So is Fear the Walking Dead: My opinion on the first 3 episodes

Since the end of August, the first season "Fear the Walking Dead" has been conquering domestic screens, the companion series to "The Walking Dead", which takes place at a different time and place. Here we learn how people experienced the onset of the zombie apocalypse. And you take a refreshing amount of time for the apocalypse. At least biters - known as "the infected" in "Fear" - are rare at the beginning of the series. And that's good! The zombie outbreak not only threatens the living in «Fear the Walking Dead», but also destroys the order of society. What follows is anarchy, chaos and panic. But at first glance, few would associate the images with the new zombie series. If you still want to believe that this hitherto very promising companion series of a somewhat worn-out series is actually about zombies.

«Fear the Walking Dead» takes a different time frame and introduces new characters, but we know the rough story. It's almost identical in every zombie movie anyway. Only in the new series do we see it unfold slowly, very slowly, leaving time for viewers to really get to know the characters. It's quite entertaining to watch how ignorant the citizens of Los Angeles deal with the threat because they completely underestimate the danger. As mentioned, the series is set in Los Angeles, but only the first episode was filmed there, the rest in Vancouver, Canada. The decision to shoot in a big city at all was also intended to create a difference to the parent series. There we are more likely to be in rural areas and in the woods. I myself very much welcome the change of location from the deep forest to a big city, where significantly more people, including potential walkers, can be found. And starting slowly at the apocalypse shows the true strength of «Fear the Walking Dead»!

It is extremely exciting to see how the blended family around Madison (Kim Dickens), her partner Travis (Cliff Curtis), Madison's two teenage children, Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Nick (Frank Dillane) and Travis too Ex-wife Liza (Elizabeth Rodriguez) and son Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) fared. The grandiose and gloomy start of the first episode with Nick, Madison's heroin addicted son, who wakes up in an abandoned church that is apparently a popular place for the junkies, makes a lot to be expected. He's still totally crazy about his girlfriend Gloria, but when he finally finds her, horror awaits him: The blood-smeared girl is just about to nibble at someone and Nick is nothing more than the escape, which is abruptly stopped by a car . Afterwards it becomes much quieter in the narrative and sometimes reminds of a soap when we think of the conversations with Nick in the hospital or Tobias, who smuggles a knife into school and claims that it is in his defense. Or Travis, who really seems to have a big heart and after Nick's descriptions of what he saw in the church, he goes to this to check the situation there. Indeed, there is a lot of blood everywhere ... but no bodies.

The strange accident that stops Travis and Maddy on the way home later reappears in connection with police violence. The next morning fewer and fewer students come to school, the rumor about a dangerous flu virus makes the rounds and it is decided that there will only be half a day of school today. In the meantime, the news in the staff room is reporting on yesterday's accident and one is amazed when the injured person keeps getting up even after several shots. There is talk of police violence, which ties in with current events in the States. Under the pretense of getting Nick some new heroin, dealer Cal takes Nick to a secluded location in order to actually shoot him. But Nick fights back and kills Cal in self-defense. Maddy and Travis come to pick Nick up and he confesses to them what he just did. His parents accompany him to the scene of the crime but - surprise - the body is no longer there. Nick is about to go completely insane and the family is about to head home when Cal suddenly shows up. Travis and Maddy want to talk to him, but he just tries to bite her. Nick is the only one who understands the seriousness of the situation and runs over Cal a few times. However, this proves to be very robust and is not so easy to get dead. After being immobilized, Maddy, Travis and Nick get a close-up look at this creature and this is how the first episode of «Fear» ends.

After the atmospheric start in the pilot episode, the series picks up right there. Recently, the officers of the Los Angeles Police Department have been on patrol with cameras. Attached to the body, these recording devices are intended to guarantee that the police officers feel that they are being observed at work, in order to provide an additional, psychological barrier to potential corruption. Unfortunately, this has become a sad necessity, especially after a sustained wave of escalating police brutality in recent years. It is also a succession of shameful incidents such as the death of Walter Scott, who was shot in the back after an altercation with a police officer while fleeing. Moments later, the cop places an object, believed to be a taser, next to the dead Scott. These moments were captured by Feidin Santana's camera, an accidental eyewitness. It was only thanks to this video evidence that charges could be brought against the police officer. Unfortunately, it is one of far too many videos of evidence that have become necessary in recent years to clarify these incidents. It is therefore not surprising that in the second episode of "Fear the Walking Dead" Chris exits the bus in a mixture of curiosity and anger, runs into danger and wants to make himself useful with his camera.

