Season One Final Thoughts

As I write my final thoughts on Season One of Fear the Walking Dead, we are already at the third episode of the second season (episode nine, overall).  I was having trouble writing summaries of episodes that I watched a while back (but I took detailed notes!), but also without giving too much away on what was going on currently with the show. 

I'm going to try to be better with the whole element of surprise thing, since that's the main draw of Fear, in my opinion.  I'm going to try to bang out the next three write ups before episode 10 hits on Sunday.  I hope I can, anyway.  Life, and all. 

But the element of surprise is something.  Because right now, on the parent show The Walking Dead, we heard for months and months that Negan Negan Negan, "your property now belongs to Negan," etc.  I've made no secret that I am not a fan of the parent show.  I have to keep it in context of the existing story of this show, since the plan is, apparently, to get the tribes to meet at one point.  Anyway, we heard so much about Negan that it was almost a killjoy when he finally came on.  We fucking knew already, not just because it was the worst kept secret, like, ever, but that *surprise!* he's in the fucking comic. 

In addition, I became a huge fan of Negan, in hopes that he would just fucking kill everyone I disliked (or even remotely liked, like Michonne or Daryl) and then the show would be "Negan."  Now, **that** I can get behind.

 (I really don't like the characters on the parent show, can I just move on, please?)

With Fear, there is an element of surprise.  It seems as though most of the families are "main characters," and if we get attached to certain characters, it would be harder to see them go.  Yet, we know they will eventually.  Since this is all new writing though, and there is no comic that the story has to be beholden to, in my opinion this makes Fear superior to TWD. 

So far, we have met the Manawa/Clark families, with Travis and Madison ("Maddie") as the couple -- I was under the impression they were just "together" and not married, but in some scenes, they refer to Maddie as Travis' wife.  Maddie has two children, Nick, a heroin addict who is shocked into sobriety by seeing one of his friends turn, and Alicia, a sullen little princess who is addicted to creature comforts like iPods and smartphones.  We don't know much about her first husband and her kids' parents, but we do know he died suddenly.

Travis' ex wife, Liza, was raising their son, Chris.  Chris still seems to harbor some anger towards Travis, especially, for breaking up the family.  Liza seems to give her son a lot of rope, that he will come around eventually.  Chris also seems to be an aspiring videographer.  The family was brought together again when Chris went missing in the middle of the riots that broke out in the middle of the outbreak.  Liza, eventually, is "mercy killed" by Travis, after she is bitten by one of the infected at the military hospital. 

Travis and Maddie were teachers before the world fell apart.  One of Maddie's students, Tobias, is dismissed as having conspiracy theories, but turns out he was right all along with predicting the outbreak and decline of civilization.  Maddie also loses a coworker, Principal Artie "Obama" (he looks just like the President), due to infection. 

While seeking shelter from the riots, the reunited Manawas shack up with the Salazars, patriarch Daniel, mother/wife Griselda and daughter Ofelia.  Reluctantly, they band together when Griselda gets injured, and the Salazars themselves need shelter.  Griselda ultimately succumbs to her injuries and dies at the military hospital.  The doctors on staff there know that once you die, you become infected and need to suffer a traumatic brain injury to fully pass.

Nick, considered a "threat" to the new world order due to his addictions, is taken away to lock up on the grounds of the military triage.  There he meets Victor Strand, a mysterious yet cool fellow whom we don't know much about.  He sees that Nick has gifts which will actually work in this new world, and "obligates" him (and the rest of the family, when they break out of the lock up) in keeping him as a resource.

When the combined families make their escape with Strand, they head "west" to the ocean, where Strand has a house with supplies.  He then alludes they will not be staying long, and they plan to head to the water. 

It seems as though the writing is grooming Travis Manawa to be the "Rick Grimes" of the group.  While he has been characterized as the leader of the group, with the kids and even adults looking to him for guidance in season one episodes, it's evident that Daniel Salazar has a better handle to disconnect from the realities of the world and his emotions.  Since it was revealed that he had participating in torturing in El Salvador, if this was a "civilized" society, we'd judge his actions as horrific and unjust.  Yet, in this new world order, where no sense makes sense, his skills are almost an asset.  I guess if Travis is the de facto leader, Daniel would be the second in command with his skill set, maybe a Michonne or Daryl type. 

But as I was discussing this tribe with my husband, who is a huge TWD fan, I stopped myself and asked out loud, "Why does this group have to be like the others on the main show?"

Just because Travis is seen as a governor type (not "The" Governor, but a governor type leader), with maybe Madison being second in command that the rest of the group looks up to, the group is still brand new, just weeks into the apocalypse.  The group will eventually grow and fracture off, but there will be others who just become leaders who have seen more shit than they have, and will be able to learn from it better.  Each member will find what strengths they play to, and as Strand said, Nick has skills he will need on the outside world.  Nick has already scavenged and lived in a surreal world.  Outside of Daniel, who had to do unspeakable things to survive civil war, Nick is probably best equipped for handling the new world.  As he said, he's been living this, the rest of the world finally caught up with him.

For tribes that stayed behind (we see more of this in the parent show), we see how colonies like Alexandria and Woodbury that had fenced in areas, functioning systems and pecking orders.  The military basically left these people behind, and they had to fend for themselves.  What's eerie here is that this tribe has been on the move since it all started.  The Salazars especially who had to leave everything they had in an instant and lost a family member right off the bat.  (Meanwhile, I'm like, if I was separated from my cats and not able to go home one last time to get them, I'd be like that guy Doug in the lock up). 

Few things to think about before heading into season two...

Some people in forums and social media have criticized that the show is slow, or has continuity issues.  What we have to remember is when the first show debuted, things weren't as crystal either back then.  Remember, Rick had to kind of learn what was going on in this new world from scratch.  He was also in Atlanta, and if the outbreak began on the west coast and made its way cross country, then communications and power grids have been lost from the major cities. 

Also.  IT IS A FUCKING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE.  We've literally never had anything like this happen before.  Fuck continuity.  If we continue to compare/contrast the two shows, we'll never get past these differences.   That's why I didn't like TWD.  I felt like there were way too many questions I had that weren't being answered.  I suppose if you like zombie shit (which, admittedly, I don't), then it's cool to wait it out to see blood and guts and brains and shit.  I wanted to know what happened.  When we meet TWD characters, they've already been beaten by it, and are now in full on survival mode.  Fear is just figuring that shit out.  That's what I find compelling.  I also find the characters and seeing what their old lives were like first hand more interesting.

