Fear The Walking Dead review

Last night was the debut of the spinoff to The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, this show takes place in L.A. before the time we are used to in The Walking Dead and so the pacing was a bit, surprising to some. You could call it slow and at times boring and I would likely not argue with you. That said, I think the slow boil of the characters are interesting enough to keep me engaged and I am more than intrigued to see how the showrunners and writers tell a story when it doesn't have the backdrop of an already created story like the graphic novels which fuel the original show.

As the episode starts you meet Nick who is an on again, off again drug addict whose girlfriend, Gloria is busily eating everyone in the drug den while Nick sleeps it off. Nick discovers his newly zombified girlfriend and takes off running to be hit by a car and wind up in the hospital. 

Sound familiar?

I genuinely like the homage to the original series and graphic novel by having one of the cast start in the hospital like Rick Grimes did. I won't spoil too much as I think there was lots to enjoy in the first episode, how the information or disinformation is traveling via smartphones creates a layer of reliance on technology that will disappear as society collapses. The challenges that both Madison (as the mother) and Travis (the step-dad sort of) deal with as parents who feel they are not up to the task of being able parents is bound to get more interesting as society devolves. Alicia, Nick's sister plays the "brains" of the family and will have an interesting part to play if her book smarts can translate into the end of the world sort of education that she will need.

For a first episode I understand why some people didn't like it, especially if you compare it to The Walking Dead but this show needs to be different in order to have the opportunity to tell a different story and I am excited to let them tell it. 

Bring on episode number two.