How did it start?
From a personal point of view, I don't want to see civilization as its already on its decline.
But civilization starting on its descent? Well, I can get behind that shit. Which is why, once again, I prefer seeing how it all started on Fear as opposed to TWD.
After watching the entire six episode series of season one, my husband noticed that I was transfixed by what I watched. And I was. But I realized there was more to just walkers and chopping off heads and people oblivious to what was really happening out in the world.
I felt like I was participating in a literature class.
Admittedly, it makes me want to kind of watch The Walking Dead with this fresh set of eyes, and see if these parallels exist there. But I noticed that there is almost an arc, a story that focuses around Travis Manawa's English class, and what he tells his students as when most people thought kids were out with a simple "virus."
Now, on a personal note, I happen to think Cliff Curtis, who plays Travis Manawa, is a very attractive man. Add in the fact that he plays an English teacher and well...I'm sweating him. In his class, he's discussing the book "To Build A Fire" by Jack London with his students.
The theme is "Man vs. Nature" in the effort to stay alive. You can substitute any catch phrase that we discuss life and survival. "Survival of the Fittest." "Nature vs. Nurture."
In discussing a scene where a man tries to cut open a dog to create warmth, Travis in essence foreshadows what is about to happen...."Nature always wins."
Nature. Always. Wins.
Now, of course since I know how the first season ends (and presumably, you who is reading here does too), I can say that this was a warning for how Travis, and his tribe, has changed within the course of a few weeks. There is always a struggle with man vs. nature. Since we ultimately know that walkers or biters or grabbers represent "nature" (things we can't control), man is the one who has to change. Whether he wants to or not.
Which brings us to "Patient Zero." We find out her name was Gloria, a friend of Nick Clark, who is the son of Madison, Travis' partner (I believe they are not married, but they call her his "wife" later on, so I'll just use domestic partner for now). Madison works at the same school as Travis, where she is a guidance counselor.
Need I say, all the ironies in the world that Madison helps guide children to make better decisions about their future for a living...and her own son has been in and out of rehab for heroin addiction. His escapism and high from heroin is usually enough to get him away from his reality.
Until...he sees his friend Gloria in the "shooting gallery" eating the face of a dead junkie. Then all bets are off.
Yes, we have been introduced to "Patient Zero," or presumably she is. Whatever high Nick had has totally worn off, and completely traumatized, he runs into traffic, where he is subsequently hit by a car.
When he tries to describe what he saw in the hospital, the nurses, doctors and even his own family think he's delusional. The only person who is willing to believe him is Travis, thinking that when Nick says, "If it didn't come out of the powder, it came out of me. And that is insane," when he describes what he saw in the heroin den, Travis doesn't think that the drugs would make him see things of that nature.
Travis decides to take a look himself. He didn't see any walkers in the shooting den, or Gloria for that matter, but he sees an extraordinary amount of blood and runs into someone who also saw something terrifying. "Don't kill me!" the man screams as he runs away from Travis.
Travis tells Madison that what Nick saw was more than likely true, she claims he's using this moment with Nick to repair things with Chris, his own son.
Chris, on the other hand, we learn lives with his mother, Liz. Chris is upset with his father and refuses to see him on his designated custodial weekend. Liz takes his side. Again, we see real life interspersed by some weird goings-on in the outside world.
What is fascinating about this episode is that life is pretty much going on as usual. The story of survival hasn't even really started. You can tell that things are a little bit *off* in the outside world, though. Besides Madison being told by Principal Artie (whom my husband and I call "Principal Obama," because he looks like Barack Obama, natch) that many kids are missing school and being kept home with a nasty virus.
One of her students, Tobias, who appears to be a typical outsider kid who keeps to himself, is stopped at the metal detectors. He tells Madison that he's carrying a knife for survival, that essentially any plans for the future (going to college, any plans, really) is changed because of this virus that's spreading...and no one knows what it is. Of course, Madison thinks this is a panic mode for Tobias, and that it's simply a hoax to get people in an uproar.
When Travis tells Maddie that something bad happened at the shooting gallery, she says that she wants to see it too. With Tobias' ranting, Nick's relapse and accident, along with what Travis says he saw and reports of a highly contagious virus, it's evident that she thinks there is something to it, too.
I also thought it was a little eerie that when they were driving to the dilapidated church that served as a heroin den, you saw images of people just standing in the background, with signs of the "missing" throughout the city. These are some of the first walkers that no one realizes are infected at first.
Madison goes into the church with Travis. While she notes that the church/shooting den was a "violent place," they later learn that Nick has left the hospital when there are several patients who code, and no one is paying attention to him.
