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Hope everyone is doing well. I watched parts of Fear the Walking Dead tonight. I just watched long enough, or paid enough attention, to see Charlie approach a building, then some guy showed her a room of butterflies, then she sat down and talked with June. I have sort of mostly "checked out" of this show, and even though I turn to the channel when it comes on, I get so bored with it now - and distracted - I sometimes pay more attention to checking e-mail or whatever than I do in paying attention to this show, so I have lost track of most of the plots and characters. I mean, I still recognize some of the established characters (June, Alicia, Strand, etc), but I'm not fully sure what is going on with them, or who the new people are. I never thought I'd see the day when I lost interest in any of the Walking Dead shows, but I've been there for awhile now - and they're going to be doing more spin offs(?) They don't seem to feature the zombies as much on any of the Walking Dead shows any more, which is a big reason why I started watching years ago in the first place.

I don't like Kevin, and I hate to admit it... and I'm only about 35 minutes into this episode... But I am so far more interested in the asinine "hide a key" plot with Kevin in the basement than I am in the road trip between Allison and Patty - the Allison part has been a little dull so far. Maybe the show picks up from here? (I hope.) Edit. Okay, I just finished watching the entire show, and it did pick up a little bit once we get to the part where Patty hits the truck driver guy over the head. But overall, I felt it was a rather slow episode - not totally bad, just very slow. I wish more had happened.

I think an article or review I read earlier this week said that lady is Kevin's mother, so that would be Allison's mother in law, if that article was correct. At the very least, they are co-workers at that store. Edit. Someone upthread said it's Allison's Aunt.

I can't remember if the show addressed it or not... but she's been with the guy for ten years, I think. I know I once stayed too long in a serious relationship because I was younger, didn't have as much life experience yet, and I kept hoping things would improve and get better. There's the "sunk cost fallacy." A lot of people don't want to give up a spouse, job, or whatever, if they've already put so many months or years into it. That could be at play with the Allison character. I think the Allison character was just hoping things would get better and was living in a daze for years. I think she was trusting and hoping Kevin was responsible, competent, and doing the right thing, but she was shocked when the neighbor lady told her that her husband had been mismanaging their funds for YEARS and bled the account dry to buy sports collectibles or pay gambling debts or whatever. Allison seemed sincerely shocked... she thought Kevin had been keeping up with bills and investing their money wisely. She even made a comment that she's not as good with money as Kevin is. My impression is that it just dawned on Allison one day, she just began reflecting on her life, and only then did she stop to realize that ten years had drifted by and nothing had improved.

The den part of her house, when it's lit up like a TV sit com, reminds me most of the "Everybody Loves Raymond" house, and parts of the kitchen. Most of the layout is the same as that house's. There was another TV sit com house it reminds me of, but right off hand, I forgot which one. I can see where you'd spot some "All in the Family" in there, too. I was a kid when that show was first airing in the 1970s.

I just saw the first episode of this show this past Sunday night (I have AMC on cable TV). I normally watch which ever zombie show AMC is airing at that time, but with those on break, this is the only thing left to watch Sunday nights now. I'm not sure what to make of this show. The husband is such a great big selfish doofus (he sometimes makes mean-spirited cracks, too), it makes me wonder what Allison saw in him to start with. I will admit that while I did enjoy watching a lot of sit coms in years past, I did find it slightly annoying, at the least from the 1990s onwards, the trope of the doofus, self absorbed, whiny, idiot, (sometimes chubby / out of shape) man-child who's inexplicably married to a thinner, smarter, more attractive wife. That was worked into most every sit com in the last, like 25 or so years. (I don't recall many 1980s or prior sit coms using that cliche'.) I've read a few editorials that scream I should find such sit coms funny on that basis, but I don't. (edit. I mean, I did find most of the corny jokes, situations, and gags in such shows funny, or at least mildly entertaining, except for the "hot wife married to out- of- shape doofus" part of it) It's annoying, IMO. Like how for decades Hollywood has had 55 year old male actors married to 25 year old actresses to play their wives in so many movies. I'm sort of glad that this show is drawing attention to some of the sexism in culture or Hollywood that has enabled such shows for years. And I don't hate men, I don't need or want every show to be preachy, pro-woman at any turn or anything like that. I just always found the tubby idiot married to hot, smart, competent wife TV sit com gag to be annoying, kind of sexist, and patronizing. (Maybe if every other 1990s show to the early to mid 2000s had not made that into a staple and only used it sparingly, it wouldn't have been as obnoxious as it was? I dunno.) The show's pacing was a little slow. I wonder how long this show is going to drag out her wanting to kill her spouse? If she does kill him, I don't know if they can have many episodes after that, unless they change format from "marriage" sit com to Mary Tyler Moore or Murphy Brown, single, career woman type show.