We do not know ANYTHING about Strand.  We know he was in the lock up with Nick.  We know he has access to this mansion on the water.  We know he has a boat with supplies.  That is IT.  I have a feeling when we find out WHY he was in the lock up with Nick, it will be a doozy.

I love that there is still an element of hope here, that somehow this will all stop, and they will be able to pick up the pieces of their lives.  The audience knows they are far off from that happening.  

Lastly, in the third episode, Nick sees a plane making a descent into LAX (presumably), but appears to be making a crash landing the way it is coming in.  The flight is presumed to be Flight 462, the short that played minute clips during each episode of Fear and TWD last season.

My initial complaint was that the apocalypse kind of just *happened*, like someone was infected and three days later, the world fucking fell apart.  However, as Tobias said in the second episode, "When civilization ends, it ends fast."  Someone always has a great fucking quote in these episodes.  Anyway, that's exactly the point.  If I were a writer on the show, I'd probably have more neighbors like Susan turning, and then having people slowly figure out that shit is about to go down.  Let it grow that way. 

But I'm not a writer on the show.  I'm just sitting at my desk, writing stupid write ups that maybe two people are gonna read.  If you're gonna end civilization, you do it right and have it end quickly.  There's no time stamp on that. 

Main Characters:

Travis Manawa
Madison "Maddie" Clark
Nick Clark
Alicia Clark
Chris Manawa
Liza Ortiz Manawa (QPD)
Daniel Salazar
Griselda Salazar (QPD)
Ofelia Salazar
Victor Strand

Supporting characters:
Principal Artie "Obama" (QPD)
Tobias
Matt, Alicia's boyfriend (QPD)
Dr. Exnor (We *think* she's QPD)
Corporal Andy Adams (left for dead, but probably still alive)

Episode Six Synopsis: The Good Man (Season One Finale)

"The only way to survive a mad world is to embrace the madness." - Victor Strand

Episode five left us with Daniel Salazar checking out Private Adams' story about the infected left behind in the arena.  Six picks up where we left off, with fires burning as Los Angeles has gone dark. 

And if you walk up to the Fabulous Forum, the dead are awake, literally. 

Finally, it appears as though Maddie and Travis finally get the magnitude of the situation, with Alicia and Chris arriving back from trashing the rich house.  Alicia and Chris, being out past curfew, could have gotten into a lot of trouble with the troops.  However, they report that they saw them leaving. Travis and Maddie, knowing what they know about Operation Cobalt, say they are retreating. 

They are packing their shit, and Travis announces they are going to retrieve Liza, Griselda and Nick (keep in mind, they don't know that Griselda has passed yet, only we, the audience, knows). 

Daniel arrives back at the house, and he has determined that Adams has told everything he knows.  Since Adams has served his usefulness, in Daniel's eyes, Salazar planned to leave him behind in the house.  However, Adams convinces Daniel that he can help them.  After all, once he gets to the military hospital and triage, the team won't know where to go.  He can get them there.  Provide protection.  Et cetera, et cetera.

Speaking of protection, though, Ofelia is livid with Daniel.  She feels she hasn't known his true character, that she though *he* was the victim, in leaving El Salvador.  He is not who she thinks he is.  Daniel says everything he has done has been to protect her.

Adams, meanwhile, is working Travis to cut him loose.  Out of the group, Travis seems to be the most impressionable at this point.  He still truly believes in the inherent good in people, even in a situation like this.  Adams is playing him like a violin. 

In the cover of night, Daniel, Ofelia, Travis, Chris, Maddie, Alicia and Adams leave, while we see other families blissfully unaware that the entire world they know is going to be abandoned.  Daniel cuts open the fences, then they all drive through to the other side.  It's evident now that the National Guard has abandoned their posts.  No one stops the families from leaving.

After a brief interlude, Daniel arrives at the military hospital command post.  The soldiers draw their weapons, announce, "This is a restricted area!"  Daniel, in his very calm and cool manner, tells the troops that they should save their ammunition. 

And then the arena infected arrive, created a mass havoc and panic amongst the guards.  Literally, this is hell, and it has broken the fuck loose.  Also, the unstated factor is Daniel.  He has a military background.  He knows the tactics.  He knows exactly what the fuck is up.  He can play their game.  (Also, I will mention this about 8 million times between now and whenever, that Ruben Blades is a renaissance fucking entertainer.  He just brings something to the table that no other character can in this show).

Obviously, Daniel has released the infected as a diversion.  Now the Clarks, Manawas and Salazars can go in and save their loved ones and make their escape.  However, Daniel realizes that Adams is now gone.  Travis has let him go, as a mercy escape.  Travis says that Adams has given all he could.  Maddie agreed with letting him go.  Daniel now gives a grave warning, that sometimes doing the "right thing" isn't the "best thing."  Travis says he knows where to go in the hospital, and that's that. 

I think most of the viewers agreed with Daniel.  Adams not only could've been collateral, or useful down the road.  But I think we all just know his part of the story isn't over...yet...

We finally get inside to the lock up.  Nick is starting to get antsy.  Strand warns him, doesn't want any negative attention.  Meanwhile, they see the Guard is losing their grip on control on the outside.  Strand decides it's time to make their move...only, he no longer can find the key to the lock up that he had taken from the soldier.  Nick, with a shit eating grin, holds it out for him.  Nick had it all along.  It's clear these two were made for one another.

They make their escape.  Exnor and Liza, meanwhile, were trying to evac the unsick from the compound.  Now that the compound has been compromised by infected on the outside, they cannot get their job done.  Exnor radios into the helicopters, tells them they can still make their move, that the compromised situation is outside the walls.  The evac helicopters bolt though.  They are once again on their own. 

Maddie, Travis, Danuel and Ofelia now get into the building.  Chris and Alicia, it was decided, would wait at the SUV for their return.  However, shortly after the adults leave, Chris and Alicia are accosted by soldiers, who want their vehicle.  A fight ensues. 

Until the point when Daniel released the infected the arena, the controlled chaos is now becoming uncontrolled within the prison. The prisoners are now losing their minds, knowing if they are locked in, they will all die.  Nick and Strand leave.  Prisoners are begging them to let them out.  Strand refuses (this is a common response with him, by the way).  Strand tells Nick they are going to "Abigail."  We still do not know what Abigail is.  Abigail is almost what Washington represented to the Abraham and Eugene crew -- a beacon of hope in this chaotic world.

Soldiers are now getting bit and infected.  One soldier runs deliberately into the propeller of the helicopter.  They all know their fate at this point.  Once you are bitten, it's all over.