Criminals are very manipulative. Something that's not necessarily in this show or TWD or even shows like Special Victims Unit, just something in real life if someone has socio- or psychopathic tendencies. They'll also more than likely be the people who gain the most power (as we've also seen in The Walking Dead with the likes of the Governor and Negan) in situations like these. Nick is always able to get what he wants, from his mother, his sister, doctors, even drug dealers...the nurse whom he escaped from had loosened his restraints so he could use the bed pan. Probably, in hind sight, it was a good move that he left...we later see that hospitals and presumably their morgues have become ground zero in the dead turning.
If there's one thing I hope, is that we learn more about Maddie's back story with her children. Like TWD, I hope that there will be stories told in the past. Her other child, daughter Alicia, discusses their "dad," who I initially presumed was just out of the picture, like Travis' ex-wife Liz (whom we are also introduced to in this episode). Turns out he had died and was really beloved by his neighbors and friends.
Seems as though Nick's demons are way too powerful. And if there's anything I know about an addict...they can't just turn it off. They need to WANT to turn it off. Nick is a classic escape artist when it comes to his addictions, where he's escaping from life and reality. (Which is kind of ironic, if you think about it...ultimately, the end game is to escape death by getting bit by an infected person.)
Maddie and Travis are now determined to find Nick. However, when they are asking some neighbors and friends, they inadvertently tip off his dealer, a neighborhood kid named Cal. In another story line, we discover that Alicia has a boyfriend named Matt, who mysteriously disappears and is not responding to texts or calls from her.
While Travis and Maddie are heading home, they hit a traffic jam. But there's a ton of police presence with helicopters and warnings to stay in their cars. Gun shots ring out. Travis decides to take a different route on the freeway.
We later find out that footage has been leaked from this what Travis thought was a "high speed gone bad." Turns out that in this footage, a person who was presumed dead attacks the paramedic and chaos ensued.
Imagine what we know from The Walking Dead now as opposed to what life was like before that. It's easy to forget that in the pre-apocalyptic world, no one knew what the fucking fuck was going on.
Travis overhears "rumors," that people are spreading, such as airborne toxins, water contamination, and the virus that people have been getting. He realizes that this is all linked to what Nick saw in the shooting gallery and what he saw. A half day is called at school, and everyone is told to just go straight home.
In the meantime, Nick and Cal meet at a shady diner. (I swear, it's the same place that Jules and Vincent went to in Pulp Fiction.) Anyway, Cal is in survival mode as a dealer, and he hears about how Nick had seen some shit when he had taken the junk he bought. After asking questions, it's evident that he believes Nick would rat on him, especially when he discovers that Nick had witnessed some heavy shit while high. Nick demanded to know what was in his "stuff." Cal and Nick go for a ride, and in a struggle, Nick accidentally shoots and kills Cal.
When he locates Maddie and Travis, clearly, he's shaken about what just happened. He leads them to where Cal's body was. Travis is rationalizing his behavior: the shooting was in self defense, he should be fine. However, the body is no longer there. While leaving the area, they see someone walking towards the truck. Seeing it was Cal, but not realizing he's infected, Walker Cal lunges at Travis, and he's able to push Cal away. Nick hits Cal several times with his car...each time, not *killing* killing him, once and for all.
Like life, the end provided more questions than answers for our fearless team.
In summary, we've met essentially the main cast for now: Maddie, Travis, Nick, Alicia, Liz and Chris, with small parts with Principal Artie, Tobias, Cal and Matt.
While we rewatched season one, and specifically this episode, my husband said that what was fascinating about this show is that we pretty much know right away that all you have to do is die, and you're infected. This doesn't even get mentioned or acknowledged until season two of the main show. The only problem is now, while the dead are turning into walkers, no one is aware that they need a traumatic brain injury to rest, completely.
Symbolism is rampant in this episode. Of course, it starts in the church and school. "Church" is a place of worship, where one goes to cleanse oneself from his or her transgressions. Yet, in this episode, it's abandoned, desolate and broken down, and a spot of debauchery and filth and drug addiction. A symbol for the ugliness and what's broken in the world.
School, a higher learning institution that conducts itself in an orderly fashion, has become a place where rumors and conspiracy theories abound. Like the Internet. Many scenes take place in the L.A. River...it isn't even a fucking river! And those who are supposed to be the helpers (because remember...Mr. Rogers always told us to find the helpers) are getting offed for trying to help (cops, paramedics, nurses). There are shitloads of questions, not enough answers, and it's every man for his freaking self.
Travis warned us early on in this episode is that in the struggle between man and nature, nature will always be victorious. He has no idea how prophetic those words are going to become.
