S01.E02: So Close, Yet So Far

[Iguessnot]

Before I forget. Why didn't Matt call his girlfriend all this time? Since he didn't show up for their date, we have to assume "the altercation" happened prior to the date. Yet a whole day later, Matt is discovered not in a ditch, but chilling AT HOME. He is deathly ill now, but a day ago he could have used his cell phone. He could have used the landline in his home. He could have stopped by one of his neighbors. He could have used one of his home computers and made contact with someone. But the writers somehow thought it was feasible to have this young man, with a large bite wound, just sit quietly at home twiddling his thumbs. Total bs writing.

 

Just checked, the shot of the open trunk car was definitely Matt's folks. It's a sedan and you see suitcases on the ground. The coughing neighbor was loading up a lift back SUV.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Iguessnot

[ICantDoThatDave]

So the video has gone so viral to the point that school is cancelled, but no one in the media is discussing what’s happening? [When Travis's ex turns on the TV, it seems to be purely focusing on the police protest angle.] That's a pretty contradictory story element.  It feels a little like the show wants to have it both ways – the ZA is both alarming enough to shut down a government entity (the school) AND yet comes out of nowhere.

This is the main problem I'm having, too. They're making a point that "no one knows what's really happening" - the radio stations, people at the protest, nothing really on TV, the birthday neighbors.  But yet the power's going out, cell phones are sporadic, schools are closed. No one knows, but also society is already collapsing?  Either it's a big deal or it isn't.

 

CNN would be all over this, nonstop, at least showing the viral videos we know are already out there. Just look at their obsession with the Malaysian plane. Or the handful of Ebola cases we had & the coverage that got. It's difficult to maintain my suspension of disbelief when we pretty much know how the actual media behaves.

[peach]

This is the main problem I'm having, too. They're making a point that "no one knows what's really happening" - the radio stations, people at the protest, nothing really on TV, the birthday neighbors.  But yet the power's going out, cell phones are sporadic, schools are closed. No one knows, but also society is already collapsing?  Either it's a big deal or it isn't.

 

CNN would be all over this, nonstop, at least showing the viral videos we know are already out there. Just look at their obsession with the Malaysian plane. Or the handful of Ebola cases we had & the coverage that got. It's difficult to maintain my suspension of disbelief when we pretty much know how the actual media behaves.

 

ITA.  Instead of "silence," there would be lots of crazy rumors and theories, and all of them wrong.

[Kenz]

 

 

Might as well add me to the "I hate Madison and the bitch daughter" camps.  Though Bitch Daughter did want to go out there and save that lady (or was it a little girl) from being attacked, so that's a plus in her column.  Maybe if Madison had some acting lessons and another expression on her face other than "paralyzed and not from fear".

 

 

I agree with the comment about Madison. I was so frustrated with the always same expression on Kim Dicken's face. A person who had seen so much horror and who bashed in the head of her friend, the school principal, might react with something besides a  stoic, stone face. When she went into the bathroom and had a little cry, even that seemed kind of emotionless. I'd like to care about her, but until she improves her acting skills, it's going to be tough.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Kenz

[SometimesBites]

Just watched, and am nearly as underwhelmed as I was last week. The device of short-circuiting vital communication in order to build tension is a time-honored tool of hack writers everywhere. As shown by the comments here, it doesn't work. It just frustrates the viewer or reader. For example, when Chris calls his ex wife and tells her he's coming over, and she keeps cutting him off with nonesense about their divorce settlement. For crying out loud, no one communicates like this. You're in the midst of a desperate situation, and you can't blurt out "Hold on, this is an emergency...it's crucial that we find our son right now...he's in extreme danger." Even my truly thick-headed ex-husband would have shut up and listened to that.

Also deeply unimpressed with effects. For example, when principal zombie got the old extinguisher-to-the-head, we saw NOTHING. If the show can't make the personal drama work, they'd damn well better bring it with the zombie action. Not happening. The caliber of the acting is way subpar, too. I really dont feel like this show has ANYONE from TWD behind it. It's like watching a weak wannabe show on network television.

