s an oddly effective moment, especially given that these characters have only been built over six episodes. Writers Dave Erickson and Robert Kirkman really amped up the tension in this final episode, here’s to hoping they can carry it over into the next season.

Notes:

Madison seems really broken up that they have to leave there neighbors in the green zone without telling them they are being abandoned by the military. Only, no one bothers to close the gate after they leave… pretty much murdering everyone in the neighborhood. Good work gang!

The opening shot of LA was really god damn spooky.

So Abigail is Strand’s huge yacht that he has parked offshore. That is smart, and I love when shows like this let their characters make smart decisions instead of forcing them into harm through stupidity.

The ending credits song was a favorite of mine, “Kettering” by The Antlers. It worked very well here.

What did you think of episode 6 of Fear the Walking Dead?