On the Fear the Walking Dead Reddit board, the third season
is highly praised by many as a masterpiece. Intending to go back to the second
season eventually, I decided to bypass it for the highly touted third. With
Eye
of the Beholder, it sure got off to quite a rip-roaring start. Some of the tried-and-true
zombie peril moments are included although I laughed several times—Travis in
the zombie pit just wiping them out with freed rebar and concrete blocks, Nick
in the sewer system combating a zombie as the threat of more walkers intruding
on a compound the Clarks find themselves evident once Nick opens the
underground, weakening the fortification, Madison fighting off a surrounding
horde, Willy (Noel Fisher) listening to a horde behind a wall, even opening up
a ventilation shaft which gets him munched on and eventually nearly broken in
half before pulled into the wall by a walker—while introducing brothers Troy
(Daniel Sharman), seemingly the psychotic one, and Jake (Sam Underwood), the
reasonable and likable one, who try to convince Madison to join them at their “ranch”
with their paw. Madison and Alicia, instead, plot a search, rescue, and escape
plan, hoping to locate Travis and Nick (and with Nick, Luciana), planning to
leave this compound of buildings, carrying the appearance of a type of military
base of operations. This was instead Troy’s personal “zombie turn investigation
lab”, a few guys willingly (and enjoying it while doing so) killing the “ill
and maimed” to see how long it takes for humans to turn. Nick, Luciana, and
Travis are among some chosen lab rats (one of which, Steven (Ross McCall),
orchestrates an escape with Travis) being readied for a bullet to the head,
numbers magic-marked on their person. While Troy seems to be very hospitable to
Madison and Alicia, allowing them to stay (locked, of course) in an office, he’s
totally cold-blooded in relation to Travis, a Maori, for whom he seems racially
bothered by. Nick, not known to Troy, and Luciana, must escape because their
association to Madison isn’t established. In order to find Travis, Madison “subdues”
Troy with a scissors to the eye (!!), while Alicia goes to look for a mode of
travel, eventually recovered by members of Troy’s gang of gun-toting creeps.
Alicia then meets Jake, who convinces her to release Troy, reuniting with
Travis (recovered from the zombie pit) as promised through cooperation. The
episode works to recognize that something’s off about Troy, as he has no qualms
murdering folks in order to take the news back to daddy about the length of
time it takes for victims to turn. And even after Madison has held him hostage
with a scissors in the eye, he uses a machine gun in his possession to fire
upon zombies that were threatening her (and Nick’s) life! That would seem
improbable within the Walking Dead Universe, considering how rare it is to see
someone injured by another willingly help the very one who hurt them. Travis, a
weakened Luciana, and Alicia board a helicopter at Jake’s urging while Troy
welcome Madison and Nick inside his fleeing truck. As the walking dead claim
the “triage” (according to Troy), trucks and the helicopter escape seemingly for
the ranch. Travis assures Alicia that Madison and Nick got away before the
zombies could grab hold to them. The episode won’t allow the family unit to
remain together, opting to split them up multiple times. Madison and Alicia,
together at the beginning, are separated while Travis and Nick, together when
in the basement as victims are chosen to die and turn, eventually split apart
as the zombies start to overrun the compound. You see Travis looking down at
Madison and there is just a way it is shot that would seem to indicate what
time they had together on the compound, one last comforting and affectionate
conversation between them, would probably be their last. I swear Nick always
looks like he could use a bath. The dour tone of The Walking Dead Universe is
alive and well in this third season. FtWD’s third season opener did give the
audience zombie mayhem, and provide fresh characters going forward and promises
more up ahead. 3/5
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