1.5 Cobalt Strand, on the other hand, shows immediate survivor skills in the way he breaks Doug down and gets him taken away by the authorities and later in the way he bribes the officer in charge of the security detail to leave Nick behind in the cage with him. Strand, you see, has a plan. Strand is a brilliant reader of people, a natural-born salesman, and he knows just what buttons to push. Cufflinks and a Rolex for the guards, and a stolen key for Nick Clark. Like Daniel Salazar, Strand is a motivator, and unlike Daniel, he doesn’t have to scar his daughter for life mentally, or scar any soldiers for life physically. He’s going to need Nick, the gold standard of junkies, to help him get out before they all find out just what the radio code “cobalt” means. Fear The Walking Dead gives us a look at life outside the camp today, as we open with first Doug, then Nick, locked in the isolation cages at what looks to be an aircraft hangar or maintenance garage. We also follow Liza around as she gets rudimentary medical training from Dr. Exner, as well as following Travis as he finally gets out beyond the gates to see just how bad things are in the real world in exchange for his continued cooperation. That’s an important skill for this new world; you have to have something to offer, and it has to be what the other person wants. Doug’s got nothing, but his very attractive wife, well… she just might make it out of this okay if she’s willing to trade her dignity for food, at least in Strand’s eyes. Everyone has to give up something in the name of survival. However, when the character does speak, Ruben Blades makes the most of it, and David Wiener’s dialogue is spot-on for that kind of man, as is Griselda’s deathbed rant. I also really enjoyed Strand’s introduction and multiple monologues. If the show has a villain that isn’t one of the members of the National Guard, it’s shaping up to be Strand, if only because he’s dangerous and willing to use anyone to get what he wants. It’s masterful manipulation without being too overbearing, clever without being so clever as to not be thrown in the pen with the rest of the undesirables. There’s only one episode left in this short first season of Fear The Walking Dead, but depending on how things shake out with the last episode, there’s going to be plenty to cover when the show resumes for a second season next summer. Sure, they skipped a lot of the good stuff that I wanted to see, but the things that we’ve seen so far have been really intriguing. More importantly, the hook we were promised—watching the world fall apart—looks like it might happen, albeit on a very minor scale. Assuming you can consider a sporting arena full of thousands of zombies a ‘minor scale’. US Correspondent Ron Hogan is firmly on Team Salazar, and would love to see more of Daniel with that razor blade in his hand, slicing flesh and extracting secrets. With Daniel as the muscle, Kim as the steel, Nick as the thief, and Strand as the scumbag leader, this is a formidable zombie-survival squad. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
