He may have been trapped for a week, and circulation may have been long gone, but it still took a lot for James Franco to cut off his arm in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours (true story, bro). Sometimes, survival requires us to do things physically, mentally, or morally we never dreamed of doing. As certain characters on Fear the Walking Dead start to switch their thinking from living to surviving, their inhibitions towards drastic actions are shedding as we see in this penultimate episode.
Cobalt – Following the military’s abduction of Nick and Griselda both Travis and Daniel are taking action to get them back, one far more drastic than the other. Nick makes a friend in his new surroundings while Liza learns some hard truths about the infection.
“What is Cobalt” fun fact, Cobalt was actually the working title name for Fear the Walking Dead during production. So it’s nice to see it rear its head with significance this episode in signalling the next stage of zombie apocalypse. That is the failure of containment or the military occupation we’ve been witnessing. The episode does a great job to showing the early signs of trouble within the ranks. Despite Commanding Officer Bill’s insistence many of his men look worn out and demoralised, combined with reports of casualties. This all sets up the idea expressed visually in Travis’s humvee ride along encounter. That as the time has passed, the walker ranks have swollen and started to exhibit the group or “herd” behaviour we’ve witnessed on the main show, causing the isolated military squads to be vastly overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The attempted library rescue also shines a light on the inexperience and misunderstanding of the military when trying to engage the Undead. It’s reminiscent of World War Z’s (the book, not that God awful film) Battle of Yonkers in which an attempted large scale pitched battle against the zombies fails catastrophically for trying to use the same approaches as human vs human warfare. The resulting “Cobalt” order, that by looks like it will by the main event of next week’s finale” feels like the natural next step as society falls back to the next level of defence. Like much of the series, this is an excellent and believable take how such realities would play out.
More than a few viewers will be getting Lost flashbacks after watching this episode: a foreign character with a back story of experiencing conflict that turns out to be rather skilled in the art of torture.... Where have we seen that before? Although Sayid may deserve royalties for the story, the escalation into morally questionable territory is a great reinforcement of the dynamic between the main cast. Daniel, the realist, does not hesitate to do what must be done. Travis, the pacifist, is obviously opposed but like previous incidents Madison’s role is the lost fascinating. She clearly processes all of Travis’s morality but is able to disregard it for the sake of her own family. The later scenes of Daniel’s remorse do well to stop him drifting into antagonist territory. We understand that even if it helps him, he still hates that part of himself, especially the idea of his daughter discovering it. Finally, the role of Shawn Hatosy’s captured Corporal Adams must not be understated. He does enough in his opening fence scene to pledge him is one of the more caring soldiers which makes his suffering all the more meaningful. Hopefully we’ll see him become a regular character next season. Chris and Alicia get a nice anti-establishment scene as they go full on youth in-revolt in the deserted rich people house, “These little bastards are having the childhood we deserve”. It’s a little frustrating in the way it just feels like filler plot for both characters (especially Alicia), but it’s still visually rewarding.
The reveal of the aforementioned military facility is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s a letdown compared to the Government scheming expectations we imagined. On the other, it’s exactly what it claimed to be: a medical facility. The triagle style setup in the college gym (go Warriors!) feels in keeping with any disaster relief action plan, and we follow Liza and Dr Exner caring for many real patients. When a chew toy of a human arrives, we also get some vital exposition as Liza learns “They all come back” and therefore (assuming she survives) so will the group of survivors learn this. Despite the intrigue of this material, the best moments by far, come from Nick’s new caged home with his new friend, Victor (Colman Domingo – Selma). Right from the start, he presents as smart and forward thinking, “The game has changed, we return to the old rules”. Not to mention being damn cool as he makes Nick his obligated companion. The several hints at his past imply we’ll be seeing much more of him which is definitely a good thing.
Like last week, Cobalt is a slower paced episode but is more effective in escalating the events of the series. There are several good setups for the finale (particularly Daniel at the stadium) that looks like it will see our group biding goodbye to LA with a bang. It’s an episode with great character development and examination further goes to prove why FtWD is no ordinary spin off show.