Strand and Nick find another bitten soldier; the same soldier who Strand gave his watch to in episode five (and presumably stole the key from).  I didn't talk about Strand giving his watch to him in Episode five synopsis; quite frankly, I didn't think it was important or that it would come back.  Strand had given him an expensive watch instead of the soldier taking Nick.  Now Strand was taking his watch back, plus cuff links he had given him.  Strand and Nick, unbeknownst to them, had made their way through a secured lock down area.  They were able to get in without a code or card.  Now they had no way of getting in or out without a key themselves.  Infected infiltrate the area.  They now try to escape.

However, the family has now found Nick, who is on the other side of the glass door.  Maddie sees Nick as the infected are approaching.  This was an especially poignant moment.  Nick truly believes he and Strand are going to die.  He tells Maddie to go.  This was touching to me, at least.  I know several people who have struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.  One common thread they would tell me is that they just tried to kill themselves with whatever vice they used.  Nick now realized his time was up...and he was ready.

...Except, it wasn't time.  The power is flickering on and off, and Liza arrives to see everyone there.  She manages to get the door open and gets Nick and Strand out of there.  The rest of them flee, but some of the infected have gotten through the doors.  They're followed into the kitchen, and they start killing the infected.  They grab tools and weapons on the way out.  Though the outbreak is still very primitive, the group is very swift in getting out of harm's way together.

It's at this point that Daniel and Ofelia ask about Griselda, and Liza tells them that she's sorry, they did everything they could.  Daniel wants to see her.  Liza hesitates to bring them to the triage, but they insist. 

The group goes into the infirmary, where they learn the patients have all been humanely killed.  Dr. Exnor is still in the infirmary ward.  Any hope of her being evacuated off the premises has been dashed.  Travis tells her that she can come with them.  Exnor tells him that you can get out.  But there is no place to go.  Exnor was acting like the CDC guy in the first season of TWD.  Now, I freely admit that I 'hate watch" the parent show.  But the only episode I loved was the episode with the CDC in the first season.  If the series had started with that episode, I would have been a fan.  Exnor, unfortunately, knows what she is up against.  She opts to take herself out, to not see the ending.  Meanwhile, the ever-resourceful Maddie takes any medications she can get her hands on.  I guess she figured, no one else is going to use them, and they will make a run for it together.

As the new group leaves with Strand, Maddie tells him they have cars and plan to "go east."  Strand says that east is not safe.  They should "Go West."  He has a house on the water.  It will be safe there. 

The family is reunited with Chris and Alicia in the garage, where they see the truck had been commandeered by the military personnel.  However, at this point, Adams returns with a gun in his hands, pointing it at Daniel.  Ofelia pleads with him, to put the gun down, tries persuade him to not do anything harsh.  However, he then quickly points the gun at Ofelia and shoots her in the shoulder.

Travis goes apeshit and starts beating the dog piss out of Adams.  That whole Nature/Nurture argument or Good/Evil vs Fear thing they all take about?  Yeah, it's gone.  I'm sure Travis never thought himself to be a violent person.  However, as Daniel said earlier, sometimes doing the right thing isn't the best thing.  Especially when letting him go directly led to Ofelia being shot.  Of course Adams wasn't going to hurt Daniel physically; he wanted to take something away that he cared about. 

Give points to the cinematographer on this scene.  Travis' hands are covered in Adams' blood.  The symbolism and reality are very clear; Travis now has his hands dirty.  Sometimes the right thing isn't the good thing.  But it needed to be done.

The remaining families and Strand get in the cars they have left.  Strand was right; the freeways are jammed with everyone going east, at a standstill.  Shitloads of infected probably too.

Strand, in my opinion, is the most interesting character of the group (well, outside of Daniel Salazar, whom I just love).  Probably because we know the least about him.  I called him the "man who sold the world" before I knew his name, since he called himself a "closer" in his opening monologue.  We have no idea why he was in lock up to begin with.  The consensus from fans is that Strand could be a drug dealer.  But I feel like he could be like one of those corrupt preachers; like a Joel Osteen controversial character who takes money from his followers, lives on a compound while he contemplates a life of humility and modesty for the people who give him his living. 

Right now, as he told Nick earlier, he is "obligating" them.  As Daniel said, sometimes doing the "right" thing isn't the "best" thing.  Right now, Strand is all they have.  They're lucky he suggested to keep going west.  There's no way they'd have made it alive to this point.  

They make it to Strand's house, and people start to relax, even if it's for a short time which is implied.  Liza attends to Ofelia, bandages her up and tells her she will be fine.  Turns out, the shot was just a flesh wound.  They have enough meds to keep her going.  Liza then finds Chris, and tells him she loves him, then goes outside to the waterfront.  Maddie follows her.

Nick makes a speech about how the world is catching up to the life he was leading.  "I never knew where I was going.  I've been living this for a long time.  And now everyone is catching up to me.  It's strange." 

Nick and Strand start talking.  Strand says that no one is staying at the house.  Making it clear that this is a temporary station.  This is another common theme in this new universe; you can't stand still for too long.  Being complacent is a death wish.  The living need to keep moving, keep "walking" in order to stay alive.  Strand mentions "Abigail" again.  Nick asks where Abigail is.  Strand says, "Not here."  Strand is almost like a Michonne type character: will only give you enough information, on as needed basis.  Yet, he grabs a pair of binoculars and looks out to the water.  There is a humongous ass boat in the distance.  Abigail, it's implied, is the yacht.

Maddie then starts talking to Liza about everything that has gone down.  Liza is distracted; she lifts up her shirt to show that while they were in the kitchen at the hospital, fighting off the infected, she got bitten or scratched.  (I watched this scene numerous to find out when -- it could've been anytime).  Liza asks Maddie to finish her; that there is no cure.  Liza didn't want Travis to do it; it will "break him," she says again.  Maddie agrees and takes her gun.  However, Travis has followed them down to the water.  Maddie informs him that she was bitten; Liza is now infected. 

Travis is incredulous.  He refuses to believe that she will die.  They have medicine.  She's worked at the hospital; there must be a cure.  Liza says, there is no cure.  The meds they have won't help.  It is inevitable.  She will not only die, she'll need to be shot in the head so that she's *dead* dead. 

This is what was so cool about this first season of Fear...we know right away that each human is a carrier of the disease.  You either need to be bitten by an infected to get it out of dormancy, or simply die.  Either way, it is a death sentence.  Liza has seen it first hand.  She knows what her fate is.  In the parent show, we don't find this out till much later (Though I think the audience suspected it, it isn't confirmed until later).

