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Fear the Walking dead, season two

EMNofSeattle

No Russian ever called me deplorable
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Watching the opener for FTWD.

I thought the opening scene was a little wierd. At night they're leaving with zombies everywhere looking like something out of saving private ryan.

The radio chatter on the boat is pretty god
 
Just listen and obey Strand.

The guy is a ****ing survivor, hardcore.
Don't listen to Super Mario
Don't listen to Barbie
Don't listen to Cheech or Chong.
 
Some observations about this episode.

1) Why isn't Strand monitoring the radio from the bridge? Alicia basically allows pirates to pinpoint their location because she's an academic with no street smarts

2) I had an issue with how the channel on the radio never changes from 16 (on Marine VHF, Ch 16 is the international emergency channel) but goes from being full of panicked chatter and a looped "you're all f***ed" message from the Coast Guard. to suddenly being peaceful music with the mysterious "Jack" who I'm guessing is a pirate. but where did the full air traffic go?

3) Everyone's just leisurely walking around, you think Strand would've made sure they were all ready to start working, this isn't a sunday cruise after all.

4) Why did Nick risk his life for the logs on the other boat ? I understand the log will probably be important later, but given his background how would he know to go for that?
 
Just listen and obey Strand.

The guy is a ****ing survivor, hardcore.
Don't listen to Super Mario
Don't listen to Barbie
Don't listen to Cheech or Chong.

I kind of agree with Daniel though, Strand's motivations are not yet clear.
 
Watching the opener for FTWD.

I thought the opening scene was a little wierd. At night they're leaving with zombies everywhere looking like something out of saving private ryan.

The radio chatter on the boat is pretty god

Yeah, that was kind of weird.

I get that the city is supposed to be on fire, but why does that translate into sporadic little campfire sized flame patches all over the place?

Are they supposed to have set those on purpose? If so, why do they randomly seem to explode in giant fire balls every now and then?
 
Some observations about this episode.

1) Why isn't Strand monitoring the radio from the bridge? Alicia basically allows pirates to pinpoint their location because she's an academic with no street smarts

2) I had an issue with how the channel on the radio never changes from 16 (on Marine VHF, Ch 16 is the international emergency channel) but goes from being full of panicked chatter and a looped "you're all f***ed" message from the Coast Guard. to suddenly being peaceful music with the mysterious "Jack" who I'm guessing is a pirate. but where did the full air traffic go?

3) Everyone's just leisurely walking around, you think Strand would've made sure they were all ready to start working, this isn't a sunday cruise after all.

4) Why did Nick risk his life for the logs on the other boat ? I understand the log will probably be important later, but given his background how would he know to go for that?

yes

and I would add,

5) how can Strand still be awake and functioning?
 
Yeah, that was kind of weird.

I get that the city is supposed to be on fire, but why does that translate into sporadic little campfire sized flame patches all over the place?

Are they supposed to have set those on purpose? If so, why do they randomly seem to explode in giant fire balls every now and then?

I myself never have been on the ground for an airstrike, but that's what caused LA to burn. Carpet bombing. I'm guessing the little camp fires were suppose to be debris or shrapnel still aflame.
 
Strand is a pretty odd guy. I still can't make him out quite yet.

Same here.

First glance had me thinking maybe he's someone like Randall Flagg from the Steven King books (The Stand, the Gunslinger series).

But Flagg was almost like an antichrist figure and I can't see how FTWD would be able to make Strand something like that without going full retard.

He's an enigma for sure.
 
I myself never have been on the ground for an airstrike, but that's what caused LA to burn. Carpet bombing. I'm guessing the little camp fires were suppose to be debris or shrapnel still aflame.

That's probably it (though if cluster munitions were landing all around them like that in real life, they'd most likely be dead lol).

I thought I heard jets in the background, but it can be hard to tell watching on a phone.
 
Yeah, that was kind of weird.

I get that the city is supposed to be on fire, but why does that translate into sporadic little campfire sized flame patches all over the place?

Are they supposed to have set those on purpose? If so, why do they randomly seem to explode in giant fire balls every now and then?

That opener bothered me. At the end of last season it was a SUNY peaceful day at the beach. And Travis and maddy had a pistol they used to skull cap Liza, then suddennly it's the beaches of Dunkirk at night with zombies on the beach, maddy and Travis got no gun, and the military seems to be just randomly throwing napalm at the beach? Like they got mortars and everything

And anyone who's been to the california coast, is there anywhere where that geoprschy is possible with downtow in a straight line behind this undeveloped (except for the McMansions) beach?
 
