S02.E04: Blood on the Streets

[HalcyonDays]

Episode synopsis: The group lets a family in distress board the Abigail; Strand's past begins to come to light; Nick looks for an associate of Strand's.

[HalcyonDays]

Here is your discussion thread for S02.E04: Blood on the Streets. This thread will open at Sunday May 1st at 10:00 pm

Prior to that, speculate and live-chat here --> S02.E04: Blood on the Streets - Pre-Air Speculation and Live Chat.

DO NOT post spoilers and DO NOT discuss the Walking Dead. To discuss the more popular Dead, go HERE.

As always, be civil and be respectful, but always have fun!!

[Armchair Critic]

They went there with Strand kissing the dude!

[Red Fields]

Glad Strand survived.

[minamurray78]

So Strand was still alive right? That's all I care about, honestly.

[Straycat80]

WTF  did I just watch? 

[Janimo]

More magnetism with Stand and the other guy (Thomas??) than Maddie and Travis.
I hope they keep Strand around for quite a while.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Janimo

[mightysparrow]

Colman is being fabulous, as always!

[Primetimer]

You probably don't want to know how your baby's doing, but why not ask anyway?

View the full article

[mightysparrow]

1 minute ago, Straycat80 said:

WTF  did I just watch? 

That's a really good question.

[xaxat]

Yay! A character I like! Abigail's right hand man (Louis?).

That means he'e probably going to die in the rescue attempt.

Didn't really care about anything else.

[TVFan17]

Did they say only 3 more episodes left this season?  Was this one tonight #4?  This is a short season.

[riverheightsnancy]

Just now, Straycat80 said:

WTF  did I just watch? 

A TV show about a Zombie Apocolypse!  Speaking of a ZA, I just happened to see World War Z yesterday and it was frightening how the zombies created human climbing ladders and moved so fast. It was scary. That's all I have to say about FTWD! haha

[Red Fields]

Nicole is taking notes for this show too, it looks like.

[Amelie06]

Well, it didn't take Nick long to go full Mr. Kurtz.

I thought there was a certain chemistry between Strand and Dougray Scott in that bar scene. I was like, did those two just fall in love? The answer turned out to be yes. Or no. Or kind of. I'm still not sure this hasn't all been a hustle for Strand to get his hands on Dougray's money. But Dougray seemed very sincere.

I like Luis. I hope they don't set him adrift on a little boat. I do worry that he seems to be missing the key fact that the world has ended with a zombie apocalypse. His concern for the car he was going to be abandoning was a little sad. That's pre-ZA attitude, man. Although I did appreciate his insistence that Nick clean himself. We need him around if only to do that.

Alicia is so dumb. So very dumb. She is the cossetted queen of foolish choices.

Was Jack played by "She's No You" hit singer Jesse McCarthy? It kind of looked like him, but didn't. I realized I hadn't seen or even thought about Jesse McCarthy since 2005, so I might just be seeing things.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Amelie06
Because there is a difference between a period and a question mark.

[natyxg]

This episode felt like half of an episode. Like we only made it to the second act. The Walking Dead franchise insists on having so many episodes that are so. fucking. slow.

From their very first scene I wondered if Strand and Thomas were gay/flirting, so, nice to see that my gaydar works.

This show is so meh. Can Alex can come back?

[calliope1975]

I'm really glad Strand survived. I don't think I could take it with only those other dumbasses. I'm over shows airing disjointed episodes. I do think audiences are smarter than showrunners give credit for, but I need a show to make sense. 

My favorite part of the episode was at the end when they said there are only 3 more episodes in this season. (I only keep watching for the live chats.)

[candall]

2 minutes ago, riverheightsnancy said:

A TV show about a Zombie Apocolypse!  Speaking of a ZA, I just happened to see World War Z yesterday and it was frightening how the zombies created human climbing ladders and moved so fast. It was scary. That's all I have to say about FTWD! haha

I wasn't crazy about that movie, but the book is supposed to be terrific, with much more detail and depth.  It's on my extensive Amazon "Save For Later" list.  : )

[calliope1975]

1 minute ago, candall said:

I wasn't crazy about that movie, but the book is supposed to be terrific, with much more detail and depth.  It's on my extensive Amazon "Save For Later" list.  : )

I loved World War Z the book. My dream is that someday HBO, AMC, or the like will do a true adaption. I ended up liking the movie more than I thought I would, but it didn't have much in common with the book other than the title. 

[Bryce Lynch]

I am officially done with the crap.

17 minutes ago, Armchair Critic said:

They went there with Strand kissing the dude!