June 26, 2021 Fear the Walking Dead confirms fate of fan-favourite character after season 6 cliffhanger Keith Carradine’s John Dorie Sr. Plays a “Major Role” in Fear the Walking Dead Season 7

I'm not for sure - but I assumed since they went through the trouble of filming a bit showing the dog running and hopping into the back of a car that meant the dog would be OK. I think they let Dakota be because she gave a little speech about how she wanted to stay true to herself and wanted to see the end of the world and all that - I can't recall if she gave that speech before or after June and John Sr. went down the ladder, though. But if she was saying that prior, I'd take it the adults were respecting her wishes. This reminds me of something else I wanted to say about Dakota.... I like the actress that plays her - I think she did a great job - but the character is really odd. I take it that the character is supposed to be around age 12 or 14 or so? Okay, but the character is written as though the show writers originally intended her to be 32 or 37 years old! The character just seems so much older than what she is on the show (a teen or pre-teen). It's as though the folks behind this show wrote the character to be a 35 or 40 year old, but they couldn't get an actress of that age fast enough, so they took the first 14 year old who showed up to audition. Dakota's angst and pontificating about her place in the world, her identity, etc., seemed a bit beyond her years, or a bit like a 40-something's mid-life crisis. That was one thing about her character that rubbed me the wrong way... other than the fact that she killed one of my all time favorite fictional characters (RIP, John Dorie Jr.)

The opening with the lady killing herself so that her baby could live - but now that baby will never know her mother was very sad. 😭 Thank god the dog 🐕 (apparently) survived, though. That's a rarity for a franchise that seems to delight in killing off owls, horses, dogs, and other critters. (But where is Skidmark the cat?? 😺 I hope he or she is OK.) Even if you're not killed directly by any of the war head's blasts, I don't know how you survive the resultant radiation. I did read an interview with the show writers, who said they researched the hell out of the topic and said it is possible to survive it - so, okay, whatever. I take it that when season 7 returns, that the Dwight and Victor Strand characters will be more ruthless? They both seem headed in that direction. I can see Victor being more of a villain type guy after that self-justifying speech he gave to that hipster historian dude. Or at least remaining an anti-hero type guy who no longer lets his conscience totally bother him if he trips another person to escape a zombie horde (brings back memories of Shane and Otis from the original show!) So... June and John Dorie Sr. chose to forgive that little sociopath, Dakota. But Dakota was turned into ash by the bomb. At least we don't have to see another dragged out story arc over next season about "should the other characters forgive the weasel," or, "the weasel develops a conscious and has to learn to forgive herself for past sins and move on" stuff. They've already hashed that out with other characters on this show and the other Walking Dead shows. I had to read an article or interview or two today with the show writers to make sense of some of the plot points. To confess, I sometimes don't pay 100% close attention to this show when it's on - I do pop in and out to grab sodas or whatever during commercial breaks (I watch on cable). By the time I come back in, I've missed dialog. Even when I pay full attention, though, I don't think the show does a good job of explaining or making plain certain details, so I am left wondering how one character knew another one was a traitor, etc. I have to go online the following day and read recaps. I am kind of surprised that Dakota shot and killed Teddy - or maybe just sort of bummed out by it if not wholly surprised, because while I usually get tired of the "Group A fights Group B" dynamics these Walking Dead shows always run with, I did find Teddy and/or his cult antagonists interesting. They were (IMO) worth keeping around a bit longer. I, too, was sort of taken aback by the guy who, as nuclear bombs are raining down, took the time to run over and spray paint graffiti on the street and on the zombified John Conner. That's maybe not how I'd chose to use my last minutes on earth, if I thought I was going to die any minute. The show has not given Luciana or Trucker Lady or her Trucker brother Wendell much to do this past season. Oh, hey, I think the baby mama who had a mishap changing her car tire was wearing a skirt! One of my smaller pet peeves with these shows is most of the time, they dress 99% of their zombies in jeans and long sleeve flannel shirts (these were all Nirvana fans, I guess! LOL!). So it was nice to see at least one zombie in a skirt. But I bet they put her in a skirt to better show off her leg injury - after the tire mishap, they showed the bones sticking out of her shin (ewww!). That would've perhaps been a bit more difficult to show if she had been wearing slacks or jeans. They will be back for a Season 7, I read in an article or two about the show. Don't know what I'm going to fill my Sunday nights with now, maybe that new "Keven Can F Himself" show that will be running in place of "Fear." I've always found it a little odd or difficult to find something else to do Sunday evenings when one of these zombie shows stops airing at the end of a season. Any way, I mostly found the season 6 finale to be a fairly entertaining episode. It wasn't mind-blowing, great entertainment, but it was okay, IMO.