That's probably it (though if cluster munitions were landing all around them like that in real life, they'd most likely be dead lol).

I thought I heard jets in the background, but it can be hard to tell watching on a phone.

There's one scene where it looks like a pair of F-15s overfly the boat and then it pans out showing the LA skyline on fire inland
 
That opener bothered me. At the end of last season it was a SUNY peaceful day at the beach. And Travis and maddy had a pistol they used to skull cap Liza, then suddennly it's the beaches of Dunkirk at night with zombies on the beach, maddy and Travis got no gun, and the military seems to be just randomly throwing napalm at the beach? Like they got mortars and everything

And anyone who's been to the california coast, is there anywhere where that geoprschy is possible with downtow in a straight line behind this undeveloped (except for the McMansions) beach?

The military wasn't targeting the beach perse. They were carpet bombing the city, and the little explosions on the beach were apparently supposed to resemble debris or something. The Military's bombing of LA is probably a part of Operation: Cobalt as well.
 
As the episode opens it is a few hours after the last shot of Season 1. Cobalt has started - the military are carpet bombing and shelling greater Los Angeles in a (no doubt hopeless) attempt to stop the epidemic. Our heroes have been forced down to the beach with whatever supplies they can gather to avoid the bombardment and firestorm as well as the Walker's that are also escaping the flames, waiting for Strand to send the Zodiac back to pick them up. As the Zodiac heads out to sea, combat jets fly overhead and we get a wide shot of the burning city. That should all be pretty straightforward.

I believe Strand has the M9 on the boat.

When they came across the shot-up boat Nick swam over because he thought he heard someone. He didn't swim over to grab log books. Yes those log books will no doubt be important later.

Overall I am disappointed with FTWD. I think they have missed a lot of opportunities and now in the span of just 7 episodes have brought us simply a west coast version of the first 4 seasons of TWD.
 
As the episode opens it is a few hours after the last shot of Season 1. Cobalt has started - the military are carpet bombing and shelling greater Los Angeles in a (no doubt hopeless) attempt to stop the epidemic. Our heroes have been forced down to the beach with whatever supplies they can gather to avoid the bombardment and firestorm as well as the Walker's that are also escaping the flames, waiting for Strand to send the Zodiac back to pick them up. As the Zodiac heads out to sea, combat jets fly overhead and we get a wide shot of the burning city. That should all be pretty straightforward.

I believe Strand has the M9 on the boat.

When they came across the shot-up boat Nick swam over because he thought he heard someone. He didn't swim over to grab log books. Yes those log books will no doubt be important later.

Overall I am disappointed with FTWD. I think they have missed a lot of opportunities and now in the span of just 7 episodes have brought us simply a west coast version of the first 4 seasons of TWD.
I agree. They should've focused more on the initial outbreak rather than giving us a version of TWD but now it's on the West Coast. The only episode they even focused within LA itself during the initial outbreak was episode 3, and we didn't even get to see most of it.
 
I agree. They should've focused more on the initial outbreak rather than giving us a version of TWD but now it's on the West Coast. The only episode they even focused within LA itself during the initial outbreak was episode 3, and we didn't even get to see most of it.

A lot of potential stories there left untold. We are only seeing what the principal characters see, which is unfortunately already well covered ground.

But I like the Strand character enough to stick it out for a bit.
 
A lot of potential stories there left untold. We are only seeing what the principal characters see, which is unfortunately already well covered ground.

But I like the Strand character enough to stick it out for a bit.
Yes, I very much enjoy Strand's character as well. But I still can't even begin to theorize what his motivations are.
 
As the episode opens it is a few hours after the last shot of Season 1. Cobalt has started - the military are carpet bombing and shelling greater Los Angeles in a (no doubt hopeless) attempt to stop the epidemic. Our heroes have been forced down to the beach with whatever supplies they can gather to avoid the bombardment and firestorm as well as the Walker's that are also escaping the flames, waiting for Strand to send the Zodiac back to pick them up. As the Zodiac heads out to sea, combat jets fly overhead and we get a wide shot of the burning city. That should all be pretty straightforward.

I believe Strand has the M9 on the boat.

