"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.
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