Fear the Walking Dead - S01E06 The Good Man (2015)

Review

Travis and team have decided to bug out of the safe zone due to the soldiers abandoning the civilians to their fate as the military retreats from L.A. First though they have to break into the military compound and rescue Nick and Mrs Salazar. Helping out in this respect are the captured soldier Andrew, who is only too happy to supply Travis with detailed plans on how to infiltrate the compound, the soldier quite rightly realises Daniel Salazar isn't likely to let him live and opts to work with Nick. Daniel has his own plans for distracting the compound guards, which involve a couple of thousand of the infected contained in a nearby stadium.

Naturally things don't go quite to plan, the compound is overrun by zombies following Daniel doing a pied piper of zombie land, Griselda Salazar has died of septic shock, and some soldiers going AWOL steal a truck from Alicia and Chris. Still the team manage to rescue Nick and Victor Strand and escape the chaos erupting in the compound. They decided to head to Victor's pad out near the ocean, where Victor plans to depart via a luxury yacht he has moored off shore. Naturally not everyone is going to survive the day.

Finally we get some very solid zombie action in season one with a herd on the rampage as the dinner bell rings down in military central. For five weeks now we have been counting coup of infection, turning, and the like without any serious bites going down. That all changed with this episode as the infected turned the tables on the military and effectively ended their hold over L.A in a one night rampage. Yes I know, wow Travis and team manage to enter the base, have a running battle with the zombies, and exit with Nick in tow while the heavily armed defenders go down to gory ends pretty quickly. Hey its fiction, suck it up kids, some stuff is going to stretch your believing to the limit. I thought it was pretty well handled and brought some danger into what has up to now been a pretty danger free season. Sure Griselda died, but that was due to a leg injury rather than the result of a zombie attack. The walkers are back in business finally, though way too late in the season.

Which brings me to the major bug bear I have with season one, the zombie apocalypse has gone down way too fast, and way too off the screen for genuine appreciation of Fear the Walking Dead. LA has gone down in six episodes and we are back to The Walking Dead scenario, finding shelter in an increasingly violent world. Not entirely sure Fear can survive being just another group of survivors fighting for existence in the post-apocalyptic landscape. Weren't we promised a show about the start of the zombie apocalypse? Seems we got exactly four episodes before that idea went out the window along with society. Will I dial into season two, you beat your britches I will, but I remain a tad disappointed the show didn't attempt something new over at least the first three seasons. Guess they are pointing out the infection spreads at an exponential factor giving the powers that be little to no time to react in a coordinated and effective fashion. Still multiple view points from differing people facing an unbelievable situation getting steadily worse could have been well past interesting.

Finally some serious zombie action, not for the faint hearted yo!

At least in the final episode we finally get some character development that for mine has been long overdue, but to a certain degree acceptable given how remote the zombie threat has been. Travis, who clung to his belief that all would be right and violence wasn't necessary to resolve the ills of the world, is finally pushed past his breaking point by the soldier Andrew. Travis had pretty much saved Andrew's life by shielding him from Daniel's ministrations and this blew up in Travis' face. Enter violent Travis who takes out his frustrations in one violent scene that shocks the rest of the group. Later Travis is able to pull the trigger on a group member who has become infected and doesn't want to turn. Perhaps finally this character is coming to terms with the reality of the new world order; it bodes well for his survival in the second season.

Equally Nick seems to have come through the trials and tribulations without the further need for drugs. He seems to be on top of things, in relative terms, without actually evolving from his previous life style. Nick certain looks to be the dude Victor decided he needed when they were both imprisoned, but has yet to really make himself completely useful to the group. He does hold his own however and is no longer being carried by the other survivors. The Nick of episode six is no longer the drug dependant addict we meet in episode one.

The episode itself ramped up the tension for the first time in the season with the possibility that not everyone was going to make the final credits, indeed one major character doesn't. This being the Walking Dead universe no one is of course safe, which added to the anticipation as Travis' crew battled a horde of zombies on the way out of the military compound. There were a few additional nice touches to keep things rocking, exactly what is Victor Strand's end game, will Alicia and Chris survive their encounter with the deserting soldiers, and the final gunshot breaks the tranquillity of the survivors finally finding some peace. So on a bright note the season did end on a high and promises next time round should rock. Expect more exploration of Victor's past, the character isn't as one dimensional as first thought.

Season end we have our core group of characters, don't get too attached major characters don't last in this universe, the zombie apocalypse is in full swing, and next season should involve a search for sanctuary amongst the ruins. Everything achieved that should be achieved, though no doubt a few additional characters and situations will present themselves in season two.

As an episode The Good Man is the best of season one and promises next season will rock the house down. We have tension, the full collapse of the last remanets of LA society, and survivors starting to come to terms with exactly what they are dealing with. Travis finally gets his zombie on and joins the fight, though currently he is dealing to the living only. If you have been following the first season then you are going to rock to this final episode, if not then sign on board the first season and get ready to rock and roll.