S06.E10: Handle With Care

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2021.04.25

Quote

With a new threat on the horizon, Morgan calls for unity and invites all survivors to his settlement, tasking Daniel to keep the peace. However, Daniel will need to face his own challenge in hopes of protecting his friends.

 

[TV Anonymous]

So the whole episode is basically an exposition of Daniel's mental health issues?

[DrNowsWeightScale]

Last night's episode was so strange.

Initially, I found the story line of possible sabotage intriguing,  but when the show revealed who or what was behind it, I was like, "Are they serious?" - the reveal was rather under-whelming, IMO.

I do think the actor who plays Daniel did an outstanding job, especially when his character got really emotional towards the end, so this is not an actor thing or critique for me, so much as a script writer thing.

I think the show had a wasted "June" opportunity. You would think after June's big, dramatic exit on the last episode that maybe they were planning a big story arc for her. But no.

I was thinking maybe June would be absent for an episode or two, and when they did have a show with her, it would maybe show how John's passing really did a number on her.

I was expecting her to either run around the country side shooting up people (maybe become a new bad guy?), or turn into a very blood-thirsty good guy vigilante, but no! Nope nope, that is not the direction they took with her character.

They brought June's character back towards the end last night to act as a therapist to Daniel - what an odd choice.

As well as a wasted opportunity. I think the show could've done something way more interesting with the June character.

The show writers said shortly after John's death that his death would have big repercussions.
So far, other than Ginny (Virginia), it doesn't seem like it.

Are there more repercussions moving forward, in future episodes? Because I'm not seeing it now.

They really wasted a great character (John Dorie) when he was on the show - that they wrote him off (or the actor wanted off?, or a bit of both?), they need to make that character's death really count.

I do think the show is missing something with the Dorie character gone.
His character brought some much needed decency and optimism (up until his down-beat, suicidal streak towards the end) to an otherwise very dour, pessimistic, cut-throat universe (Walking Dead franchise, all versions), filled with mostly selfish, negative-nancy characters.

I see that the "Fear" show is laying ground work for another group of baddies, this time, the new baddies appear to possibly be a religious cult, led by a Charles Manson type guy? 

(This is the group that is apparently running around spray painting phrases like "The end is the beginning" all over the place.)

If so, the Walking Dead show ("Fear" and the other ones) are getting very repetitive, and have been for a while now.

Essentially, every season of these Walking Dead shows follow the same arc:
The main group runs into a group of baddies, each group has their own shtick and usually come with their own "name,"
(the "Saviors," the "Vultures," etc. The group at Terminus who ate other people, the "Whisperers," who wore zombie skins, etc.)

I'm assuming that "Fear" is setting up this Manson-cult-like guy as the leader of the next group of bad guys our group has to face and fight... and another Walking Dead trope - the new baddies will probably burn down any and all new towns or locales our heroes are using for shelter, forcing our good guys to move on to another area.

(To be fair to the show writers, though, there's not much else they can do story wise in a show set in the zombie apocalypse.
As a viewer, though, it gets to be a little tiresome watching the same set of plot points over and over on all the spin-off shows and the main show.)

I felt as I was watching last night's episode that it was really strange. 

The premise started out well enough, that there may be insider sabotage taking place, but like the Walking Dead shows often do, they take a promising premise and ruin it with the reveal (in this case, Daniel's mirages or hallucinations. I was like, 'That's it? That's who or what is behind the sabotage? What a let down.')

I do like the idea of a show exploring the ramifications of mental health problems during the apocalypse.

It's not that the idea has zero merit in a ZA show, but...

I think the way they're handling it on "Fear" is going about it the long, unnecessary, round-about way.

I think they did it a little better on the original show, where Carol realized in the ZA, she'd have to put that damaged kid down ("Look at the flowers!") because there are no mental health institutions to enroll such people in.

People with those types of mental health problems can be a danger to those around them in the zombie apocalypse, so it's a topic worthy of exploration, of what do you do with these people if there are no psychologists or psychiatric hospitals or medications?

I don't know why the survivors all don't just move in to Lawton now that Victor Strand runs it, not Ginny?

Does Morgan just not trust Strand, so Morgan would rather have a town founded under his rules and preferences?

Anyway... overall impression - what a WEIRD episode. So weird. And I miss John Dorie. 

Edit. So did Daniel take Skidmark the cat when he left MorganTown to go to Lawton?
I wasn't clear on that. I couldn't tell if the cat carrier was part of the luggage on Daniel's horse or not.

Edited April 26, 2021 by DrNowsWeightScale

[MrPissyPuppy]

They pick the dumbest places to settle down.  The bottom of a riverbed/old lake/dam.  Really?  I've lived in the desert almost my whole life (and I'm OLD!) and you stay the fuck away from those places because ... FLASH FLOODS (aside from the whole open banks/sides).    Then the whole taking away weapons bit - you're in the middle of the zombie apocalypse - EVERYONE should be armed with at least a knife at all times and everyone young, old, disabled, pregnant, whatever should be capable at defending themselves.  Why aren't more people telling Morgan to go fuck himself?  I like Lennie James but Morgan is an idiot and I don't know why people are following him. 