Yep, jumped the shark halfway through the 2nd season.  I am done.  Can't even bear hate watching this drivel.

[HighMaintenance]

For those of us that fondly remember Television Without Pity... this episode brought the HoYay!  Or maybe HoYay of convenience.  Meh, who knows?  

Was I the only one hoping that Chris got executed by this episode's extra special guest star villain?
So... Travis is suddenly an expert on hotwiring yachts? Old Ford pickup, $10M yacht.. they're basically the same thing, more or less.  BTW, we're only in week 2 or 3 of the start of the ZA and we already have Negan level baddies replete with trained lackeys, sophisticated weapons and multiple watercraft?  THOSE people thought ahead!  Although, they may want to rethink the pregnant gun moll thing.  You know, highly hormonal, possibly a ticking timebomb walker what with the whole zombie fetus thing going on.  Not the best choice to keeping a situation under control.

Why the hell is Madison going out SOLO, no less, at the end to rescue Strand?

[NorthstarATL]

Well, they addressed the problem I had last week, which was that in the last scene they had seemingly removed Strand's shades of gray in order to prove that the others were more morally correct than he, by focusing on his backstory and having the "morally correct" actions bite them all in the rear. I still find Travis, Madison, and Chris painful to watch, but the rest have grown on me somewhat. Did Alicia know that they would be boarded, and that's why her hair had extra volume? Or do she and Nick have some strange Wonder Twin thing where one's hair leeches cleanliness from the other? Also, Connor didn't seem all that special to me. Why are they following him? And why do Strand, et al want to sully that awesome place with these people, who will likely leave it in ruin?

[TVFan17]

I think that, as much as we were supposed to believe that a lot of stuff was happening in this episode, at the end it felt like nothing much happened... or whatever happened took too much time.  The sum of all of the parts was just not that compelling (for me).

[kdm07]

Things are beginning to pick up now which is what I thought would happen given that this season would be 22 (?) episodes. On network shows, things really don't get going until about the 4th or 5th episode so we're right on track. I do wonder how exactly these pirates found out about their names since Alicia didn't tell them any of that. 

I like the new guy, let him stick around for a bit show.

Also, hello Jesse McCartney.

Edited May 2, 2016 by kdm07

[grumpypanda]

None of this shit makes any sense. How did Nick swim all the way to shore so fast and isn't the water supposed to be freezing? When did Strand tell Nick to meet Luis? Did they leave the boat together? I'm so confused.

I still don't understand why Strand wants to bring Maddie and company to Mexico with him in the first place. Besides Travis these people have nothing to offer. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

52 minutes ago, natyxg said:

This episode felt like half of an episode. Like we only made it to the second act. The Walking Dead franchise insists on having so many episodes that are so. fucking. slow.

From their very first scene I wondered if Strand and Thomas were gay/flirting, so, nice to see that my gaydar works.

This show is so meh. Can Alex can come back?

I felt it was more like we missed half an episode -- how come only Nick went ashore to get Strand's friend ?  Safety in numbers in the ZA.

Did Nick swim all the way ashore ?  Or did Strand drop him off offshore with the Zodiac ?  There was a bunch missing since the last episode.

50 minutes ago, candall said:

I wasn't crazy about that movie, but the book is supposed to be terrific, with much more detail and depth.  It's on my extensive Amazon "Save For Later" list.  : )

The book was way better than the movie -- the only thing that the movie had in common with the book was the title and the fact there were zombies.  That's about it.

How did the Reed and Connor et al find the Abigail ?  The Abigail has moved substantially since they last had radio contact, and there are heavily armed pirates nearby.

I'm surprised Madison wasn't distracting the hijackers with her cleavage.

ETA: Why don't they just sail to Baja by going way out in the ocean and paralleling the coast ?  This whole sneaking across the border stuff is such nonsense.  Are they trying to say that the Mexican military is more organized in the ZA that the US Military and has still managed some sort of border control ?  Really ?

Edited May 2, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[truelovekiss]

One huge problem with this show is their inability to set up a story in a cohesive way. We start with Nick in some kind of refugee camp alone at night. We don't know until 40 minutes in that Strand sent him there for something. I didn't spend that 40 minutes engrossed in the mystery, I spent it thinking I missed something.

[candall]

Live-chatting is the only way to go with this show.  I laughed all the way through 62 minutes and five pages of us all asking "WHAT is HAPPENING?"

Much fun!

[Eta:  Reputation votes for Moderator HalcyonD.]

