It was seen earlier this in Matthew Vaughn’s kick-ass Kingsmen, last year in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and plenty of times in film & TV past, “shoot the dog”. Out of nowhere, a protagonist is called upon to kill an often beloved animal in cold blood by their superiors. Not as a test of cruelty or ruthlessness but a test of their conviction: to do whatever they must to succeed. 9 times out of 10, we see the hero refuse in a moment of humanity and defiance, but only because they know they can. They can chose to value the canine life for now but what if their world was a much harsher reality? There would come a time when you’d need to pull a trigger, when you’d need to adapt to survive or die. This is the main theme examined in Fear the Walking Dead’s post-Labour Day return: examining who the characters are now and what they need to do to survive in the dawning new world.
The Dog – When the LA riot heats up Travis, Liza, Chris, and the Salazars are forced to make a desperate break for it while Madison, Nick ,and Alicia are experiencing their own domestic disturbances. As the groups re-unite, how they proceed proves a divisive subject.
In the same way that Rick and Shane were developed as two sides of the same coin, FTWD is approaching this is in an interesting more subtle way with Travis and Daniel Salazar. Travis is a good person but comparisons to Daniel effectively show that he’s too much of a good person for the ways the world is changing, “Good people are the first ones to die”. Travis is being the hero and leader of the world he knows by wanting to help others when he can and condoning violence but that’s not the world he’s walking into as the dead stake their claim in it. At multiple points, he demonstrates devout believe in humanity. There’s the simple (if mildly hilarious with audience hindsight) act of appealing to recently turned neighbour; refusing to believe the man he knew was lost. Yet his best moment also makes a very smart moral commentary that drags our perspective into his less informed snapshot of their circumstances. Even if they know people are turning, at this stage, they don’t know if there won’t ever be a cure. So by that logic, killing any non-threatening walker, like Susan at the fence, must still be thought of as murder for the time being. This is kind of moment FTWD really excels at: by showing us perspectives that the further along the main show could never explore. As for Daniel, in contrast, he’s all too aware of how severe their situation is becoming and in a way that it narrows his thoughts into protecting his immediate family above all else. He demonstrates his strength and resolve by being the only one ready to make a kill shot when it matters (which also delivers a glorious sloppy firework of gore). Then there’s his appreciation of skills and knowledge as he teaches Chris to use the gun much to Travis’s disgust, “The more the boy knows, the safer he will be”. Daniel is already surviving while Travis is convinced they will live. It gives the pair a fascinating duality of dependency that despite their resentments they are both much better off in each other’s company. In terms of adapting to survive Madison seems to be the next one down the curve as she’s willing embrace the idea of the undead to extent of fearing becoming one. Despite steaming through his dwindling Oxy’s, Nick also proves vital by utilising his already instilled looting and scavenging mentality.
Like last week’s episode, this one shows some great developments in the escalating crisis and that is continued. The riot makes for a great set piece as the cast makes their way back to Travis’s truck (which just happens to be the only non-trashed car around!). There’s a brilliant little moment of a walker attack happening unnoticed amidst the chaos whie society is being blind to the real problems right in front of them. The hospital standoff also feels like a good logical step such as mass location could quickly turn into a walker re-spawn point. Like in the previous episode’s there’s good use of the radio to expand the bigger picture as we learn that, “areas in 11 states have declared a state of emergency due to increased rioting”. There are also frequent instances of characters taking comfort in modern luxuries we know they’ll soon be deprived of; like Alicia using her headphones or even a good old fashioned game of evil kindergarten capitalism/monopoly. However, some of the character story progression is less satisfying due to predictability. The worst case is the injured Mrs Salazar. Even before Liza bodes a terminal diagnoses, we know exactly where this is going and because we’ve seen so many times before, mentally we’re already skipping the end which detracts from the present value. Yes, you could argue this is a necessary hurdle of the group and the show but it could have found a better way to cross it.
The episode frequently delivers some great tension, mostly from the suburban adventures of Madison, Nick and Alicia. Their quitet and still night time setting is utilised well when sudden disturbances send them on edge. Or on the nearby scavenging run, when the titular canine’s barking is quickly silenced with a terrifying yelp. Then there’s the neighbour’s garden trellis maze, which is immediately creepy and even delivers its own “heeeeeere’s Susan!” moment. While the quantity of action and horror is still staying low, the quality remains high as FTWD makes its sparse walker encounters count, including some good jump scares from less expected sources. Arguably the episode’s biggest success is its ending as it sends the series into an unexpected new direction just when it looked like we were quickly transitioning into familiar survivor territory. Now, it seems we’ll get to see society going through other stages of desperation on the way down. Will we see a police state takeover or even full blown martial law?
It does slow a little in places but this dog is an excellent progressive episode that makes good advances to both the story and characters. After last episode’s introduction, the Salazar family now feels integrated as fate binds them to the others. It still manages to keep an edge of entertainment without getting too tangled up in the more serious themes. There’s no sign of dog days for this companion series as it continues to be a fascinating expansion on the world of The Walking Dead.