Back at the house, everyone hears the gunshot.  Maddie and Travis sit at the shoreline, disconsolate, unsure of their future.  But know now, they are all in this together, for better or for worse. 

The season and episode ended with the camera panning out to the ocean.  The ocean holds a lot of secrets.  The ocean can also represent a pure and new beginning.  It also shows the contrast of the chaos that's going on with the land right now.   The ocean looks serene and peaceful; antithetical to the shitstorm that is occurring on land.

Of course, nature.  As Travis told us in the first episode, in the battle of man versus nature, nature will always win.  And so, we go to the water for season two.  Man will ride out nature, till he can't anymore. 

Episode Five Synopsis: Cobalt

"Fire, earthquake, flood. You bought it all, didn't you? That's not a question. I'm not asking, I'm telling you. I look at a person like you and I know. You are a buyer. How do I know? Because I am a closer. I can sell anything, everything. Ask anyone. Except, uh, insurance."  - Victor Strand

As I'm thinking fresh thoughts about the episode four, I think in life, sometimes you really do need to see things to believe them.

Chris told both Travis and Maddie about what he saw in the distance.  Neither one of them truly believed it, until they saw it themselves.

It reminds me of my mom.  No, seriously.  Who here didn't have a mom who questioned what their kids saw, even if it was the honest truth?  My mom would never believe me if I told her something in the house was broken, although it was, it was just because she never saw it herself.

This leads me to Cobalt, which unlike many second-to-last episodes we've seen in The Walking Dead franchise, this was a huge crescendo which led us to the finale.  Cobalt was actually the working title of the series Fear The Walking Dead.

Another thing we need to see to believe is that, sometimes we are better off not knowing certain actions taken by others to get to the bottom of something.  We hear about government or military agencies torturing others to get the answers they need.  Prisoners of war are taken to get information about the enemy.  We hear later about their inhumane treatments.  We like to believe that humans are incapable of torturing others, since we are all thinking and feeling beings.  But as Daniel Salazar said in the earlier episode, men do these things because of fear, not evil.  Hence, "fear the walking dead."

What we are discovering in this new world order, that no sense makes sense. 

This bubbles over in this episode.

We open up with Nick in a cage with a guy, who before I knew his name, I called him "the man who sold the world." (We find out later his name is Victor Strand, and he becomes a critical character later).  It's clear, to the viewers, that he's one of those dynamic people who can talk his way out of pretty much anything, he's very smooth.  We don't know a lot about this mysterious man.  He talks, almost preaches. 

The neighbor Doug, who we were told had run away, is actually in the cage.  Strand's preaching upsets him, and he's taken away.

Doug is not the only person who is losing his grip on reality.  One of the National Guardsman leaves his post over by the fences, he says that he's "out."  The pressure is starting to get to people.  I think those especially who are used to a certain working order, way of life.  What we used to know is no longer.  People are cracking.

Ofelia, meanwhile, is angry that the military has taken her mother without any family or anyone she is familiar with, except for Liza.  The military looks to do away with her, but her soldier boyfriend, a soldier named Adams.  Adams says he can keep her calm.

 Family dynamics are still working normally, with surly teens and grumpy parents.  Of course, the adults are supposed to know what the fuck is going on, exactly.  Neither Travis nor Maddie know anything or can answer to it.  Chris is upset that his mother went off abruptly.  He takes his anger out on Maddie, and Travis tells him to apologize.  He storms off.

Travis decides he's going to try to find Liza and bring her back.  Maddie says he needs to find Nick too.

Liza is working with Exnor, in the makeshift triage unit.  Griselda, it seems, has lost her foot to surgery.  Liza wants to see Griselda, saying she may "scared," not knowing anyone.  Exnor has a very steely and cold reserve, and says, "Well, we wouldn't want anyone to be scared, now would we."  (I'm certain this is a slam that everyone is scared, just some people are handling it differently.  Someone like Exnor is very cold - someone like Doug, however, is a threat).

Maddie goes back to Susan and Patrick's home, and starts to take supplies, then sees Susan's letter to Patrick.  She then hears something that gives her pause.  She goes to the basement, and finds Daniel holding Adams hostage, to get answers on Griselda and Nick.

Maddie loses her fucking mind.  She says, "You have a U.S. soldier held hostage in the goddamn basement!"  Daniel explains that he's using him as collateral for a trade, to get their family members back.  Adams knows where Griselda and Nick, even Liza, are.

Daniel coolly explains, "I've seen this before."  Maddie says she doesn't want Adams hurt.  Daniel asks if she just doesn't want to know.  Meanwhile, Ofelia has run off.  Daniel explains that he was in military in El Salvador.  He's tried to shelter her from who he was. 

As I said earlier, there are some things in life you need to see to believe.  And even when you see it, it's easier to pretend it doesn't exist.

Daniel proceeds to torture Adams with his hair cutting instruments, using the shaving tools to take off layers of skin.  This is brutal, of course, and painful for viewers to watch and see.  Daniel still coolly explains that the each layer gets more painful than the last, but he'll ultimately pass out from the pain and fear.

Travis, in an effort to retrieve the members of each family, strikes up a conversation with Moyers, one of the soldiers whom he trusts (or thinks he should).  Moyers instead takes him on a run with the convoy and other soldiers.  This is clearly a mission to clean up the dead.

While in the truck, Travis hears the radio say, "Cobalt initiation."  When Travis asks about it, he also notes that the soldiers are "hurting" some of the infected.  (Travis is still incredibly naive about what's going on in the world around -- again, it's easy to believe what you want to believe).

Moyers sets us Travis with a rifle to shoot.  Everything is in place to shoot a walker in a donut shop.  Clearly, she was a waitress, with a name tag.  Now, she is infected.  Moyers goads him into shooting her, says she's not human.  Travis, however, still believes that she may be cured, hope upon hope.  He doesn't see the nobility of a mercy kill, yet (oh and trust me, he does later).

Moyers is almost disappointed, that Travis still sees the infected waitress as a "person" still.  It was the same with Susan in her backyard.  In a way, I suppose it's a good thing that the military intervened.  In the series Band of Brothers, one of the bad ass soldiers saw that one of the other soldiers was having a hard time adjusting to war.  He explained that it was because he saw himself and others as "still alive." They weren't.  If they thought they were dead, it was easier to take care of the task at hand.

One of those necessary evils we have to hold onto with our military.  They sometimes have to do things for the greater good, even if we don't necessarily put it into a pocket that we agree with in our every day lives.

