Anyone who has followed my blog at all knows I am a fan of the Zombie Apocalypse genre. AMC has just launched a companion series The Walking Dead titled Fear the Walking Dead(FTWD). The series was created by Robert Kirkman, who created the comic book series that kicked off the franchise.
FTWD moves the timeline back to the beginning of the catastrophe when Rick Grimes is in a coma and moves the action to Los Angeles, California. The main characters are a blended family consisting of a high school English teacher and guidance counselor and their children from previous relationships.
The focus initially is on the everyday concerns of a blended family, with an undercurrent of dread and tension as the evidence of what is to come slowly builds.
For all of the slow burn the cold open stats with Nick the oldest of the teen-aged character, and a drug addict discovering a friend, now a zombie chowing down on another person in the shooting gallery. Fleeing in terror Nick runs straight into a car.
From this point we see a world where slowly the threads that hold society together start to fray. The narrative examines or at least teases all be it briefly some of these threads. Trust in the government and mass media are looked at as the crisis builds with no indication given from those whose duty it is to keep us safe, with information dribbling out via social media posts and videos posted online. Especially timely is the commentary on police violence as protests erupt after the police shoot a homeless man 50 times (presumably he was a walker). As the protest turns into a riot as police take down another zombie and riot police enter the area, and the pot that is the protest boils over, the perfect setting for a slowly growing zombie menace to go unnoticed.
So far the shows biggest strength is the ability to create that undercurrent of impending doom. The scoring of the show by Paul Haslinger helps convey that feeling better than just about anything, giving cues at just the right time to build tension better than any of the visual cues.
I’m looking forward to seeing the final unraveling as the series approaches the season finale and as the military comes into play. Will they be a bigger threat than the undead to the protagonists? Or will the military is evil trope as seen in DAY OF THE DEAD be sustained or be subverted? We have already seen some police acting less than honorably stockpiling water in their squad car. Will the army/national guard be any better?
I do have a couple of issues one minor the other more serious. The less serious is the one thing that I’ve noticed that spoils the illusion that Vancouver is Los Angeles, the acknowledge of palm trees. Having been to LA a few times, palm trees are every where, they are almost ubiquitous in the Southern California landscape.
My second issue, and one mentioned across all media is the fact that almost all the deaths of characters with actual lines have been African American characters. Intentional or not, it is very noticeable, and troubling.
veg-geek 