[CletusMusashi]

My guess about the whole Matt thing is that he had been cheating on Alicia with somebody, who died and turned, and then he ran into her or him and got bit. The story was too awkward to bring up on his own, but, fortunately for him, the Clarkes are idiots, and never asked.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

I have to agree with the comment that it feels like the production of FTWD feels a little like they're really not "bringing it", as they do with TWD.  Its almost as if they've mapped out this first short season with the attitude of we'll put very little effort into these first six episodes, and if there seems to be support and an 'eagerness' for the next season, THEN we'll really start to work on this thing like we care if it succeeds or not..... And we'll get KD an un-facelift so her facial features aren't stuck on just that one blank setting 100% of the time.

 

The lack of high production values could also be some sort of mandate from "on high", too.  Ala, Kirkwood doesn't want his 'baby' overshadowed by an offshoot creation;  "Be a little like TWD, but don't be - or be better - than TWD". 

[Nashville]

Part of the last conversation between Tobias and Maddie was illuminating:

 

Maddie: Do you want to stay with us until this is over?

Tobias: This doesn't end.

 

Yeah, a little heavy and pretentious of the writers - but IMHO the most important part of this was not Tobias' portentous pronouncement, but rather the contrast with Maddie's statement.  It's a reminder to We The Viewers that, while We know what the future holds, these people have no clue what's in store.  To them, this THING (be it virus or whatever) is an aberration in their normal reality. - and in this context such aberrations work their good/ill for some varying period of time, then move on into the misty recollections known as "the past".

This is the context of Travis' and Maddie's lives.  It's what they're used to.  In no way has life prepared them for the notion a new reality might impose itself upon them - that this is not an event with a specific duration, but is the way life will be for now and forever (or the foreseeable future, at least).  So I'm inclined to cut them some slack for the immediate future, because it's totally reasonable to expect the enormity of life's permanent change may take a bit to sink in.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

My guess about the whole Matt thing is that he had been cheating on Alicia with somebody, who died and turned, and then he ran into her or him and got bit. The story was too awkward to bring up on his own, but, fortunately for him, the Clarkes are idiots, and never asked.

 

And sad thing is, we'll most likely never find out which zombie - or who they were before - did bite him.  

 

I'm trying to piece together things we've seen in the first episode to try and make a connection to as who it could have been.  But other than two scenes on the school roof area with Alicia/Matt, we never saw him again until his dying scenes at the start of E2.  The only zombies the viewers seen or were clued in to in the Pilot were "Gloria", her victims in the church, Nick's hospital roommate, [didn't the nurse who tended to Nick have a bite, or someone else? I'm forgetting, I think...], the freeway zombie (& paramedic it looked like he tore the throat out of while trying to resuscitate him), and Cal.  Somewhere between the end of the school day and going home, Matt got chomped on.  Considering he was at home, guessing the bite occurred not all that far from it.

Edited September 1, 2015 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[CletusMusashi]

About the racial criticisms: I tend to agree, and see enough of them that the topic might need its own thread here.  

The pilot gave us four protagonists, and each one was given one, no more, no less, black person to be friendly with. Once it was established that the fictional characters are not opposed to the idea of black people surviving, it was our job to assume that the writers feel the same way. Once the characters were on screen a little bit, the writers assumed that the black peoples' purpose was fulfilled, and they were rewarded. By being removed from this godawful show, and sent to Black Character Heaven. Where, if the rest of the show's writing is any indication, the junkies are always quiet, the spraycans are always full, the teachers never wake you up to talk about books, and if you're a nerdy big-eared top administrator you can spy on Americans whenever you want to.

Yep, nothing suspicious at all there. But here's the closest thing to a counter-argument I can give. The whole show kind of sucks. I mean, who, that hasn't died, should be black? The adults who refuse to report murders to the police? The knife-wielding teen who's been studying Advanced Looting? Would those look any better? But... yeah. At least they get to live. And if they do die, I assume at least we'll see the attack. Or, even if we don't, somebody will give enough of a fuck to ask why they have a giant bite wound on them...

ETA: Actually, Sleepy Kid might still be alive. Him and Tobias as mismatched buddy survivors, I could watch.

Edited September 1, 2015 by CletusMusashi

[Nashville]

It's strange, but the most glaring inconsistency to me in this episode? 

The school locker where the drugs were stashed.