As they drive around and take out more of the infected, Travis asks why people stayed behind and didn't go when the military told them to.  He's told, "Some people stayed behind, they don't trust the government.  Imagine that!"  Kind of dry humor in a way.  Soldiers need to survive with dark humor, usually.  But Travis is almost antithetical in that he still has a belief and hope that the military and government somehow have his best interests at heart.

However, Travis is still having his eyes opened as to what is going on beyond the fences.  The commanders tell him that he is now on his own.  Soldiers have begun to bail.  It's every man for himself.  He knows more than ever, he needs to get his family back from the compound.  But he needs help.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (in the basement), Adams is being skinned alive, tells a little about "Cobalt," which the viewers have surmised is a military action.  But he claims that the highers up only know, not him.  Salazar persists.  When Ofelia sees what her father is capable of, she runs off.  Maddie, meanwhile, is also very calm, and asks if he was able to get the information he needed. 

The sidebars with the kids also provide a dichotomy of what each kid is going through.  Chris is a surly young teenager, probably a loner, who likes to video things.  He's got a lot of anger towards the change in his family dynamic to begin with, but also that his mother has left with in his opinion no explanation.  Alicia is still withdrawn over losing her boyfriend and her sheltered world falling apart, that she can't do anything about it.

Chris and Alicia go into an abandoned house, "rich people," as Chris says, who are the "last to move in, first to move out."  Alicia thinks they will get caught.  "They are not coming back," Chris says.  They get dressed up and act all high society.  I'm sure it was very therapeutic for them.  Chris and Alicia start to bash the house in and break valuables. 

Meanwhile, Nick is in lock up with Strand, and the soldiers prepare to take Nick away.  Strand works out a deal to keep him there.  Nothing is said this episode, but Strand sees some qualities in Nick that will be good when he makes his escape.  This is more alluded to, not spoken about.  But it's clear to the viewers that something is up with Strand.  He's a man of wealthy means, and makes trades that in this new world probably aren't worth a damn thing.  (You won't be able to eat money, that's for sure)

Later as Nick is going through his withdrawals and vomiting in a bucket, Strand keeps his cool and jokes that he wanted something to mask the smell of urine, but this is taking the stench out.  He then says that Strand has "obligated" Nick, by keeping him from the soldiers.  "I require a man of your talents as I make my move."

Strand sees a quality in Nick that can survive even in the roughest of conditions.  

Exnor tells Liza that Griselda made it through surgery; however she is now in septic shock.  It's a matter of time before she passes.  When she passes away, she is speaking in Spanish about torture.  Exnor explains to Liza that to keep the dead from turning, Griselda needs to have a traumatic brain injury, and uses a prod to do it.  Liza does it, since she knew her.  Shows the difference between Liza, who is front and center with death and can handle it, but Travis still believes that this will end soon and cannot take care of a person he does not know.

 Travis arrives back at the house, talks to Ofelia who is upset about Adams.  Travis confronts Madison, if she knew the whole time.

We now hear what Adams knows about Cobalt, a lot more than he was leading on.  First, we hear the story of an arena, where people were turning so quickly, the military had to shag ass out of there, and locked the infected with the living.  Probably about 2000 locked up in there.

When Travis confronts Daniel, he tells Adams to explain what "Cobalt is."

Cobalt is a military command to initiate the evacuation from the Los Angeles base.

Travis asks when they are leaving.  Adams says, not you.  It's for us, the soldiers.  Termination of operations were to take place 0900 the next day.

Each person is seeing the ramifications of the soldiers leaving people behind.  Meanwhile, Daniel arrives at the Forum, the arena where they locked the infected.  Everything is boarded up.

At one point in time, you could hear music from the outside of the arena.

Now, you can hear the dead.

Episode Four Synopsis: Not Fade Away

"Men don't do these things because of evil.  They do evil because of fear." - Daniel Salazar

 We fast forward a few days in the lives of the Manawas, Clarks and Salazars.  Once the National Guard hunkered down and quarantined the healthy to weed out the few sick, the families have been locked in a holding pattern. 

We see similar to natural disasters like a hurricanes and flooding (Hurricane Katrina in 2005 came to mind), the NG was going in and marking homes as condemned, and how many were found living or dead on the premises. 

But also life in the holding pattern has given some of the characters a false sense of security.  Nick is seen lounging in a pool as the scene opens.  Meanwhile, Travis is jogging around the compound, trying to keep his mind off the craziness in the world at the time. 

Travis' son, Chris, is a video blogger type of guy.  He's always got his camera at the ready, and even when he was found at the center of the riots in the second episode, he was fully planning to document everything on video.  However, he sees in the distance that there is a building in the distance, outside the city walls that is using their house lights as a beacon to send a message (we don't know what message this is, but that there is life out there, or something the military is trying to hide from the civilians). 

The military tells the community that they are free from infected, and one in 12 communities that are labeled as "safe zones."  They reassure the community, to free them from panicking (yeah, we know THAT will work out well), but also to reiterate they are strong with supplies and medical attention is on its way.  Which is critical, because now there are several people in the community who are ill.  May or may not be life threatening.  But what we later find out is that anyone deemed a "threat" to the community, whether ill or a danger to themselves will disturb the balance they have set forth.

See, nature versus man.  Nature always wins.

Travis, who we see is a lover of structure and pecking order, is acting a constable in the area.  A go-between for the National Guard and the community. 

What we see that the military has deemed someone a danger to themselves, therefore a danger to the community, we see with a friend of the family, named Doug.  Doug seems to be a sensitive man who has children and a wife, and he is not handling the world events well at all.  Maddie has almost sarcastically referred to Travis as "a man of the people," and spreading himself thin to get everyone to like him (and hopefully give him more information or reassurances, which, yeah right, that shit's ever gonna happen).  He is asked to help with Doug, who has locked himself in the bathroom of his home. 

This episode had a lot going on; if you watched it distracted or blinked, you might have missed some of the details.  Details, that I've taken notes on, could prove to be important later on.

As an example, we see that the only thing to barter is really themselves.  Ofelia has struck up a relationship with a National Guardsman, in an effort to get more meds and more info for her mother, who has taken a turn for the worst.  As in a parallel civilized world, we are now seeing the human capital of trading favors instead of things or money. 

Alicia, meanwhile, has seen that life as she knows it will never be the same.  She's already figured out her boyfriend is more than likely dead at this point, and that her neighbors Susan and Patrick are gone.  She breaks into their condemned home and finds a letter that Susan had written Patrick.

