This morning before work I was able to watch last night’s premiere episode of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead (I was busy last night, don’t ask) and now I am using my lunch break to quickly write my thoughts of it.
I’m sold.
Okay, I guess I should elaborate on that. I really enjoyed the first episode. It gave me characters that were flawed but likable, and that made me care about them. More importantly it brings us to the starting point of the entire zombie outbreak, something neither The Walking Dead ever did in its television show or in its comic book. We’re not starting at zero completely – as it appears that hospitals are aware of something going on and are trying to deal with it – but what we are witnessing is how the public is finding out and I assume we’ll see how they deal with things. Even though one thing is for sure – we know there isn’t going to be a happy ending.
There were a couple of those “oh don’t go in there” moments and of course we were able to see a view zombies – but this show is not about survival. This show is about reaction – and panic. In the main show we’ve been watching for five seasons, it’s all about how people adapt to survive. This show will be about how humanity gets there. That was pretty apparent in the first scene of the show.
A young man wakes up in an abandoned church, searches for his (assumed) girlfriend, finds one dead guy – then finds his girlfriend chomping on another dead guy. She turns and comes after him (with a nice knife stuck in her) and chases him out of the church. That scene could’ve been from any episode in any season of The Walking Dead – but it’s what happened outside that really mattered.
When the guy ran outside – he ran into traffic and got hit by a car. Not a random car driven by people looking for food or shelter – just a guy probably on his way to work. People gather around after the accident – and the scene pulls back to show us a typical day in California, with people living life and a plane flying overhead.
Boom.
That scene alone sold me on the show.
Well that, and the people gathered around their phones and televisions watching the first captured image of a man coming back from the dead. Makes sense doesn’t it? Think about right now, today, if this were happening. While we still had power and electricity, people would be posting all kinds of things on social media. It would probably be an essential tool in the fight for survival.
But where would we be once it’s gone?
The Walking Dead shows us an early “post-apocalyptic” world, but Fear The Walking Dead is going to show us what would happen if the zombie breakout started tomorrow!
Combine all those story telling aspects with the fact that the person telling the story is Robert Kirkman, the comic book writer who created this entire epic story, and – as I said before and I’ll say again.
I’m sold.