Why?  Because if you were to get a corner popped loose, all you have to do is reach your finger around the edge of the open corner and slide the dropbar up - which disengages the other latches and allows the door to open completely.

Every high-schooler who's ever had to jimmy a locker knows this.

And the high school counselor doesn't???  Sheesh.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Nashville

[Ronin Jackson]

Maybe.  But I have to believe that even going from watching shows/movies or reading about zombies - ie , knowing/thinking/believing their just fantastical horror things made up to scare people - to have to actually live in such an apocalypic world would be a massive improbability, intellectually, to deal with; all the while doing what it takes to stay alive.

 

In fact, I think it would add to the whole thing if you had people who were initially weren't afraid of the zombies because they thought these were people who were all made up for fun, or to try and give people "a scare", maybe a few walkers together would have people thinking it was a 'reality' experience for something or other.  And then the made-up "people" start to actually bite and eat living people.  Imagine the trauma of believing for all your life that zombies aren't real, and then all of the sudden they are, and they're everywhere (or will be).

 

Well it's a difference of opinion... I mean that concept has been done in many "self aware" type zombie horror films. It'd be a tightrope for them to walk before it becomes too much about how zombie movies are coming to life, especially for an ongoing production.

 

Consider that the modern zombie trope, which TWD uses to the letter, was invented in 1968 by George Romero. The term zombie did exist for a reanimated corpse, but the flesh eating walkers who can only be taken out with a head shot was conjured up by Night of the Living Dead. Without that film, there aren't countless other films with flesh eating zombies, or The Walking Dead, the comic and television show. The comic and television show are taking place in that alternate universe, where Night of the Living Dead didn't exist. Don't you gotta kind of remove movies and television out of existence any time you watch something with an actor who has been in anything else? No one wonders why none of the characters are going up to Harrison Ford in his movies saying "Dude! Han Solo!"

Edited September 1, 2015 by Ronin Jackson

[Nashville]

It's a necessary disconnect... would the show be more interesting if the characters were watching Night of the Living Dead on itunes as a survival guide rather than figuring it out for themselves?

 

That assumes the horror genre guessed everything right.  Like... suppose for a real zombie, the vulnerable point was the left kidney and not the brain?  A lot of zombie preppers and F/TWD fans are going to end up looking very foolish, very dead, or some combination of the two.  :>

[CletusMusashi]

Well, they're not classic Romero zombies. They seem to spend a lot of time hiding, in between giving people one individual bite. They're actually closer to the zombies in the second season episode of "Community," except that none of them are as funny as Starburns.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

It's strange, but the most glaring inconsistency to me in this episode? 

The school locker where the drugs were stashed.

Why?  Because if you were to get a corner popped loose, all you have to do is reach your finger around the edge of the open corner and slide the dropbar up - which disengages the other latches and allows the door to open completely.

Every high-schooler who's ever had to jimmy a locker knows this.

And the high school counselor doesn't???  Sheesh.

 

So true.  And, unless I'm remembering wrong, didn't she need the key ring (from the principal's desk) to get into that room to get at the locker?  If so, shouldn't the key for the lock on the locker have been on that ring, too??

 

 

ETA:  No, wait.  Wasn't Tobias already with her when she got those keys?  If so, she'd already been to the drugs locker.  Dammit, there goes that theory and attempted jab at her mental acuity.

Edited September 1, 2015 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[Nashville]

So true.  And, unless I'm remembering wrong, didn't she need the key ring (from the principal's desk) to get into that room to get at the locker?  If so, shouldn't the key for the lock on the locker have been on that ring, too??

 

 

ETA:  No, wait.  Wasn't Tobias already with her when she got those keys?  If so, she'd already been to the drugs locker.  Dammit, there goes that theory and attempted jab at her mental acuity.

 

Don't think so - I've already deleted it off my DVR, so I can't easily check - but didn't Tobias walk in on Maddie while she was raiding the locker?

[maystone]

Don't think so - I've already deleted it off my DVR, so I can't easily check - but didn't Tobias walk in on Maddie while she was raiding the locker?

 

Yup, because Tobias was telling Maddie it was a smart move to go to the school because the first things looters hit are pharmacies, gun shops, and liquor stores.