I guess I'm not super demanding of "Fear," so I kind of liked last night's episode, despite any flaws. I found it marginally entertaining, which is enough for me. I was wondering, as I watched scenes of Dwight and the others walking past dead bodies (or walking dead ones) as they were going through the sub - did it not smell? 👃 Some of those dead bodies had been holed up with presumably no ventilation in that big, long metal tube in hot Texas sun for a year or more. Surely, we'd be seeing the characters holding their noses or gagging at the stench? 🤮 Or am I wrong, and a sub holding a dozen or more dead people would smell like Hazelnut Coffee Yankee candles 🕯️ and granny's Christmas sugar cookies 🍪 baking in the kitchen? I'm not altogether clear on Strand's motivation, even after he and Morgan had a chat about it. My take away (which could be totally wrong) is that Strand kicked Morgan into a room full of zombies, so that Strand could do something (stop the nukes from being launched? whatever) and report back to Alicia that he's a hero, so he could earn her friendship back (???) But any way you slice it, that was not a cool thing to do (Strand shoving Morgan into a pile of zombies). I know the Morgan character can have his annoying tendencies, but he's fundamentally a decent dude and doesn't deserve to get murdered. I was disappointed that Morgan didn't kill Dakota. (RIP John Dorie, Jr.) I can only assume Morgan let Teddy and John Connor (Riley - but he'll always be John Connor to me!) go because Teddy had just explained (or hinted) that the missiles were aimed right back down at them - so everyone in that sub or the area was going to die anyhow. I did kind of like the show exploring aspects of Morgan's leadership or his ideals, and his self-doubt, where he and Strand got into a discussion about why would anyone want to follow Morgan, etc. Strand pointed out that no, people didn't have to follow Morgan, but that they were choosing to. All in all, I found this to be slightly- above- average episode, in spite of some of the problems present. But then, to me, any show where any episode lacks a hot air balloon in the shape of a beer bottle automatically gets at least one point from me. 😄