Chris also tries to talk to Maddie about what he's seen out there, with the house and flashing lights.  When Maddie brushes him off, saying that the military is in charge, Chris argues that soldiers either know or won't help.  Either way, we are led to believe there are lots of secrets that either the crew is better off not knowing or that they're deliberately keeping people tied up elsewhere.

Maddie tries to convince Travis to check out what Chris had seen in the distance.  Travis, however, still trust the hierarchy and doesn't want to disturb this new normal they have.  It's clear that Maddie is convinced that Chris may be onto something. 

We also find out that Doug has "disappeared" or "escaped."  Travis is a little concerned, but thinks he just needed to get out by himself (but now we are living in a world with curfews and having to be in a certain place at a certain time, and doesn't want to see Doug get hurt).  However, when he goes to search for Doug, he hears screams and chaos outside the fences.

Clearly, this is something Travis doesn't want to acknowledge or feels he is better off not knowing.

We are introduced to Dr. Exnor, who (in her words) "works for the government."  Liza has been acting a health professional to several families in the area, including caring for Griselda and another neighbor, named Hector (with his wife Cynthia).  Hector is taken into care, and Exnor discovers that while Liza isn't technically a "nurse," that she has caregiving skills that she needs for help.

Exnor also confirms that Griselda will need surgery and plans to take her to the military facility off the grounds. 

Nick, on the outside, has seemed okay with his weaning and withdrawal from his drug addiction.  However, we had seen him earlier pilfering morphine from Hector's drip.  Exnor discovers that Nick is an addict, when taking his vitals, notices his heart rate goes up when she mentions Hector's name.  This lady is a very smart but cold and calculating cookie.  She has sized up Nick in a minute and a half.  And probably setting us up that Nick is not only a danger to himself but to others around him. 

Maddie decides to explore the outside of the fenced in area.  She sees flyers up, looking for the "missing" in the community.  I couldn't help but think once again of other disasters and tragedies that have occurred here.  Hurricanes, floods, even a man made disaster like September 11th.  Several loved ones were missing, and after several days were presumed dead.  When people got infected at the beginning, people just believed they went sick and then "missing."  Maybe they were in hospitals.  Maybe they were lying dead in a ditch.  I couldn't help but think in the first episode, how they saw an eerie looking person just standing in the distance.  That's one of the first infected after we see besides Patient Zero.

(things start to make sense once you write them down, haha).

Maddie, however, starts to see how the military has disposed of people or killed people they felt were a threat.  She didn't believe they were all infected.  She ducks under a car when a military tanks drives through.

Again, a recurring theme not just in this episode but circling from the last episode is that families start making pacts with others.  Daniel Salazar asks Maddie to look out for Ofelia, if something were to happen to Griselda and him.  After Exnor left, he says he wants to go with Griselda, he doesn't want her to be alone.  Exnor reassured him that things would be fine.  However, I noticed she really said nothing, just gave him a blank reassurance.  Almost a military party line.

Daniel also tells Maddie to keep Nick close.  Knowing what we know about Daniel in later episodes, it makes sense his early warnings to Maddie and just about everyone around.  He's seem destruction of civilization and society before.  But he recognizes that Nick is vulnerable. He warns Maddie. 

Meanwhile, she takes her anger out on Nick, and starts slapping the crap out of him.  Hell, I'd start slapping him too.  He's been home for ten days and can't wash his freaking hair.  Gross.

But things are really coming to a boiling point, and the show does a good job of making you feel that in this episode.  Each individual feels differently and has a different perspective.  Meanwhile, Maddie takes her frustration out on Nick.  It used to be that his using was the toughest thing she needed to deal with.  Now the world is falling around, and he's still behaving like a selfish addict. 

The military arrives to take Griselda to the military hospital.  Daniel mistakenly believes that he's going with them.  They ask for Nick Clark, who is deemed a threat to those around him.  Alicia tells him to run, but he is caught and brought to the hospital against his will. 

Exnor convinces Liza to go too, they need all hands on deck.  Liza, meanwhile, decides in a split second that doing this could help her keep tabs on Nick and Griselda.  She says that she's going not just to "help," but to look out as a "mother."  Which is what she and Maddie had discussed in the previous episode.  However, she has a plan to see what exactly is going on the other side of the fence.

Travis and Madison, however, feel separate betrayals and rage.  Travis has trusted the military to do the right thing this whole time, and still separates families based on who gets to live and who they decide is collateral damage.  Maddie, however, feels ultimately betrayed by Liza.  That she informed on Nick and that's why he was taken. 

In the last moments of the episode, though, Travis decides to head for some personal time on the roof.  I can't blame him -- the entire family and structure he knows and has gotten used to is starting to fall apart.  He now sees what his son had talked to him about a few days ago, and realizes Maddie and Chris saw something that no one else has.

In Travis' line about Nature versus Man, and nature always being the victor.  Man is accelerating nature's takeover by determining who is fittest to survive.  It's clear that Griselda was taken not just because of her injuries, but because she and Nick are deemed to weak to continue in the new world order. 

Episode Three Synopsis: The Dog

"Good people are the first to die." - Daniel Salazar

I still feel the need to get my summaries up for every episode, even though at this current date, we are two episodes into the second season, and episode nine will be aired later tonight.  I'm currently seeing some parallels with the writing in The Walking Dead, where we have an "easing" into the season, the episodes get very intense...I'll predict a slowish second-to-last episode for the season, with a big shebbang for the finale.

We also know, now, that season three has been approved, and they will start working on it soon.  Few things to note is that there is no "comic" to base these characters off, so unlike TWD, we know that certain characters have a fate of death, whereas others like Daryl Dixon, can be killed off at any time because he doesn't exist in the comic.  In Fear, however, I feel as though the writers are preparing us for the main focal characters to be in for the long haul.  We see that a character was killed off in the first season who was a focal character, but someone expendable.  I'm seeing that happening that only a few characters should be considered offable.

I feel though I need to summarize the episodes though, just to keep better track not just for myself, but also in my note taking during the shows, I see parallels that I get very excited to talk about in that episode.  If that makes sense.

But going back to the third episode of the series.  We were introduced to the Salazar family -- Ruben Blades' Daniel who is a barber, his wife Griselda and daughter Ofelia.  Travis and his ex-wife Liza and son Chris, who had witnessed some of the police actions and fear gripping the city.  There was a lot unknown.  Travis had talked his way into taking shelter at the shop.  Daniel reluctantly agrees.  It's tough for me to talk about Daniel in this context, knowing what I know about him now, but also from the perspective that we didn't know much about him. 