[txhorns79]

Why?  Because if you were to get a corner popped loose, all you have to do is reach your finger around the edge of the open corner and slide the dropbar up - which disengages the other latches and allows the door to open completely.

Every high-schooler who's ever had to jimmy a locker knows this.

And the high school counselor doesn't???  Sheesh.

 

In fairness to her, she was already on edge, probably close to panic and likely just trying to get in and out of the school without getting caught.  I can forgive her for not always following logic, even if I was screaming at her in my head for not taking the food after they killed Zombie Principal.  I try to think how I'd be in that situation, and I'd probably make a lot of obvious mistakes, only because a zombie apocalypse would be a pretty freaky thing to live through. 

[Haleth]

About the lack of Asians, the one police officer that talked with Chris was Asian.  Other than that?  Nope.

 

I am sort of reminded of how people reacted on 9-11.  I had 2 kids at different schools at that time and when the schools dismissed early it was absolute chaos trying to get them.  Here, at least, schools can't just push everyone out the door.  There are instructions for every student regarding how that kid is to get home, whether by bus, parent, or other means.  And now parents have to be called, texted, or emailed that schools are closing.  So I had to laugh at how last week the principal said they were closing and everyone left, and this week there weren't still dozens of kids waiting around to be picked up.

[kj4ever]

I know it won't happen, but I so want Maddie to get eaten so ex-wife can be the female lead.   She caught on very quickly.

and the book she had was "Math for Nurses" so the ex will be way more valuable in the ZA then an emotionless twit guidance counselor who doesn't seem to be able to counsel or guide very well.

[Sakura12]

I want the ex to be the lead too. She managed to figure out something else was going on with her stupid ex husband being vague and not explaining why he was acting like a loon. That means she has a brain and knows how to use it. Plus I do think she'd be better in the ZA if she is studying to be a nurse. 

 

I'm guessing Madison is going to be one of those that keep surviving on pure luck and other people saving them. 

[nachomama]

Where do I know the Ex from? (Orange is the New Black) answered my own question. 

Edited September 1, 2015 by nachomama

[Nashville]

So - is the ex our leading Carol candidate to date? :)

[Boofish]

If the story was taking place in Harlem I would have a problem with the lack of diversity. It's a show about zombies; I don't really care what race the characters are as long as it makes sense to the story.

 

Speaking as an African American let me just say this (with respect and honesty; no offense meant). To me it's tricky when white writers try and be inclusive and write for minority characters. There is ALWAYS some type of complaint. Even my boyfriend (who is white) said "WHY THE BLACK MAN HAVE TO BE A DRUG DEALER" They just can't buy a break. I honestly don't feel like it's always worth it and if minorities are integral to the plot for a very good reason, I would want to tread lightly as well. Everyone is way too sensitive and politically correct. People want to see minorities on the screen but no one wants to see behaviors associated with that particular minority on the screen. Now your problem is two-fold - they don't act "insert minority here" or "why they have the *minority* being A B C"

 

Even on the Friends website people are still complaining about the one black girl to ever be on the show was used to sexually pleasure 2 of the white male characters and how long ago was that!

[ghoulina]

Is it possible that the characters weren't necessarily written as black, but that's just who they happened to cast? Like Matt and Cal and Artie were just written as "friend/drug dealer who dies", "boyfriend who dies", "principal who dies" respectively, and black actors happened to to perform best at their auditions? I ask this with all due respect, because I have no idea how it works. But since they were such minor roles and already written to die, I'm not sure they were specifically looking for one race or another. I could be totally wrong. 

[Nashville]

Is it possible that the characters weren't necessarily written as black, but that's just who they happened to cast? Like Matt and Cal and Artie were just written as "friend/drug dealer who dies", "boyfriend who dies", "principal who dies" respectively, and black actors happened to to perform best at their auditions? I ask this with all due respect, because I have no idea how it works. But since they were such minor roles and already written to die, I'm not sure they were specifically looking for one race or another. I could be totally wrong.

I'd say almost certainly, considering at the very least the pilot had to be written to pitch the series. Not that this one needed THAT much pitching, given the strength of its progenitor, but the moneybags will still want some proof-of-concept of the companion series' storyline before they go committing a few million to the project.

[txhorns79]

I ask this with all due respect, because I have no idea how it works. But since they were such minor roles and already written to die, I'm not sure they were specifically looking for one race or another. I could be totally wrong.