Edited May 2, 2016 by candall

[truelovekiss]

I am definitely in the minority here, but I don't care at all about Strand, Luis or any Abigails or whatever. I think it's partially because they've done such a shit job at fleshing out the characters they already have. One of the highlights of the episode for me was watching Ofelia and Chris talk. They're two people on a boat together and have been stuck in really close quarters for like a month or something their time, and have both lost their mothers in that time. Why have we never seen them interact before? One of the best parts about the early days of TWD was seeing people with nothing in common, that wouldn't have had anything to do with each other in the real world build relationships. 

[MrsRafaelBarba]

That was Jesse McCartney?

[Lamima]

Very disjointed and confusing. And I was rooting one or more of them would get offed by the pirate band. Such a shame.So I am guessing that Strand is trying to meet up with his man (don't even know his name, but rich guy) and by the fella Nick went to get saying he could only get 2 across the border makes me think Strand had no intentions of bringing the whole lot of them. And that fella is clueless as to what deep shit they are all in...with his not wanting to get his car dirty to only being able to get 2 across the border (um...it's a freakin' free for all at this point). 

I am also getting the feeling that Strand and his man (what's his name???) knew what was coming. I feel like we're going to find that the ZA began over on the west coast (not over with our TWD gang on the east coast). Alex, from the plane crash, seemed to know what was going on too. Maybe it was developed by a government as some military weapon and it went awry.

[ottoDbusdriver]

2 minutes ago, Lamima said:

I am also getting the feeling that Strand and his man (what's his name???) knew what was coming. I feel like we're going to find that the ZA began over on the west coast (not over with our TWD gang on the east coast). Alex, from the plane crash, seemed to know what was going on too. Maybe it was developed by a government as some military weapon and it went awry.

I'm thinking this Connor guy also had something in the works and expected something like the ZA to come along.  And he comes off as a bit of a smooth-talking charismatic type like the Governor.

[mmecorday]

I didn't think tonight's episode was too bad, but I think that's because it reminded me of other suspenseful TV shows or movies that employed ships at sea in peril.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one wondering what in the hell was happening when Nick swam ashore naked. I was hoping he'd find a tent where the last remaining Kardashians were living. Or not living.

[ottoDbusdriver]

15 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

I'm glad I wasn't the only one wondering what in the hell was happening when Nick swam ashore naked. I was hoping he'd find a tent where the last remaining Kardashians were living. Or not living.

One can hope for the latter.

[walnutqueen]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode (but then, I like this show).  The only eyebrow raisin' parts for me were Nick's un-junkie like back musculature and Strand's un-loverlike kiss.

[Maverick]

 Why is everyone talking about getting across the border?   They do realize they're going by sea, right?   

[mightysparrow]

Watching Colman on Talking Dead was so enjoyable it practically erased the astronomic levels of suck that was this episode.  I think that Colman will be the first actor of the franchise to get an Emmy nomination.  Luckily for him, he doesn't have to deal with Gimple's obsession with Carol/MMB so he gets a chance to show what he can do.

I still have absolutely no idea what happened in this episode.  Where did the 'Breakfast Club' pirates come from?  One minute the Ship of Fools is drifting in their ocean of suck and the next minute they're being boarded by bad guys.  Meanwhile Nick is sightseeing.  Have any of these people heard about a little thing called the zombie apocalypse?  

If Alicia isn't dead soon, there's no God.  Ofelia and Chris also deserve to die, but Alicia earned a gold star in stupid bitchery tonight so she must go.

Whatever Colman is being paid, he needs to get double.  He is the only reason to watch this mess.

[thuganomics85]

I already am more interested in Luis and Dougary Scott's character then I'm with over half of Team Abigail.

Episode felt disjointed between Strand's flashback and all the shit going down on Abigail, but I guess it was interesting to see that Strand was always a con artist, and all the shit he had pulled.  I was wondering if there were actually going to go there with Strand and the business guy, since Colman Domingo and Dougary Scott seemed to be playing it that way, so I'm glad they actually did.  So, I'm guessing the business guy is still alive, and that is the house that Strand is trying to get too.  Not sure how he plans to convince him to let everyone else in; especially this lot.  But I'm looking forward to finding out more.  Colman Domingo is still one of my favorites on this show.

No surprise, Alicia's little chat totally fucked everything up, since the guy was shady, and now she's got herself and Travis captured by this Connor guy.  At least she is taking some responsibility, so I'll give her some credit (plus, my love Alycia Debnam-Carey is just making me desperate for them to finally get her character right.)  That was a better fate then the rest, since they were probably going to get executed, but they all avoided that, although they better be thanking their lucky stars Nick and Luis showed up when they did.