Travis, at this point, still believed in a pecking order, a natural order of protection and authority.  However, after what he witnessed with his ex and their son, it was easy to acknowledge it was all crumbling down, and quickly.  He reassures Salazar, though, that they would leave once law enforcement would handle everything.  It's increasingly clear, though, that won't happen.

The store next door catches fire, and the heat is seeping into Salazar's barber shop.  They decide as a group to leave, but Salazar tells Travis that they will run in different directions.  Yet, this is how we start to see the formation of "tribes," like we see in TWD (Rick and Daryl and Carol and all those folks who manage to regroup, etc).  If we were to see the Salazars and Manawas and Clarks together in the middle of the apocalypse, I'm sure we'd wonder how the hell they all got together. 

In this case, while running together in the middle of the riots, Griselda gets caught, Travis stays behind to rescue her, and they end up in his truck, trying to find a hospital to help Gridelda, who was injured.

In the previous episode, Travis tries to convince Maddie to "go east," and they will somehow meet them all together with his ex wife and son.  She stays firm, says they will stay (also, we have to remember her drug addicted son had a relapse and was in the hospital a few days before...running probably isn't the best idea for her at this time anyway).  Cognitive dissonance is there as she takes out a board game to play with Nick and Alicia. 

We are hearing some of the fallout of the outside.  The radio had announced that FAA has grounded all flights (note: in the middle of all this, the Fear the Walking Dead substory of Flight 462 is having their outbreak on the plane).  Meanwhile, hospitals are being overrun.  We don't see it, but we are left to imagine that people who are hospitalized with "the virus" or "the sickness" are dying, turning, and creating its own chaos there.  However, Griselda needs medical attention, and our new tribe isn't able to get it. 

Travis wants to see if he can help Daniel's family, in getting Griselda the help she needs and to keep their family together.  Daniel says, "Why, so we can stop keeping score?"  To which Travis responds, "I didn't start." 

This was something I thought was telling, and could potentially be a theme in this show.  Keeping score in a civilized society is easy.  I did X, so you do Y for me.  In this new world order, keeping score is literally a matter of life or death.  Daniel seems oddly cold and prepared for it though (and by far, Ruben Blades is an amazing actor - I am so happy he is on this show).

Back at the ranch (literally, Maddie and Travis have a ranch style home), the Clarks notice a dog in the backyard, a German Shepherd who is covered in blood.  The family, while they played Monopoly, carnage is occurring right in their backyard, literally.  They realize staying still isn't the best idea either, they are sitting ducks.  They decide to check on their neighbors, whom they know own firearms.  These neighbors are Susan and Patrick. 

Things get a little chaotic because Travis arrives with his family plus the Salazars (who obviously has not been involved in their lives until this point).  In their haste, the Clarks learn a very valuable lesson: don't leave your freaking back door open in the middle of a flippin zombie apocalypse.  The dog who had warned them of the carnage outside is now dog chow for an infected person.  I remember watching that scene, being so pissed off that they would do something so simply idiotic. 

Meanwhile, Alicia escapes unnoticed back to Susan and Patrick's home, to get more ammo, as its clear they will need to stock up.  However, this time she notices something they didn't at first: someone had been there all along, and it was Susan...who is now one of the infected.

She escapes and tries to scale the back fence and gets caught by infected Susan.  Dealing with their own walker at hand, Salazar coldly kills the infected with the gun. 

Alicia is able to scale the fence with the help of Chris, whom she injures too.  There is a minor scuffle, but it's then Alicia realizes that Matt, her boyfriend, is also one of the infected. 

While the rest of the group realizes their neighbor, Susan, is "sick," Nick is the only one who has the realistic answer.  "She's not sick; she's dead."

The family is on the fence about leaving or staying.  Maddie wants to leave, as does Alicia, seeing no good in staying behind a world that's clearly falling apart.  However, Travis is a "fixer," Griselda needs medical help, and if they stay, perhaps riding it out will bear out good results.

I noticed in this episode is that there's still an element of "hope" that each person is holding onto.  With the exception of Nick who had his own demons, we find each character had a life prior to the world falling apart, with hopes and dreams that they still hold onto.  Liza wants to go to medical school to help people.  Ofelia, though more of a tertiary character in this episode, has a quiet determination about her.  (I predict she will become a bad ass later).  There's still hope that while not a lot is known about the disease, that the authorities will keep things contained and orderly, and Travis is just the guy to hold onto that hope as well.

We also find out with conversations between Liza and Maddie that Maddie's first husband died.  (As of episode eight, we don't know how, but we are led to believe it was unexpected).  Liza and Maddie agree to work together not as "friends" (there's no love there, haha), but as mothers.  Seeing what they've been through early on, they agree that if one of them were to be infected, they'd take care of the other.  As Liza says, it would "break Travis" if he had to take her out.

(We also know that was a huge foreshadowing.)

Daniel starts to train Chris on how to use a gun.  It's odd how Travis and Daniel didn't exactly intend to get into each others lives, they are now together, for better or for worse, and starting to do survival training.  Also, in my opinion, Daniel's steely reserved character seems to best prepared for something like this.  So that's good, for the better of the group.  We shall see where he leads us later on.

Meanwhile, Susan is still in her garden in the backyard.  Apparently, Susan and Patrick were friends of the family, and Maddie is having a tough time reconciling this infected dead person is also the friend she cared about.  She intends to "finish her," but Travis talks her out of it.  Travis, being the rational and methodical one of the group, still believes that a cure could be found and by killing her off, it gave her no chance.  Again, this idea of hope upon hope that something good would come out of this whole thing.

The families decide to get the hell out of dodge and leave town, go "east" as they had planned all along and hope they can find Griselda the help for her injuries which have gotten worse.

However, as they are about to leave the block, Patrick returns, not knowing that his wife is not only infected but dead.  Maddie sees him, and starts to shout to him to not go into the backyard.  Patrick sees Susan, she lunges towards him...only to have the military sharp shoot her in the head, she falls dead, Patrick is scuttled away, and the families are once again in a holding pattern, kept from leaving.

The military arrives, and says that the groups must be quarantined within city walls.  They don't know a lot about the infection, but anyone can have it, and they need to be contained.  Everyone and anyone may be exposed. 

I see this as a "Mr. Rogers" hope moment.  He has a famous saying about "finding the helpers."  People helping people are the ones you want to follow.  However, as know from TWD and what we are learning from FearTWD, is that there are no rules in this new world order.  That the people helping you may have ulterior motives of their own.  And that when the people who are supposed to be in charge and have answers don't, they're no better off than you are as a regular guy civilian trying to figure it out yourself.