 

Sometimes the casting notices go out with certain requirements, like age, height, gender or race, and sometimes they are more generic.  I would agree with you here that these were all pretty minor roles, so I doubt the notices indicated much of anything besides perhaps age and what kind of role it was. 

[HalcyonDays]

Sometimes the casting notices go out with certain requirements, like age, height, gender or race, and sometimes they are more generic.  I would agree with you here that these were all pretty minor roles, so I doubt the notices indicated much of anything besides perhaps age and what kind of role it was. 

 

In some cases, yeah, more main characters they are looking for certain characteristics, but even the guy cast to play Travis was cast not because they were looking for a Maori, but because casting liked the guy. Happens a lot.

 

Is it possible that the characters weren't necessarily written as black, but that's just who they happened to cast?

 

That's what I think - the people cast auditioned for those roles, were good actors and just happen to be black in most cases. Hell, the guy who played Cal was really good at appearing like a perfect pure honest teenager, and then switching to being a shady drug dealing guy. He did that really well. It just happens that the actor they cast was black. The actor they cast for Chris, though, obviously needed to look like his dad, though Maddie's kids don't look like her. There is also how much reputation an actor has, so like the guy playing Matt or Nick or Alicia, you guys recognized them from other shows, therefore that could be partly why there were cast - better know people.

[Sparger Springs]

This show is starting to grow on me. I hope they keep Tobias around for a while. I really like his character.

 

Speaking of race, has anyone else noticed the complete lack of any Asian people in the apocalypse besides Glenn??? I figured it was okay in Georgia, but in Los Angeles???? There are no Asian people in this franchise besides Glenn, zombified or otherwise. Like, at all. I know they keep killing/zombie-ing off the black actors, but at least they hired them for an episode. They're ahead of the Asians.

The nurse who untied Nick was Asian.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Welcome To The Apocalypse Jungle / The undead outbreak gets real for Travis while Nick deals with the super-flu blues.

[stretch]

The nurse who untied Nick was Asian.

 

That's not a character, that's an extra.

 

In my mind, it doesn't matter if the casting of Cal, Matt and the principal was just a coincidence. They've gotten enough heat for "one black man out, one black man in" on TWD, that someone should have paused and said, "Hey, you know what - we need to use one of these guys in a different role instead of one of the first three people killed."

[NorthstarATL]

Part of the last conversation between Tobias and Maddie was illuminating:

 

Maddie: Do you want to stay with us until this is over?

Tobias: This doesn't end.

 

Yeah, a little heavy and pretentious of the writers - but IMHO the most important part of this was not Tobias' portentous pronouncement, but rather the contrast with Maddie's statement.  It's a reminder to We The Viewers that, while We know what the future holds, these people have no clue what's in store.  To them, this THING (be it virus or whatever) is an aberration in their normal reality. - and in this context such aberrations work their good/ill for some varying period of time, then move on into the misty recollections known as "the past".

This is the context of Travis' and Maddie's lives.  It's what they're used to.  In no way has life prepared them for the notion a new reality might impose itself upon them - that this is not an event with a specific duration, but is the way life will be for now and forever (or the foreseeable future, at least).  So I'm inclined to cut them some slack for the immediate future, because it's totally reasonable to expect the enormity of life's permanent change may take a bit to sink in.

I took it as Tobias doesn't want to be saddled with idiots for the foreseeable future.

 

Is it possible that the characters weren't necessarily written as black, but that's just who they happened to cas

Acting gigs are the only jobs where discrimination is not only tolerated, but is actually necessary. Often roles are written to be cast a certain way, relationships to other cast members genetically have to be considered, and a believability must be maintained (a disabled person must be accomadated for a regular job, but that cannot be realistically portrayed in a film that requires mobility), so the casting agents have no quotas that they are mandated to meet. Imagine how frustrating it must be to offer employment to deserving minority actors and actresses and then have to face backlash over those hires because they were killed off in a zombie series! No good deed...

[meep.meep]

 

Madison: Take ALL of the drugs!!! Why are you sifting through them?!?! Even without zombies, you have a sick kid at home!!!