[DrNowsWeightScale]

24 minutes ago, MrPissyPuppy said:

They pick the dumbest places to settle down.  The bottom of a riverbed/old lake/dam.  Really?  I've lived in the desert almost my whole life (and I'm OLD!) and you stay the fuck away from those places because ... FLASH FLOODS (aside from the whole open banks/sides).    Then the whole taking away weapons bit - you're in the middle of the zombie apocalypse - EVERYONE should be armed with at least a knife at all times and everyone young, old, disabled, pregnant, whatever should be capable at defending themselves.  Why aren't more people telling Morgan to go fuck himself?  I like Lennie James but Morgan is an idiot and I don't know why people are following him. 

I suspect it's for novelty sake.

If every new location the show picked for the hero group to settle down in was the same as before (abandoned prison, farm setting, foot ball stadium, hospital, yacht at sea, fenced in middle class sub-division (Alexandria), etc.), viewers may get bored by that. 

Not that I think settling in a dried out dam area is genius, but I mean, I think the show writers are trying to keep the locations new and varied so viewers don't get bored by seeing the same old, same old.

I've wondered why the characters don't go back to Rick's abandoned prison. Surely by now all the zombies have roamed on, and they (the living people) could inhabit that place once more.

I previously wondered why John Dorie ever left his cabin in the first place?

After having found June, why not convince her to go back to the cabin by the river, where they had a good food supply and electricity, a TV with a VCR to watch movies?
June and John would've likely been safer at the semi- secluded cabin by the river, rather than running around trying to be "do-gooders" by manning various truck stops (what a bizarre season that was!), trying to set up home base in Max Headroom's abandoned blue jean factory (or whatever that place was), or settling down with Morgan, or whatever.

But I guess the show writers think we'll get bored unless the characters keep picking up and moving to new places and new types of shelter. Hence, why we see dams one season, prisons another, football stadiums, a hospital in downtown Atlanta on the original show back in season 4 or 5, etc.

Edited April 26, 2021 by DrNowsWeightScale

[GustavMahler]

So I think this is the third or possibly fourth time Reuben Blades seemed to have exited the show. I wonder if this is finally it?

[Red Bridey]

You know I don't know what the heck is going on. Show, what would be helpful is a map in the credits indicating where the f%*#! everyone is in relation to everyone else. The opening credits of Game of Thrones was perfect for setting the stage of each season. Now back to watching this stupid show.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

6 hours ago, GustavMahler said:

So I think this is the third or possibly fourth time Reuben Blades seemed to have exited the show. I wonder if this is finally it?

Reuben Blades is such an amazing actor, all through this series he's been as constant as The Northern Star. I sincerely hope he'll be back,he's one of the only___ couple

of reasons I've kept up with this series. Loved the opening song.

[raven]

3 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Last week when June put down Ginny, that was June's breaking point.   She lost self-control and put down Ginny.   Now this week she is alright and it was as if last week never happened.   That doesn't seem like a normal emotional transition in such a short period of time.

I thought June was very much in control last week.  She realized her mistake in allowing Ginny to live and rectified that mistake.  I can believe that she doesn't feel remorse over it, though I believe she feels great loss over John.

This show is going to stick us with Dakota because she's a kid, unfortunately.

8 hours ago, DrNowsWeightScale said:

June and John would've likely been safer at the semi- secluded cabin by the river, rather than running around trying to be "do-gooders" by manning various truck stops (what a bizarre season that was!), trying to set up home base in Max Headroom's abandoned blue jean factory (or whatever that place was), or settling down with Morgan, or whatever.

I like that the characters do this.  I get very tired of the relentless nihilism of the mother ship.  I've always hoped for more of a road trip type of show, seeing what is going on in various areas of the country.  I never understood why people want to stay in the same dreary area, consuming all of the resources. 

I really liked this ep because I like both Daniel and Strand so I really enjoyed their scenes.  I also like Dwight and yes, I still like Morgan even though he gives me whiplash.  It helps that these are some of the better actors on the show, esp with John now gone.

The show's biggest issue for me is too damn many people in the cast and they are too spread out.  I've complained about this before but it means we don't see characters for several eps so I forget what's going on with them, or I don't care (Sherry, Grace).

Both shows suffer from a lack of creativity, though I think this one does better with the zombie wackiness and gets many bonus points for ridding us of Ginny.   I'm sure we'll have some other dumb villain inflicted on us though.

