Fear the Walking Dead: Walk a Mile in Walker’s Shoes

First Aired August 22nd, 2016.

Nick (played by Frank Dillane), still covered in walker blood, wakes up after spending the night in the home of a woman after abandoning his family. While she and the orphan she is caring for leave for sanctuary, Nick ventures off alone.

He camps out for a night in a house but is chased out by a woman hiding there with her child and Nick loses his supplies in the process. He finds a radio in a car but is forced to hide when a group of men drive up and kill both walkers and injured people. The radio gives away Nick’s hiding spot and the group chases him, but Nick outruns them and ends up in a barren field. Severely dehydrated, he’s reduced to breaking open cactuses for nourishment but eventually gets sick and is forced to drink his own urine. The next day wild dogs attack Nick while he’s sleeping and trap him on the roof of a van. But a horde of walkers appear and devour the dogs. The walkers soon notice Nick, but a car horn and gunfire in the distance attracts their attention and they move on, and desperate for food Nick feeds on one of the dog corpses.

People often say different kinds of meat “tastes like chicken” but from Nick’s expression that dog tasted like crap.

These bottle episodes are great for character development and Nick is the kind of complex character who can hold an episode on his own. But this kind of episode seems misplaced as a premiere and would have worked better as the second episode. Opening the season without most of the cast left me wondering what was happening with everyone else after the explosive midseason finale. However, with that said, this was a solid episode. Nick’s 127 Hours style journey of survival was compelling to watch. Between the marauders and the harsh elements, being on his own might not be looking so good for Nick.

Flashbacks show Nick during a stint in rehab where an impending visit from his mother, Madison (played by Kim Dickens), causes Nick to vent his frustrations about his father’s emotional distance to another patient named Gloria (played by Lexi Johnson) . Madison informs Nick that his father was killed in a car accident which makes Nick break down. Later, he and Gloria are shown doing drugs in the church where she first turned. In the present, Nick uses fresh walker blood to blend with the herd but becomes dizzy and delusional from exposure. The men who attacked Nick before show up and begin killing the walkers for sport but are soon overwhelmed and eaten. He continues walking with the herd but soon collapses. Only later that night does it rain and he’s rehydrated. Meanwhile, a woman named Luciana (played by Danay Garcia) and a few others are shown watching Nick. Although Luciana wants to leave Nick, her men convince her to help him.

The flashbacks provided some insight into Nick’s tragic past that led to Nick’s addiction, but considering he was wandering the desert alone there could have been more exposition. In particular, Nick’s troubled relationship with his father, scenes showing them together, would have only made the scene where Nick learns his father died that much more powerful.

Nick seemed to enjoy thoroughly his time as a faux walker and seemed practically giddy when they ate the marauders although malnutrition definitely helped the authenticity of his performance. Luciana’s introduction was brief, but it’s clear she’ll be the resident tough girl—probably with a tragic backstory similar to a katana wielding fan-favorite from the original series. Hopefully, it’s just a coincidence Luciana didn’t speak any English this episode because a language barrier would severely diminish chances for interactions with Nick.

Nick makes his way to Tijuana and is confronted by Luciana and her men, who give him water and bring him to their community for medical treatment. Nick explains his reasoning for wanting to be somewhere where the dead aren’t treated like monsters. Outside, he finds a vast community of people, including children, and begins to settle into his new home. Nick better enjoy his new home while he can, because in the Walking Dead universe it rarely lasts long. And after the walkers turn this idyllic community into a blood-soaked wasteland we’ll see if Nick starts to realize maybe they are monsters.

Quotes/Thoughts

“You’re foolish. Death is not to be feared but it shouldn’t be pursued. There’s a difference.”

For a show with “Fear” in the title, a lot of these people love rather than fear the dead.

“Strange…Luciana said you were brave.” “I’m not.”

Mexican culture greatly values the dead, but Day of the Dead celebrations would be marred by the dead eating their loved ones.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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