The White Witch of the Apocalypse.
Warning: Full spoilers for the double-episode midseason premiere below.
"We keep trying to make her love us. She’s broken."
Back from a long break (a lengthier gap than last year, presumedly, so it could take us all the way up to The Walking Dead's Season 8 premiere on October 22nd), Fear the Walking Dead storms back to TV with a double wide Fall premiere filled with fierce infighting and duplicitous deeds. Not a lot of actual zombies, which seems to be the calling card for this spinoff given the barren(ish) landscape and terrain, but a lot of humans acting panicked and prickly.
There was a lot of good here, in "Minotaur" and "The Diviner," and I still assert that Fear is a better overall show right now than the O.G. Walking Dead (which is batting with an arm tied behind its back being eight years in and all), but there was also a stubborn clunkiness to these two chapters in that you could feel the plot strings being pulled too heavily at times. More so in "Minotaur" when things just seemed obviously designed to happen in such a way that Nick would be forced to give up his secret about killing Otto. Plus, there was no guarantee that telling Troy how his dad died would stop him in his tracks. It could have gone many different ways, most of them probably involving Troy shooting Nick on the spot.
As soon as Madison mentioned the secret being something that could tear everything apart if it got out, the episode started making jarring maneuvers toward making it "get out." Likewise, though not to such a distracting extent, "The Diviner" started making everything feel less genuine and organic regarding Broke Jaw's water crisis and how it will all line up with Daniel's new role as water mafia enforcer (though a kinder, gentler water mafia now). Again though, "The Diviner"'s sins, as an episode, were slight. At least Madison's idea to hit up the dam for thousands of gallons of water felt a bit more earned since, first, the story brought her back into the supportive embrace of wasteland scoundrel Strand.
Speaking of cool monikers: Is there anything sweeter than the freakin' White Witch of the Apocalypse?
The Southwest may have its own troubles and trials, but it's got awesome nicknames down, that's for sure. Also, surprisingly, the region has its s*** together from a commerce standpoint way more than anything Rick and company's dealt with over on the Southeast. From Season 2's Cartel-run market to Dante's big water grab to this week's Bardertown-like swap meet, people sure are finding their way into positions of power really quickly out in the desert. They're more than seven years in over on The Walking Dead and, while there are communities, things feel light years behind in a way. Meanwhile, Fear the Walking Dead's Mexicali Bazaar already has its own currency.
To be fair though, both shows have their own versions of debt and indentured servitude it would seem.
So do we think Madison should have shot Troy during their parting words, and somewhat intimate tussle, in "Minotaur?" Given who Madison is now, and I guess who she's always been, it did feel like he pushed her a bit far. Far enough that "do whatever it takes" Madison could have, say, shot him in the leg. But her allowing Troy to live also speaks to how much she does sympathize with him, and mother him, as a screw-up son. We all know she favors, and protects, the damaged so it totally fit that she'd do everything in her power to spare Troy's life. As much as she's been manipulating him, she's also, in the process, assumed a parental role whether she fully intended to or not.
But it's a warped motherly role, right? Because Troy leers at her and their scrap at the end of "Minotaur" seemed to bring more of his lustful feelings to the surface. It's nothing that Madison didn't encourage though in her her attempt to work him and control him. She played into his oedipal desires and now there's this really complex and cracked dynamic between them.
The second episode focused a bit more on Madison's real children and showed us just how much pressure is really weighing down on Alicia right now. It was cool that she was able to figure out, on her own, that Nick killed Otto and even cooler that she admitted to feeling neglected by not being a part of the secret. Madison recognizes her as the "strong one," but it's never a role Alicia sought on her own. Alicia is strong because she had to be a stalwart straight arrow to counterbalance Nick's drug abuse and her father's depression. She could never seek attention for herself because it would seem selfish, so she's had to build herself up as the detached member of the family.
In one small moment though, Alicia broke for a second and it spoke to her character almost more than anything she's done on the show to date. She quietly teared up and said to herself "I don't want to be the strong one" when she tried, and failed, to contact her mother on her walkie-talkie. With both Nick and Madison pulling wild card shenanigans, and seemingly changing alliances on survivalist whims, Alicia managed to stop everyone from killing each other by simply doing the unifying "big picture" act of helping some "enemies" find ground water. It was enough to snap Nick out of his role as the reluctant leader of a suicide squad.
It was a notable move for Alicia because it helped solidify her de facto role as leader should Jake's non-improving condition take a turn for the worse. It'll probably be a while before Taka and Madison get back to the ranch so "The Diviner" was necessary as a chapter in the sense that the story needed to show us everything coming to the brink of collapse while "mom and dad" were away, but then also show us how everything could course correct so that the entire ranch didn't implode by the time Madison got back with water. The first chapter got rid of Troy (for now) and then the second worked to draw both Alicia and Nick together onto the same page as leaders (by first mildly pitting them against one another).
Before I sign off here, please note that we're not going to continue doing weekly reviews of Fear the Walking Dead. We'll check in during this half-season perhaps if something huge happens and then I'll be back for a review of the Season 3 finale.
The Verdict
Things felt rushed and forced when it came to the spilling of secrets (and no real fallout followed) on Fear the Walking Dead's midseason premiere(s), but overall these were solid chapters with some great character-defining scenes.
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