When they came across the shot-up boat Nick swam over because he thought he heard someone. He didn't swim over to grab log books. Yes those log books will no doubt be important later.

Overall I am disappointed with FTWD. I think they have missed a lot of opportunities and now in the span of just 7 episodes have brought us simply a west coast version of the first 4 seasons of TWD.

Walkers don't escape flames; they find them fascinating. Well on the East Coast they do.
 
Some observations on episode two

1) Captain Jack and the pirates are hot on the Abigail's case, something that bothers me here, they decide to pull in to the coast to avoid radar (good idea) but they chart a course for a cove in an island, which I'm guessing is Catalina island? now if you go from open water to an island, you got to assume that the pirates have charts just like you and can guess where you went, and if they really wanted you it would take them hours at most to scan the moorages around the island.

2) This is a wierd operation, on the island are shown as rangers for the national wildlife refuge, but they don't seem to be civil service employees. You would think that a Dept of Interior enforcement officer wouldn't be set up like this residence. they reference it as a ranger station, and then at the end of the episode they have a 1978 chevy blazer with some kind of emblem on the door, but this guy is more Jim Jones then officer friendly.

3) They have a map of cities the military has destroyed, I actually paused this image and blew it up on the computer screen to try to see how much of the coast they claim has been "destroyed" the problem here is, all of us who live on the west coast know that north of San Francisco the west coast is rural and sparsely populated. There's some medium size cities like Aberdeen, Washington and Astoria and Coos Bay in Oregon, but the towns are few and far between. the map shows red dots all up and down the Oregon and Southern Washington coasts where there simply are no towns to be destroyed. While Vancouver BC, Seattle, and Portland would probably befall the same fate as LA, there's numerous small towns that would likely be safe moorages, from Port Renfrew BC, Neah Bay Wash, Ilwaco Wash, Garibaldi Ore, Reedsport Ore, Pelican Bay Calif, etc. , my guess is in rural areas with strongman sheriff's and high rates of civilian gun ownership, which is the norm in BC, WA, OR, and N Cal outside the cities there would be no need to napalm.

4) This ranger station is shown as a safe moorage with no visitors, there has to be tens of thousands of boats in SoCal, I strongly doubt no one would've reached catalina island.

5) The ranger/jim jones cult husband mentions all the national parks being destroyed, why? by whom? these areas are sparsely populated, the numbers of people in Joshua Tree? give me a break, that's not overwhelm levels.

6) I'm glad we're starting to get some semblence of Strand's background, it was implied this episode that Abigail doesn't belong to Strand, and he apparently has some firepower and charts of Baja California stashed in his friend's yacht. but this leaves more questions, who's boat? why was it stocked for apocalypse? did they know that the end times were coming? looking forward to next week!

thoughts?
 
To be honest, I really enjoy Walking Dead, but I think FTWD is terribly written and poorly casted. If not for Walking Dead relationship, I'd have stopped watching. But now its more like I do a mystery science theater 3000 every night I watch it. Just heckle it the entire time reflexively. (Forgive me governess, I usually take your side)

I don't get any of it really. I thought at first the heroin addict son would be the big unbelievable dead-weight of the show, but it turns out his family is so tragically dumb and incompetent in an unbelievable way, that he ends up being the most sane/competent of the bunch. Makes you wonder if he took up heroin to forget about that family of his...

Chris's MO is basically being a giant 5 year old, puts himself and entirely family at risk multiple times each season, has to be saved, then cries and punches his dad, then immediately starts the process all over again. The "I need to be here" in the street riots, brooding over his moms corpse as his living family is fighting zombies 10 feet away...at least he tries to off himself later, only to have his family again risk their life to save his sorry ass...does he learn? Nah, his brat-powers are too strong for that.

Alcia wears short shorts, plays dressup, and chats with pirates (she's sooo into boys) on the CB all night.

Why after finding out Alicia was using the CB did Strand let her keep the CB (she promptly did it again)? I just don't get it.

And who was Daniel Salazar pointing that shotgun at off the back of the boat so strangely. That raft of survivors that was out of range, and posed no threat whatsoever?

I want to go on with the negativity but I'll just stop there. Sorry for those enjoying it, it's apparently just not doing it for me.

Some observations on episode two
and if they really wanted you it would take them hours at most to scan the moorages around the island.
Sloppy writing. I got no tension from the "Pirates are chasing us" because it was hard to tell WTF was going on. Just like when Madison in ep1 had to "hurry to the school to get meds for heroin-son". Then it turns into an afternoon stroll at the school makes some friends, almost gets killed..what tension? Oh, we wrote that the day before, forgot...we can't keep it in our head between writing days.