 

 

I LOVE that the first view of a zombie was by a drug addict making him a very unreliable source.  Gloria is eating people?  Too absurd to believe!  He's clearly high!

 

The saddest moment for me was seeing the letter from Berkley on Alicia's desk.  All of these hopes and dreams are now completely unrealistic and will never be fulfilled.  

 

Madison has a junkie at home.  She doesn't want to take too many drugs because he'd just find them and get high.  She wants the lowest dosage to get him through withdrawal.  So, it did make sense.

 

That letter from Berkeley - the usual hokey.  It would just say University of California.

[Boofish]

I'm just upset she made Tobias leave his food but she still got her drugs

Edited September 1, 2015 by Boofish

[Kellyee]

Something else that bugs me about this episode is how long the cell phones continued to work. On the morning of 9/11, I was in Philadelphia. Within minutes of the second plane crash, the cell phones and Internet choked from everyone trying to call/connect at once. Maddie and Travis only had token trouble with their phones and were still able to make calls without a lot of trouble. That's not very realistic.

[tennisgurl]

 

Is it possible that the characters weren't necessarily written as black, but that's just who they happened to cast? Like Matt and Cal and Artie were just written as "friend/drug dealer who dies", "boyfriend who dies", "principal who dies" respectively, and black actors happened to to perform best at their auditions?

That`s probably true, really. I do not think that they Walking Dead black guy curse is a thing they are doing on purpose at all. That being said...it is pretty awkward at best, offensive at worse, and the casting people and the writers should maybe work together a little more to make sure it stops happening so much. I mean, they have to have noticed right? People bring it up a lot. Especially with this show, I`m sure its a coincidence, but after a while, the coincidences start to look like trends, even if they are unintentional. 

[morgankobi]

I want the ex to be the lead too. She managed to figure out something else was going on with her stupid ex husband being vague and not explaining why he was acting like a loon. That means she has a brain and knows how to use it. Plus I do think she'd be better in the ZA if she is studying to be a nurse. 

 

 I liked her, but there was an odd switch with her between episode 1 and 2. In the first episode we meet her as she's on the phone and she was very nice to her ex, asked about Nick and tried to convince- then force- her son to go see his dad during Travis's custodial time. Then in episode 2, she is oddly angry about the ex sounding worried about the son, and coming over to check on him. She even yells about him coming over when it's not his turn. Huh? Episode 1 started the day before episode 2, so what changed? (Other than maybe Pilot-itis.)

Edited September 1, 2015 by morgankobi

[NorthstarATL]

That`s probably true, really. I do not think that they Walking Dead black guy curse is a thing they are doing on purpose at all. That being said...it is pretty awkward at best, offensive at worse, and the casting people and the writers should maybe work together a little more to make sure it stops happening so much. I mean, they have to have noticed right? People bring it up a lot. Especially with this show, I`m sure its a coincidence, but after a while, the coincidences start to look like trends, even if they are unintentional. 

Wouldn't it be worse, though, to start discriminating against black actors, because, under the conditions you've laid out, it's just easier to hire white guys, as no one will notice when they die.

[txhorns79]

In the first episode we meet her as she's on the phone and she was very nice to her ex, asked about Nick and tried to convince- then force- her son to go see his dad during Travis's custodial time.  Then in episode 2, she is oddly angry about the ex sounding worried about the son, and coming over to check on him. She even yells about him coming over when it's not his turn.

 

I don't know if it is inconsistent.  It's one thing to get your son to do the right thing when it is your ex's scheduled time. (Presumably, with the expectation that your ex would treat you the same way.)  It's another for your ex to announce he's coming over out of the blue, regardless of what you say, in violation of your custody arrangement, to see your son.  I mean, obviously the ZA overrules the agreement, but I could see why she would be annoyed.

[Cthulhudrew]

... until they need to know something. Then, as soon as they turn the set on, it immediately tells them, for example, where Chris is. Funny how they never turn it on during a commercial.

 

Speaking of which, another silly fakeout in the beginning of the episode when Nick was flipping through the radio stations and happened up on the broadcast where the guy was talking about the end of the world... because of a football team. Ugh.