[ctlady]

20 hours ago, MrPissyPuppy said:

They pick the dumbest places to settle down.  The bottom of a riverbed/old lake/dam.  Really?  I've lived in the desert almost my whole life (and I'm OLD!) and you stay the fuck away from those places because ... FLASH FLOODS (aside from the whole open banks/sides)

Mr. Ctlady said the same thing when he saw in last week's episode how the rangers led by Strand were all situated at the top of the hill surrounding them.  There's ZERO protection - not to mention how easy it would be for a horde to conveniently fall over and in

[nodorothyparker]

The exit of John Dorie aside, I quite liked the first two episodes of this half season. This one, though, I kept waiting for the reveal that someone was gaslighting Daniel into thinking he was losing it and doing these dangerous things so when it didn't come, it felt pretty flat to me. Yes, every single one of these people at any point in any of the three shows in the franchise should be suffering from PTSD if not just flat out insanity, but the franchise also hasn't been terribly good at showing that. Most of what we usually get is a formerly competent character suddenly unwilling or unable to kill zombies and then some odd thing like painting trees brings them out of it, cue maudlin music and storyline over.

I could watch Daniel and Strand sniping at each other all day and Daniel's speech about living with the effects of being shot in the face in a post modern medicine world with do it yourself dentistry was brutally well done. But you can do that when you're writing for two longtime characters you've actually taken time to develop beyond "guy who wears a hat or mask." When last we saw June, she was doing her gunslinger strut right on out of the ridiculous reservoir settlement, so it was definitively kind of jarring to next see her playing semi-amateur neurologist like everything else was normal. I guess they really are going to expect her to regularly strut past the whiny teenager who murdered her husband since this show doesn't seem to have the balls of the mothership to unload kids, feral and psychopathic or otherwise.

I hope Reuben Blades isn't going too far if this is the show's way of writing him off again.

[DrNowsWeightScale]

3 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

... This one, though, I kept waiting for the reveal that someone was gaslighting Daniel into thinking he was losing it and doing these dangerous things so when it didn't come, it felt pretty flat to me. Yes, every single one of these people at any point in any of the three shows in the franchise should be suffering from PTSD if not just flat out insanity, but the franchise also hasn't been terribly good at showing that. Most of what we usually get is a formerly competent character suddenly unwilling or unable to kill zombies and then some odd thing like painting trees brings them out of it, cue maudlin music and storyline over.

Agreed. I too was expecting more of the Daniel story line, like perhaps he was being set up by another person or whatever, and was confounded and disappointed by its resolution / explanation.

As I was saying before, this show (and the other Walking Dead shows) will every so often come up with an intriguing story possibility, but they manage to later thwart it somehow. I think this may be one of those cases.

I do like to see any of these shows addressing mental health issues, how living in a ZA can cause a person to develop some kind of psychological issues, but their execution of it is sometimes wanting.

[raven]

5 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

As for Dakota, who knows what is going on in her head.  Yes, she wanted her sister (mother) dead, but again further down the road her feelings might change.  Especially when she just found out that her sister was actually her mother. 

I just have to say that this was a really, really dumb reveal that will probably never be mentioned again on the show.  Totally pointless.  Ginny could have been going to great lengths to protect her younger sister; that's believable.  I was sitting there saying "no, no, they're not going to go there oh SHIT they went there" lol.  Plus what a thing to drop on the kid.  Hey I'm really you're mom!  That was bad.

[Starchild]

So it seems June is staying with Sarah, but at which community? They're not with Morgan or Sherry, and I didn't get the impression they were with Strand.

[DrNowsWeightScale]

21 hours ago, Starchild said:

So it seems June is staying with Sarah, but at which community? They're not with Morgan or Sherry, and I didn't get the impression they were with Strand.

I was wondering this myself.

I am not sure where the Trucker lady, Sarah is staying - I guess she is NOT staying at Strand's Lawton, so there is a third locale somewhere?

There was Daniel's warehouse, but I think everyone moved on from there.
There was the blue jean (or whatever) factory that was invaded by Max Headroom... I'm not sure if Sarah and company moved on from that factory, or if they moved back into it or what.

Speaking of Sarah, I don't believe we've seen her brother (Wendell - spelling?) in the wheel chair for a few episodes.

Edited April 30, 2021 by DrNowsWeightScale

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, DrNowsWeightScale said:

I was wondering this myself.

I am not sure where the Trucker lady, Sarah is staying - I guess she is NOT staying at Strand's Lawton, so there is a third locale somewhere?

There was Daniel's warehouse, but I think everyone moved on from there.
There was the blue jean (or whatever) factory that was invaded by Max Headroom... I'm not sure if Sarah and company moved on from that factory, or if they moved back into it or what.

Speaking of Sarah, I don't believe we've seen her brother (Wendell - spelling?) in the wheel chair for a few episodes.

I was doing some googling. Apparently the actor playing Wendell is on another show right now (one of the NCIS ones?) so he's being kept in the background here for now. Also, it seems Ginny's Pioneers had about a dozen settlements altogether, so I guess for now we're presuming that June, Sarah and Wendell are at one of those that we've never seen onscreen.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Starchild

[For Cereals]

Aw Daniel...instead of Carol and Daryl, can we get a buddy show with Strand and Daniel?