The Unveiling and Children of Wrath wrapped up Fear The Walking Dead’s season 3a this week. They’re a fascinating pair of episodes and cement the show as being in the best, most consistent run it’s had so far.

The two episodes brought the ranch conflict into the spotlight and resolved the first act of it. In doing so they also reintroduced a missing character, fixed the show’s biggest problem and had Strand talk to a cosmonaut.

The ranch conflict first. The show’s use of the Otto family as a combination antagonist and patron has been a risky move. Done wrong, as it gets dangerously close to in The Unveiling, it would play like racist apologia. Done right, there was just as much danger of the show romanticizing the Native American characters as noble savages or worse still, decrying them as just plain savages.

These two episodes do neither, and bring every element of the plot into land with tremendous grace. Troy is, perhaps sensibly, largely sidelined and Jake and Jeremiah are front and centre. Jake, somehow still a lovely guy despite his family, is revealed here as both an idealist and gutsy as Hell. He voluntarily goes to Walker’s compound not once but twice and the second time barely escapes with his life. He’s a complex figure; aware of the terrible things his family has done but unwilling to stand aside and let them and their enemies tear each other apart. He’s a lawyer and an idealist and one of the most interesting characters in the show’s run. I’m also pleasantly surprised that he’s made it out of season 3a alive.

Then there’s Jeremiah. Dayton Callie has been a massive asset to this cast. His Jeremiah was a painfully self-aware man who constantly tried to juggle his inherent racism with his fundamental human need to help his friends and family. An element of chaos, albeit in a smaller, gentler way than his pit bull of a younger son, Jeremiah was electric every time he was onscreen. That’s especially true of his final scenes in Children of Wrath. The mighty survivalist patriarch is revealed as a drunk, frightened old man whose fervent need to hold his land has more to do with the blood he’s spilled to keep it than any high minded ideals. He’ll cast a long shadow on the show, but the character leaves the stage at the perfect time.

Which brings us to Madison. Kim Dickens has always been impressive but the writing she’s been given to work with often hasn’t been. Children of Wrath fixes this, permanently, in a scene where Madison talks to her kids about her childhood. In the same calm, conversational way that Madison has used for 2.5 seasons she explains about the horrific abuse her mother suffered, what she ultimately did and the price she continues to pay for that. In the space of three minutes, every single one of Madison’s at times annoying and randomly bloodthirsty decisions is put in context. In the space of those same three minutes she becomes the character the show has always needed her to be: a complex, conflicted woman who would really like to be better than she is and is fully prepared to murder people to get to that point.

Of course the flip side to this is by making Madison’s childhood abusive the show is drinking deep from the Well of Tropes. That’s certainly true. What’s also true is that it does this very well, and the positives, for me at least, outweigh the negatives. The show has needed an actual heart since its inception. Now, at last, it has one.

Another mark of the genuine quality of this season is how non-jarring Strand’s return is. Last seen exiting stage left, pursued by Walkers, Strand returns further down the coast and living hand to mouth. His near silent plot sees him find his yacht, the Abigail, washed up on the shore. He liberates it, realises that his worldly possessions now consist of a radio, a bottle of champagne and a jacket and gets very very drunk.

And then a cosmonaut makes contact with him. On a decaying orbit and all but out of supplies, he shares a few moments with Strand and reminds him to live before fading away. It’s a scene which is simultaneously a touch on the nose and absolutely a season highlight. Colman Domingo is so effortlessly great that he can make listening to a man on the radio an emotionally wrenching experience and the scene itself is both powerful and wildly odd in a way the show really should do more of. Plus, I’m fairly sure it’s an affectionate and effective riff on the downed pilot’s testimony in World War Z.

Other elements impress too. Both Alicia and Nick get some really interesting stuff to do and the status quo as the season finishes is the most interesting the show has ever had. Strand is a free agent, Daniel is in a senior position at what will shortly be the most important location in the region and the ranch is peaceful. For now.

Verdict: There’s still work to do but this is the best Fear The Walking Dead has ever been and for the first time since the show started, I’m honestly excited about what happens next.  Bring on season 3b.