Before I forget. Why didn't Matt call his girlfriend all this time? Since he didn't show up for their date, we have to assume "the altercation" happened prior to the date. Yet a whole day later, Matt is discovered not in a ditch, but chilling AT HOME. He is deathly ill now, but a day ago he could have used his cell phone. He could have used the landline in his home. He could have stopped by one of his neighbors. He could have used one of his home computers and made contact with someone. But the writers somehow thought it was feasible to have this young man, with a large bite wound, just sit quietly at home twiddling his thumbs. Total bs writing.

 

That and when he's all "It's okay, go with your mom and leave me here in misery" when Madison keeps pushing. At this point, I'm not entirely certain why Madison necessarily knows that the "flu" is what is causing all of this (although she rightly has suspicions there is something behind it), but her daughter and Matt definitely shouldn't know, so why is he rolling over and giving up already? That kind of thing is de rigeur on TWD, where they know what the causes, symptoms, and inevitable horrid reality is, but here? Too early.

 

The show seems to want to simultaneously play with the tropes of full-blown zombie apocalypse stories and all their inherent moral choices, yet not want to concede yet that there actually is a zombie apocalypse going on, and as a result their characters are vacillating inconsistently.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Cthulhudrew

[Cthulhudrew]

It's strange, but the most glaring inconsistency to me in this episode? 

The school locker where the drugs were stashed.

Why?  Because if you were to get a corner popped loose, all you have to do is reach your finger around the edge of the open corner and slide the dropbar up - which disengages the other latches and allows the door to open completely.

 

That bugged me, too, but mostly because I wondered why she didn't just keep jimmying the bottom half the same way she did the top.

[NurseGiGi]

Okay, was the book the ex had really titled Math for Nurses?  Or was that a joke?  Because when I got my nursing degree we had for realz college math requirements, not "math for nurses".  

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Okay, was the book the ex had really titled Math for Nurses?  Or was that a joke?  Because when I got my nursing degree we had for realz college math requirements, not "math for nurses".  

 

She's probably taking an online work-at-your-own-pace course.  Not shown was her dog-eared volume of "Nursing for Dummies".

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Where do I know the Ex from? (Orange is the New Black) answered my own question.

Elizabeth Rodriguez also plays Angela's sister Paz, on the show Power.

Wish they didn't give her such mousey looking hair, she a very attractive woman.

[Andromeda]

Well it's a difference of opinion... I mean that concept has been done in many "self aware" type zombie horror films. It'd be a tightrope for them to walk before it becomes too much about how zombie movies are coming to life, especially for an ongoing production.

 

Consider that the modern zombie trope, which TWD uses to the letter, was invented in 1968 by George Romero. The term zombie did exist for a reanimated corpse, but the flesh eating walkers who can only be taken out with a head shot was conjured up by Night of the Living Dead. Without that film, there aren't countless other films with flesh eating zombies, or The Walking Dead, the comic and television show. The comic and television show are taking place in that alternate universe, where Night of the Living Dead didn't exist. Don't you gotta kind of remove movies and television out of existence any time you watch something with an actor who has been in anything else? No one wonders why none of the characters are going up to Harrison Ford in his movies saying "Dude! Han Solo!"

 

I agree. I think the show(s) work better pretending it's a world without George Romero zombies. It's not just that there are zombies. It's specifically a Zombie Apocalypse. This sets it apart from a world where people discover vampires are real (or werewolves, or trolls or gremlins or any other fantasy/mythology creature, incorporated in any one of a hundred ways into a story.) The Zombie Apocalypse IS the story. The story itself is too close to our pop culture zombie apocalypse references, so it made more sense to set all of that aside, I think.

[Macbeth]

Another take on Matt (formerly Randall on "The Wire") being ok with being abandoned - Randall was abandoned as well to his own defenses with deadly consequences.  The person who abandoned him was Sargent Carter now known as Father PP on "The Walking Dead."

 

Matt knowing that Sargent Carver is now in the Zombie Universe would make him give up his ghost.

[tennisgurl]

 

Wouldn't it be worse, though, to start discriminating against black actors, because, under the conditions you've laid out, it's just easier to hire white guys, as no one will notice when they die.