5) The ranger/jim jones cult husband mentions all the national parks being destroyed, why? by whom? these areas are sparsely populated, the numbers of people in Joshua Tree? give me a break, that's not overwhelm levels.
100% agree, it jarred me while watching it. Like someone was making up the backstory off the top of their head or something.
 
Some observations on episode two

1) Captain Jack and the pirates are hot on the Abigail's case, something that bothers me here, they decide to pull in to the coast to avoid radar (good idea) but they chart a course for a cove in an island, which I'm guessing is Catalina island? now if you go from open water to an island, you got to assume that the pirates have charts just like you and can guess where you went, and if they really wanted you it would take them hours at most to scan the moorages around the island.

Or they might just sit and wait for you to come back out instead of wasting all that time and fuel, thus not taking the chance you might slip past them if they are in one cove and you coming out of another.

2) This is a wierd operation, on the island are shown as rangers for the national wildlife refuge, but they don't seem to be civil service employees. You would think that a Dept of Interior enforcement officer wouldn't be set up like this residence. they reference it as a ranger station, and then at the end of the episode they have a 1978 chevy blazer with some kind of emblem on the door, but this guy is more Jim Jones then officer friendly.

Employee - singular. George works for the Park Service. The wife and kids live with George in the Rangers house in the park. George gave his reasons for why he took the assignment.

3) They have a map of cities the military has destroyed, I actually paused this image and blew it up on the computer screen to try to see how much of the coast they claim has been "destroyed" the problem here is, all of us who live on the west coast know that north of San Francisco the west coast is rural and sparsely populated. There's some medium size cities like Aberdeen, Washington and Astoria and Coos Bay in Oregon, but the towns are few and far between. the map shows red dots all up and down the Oregon and Southern Washington coasts where there simply are no towns to be destroyed. While Vancouver BC, Seattle, and Portland would probably befall the same fate as LA, there's numerous small towns that would likely be safe moorages, from Port Renfrew BC, Neah Bay Wash, Ilwaco Wash, Garibaldi Ore, Reedsport Ore, Pelican Bay Calif, etc. , my guess is in rural areas with strongman sheriff's and high rates of civilian gun ownership, which is the norm in BC, WA, OR, and N Cal outside the cities there would be no need to napalm.

George has a map of places he has been able to confirm from other radio operators were hit by the military. Everything else is Indian Country - the unknown. The map was a tool to illustrate the scope of the problem.

Strand doesn't want to go north. Strand knows where he wants to go and that is San Diego.

4) This ranger station is shown as a safe moorage with no visitors, there has to be tens of thousands of boats in SoCal, I strongly doubt no one would've reached catalina island.

Didn't notice the big tourist town on the other side of the fence full of Walkers?

5) The ranger/jim jones cult husband mentions all the national parks being destroyed, why? by whom? these areas are sparsely populated, the numbers of people in Joshua Tree? give me a break, that's not overwhelm levels.

No, he mentions communication went down, progressing eastward. Combined with the map this illustrates the growing scope of the problem. .

6) I'm glad we're starting to get some semblence of Strand's background, it was implied this episode that Abigail doesn't belong to Strand, and he apparently has some firepower and charts of Baja California stashed in his friend's yacht. but this leaves more questions, who's boat? why was it stocked for apocalypse? did they know that the end times were coming? looking forward to next week!

thoughts?

Indeed. Strand is really the only source of intrigue and drama in the show right now. The rest of it is playing out like TWD with waves.
 
I admit that FTWD is underwhelming so far, but we'll have to see where they go from here.

I thought Travis would have a better grip of the reality of the apocalypse, based on his brutal face-beating of the army guy they tortured, but apparently not. He should have encouraged Chris to do something other than whine and mope. God damn, how stupid is Chris anyway ? Does he realize what Travis did to go find him - why doesn't Travis explain that when Chris whines about his "real" family ? And who gives a **** about that, at this point ?

I'm also kinda wondering why they didn't do something about the marina on the other side. Get some resources or something.

I was also wondering why whoever is following them, and seems to be faster than they are, didn't easily find them.
 
FTWD is getting pretty interesting at this point, I can't wait for the next episode!
 
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