A person lies dead on the street, poorly covered with a shroud. The police officers have cordoned off the street moderately. Eyewitnesses and crowds begin to protest. These are scenes that have been broadcast on screens around the world far too often in recent months. Another walker joins them and can be dealt with quickly, but the situation escalates. People start rioting and rampaging. Scenes recently played out again in Ferguson come to mind. In the midst of this chaos, Travis is able to get his family, all of them of color, out of harm's way and take refuge with a barber and his Latino family while outside the security gates, the riots get bloody. Los Angeles in the fire, dark clouds of smoke rise above the city. Whether they came only from burning buildings or even from burned corpses is uncertain. It would probably be too much of a compliment to impute «Fear The Walking Dead» to a well-formulated social criticism. It's much more about the actual victims. The authenticity of these scenes gives these increasingly frequent incidents a newfound media significance. They are being pushed into the mainstream until they can no longer be ignored.

Fear the Walking Dead | official world premiere trailer (2015)

While the katana and machete effortlessly split skulls in the original series, Tobias tries in vain to use his knife to take out his former principal. The zombies are still too fresh for that. Too little long gone. In the encounter with them you not only have to make sure first whether they are actually already dead, because apart from the eyes and a hungry growl, only a little bit of blood on the shirt allows this assumption, but also hit much harder. This harshness is intensified to the extent that the Walkers are still recognizable for the people they once were. The hesitation, which can mean the difference between life and death in these difficult confrontations, also explains the proliferation of walkers, despite their apparent weakness in movement. This is how author Robert Kirkman and showrunner Dave Erickson succeed in redefining the Walker and setting the companion series apart from its original. While the zombies in the original series have long since only played the background music, at most providing inspiration for Greg Nicotero's FX-Zombie-of-The-Week and, as a brute force of nature, forcing the characters to act to their utmost, in "Fear" they clearly gain in personality, weight and metaphorical power.

In general there is a lot of talk when we're back at the soap. Some moments in their simplicity would evoke a strong identification if they were not interrupted by expressionless one-liners. But director Adam Davidson repeatedly finds impressive images and lets views of the surroundings speak volumes. In addition, he also has an eye for the bizarre of this slowly told apocalypse: Alicia is still cleaning the floor of her parents' house while her mother is already organizing canned goods and medicines for the escape and has her foreboding student explain the doom and gloom scenario to her. The composer Paul Haslinger underlines this musically in an absolutely great way. Its monotonous hum in the background seems like a confirmation of the coming downfall, like the rumble of an explosion that nobody really heard or wants to admit, but which can still be felt at any point in time.

Together with the authors, Davidson hasn't created any disgusting moments or jump scares, but far more real and human moments. For example, school security measures such as the listening device and metal scanner can create a chilling warning effect that is far more effective than a rotting corpse. Madison can't cope with the fact that Walker, who was then found, doesn't allow demonization in his current state. An emotional breakdown follows. At the end of the second episode, the neighbors attack each other. Madison could have warned her, but didn't. Maybe they didn't have a good relationship, but the innocence of the people can still be assumed at this point in the apocalypse. "Fear the Walking Dead" has a unique opportunity to break the conventions of the zombie apocalypse by going beyond the moral battles over the pros and cons of surviving the survivors. Currently, the fate of the victims is much more interesting - and the brutality that happens to them. Because now you can't ignore them anymore, because the threat affects everyone. The fact that the fate of the victims is so central to the media surprises and impresses. The walkers are still too few in number to qualify as Romero's metaphors. In fact, they aren't even recognizable as zombies. Decay has not yet set in, dehumanizing the "enemy" cannot be accomplished. And so «Fear» preserves the zombie's innocence and lets them be recognized for what they are: humans.