I think that is the case, yes. I can't recall if I saw it in a trailer someone posted to this forum, or on the AMC channel, but I am fairly sure there was a very brief scene where Teddy is on the sub with Terminator John Connor / Nick Stahl character (named Riley?) and someone else (I forget who, maybe it was Dakota??)... And whoever the other person is, they ask how Teddy can use the sub, or how he's planning on using it, and he says Riley used to work on a sub like that one - before the apocalypse. And in the background, while Teddy is talking in the foreground, we can see Riley running around flipping switches and mashing buttons on the consoles, as though he knows what he's doing. Bulldog asked, I have no idea. But on a related note, I did notice that in the episode where June buried John Dorie Jr. by his cabin, that his grave (that I assume she dug alone?) was awfully perfect - it was a perfect rectangle with perfect, 90 degree angles. Which is amazing because I think she dug it by herself, by hand with a shovel. I did laugh out loud when I saw a "reaction video" for that episode on You Tube weeks ago, and the young lady doing the video - when her video showed the shot where the camera panned back, so we could see June kneeling grave side - said something like, "Oh, and June, you dug his grave so straight and perfectly..." She noticed like I did that the grave was suspiciously straight. I don't think most people could do that with just a shovel. It was still a sad scene, though - RIP John Dorie Jr.

Okay, so I guess we're not getting a new Fear episode tonight (May 30, 2021 - Memorial Day weekend). Fear the Walking Dead Mini-Marathon to Air in Place of New Episode Sunday I guess I'll make do watching some of the repeats tonight. Even though he's kind of a cranky curmudgeon, I am enjoying watching the episode again of June meeting John Dorie Sr. That one is airing as I type this post.

All in all, that was a pretty good episode. It held my attention. I found it entertaining. I hate Dakota even more now than I did before. It's bad enough she murdered John Dorie, but now, she's siding with Teddy the cult leader against Alicia! As I said in the Live Thread, Dakota now reminds me of the little girl who gets brainwashed by the cult leader (played by Chris Hemsworth) in the movie "Bad Times at El Royale." In the original show, Carol realized the only way to take out mentally disturbed, twisted people (in a time when there's no more mental health treatment facilities, etc) was to make them "look at the flowers." Unless Dakota has a change of course, I'd like for someone to get her to "look at the flowers," if you catch my drift. Dakota can maybe only redeem herself with me at this point if she realizes she was wrong to kill Dorie Jr, and if she rescues June and/or John Dorie Sr. (if the occasion arises for that). I'm going to have to re-watch this episode to see what the deal was with Teddy locking Alicia up in that cell. Does he want her to survive the nuclear holocaust he's planning? If so, why? (If he explained that, I missed it). I totally forgot who Cole was, and so I had to google him (Cole: Season 4 Fear the Walking Dead Wiki Site). Even though this episode had more of that Group A vs Group B (vs Group C) type fighting go on, which I find tiresome, I think the way it was handled in this particular episode made it interesting. That whole thing with Teddy taking the corpse out of the grave and putting it on the back of the pick-up was bonkers. I liked the brief take on what the apocalypse looked like at the out-set, when the show did the flash back to Teddy in his jail cell. I wish this show had done more of that over the past several seasons. I like the actor playing Teddy. I think he's doing a great, entertaining job playing this character. BTW, sorry to nit pick about clothing on this show again... but they are in Texas, where it gets quite hot and humid in summers, early fall, later spring, etc., but the living folks on the show keep wearing things like long sleeved shirts, denim jackets, heavy-ish jackets with wool collars, sweaters, etc. I lived in Texas (and other gulf coast states) for many years, and you do not wear that much clothing in the warmer months there - you would swelter. But anyway - good episode tonight, IMO.

Dakota reminds me of the little girl in the movie "Bad Times at the El Royale," who was brainwashed by the cultic, Charles Manson type character played by Chris Hemsworth, to the point she's OK with killing people.

I hate Dakota even more now. She's siding with Teddy and against Alicia now.

Cole didn't last long! Notice how all the zombies are in long-sleeve shirts, pants - just like I said in some thread last week. We almost never see zombies in shorts, skirts, doctor scrubs, tank tops, etc. They're always dressed in plaid, long sleeved shirts and long pants.

The timing of the approaching zombies at this point seems very convenient

Creepy laugh he has. I guess Teddy means by nuking most of humanity out of existence.

Yeah, he escaped my memory too. Here's a page about him: Cole - Season 4

Preach! Preach! Dorie Jr. was my favorite WD character. Ew cult guy just kissed the corpse of his mother. Eeeew. 🤮 This is so far turning out to be one bizarre episode of Fear...