But Mr. Rogers' hope is kind of thrown to the wayside, as a viewer.  You know this is not going to turn out well.  So while the family is riding it out, Nick is outside of the house, seeing a commercial airliner jet flying awry.  We presume to think this is Flight 462, making its crash landing into LAX or somewhere close enough to it.

Episode Two Synopsis: So Close, Yet So Far

"When civilization ends, it ends fast." - Tobias

The last episode left us with the uneasy feeling that something bad was happening, though the viewers know what's up.  The characters Madison Clark, her son Nick Clark, and Maddie's boyfriend Travis Manawa have witnessed some pretty heavy shit that they really haven't processed.

Lost in the mix was that Maddie's other child, her daughter Alicia, was supposed to rendezvous with her artist boyfriend Matt, and he never showed.  After several unanswered texts, the viewers suspect that he's been afflicted and / or bitten, and Alicia, thinking he's just blowing her off, storms to his home where we have also learned his parents are away in Las Vegas. 

When she enters his home though, she sees a struggle took place.  However, we don't see a sign of Matt...yet.

Concurrently, after witnessing the so-called death of Nick's dealer Cal, in panic mode. Travis tries to contact his son, Chris.  We have learned that Travis has a contentious relationship with his son, and Chris' mother Liza has said that Chris doesn't want to speak with Travis.  We learn a little bit more about Chris as the episode unfolds.

Travis and Maddie are now discussing the possibility of going to the desert out east, to "wait it out."  This turns out to be telling as the series moves on, and antithetical to survival.  

Maddie was also trying to contact Alicia, who has discovered Matt who is suffering from a very high fever...this so-called "virus" that the public is being slowly warned about ("stay in" and "don't leave the house" if you have the symptoms, et cetera, et cetera).  Matt hasn't told Alicia that he was bitten.  But at this point, Travis and Maddie have reconnected with Alicia.  Seeing as they've both borne witness to a walker and what Nick has told them about the church, they suspect that Matt's sickness is that he was attacked by a biter.  We find this to be true, as Travis discovers his wound.

At this point, we know that the "virus" is acquired by being bitten or scratched by a carrier.  What the public also doesn't know is that it's not airborne.  Matt encourages Alicia and her family to leave the house, that his parents will be back soon.  From my perspective, this was the first real hits-close-to-home loss that the family felt, discarding Cal who was a friend of Nick's.

We see Chris, meanwhile, taking a city bus into the center to follow some of the news stories that are unfolding.  Travis has been desperately trying to contact his son, only to have Liza tell him that Chris doesn't want to speak with him. At this point, information is "as learned," and even then, the public is slow to find out since the masses are starting to have a panic assuming the worst.

As news is slowly unfolding though, others who are refusing to panic are just going on with their lives, evident with a birthday party that is across the street from Travis and Maddie's home.  The parents claim that they've gotten many cancellations due to the "bug" that is infecting the city.  Innocently enough, of course, but Nick says, "It's like no one is paying attention." 

Something that I felt was missing from the Walking Dead parent show is that we didn't really get a sense of what life was like before the outbreak.  People were taking buses, eating at diners, having children's birthday parties.  Mostly, what we do know is that Travis and Maddie have just started to incorporate their families together, warts and all with the fact that Chris and Alicia seem want nothing to do with their respective parent and that Nick is in a downward spiral of addiction. 

Preparing for the worst, and ultimately going to the desert or so they think, Maddie heads to her school to load up on supplies.  The school is empty...at least, we presume.  Back at home, she tells Nick and Alicia to stay put.  Alicia has better ideas, and tries to escape to see Matt again.  Nick begs her not to leave -- she believes it's because Nick is being selfish, but Nick is trying to keep her safe.  He starts to convulse, and Alicia stays behind to help him. 

Meanwhile, we see Tobias again, Maddie's student who carried a knife with him.  He returns, of course, for his knife that Maddie had confiscated earlier.  As the scene unfolds, they grab what they can -- supplies, canned food, drugs (for Nick's weaning). 

As they leave, remember the school is supposed to be "empty," they hear noises on the intercom.  Maddie heads to the auditing room and sees who she thinks is Principal Artie (Obama!)...but it's Zombie Obama, as Artie is now infected.  He attempts to bite Tobias, after a struggle ensues, Maddie knocks Artie out with a fire extinguisher. 

The story turns to the Travis/Liza/Chris dynamic, as we now see that Chris is in the downtown area, where riots are breaking out.  Citizens are questioning the police and National Guard, then quickly turns to blaming them.  A walker was shot, and the crowd sees it as an unprovoked shooting.  The city personnel are treating the bodies and situation as "hazardous material," and riot squads arrive to handle the crowds. 

We are introduced in this episode to the other family dynamic, of the Salazars: the father, Daniel, who operates a downtown barber shop; the mother, Griselda; and daughter, Ofelia.  While the world is panicking outside of his shop, he's still cutting hair and looks to be closing his shop down.  We learn more about him through the remaining episodes.

Travis and Liza locate Chris in the downtown area, and start to plot their escape.  As Salazar is closing his shop, Travis begs him to let them ride it out until the police get things under control.  Daniel refuses, says, "Go to the police."  Travis tells him they're the danger.  Griselda persuades him to the do the right thing, so Daniel allows Travis and his family to come in.   

The electrical grid starts to fail and slowly, the city starts to black out.  Travis talks to Maddie, who is now at home, one last time.  He tries to convince her to get a head start, to head east, and he'll find a way to get them to meet.  She refuses, says they'll wait it out until he returns.  We find out later, this move ends up being very prudent. 

We start to see in this episode how quickly things fell apart once Patient Zero was infected. 

From the viewing perspective, I'd have liked to see a slower descent.  But as we all know, life is not perfect nor pretty, and Tobias' words rung true, that when it ends, it ends fast. Tobias was also one of the few who, probably like many conspiracy theorists we know, was quickly dismissed, but was the only one who was prepared all along.  And no one is prepared, least of all the people who are supposed to be "helping," like the police, law enforcement and military.

Lastly, we start to see how families were separated, but how tribes were formed.  Maddie could have left Travis with her own children, but she chose not to.  I'm sure on the main show, many of the people got separated against their wishes, but were hoping against hope that they'd end up together.  We know that shit doesn't happen. 

But with tribes starting to form, the Manawas are now indebted to the Salazars, or as Daniel calls it in Episode Three, "keeping score."  Human nature is interesting, and as Travis said in Episode One...nature always wins.