What I more considered was finding more major roles for black men, where they either don't die, or can wait a little while before death. I know its tough on a show where people die all the time, but I feel like it cannot be that hard to have more roles for black men that last a bit longer. Like, the last black man who died on the mothership show, I was fine with. That death made sense, and had some purpose behind it. But maybe that would be discriminating against hiring black actors for minor, walker food parts. I don't know. All I mean is that when pretty much the whole audience`s reaction to seeing a black man on this show is "how long until he croaks?", I feel like there is a problem.  

[Constantinople]

Is it possible that the characters weren't necessarily written as black, but that's just who they happened to cast? Like Matt and Cal and Artie were just written as "friend/drug dealer who dies", "boyfriend who dies", "principal who dies" respectively, and black actors happened to to perform best at their auditions? I ask this with all due respect, because I have no idea how it works. But since they were such minor roles and already written to die, I'm not sure they were specifically looking for one race or another. I could be totally wrong. 

 

It's distinctly possible that the actors they cast as drug dealer, boyfriend and principal were the best for their roles and they happened to be black.

 

It's also distinctly possible that TPTB are more open to the idea, consciously or not, of casting anyone of whatever background, for minor roles already written to die, than they are for ongoing roles.

[Ronin Jackson]

Just an example of the lack of attention to detail that I see in this franchise: The whole plot point about riots arising because people think cops are shooting unarmed people. How many attacks would there be before a cop shoots a zombie while hoards of people with cell phone cameras are around to record it? How many attacks before people start getting sick from bites?  If we are to believe what's laid out in FTWD, not a whole lot. At least not enough to inundate the public awareness of the attacks. How is it possible that most of the public is more aware of cop shootings and people getting sick than attacks?

 

Why is this happening? Well, in Kirkland land, characters service the plot. That's how it is, so all this pretense about it being a show about a family is handcuffed by it's approach from the start. The public needs to be more aware of cop shootings and illness than the attacks because the plot needs it's teenagers running around the city like idiots rebelling against their parents. To those who are annoyed that Madison isn't telling her daughter anything, you are right, it's stupid and it doesn't serve the character, but the daughter has to be ignorant so she can sneak out and meet her zombie boyfriend right? Characters servicing the plot.

[Raven1707]

Is it possible that the characters weren't necessarily written as black, but that's just who they happened to cast? Like Matt and Cal and Artie were just written as "friend/drug dealer who dies", "boyfriend who dies", "principal who dies" respectively, and black actors happened to to perform best at their auditions? I ask this with all due respect, because I have no idea how it works. But since they were such minor roles and already written to die, I'm not sure they were specifically looking for one race or another. I could be totally wrong. 

 

Here's what showrunner Dave Erickson has to say on the subject:

 

Counting Artie, Alicia's boyfriend, Matt, and Calvin, the three central deaths on the show so far have been African-American. Was that something you were cognizant of during production? Considering the flagship series has come under fire for similar issues, why did you opt to make those decisions?

 

When we were writing the pilot, it wasn't something that came up in conversations in the room or with the network. Ultimately, it came down to when we were casting those parts, we didn't know who was going to live, who would die or how those stories would arc out or not arc out. For us, it was about casting that felt reflective of the community and getting the best actor and that was the final determining factor.

 

When you decided to kill all three characters, did you think about tweaking that at all? That's a lot in two episodes.

 

Once the story was set, it was the story. Once the story is playing out in a specific way, that's the line that you want to follow. It wasn't as though we were writing those characters and then casting those characters with an intention of, "This is going to be the death scene for this episode." For that episode, it was about how it would reflect on the characters themselves and how things would play out over the course of the season. I realize it's clearly become an issue and it's something we are mindful of. But ultimately it's trying to tell the story the best way we can and cast the best people we can. I wouldn't want to go back and recast a character just to avoid … if it doesn't feel true to the character or the relationship — the relationship with Alicia and Matt or Calvin and Nick — it's really about the reality of the world that we're trying to inhabit and trying to have the best actors portray those parts. When you're dealing with a show where you have a cast that is as diverse as ours is, it's inevitable that characters of color are going to get bit and are going to turn or die. If you look at the larger scope of this season, what people will see is that there is parity. We want to tell the story in the best way we can and want the best actors to play those parts. It would have been a mistake to go with Anglo actors for those particular roles because I don't think that's honest to the world of the show.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/fear-walking-dead-boss-defends-818622

 

Make of it what you will...