Fear The Walking Dead Season 2 Premiere Review

The season 2 premiere of FTWD answered the age old question of… can zombies swim or float, the answer will shock you!

They float.

Okay so it wasn’t a very fancy or even exciting reveal but it was something interesting to see in this very nautical episode. As we left the Manawa clan, they were on their way to escape the coast via Strands boat in the hope that they can find save harborage along the coast. As the families flee the coast they witness Operation Cobalt go in full effect as the army firebombs the coast in an attempt to destroy the dead that is ravaging the western seaboard. Aboard the Abigail seems to be the only way they will get out alive, but throughout the episode we learn why the water can be so much more dangerous than the land ever was.

– Fear The Walking Dead _ Season 2, Episode 01 –
Photo Credit: Richard Foreman, Jr/AMC

This entire episode is very reminiscent of the Max Brooks WWZ tale of the survivors that take to the sea in an attempt to find land that is safe and not infested with the dead. For those of you whom have read the book you all find out what happens to those who look to the sea for salvation. While afloat Alicia turns to the CB radio to listen in for whomever can help them out of their situation, or a save harbor that can take them in, instead she finds someone by the name of Jack who is also at sea with his brother and his brothers wife. This relationship grows throughout the episode, allowing what seems like another survivor out on the ocean to connect to someone in the same situation they are in as well.
As the crew float through the water, they happen not upon the dead, but also the living. They are not the only people out on the water and we see exactly what we thought would happen. They group aboard the Abigail leave the raft o f survivors floating exactly where they saw them. There is no way the Abigail could have housed that many people, or if those on the raft were dangerous or friendly. The group is way too new to surviving than to take on something like this, there are too many uncertainties to the situation and it could end up dooming the group they have gathered so far. Strand is not one to take the change, and neither is Travis who is starting to harden up since his experiences on the mainland. Madison still wants to help them, but is outnumbered and it is for the best.

– Fear The Walking Dead _ Season 2, Episode 01 –
Photo Credit: Richard Foreman, Jr/AMC

As we all know there is no such thing as calm, or relaxation on The Walking Dead, or now on Fear. As the calm sets in, chaos once again rears its ugly head as Alicia finds out that Jack’s boat is sinking. She attempts to persuade Strand to help them but he does what he does best and acts cautious and calculated and rejects the idea. There is no way to know if Jack is actually in trouble, or he is just luring them in to attack them. This danger becomes more of a reality as the group discovers a half sunken boat surrounded by the dead. The dead didn’t sink due to the fact whoever was on that boat wore life preservers as they were going down, and now left the wreckage teeming with bobbing biting terrors.
Nick being as stupid as ever thinks he hears someone on the boat and dives in to check, he doesn’t find anyone alive but he does find the ships logs. That ship had been at sea a lot longer than they have and documents the fact that San Diego is burning, and most of the other coastal ports as well. The whole coast got the same treatment that Los Angles did, and this have left the crew in a very tough spot. If that wasn’t bad enough, Strand catches a larger, faster boat on the ships radar and it is coming at them fast.
This entire episode was mostly a setup for is what to come this season on Fear, but it was nice to see a different environment than the sweaty forest covered mid-eastern setting that TWD has graced us now with for six seasons. Now we are getting to see how the others in the world are trying to survive, and not only beat back the dead, but the living that have reverted to their primal instincts.