Fear the Walking Dead - Good Out Here

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The efforts of Al and John Dorie to make Alicia, Victor, and Luciana realize they are not their enemy is given time in Good Out Here when Nick’s isolated focus doesn’t take precedence. But because this is Nick’s adieu, and Alicia loses yet another person she loves (God, this show can be harsh to its audience by how the characters they invest so much time with bite the dust), it was important to aim its nose on him first and foremost. But I do think it is also a Morgan episode, because he also looks to help Nick find a way out of his darkness, not quite able to deter him away from killing Ennis. When Charlie shoots Nick, her own life will forever be altered…because no matter Charlie’s age, she has found an enemy in Alicia, who might not be able to find her way out of the darkness Nick never quite escaped. Morgan tried to explain to Nick that he was in a similar place, having lost his wife, son, and friends to the harsh environs of the Walking Dead. I would have loved to see Nick and Morgan’s relationship / friendship evolve on the show, but it wasn’t meant to me. Sigh. Nick’s story was concluded. Morgan’s still has legs on it, even if it is weathered and browbeaten. I think it is clear that with Madison’s departure, Morgan appears to be FtWD’s new lead. Although he tries to keep to himself and remain at a distance, the likes of Nick (and Al) sort of pull from him anyway. No matter how much Morgan wants to insulate himself from all walks of life so he won’t have to continually suffer when they perish, like a gravitational pull, he is drawn right back to folks on his journey to wherever this apocalyptic world takes him.

Nick’s flowers and Madison’s encouragement of what the world, despite all its darkness, can provide might irk the fans of the show as the creative team try to provide some sort of heavy-handed emphasis on “it’s not all bad despite every bit of hell dished out over three seasons up to this point”. So Nick lays out in the flower bed as Madison is assured of each little piece of beauty that does reveal itself before hell hath no fury once again. The episode ends with Nick in the flowers, following right after his wide open eyes peer into the sky without life behind them, a right proper bullet fired from Charlie’s gun silencing him forever. Nick never shared his story with Al: I guess that might be considered a disappointment. We, as a viewer, had the opportunity to do so, though. But now Morgan has once again watched as someone else dies in front of him, having dared to provide him with literature that stirs up the conscience and provokes thought. And the death was initiated by a little girl who lost her mentor at his vengeful hands.

The episode alternates forward and back in time, Nick’s time with Madison in the past and his pursuit of Ennis (with his crew of Alicia, Victor, and Luciana looking for Mel’s Vultures, in retaliation for something horrible not yet revealed but hinted at) when encountering Al, John Dorie, and Morgan in the present (or “future” if you place yourself in the truck cab with Madison and Nick), momentarily taking control of Al’s SWAT SUV. Al and her damned persistent “request” to “get their story” (Madison’s gang) remains a storyline angle, as Victor addresses such importance in a document from people she comes in contact, recorded testimonials during the apocalypse. Victor’s wordspeak remains a pleasure for me to listen to, as I love the English language, and while he might sound a bit too scholarly to some, no one else talks quite like him. He’s to the point, though, and wants to know why anything about his own experience is so desired by Al. Al is unrelenting, expecting each of them to tell her their story in exchange for where she found the Vultures’ flag. But Nick’s demise sort of interferes with all that.

Nick was purposely staying enclosed in the stadium because he wanted no part of the outside. The dangers and unpleasantness of the outside world had left him traumatized, but the second episode of the fourth season provided a close call for him when an attempt to leave in a vehicle resulted in a crash and a small band of zombies trying to get at him. I guess you could consider the incident in the second episode foreshadowing as well. It was a close call—the zombies closing in—and Good Out Here once again dabbles with that danger being his potential end. Seemingly out on his own after slipping away from the SWAT SUV and Morgan, Nick comes in contact with two zombies who fall on top of him. Morgan, and his sharp-tipped walking cane, interrupts the zombie’s plans to dine on Nick. But the creative team on Fear the Walking Dead had to go with a fate that had some irony to it. Because Ennis, and the faction he belongs to, had contributed to the miseries of Nick’s mother and people at the stadium with, their “just due” was on the horizon. Good Out Here was Ennis’ turn to depart from the world of FtWD, and Nick was looking to put a hammer in his skull. Charlie, though, was mentored by Ennis, built by him to survive, even at the expense of others. Like Madison’s group, others had been victimized by Mel’s Vultures, and Ennis (Charlie, too) was a representative of what was so morally suspect in the world of FtWD. Nick was not to be denied, with Morgan trying (and failing) to halt his progress while Ennis mocked him. Ennis is introduced as an antagonist that goads through his assholish demeanor and obnoxious tone. To mock in the world of the Walking Dead can get your ass killed right proper. And antlers strategically placed in a room sit upright just begging for Ennis to be impaled on them.

I honestly don’t know what I was thinking starting Fear the Walking Dead so far into it, but my decision was more about leaping in just at some point, not necessarily starting it from the beginning. I thought, also, it would be an interesting approach. Granted, seeing regulars departing the show on the backend instead of following them from the start does remove some of the potential emotional gut punch, but I also think this approach will have resonance seeing them at their end, only to go back when they were alive and “ongoing”, knowing what their fates will be.

Fear the Walking Dead still favors The Walking Dead in such similar ways, to me, still to beholden to the whole faction dynamic, with zombies inserted as “special guests”, often just nuisances to be quickly disposed of.

I had read about Dillane’s desire to leave the show. I get it. The grueling television schedule and tumultuous history in regards to the creative behind Fear the Walking Dead, Dillane was just tired and ready for a change and who could blame him really? And with Kim Dickens, the main lead, also gone from the show, I wonder how those who have been following it for the entire run feel about such departures. I did kind of read up on that and the reaction was more than a bit hostile. Nick’s story concludes in the third episode of the 4^th season, Good Out Here, where he gets revenge against one of the scumbaggy members of Mel’s (Kevin Zegers) Vultures, Ennis (Evan Gamble). A little girl sent into Madison’s camp, Charlie (Alexa Nisenson), as a spy for Mel appears to be during this season “up for grabs”, or at the very least a source of contention among the two factions. Nick has tried to help “farm”, fighting off unsuccessfully weevils in the baseball stadium’s garden, deciding to take a trip with Madison outside the walls in the hopes of finding food supplies. Ennis and Charlie, in their El Camino, are sent on a similar run, purposely raiding the nearest town of supplies, with Madison and Nick slightly behind, left with nothing. Ennis makes sure to provoke Nick by rubbing it in their faces. When Nick confronts Ennis, knife to the throat, it is foreshadowing.