Was really hoping Strand was going to be picked up by the woman he cast adrift last week.  Now, that would have been hilarious.

With all the times they named dropped Connor, I thought for sure he was going to be the Negan of this show, so I'm glad they are already introducing him, even if the actor plays him more like a mid-level guy, then the big cheese.

At least this episode wasn't bad, but I laughed when the voiceover guy said we only have three episodes left, because I felt like barely anything has happened this season.  Which I guess really isn't all that different.

[AnnaMayWong]

2 hours ago, Sherry67 said:

I think that, as much as we were supposed to believe that a lot of stuff was happening in this episode, at the end it felt like nothing much happened... or whatever happened took too much time.  The sum of all of the parts was just not that compelling (for me).

We did learn that extensions, weaves and, mad coiffing skills exist(well, for some) in this here ZA . 

[TVFan17]

1 minute ago, BookElitist said:

We did learn that extensions, weaves and, mad coiffing skills exist(well, for some) in this here ZA . 

 And cleavage too, apparently! 

Nick needs some coiffing skills, desperately.  I like a guy with long hair, but that hair is just beyond my comprehension.

[AnnaMayWong]

Wow. Definitely, The  'Abigail Asses'.

[catrox14]

Well, Strand just got 100% more interesting. I love how ambiguous he is about ERRYTHING. His motives, his sexuality, is he good or bad or just opportunistic.  I liked the chemistry he had with Dougray Scott.

I kind of sort of like Nick...now...which I don't know what that says about me.

[Sentient Meat]

When I break it down... the Abigail crew's escape plan essentially consisted of Maddy talking while Salazar wiggled his wrists back and forth for a half an hour.  I guess he must have got his torturer certification from one of those online universities.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Sentient Meat
spelling

[henripootel]

Quote

Well, Strand just got 100% more interesting. I love how ambiguous he is about ERRYTHING.

I liked his easy confidence, right up to the time that his boat got hijacked and he tried to paddle away frantically, in broad daylight, in an inflatable dingy.  I may have stuck with this show too long.

Edited May 2, 2016 by henripootel

[phoenix780]

So. This show is people practicing to make real shows, right? Lots of artsy shots underwater, illusions of depth through fractured narratives, all very amateur hour. 

Someone in this family needs to die soon. Not that any of them would care that much if one did. 

I missed why they think they need help crossing a border. The US has fallen, for all they know, but is Mexico intact? And only Strand can get them in?  Wasn't Strand a major player in a Stephen King novel? 

I was hoping Connor was Negan.

[Muffyn]

For about ten minutes I was actually interested in the show and then, well, it's Fear The Walking Dead.  'Nuf said. Daniel s wiggling his wrists and Daniel is wiggling his wrists and Daniel is wiggling his wrists.  Exciting stuff. 

I did kind of enjoy Madison going all super evil talking about zombie babies and suggesting the mother to be drink up.  Madison was at her most real being pure evil. 

When Nick went into the tent, I was really hoping there was a zombie in there.  It didn't look like he checked things out first.  How could he be sure it was empty?  He really does look like he wants to make out with the infected.  Nick has some strange desires. 

[catrox14]

Quote

  He really does look like he wants to make out with the infected

I thought he wanted to make out with Madison when they were reunited. The way the actor was kind of holding on to her from behind..was kind...of...interesting. 

[loki567]

I thought it was good... for Fear the Walking Dead. Babysteps. Strand's clearly the show's best resource, they need to keep him alive for as long as possible. 

That back-and-forth with the pregnant lady was probably Kim Dickens' best moment on the show so far. I'm hopeful that she's getting a handle on the material. I think the writers are planning her as the, "do anything to protect her family, including stabbing a bitch," type of character, I just hope they get to it sooner or later.

Alycia Debnam-Carey is stunningly beautiful. I wish I had more to say about Alicia but that's kinda all there is at the moment.  

[HeShallBMySquishy]

Dougray Scott's character is named Thomas Abigail, and the yacht is named after him. Also, Strand didn't paddle away on a dinghy in broad daylight, he was in the Zodiac in pitch blackness, right after Reed and his crew arrived.

Did anyone actually pay attention? (rhetorical question, I guess)

I liked this episode, so sue me.

[phoenix780]

I paid as much attention as I could. I did fast forward through the slow motion shot with Nick walking by a walker, and again towards the end. It was just a little disjointed for me, like a bad episode of Lost. I'm sure I missed details. 

Madison was almost interesting with the pregnant pirate. I hope they let her be the sociopath she is. That would be different. 

Also, the pirates took the dumb one who led them to the yacht in the first place. Don't know that I'd make that same choice.