Gradually, the characters become aware of the danger they are in. The series has found a very interesting niche in its three episodes, which is convincing but makes genre fans despair. In meticulous discussions of the apocalypse, "Fear" is more intelligent than its big sister series. When Rick Grimes awakens in zombie-fected posterity after a few weeks of 28 Days Later-Style, the rules have already been established and the fronts clarified. Rick is in shock, but he must adapt quickly to this new world in order to survive. The struggle for survival in this world is clearly defined. On the other hand, "Fear" leaves its characters in the dark. Of course, the viewer knows where this is headed. So the exciting element does not result from the question of whether the world will end. But from how the characters react to this meticulously told doomsday scenario and process it mentally. In the original series, the characters hardly have time for this. Trauma can only be realized during breather breaks, but certainly not overcome. However, "Fear" gives itself and its characters the necessary time and shows the viewer through engaging POV shots how the world could actually end and what this realization is increasingly doing to the characters.

This is also reflected in the best moments of this series so far and the great thing is that the characters do almost nothing, they just watch. One can certainly argue about the point of the uprising, but the implementation is undoubtedly strong. While walking by, the camera pans to the ground and catches a zombie who has attacked a police officer. In the middle of the crowd, individual zombies can be seen, the many close-ups do not allow the viewer an overview. The panic is palpable. Composer Paul Haslinger underscores the characters' high-speed pulse with his pounding music. Travis drives past the hospital at a slow pace while people flee the building and police officers open fire on individual walkers. Fantastic sequence! There is no great danger from a horde. Light jogging brings people to safety and there is still a safe distance to the first walking dead. Even Travis doesn't have to hit the gas pedal to escape. At first he can let the car roll at walking pace while they all just realize that there will be no more help. And despite the leisurely pace, the tension is unbearable. You can't look away. What is happening right now is the collapse of the system. This is further illustrated by the subsequent blackout in the greater LA region. Again, director Davidson relies on close-ups while the lights in the reflection on the windshield go out. In the face of Cliff Curtis you can see how you might deal with this imposing picture yourself.

However, the power failure does not mean the end. Not yet. The power keeps bouncing on and off for the rest of the episode. In the end, the Clarks say goodbye to their neighborhood, only to be rescued by the National Guard. Episode 3 illustrates even better than the two previous episodes how civilization is gradually failing and that posterity didn't fall on the characters all of a sudden. This gives them time to hope and also to help each other. "Good people die first," says Daniel, the former owner of the barber shop. The gradual decline is also exciting on a psychological level. Travis seems to be becoming the group's growing problem. He doesn't seem to be able to process the fact that the walkers aren't sick, they're actually dead. This can cause displeasure among many viewers, since he has finally seen enough evidence with his own eyes. But "Fear" asks how people would actually react to being confronted with the living dead in a world without the concept of zombies and zombie films. In "The Walking Dead" you can no longer deny the facts, but when your own neighbor is a zombie on the garden fence or in the living room, the situation is different. Anyway, the danger in "The Walking Dead" is so obvious that you can't or shouldn't even think about it. Madison seems to be adapting better to this situation than Travis. She also prepares for the worst-case scenario and already assures herself with Travis' ex-wife that she will be put out of her possible misery.

Daniel's family, on the other hand, is not very interesting and looks like zombie fodder. However, he seems to have the foreboding and toughness needed to make his way in the world. He doesn't hesitate to shoot the Walker in the living room, a great splatter by Greg Nicotero's team, by the way, and he describes the Clarks' hesitation as "weak". Will this hasty judgment be paid back if he has to redeem his wife himself? Nick's addiction isn't really disturbing, but despite a good portrayal, it's continually exploited and possibly at the end of the season cause the calculable death of a family member. Because, as we know, the cavalry will not be able to ensure the preservation of civilization and in the end the world will end after all. Until then, the Clarks can only do what we do. Watch. How the neighbors attack each other. How the dog is eaten. And how the lights go out. How to struggle for control. How the house of cards collapses. "Fear" finds incredibly great images for his apocalypse and completely away from gore and zombies. You just have to look!