Episode 7     8/10

Episode 8     9/10

Alasdair Stuart

 

 

The Unveiling and Children of Wrath wrapped up Fear The Walking Dead’s season 3a this week. They’re a fascinating pair of episodes and cement the show as being in the best, most consistent run it’s had so far.

The two episodes brought the ranch conflict into the spotlight and resolved the first act of it. In doing so they also reintroduced a missing character, fixed the show’s biggest problem and had Strand talk to a cosmonaut.

The ranch conflict first. The show’s use of the Otto family as a combination antagonist and patron has been a risky move. Done wrong, as it gets dangerously close to in The Unveiling, it would play like racist apologia. Done right, there was just as much danger of the show romanticizing the Native American characters as noble savages or worse still, decrying them as just plain savages.

These two episodes do neither, and bring every element of the plot into land with tremendous grace. Troy is, perhaps sensibly, largely sidelined and Jake and Jeremiah are front and centre. Jake, somehow still a lovely guy despite his family, is revealed here as both an idealist and gutsy as Hell. He voluntarily goes to Walker’s compound not once but twice and the second time barely escapes with his life. He’s a complex figure; aware of the terrible things his family has done but unwilling to stand aside and let them and their enemies tear each other apart. He’s a lawyer and an idealist and one of the most interesting characters in the show’s run. I’m also pleasantly surprised that he’s made it out of season 3a alive.

Then there’s Jeremiah. Dayton Callie has been a massive asset to this cast. His Jeremiah was a painfully self-aware man who constantly tried to juggle his inherent racism with his fundamental human need to help his friends and family. An element of chaos, albeit in a smaller, gentler way than his pit bull of a younger son, Jeremiah was electric every time he was onscreen. That’s especially true of his final scenes in Children of Wrath. The mighty survivalist patriarch is revealed as a drunk, frightened old man whose fervent need to hold his land has more to do with the blood he’s spilled to keep it than any high minded ideals. He’ll cast a long shadow on the show, but the character leaves the stage at the perfect time.

Which brings us to Madison. Kim Dickens has always been impressive but the writing she’s been given to work with often hasn’t been. Children of Wrath fixes this, permanently, in a scene where Madison talks to her kids about her childhood. In the same calm, conversational way that Madison has used for 2.5 seasons she explains about the horrific abuse her mother suffered, what she ultimately did and the price she continues to pay for that. In the space of three minutes, every single one of Madison’s at times annoying and randomly bloodthirsty decisions is put in context. In the space of those same three minutes she becomes the character the show has always needed her to be: a complex, conflicted woman who would really like to be better than she is and is fully prepared to murder people to get to that point.

Of course the flip side to this is by making Madison’s childhood abusive the show is drinking deep from the Well of Tropes. That’s certainly true. What’s also true is that it does this very well, and the positives, for me at least, outweigh the negatives. The show has needed an actual heart since its inception. Now, at last, it has one.

Another mark of the genuine quality of this season is how non-jarring Strand’s return is. Last seen exiting stage left, pursued by Walkers, Strand returns further down the coast and living hand to mouth. His near silent plot sees him find his yacht, the Abigail, washed up on the shore. He liberates it, realises that his worldly possessions now consist of a radio, a bottle of champagne and a jacket and gets very very drunk.

And then a cosmonaut makes contact with him. On a decaying orbit and all but out of supplies, he shares a few moments with Strand and reminds him to live before fading away. It’s a scene which is simultaneously a touch on the nose and absolutely a season highlight. Colman Domingo is so effortlessly great that he can make listening to a man on the radio an emotionally wrenching experience and the scene itself is both powerful and wildly odd in a way the show really should do more of. Plus, I’m fairly sure it’s an affectionate and effective riff on the downed pilot’s testimony in World War Z.

Other elements impress too. Both Alicia and Nick get some really interesting stuff to do and the status quo as the season finishes is the most interesting the show has ever had. Strand is a free agent, Daniel is in a senior position at what will shortly be the most important location in the region and the ranch is peaceful. For now.

Verdict: There’s still work to do but this is the best Fear The Walking Dead has ever been and for the first time since the show started, I’m honestly excited about what happens next.  Bring on season 3b.

Episode 7     8/10

Episode 8     9/10

Alasdair Stuart