Boo hiss! The John Dorie murderer character just showed up - Dakota. Yuck. (edit: left "murderer" out the first time)

But with no dog food being served. 😁 Actor Nick Stahl's hair looks kind of weird. I still remember him from Terminator, when he played a 20 something John Connor (with short hair).

So far this episode is off to a promising start, IMO. One of the reasons I was looking forward to this show when it started years ago was to see what society was like at the initial outbreak (which is what AMC promised us the show would feature), which we're being shown here a little bit with that prison scene.

Garret Dillahunt, who played John Dorie on Fear the Walking Dead plays a character named Martin in the new NetFlix zombie movie "Army of the Dead," directed by Zack Snyder. I watched this movie earlier this morning. It was an entertaining zombie movie, with some really gory gross-out scenes. Dillahunt's character in the movie is a jerk and is no John Dorie. The following commentary / review contains some spoilers about Army of the Dead: ‘Army of the Dead’ Is Extra Amusing for ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Fans

I am actually hoping as the show unfolds that Dad Dorie isn't as grouchy. Dorie Jr. was a breath of fresh air for me, as most (not all, but most) of my family are grumpy, crotchety types who constantly see the glass as half empty. It was so nice to tune in and see a character on a show who is the opposite of what I grew up with (and still endure now). Also, show-wise, it was nice to see a character (ie, Dorie Jr) who had a gentle demeanor and who was genuinely altruistic. So many of the people on these shows are selfish. One of my pet peeves with the Walking Dead shows... and sorry if I've mentioned this before... And I assume they do this because it saves on show time, production, etc. At least to my own memory (which could be faulty), I've never seen a zombie on this show, or not many, who are wearing skirts, shorts, dresses, tank tops, bathing suits, leggings, tuxedos, business suits, overalls, football uniforms, cheerleader uniforms, scrubs (ie, doctor zombies), or t-shirts. The vast majority of the time, the zombies are in long pants (usually jeans), long- sleeved, dreary-colored, plaid shirts (like they're all 1990s Grunge rockers). Why aren't any of the zombies wearing t-shirts with Batman logos on them? Or images of Mickey Mouse, Iron Man, etc? (Yes, I know, because AMC would have to pay copyright usage to Disney, DC, Marvel, etc, but I mean, in real life, kid zombies would likely be in the occasional Darth Vader t-shirt or whatever. Adults would be in sports team t-shirts or hoodies. Just seems weird to never see a zombie wearing a Beatles, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, or Wonder Woman t-shirt). There was one zombie in the last episode of Fear who was wearing a "Don't Mess With Texas" t-shirt, and maybe one in years past who was in a long skirt? and maybe the girl zombie from the pilot was in pajamas (if memory serves), but that is so rare. I sit there and think, you mean to tell me in these mid-western / southern states, where the humidity is high and the temperatures are high, that not a single person who turned zombie did so while wearing a pair of shorts, a skirt, t-shirt, tank top? I don't think any of them are in flip flops, high heels, flats.... or sneakers. Most of the zombies seem to be in non-descript brown leather type shoes. Have any of them been in Nike sneakers with the swoosh logo, or Adidas? Everybody at the dawn of the apocalypse was in long jeans and a long-sleeved flannel / plaid shirt, really? I guess if they show many zombies in tank tops and shorts, it would take them ten times as long to paint zombie make-up on their exposed legs and arms, I get that - but it's something that has always grated on my nerves. Seriously, the next time you watch a Walking Dead show, pay attention to how 99% of the zombies are dressed in blue jeans and long sleeved, button down, plaid shirts. Once you notice it, you cannot un-notice it. Some of the "Fear" characters seem dressed in a such a way to evoke 19th century Westerns - June was wearing long-sleeved, button-up, yellow blouse with small flowers on it awhile ago that looked similar to patterns I used to see "Ma Ingalls" wear in the "Little House On the Prairie" shows. I'd think a plain t-shirt would be ten times more comfortable (especially in hot and humid Texas).