2.6 Sicut Cervus The second season of The Walking Dead is the farm season. The gang spent a whole season just hanging out on Hershel’s farm while looking for Sophia. Well, in case you’ve forgotten, Sophia was there on the farm with them, but she wasn’t alive; she was stuck in a barn full of walkers that Hershel was keeping just in case a cure could be found. (I’m not sure how you’re supposed to cure death, but I’m not a veterinarian, so what do I know?) Fear The Walking Dead takes a slightly different tactic for this basic idea, weaving it into existing Mexican culture to find a more interesting reason for otherwise sensible people to keep a whole bunch of dead people in the basement. In Mexican culture, there exists the Day of the Dead, which is a day in which the dead are honoured with favorite foods, feasts, sugar skulls, and all sorts of other goodies designed to make the spirits happy and to commune with lost loved ones. It makes sense that, given the persistence of the tradition, that people might take one look at their formerly-dead family and decide that Uncle Conrad and Aunt Ginny aren’t really dead at all, just among us in a different form. After all, as Celia (Marlene Forte) says, since her son wasn’t shot in the head, he’ll find his way back home eventually. However, the dysfunction is there, and it’s quickly becoming a problem. The Manawa-Clark family has clearly been having problems even before the world fell apart, and Brian Buckner’s script makes it clear that rather than coming together, they’re fracturing even farther apart. Nick immediately becomes friends with Celia instead of his mother, Travis and Maddie are fighting more, and Chris is either A) trying to leave Maddie to die or B) actively threatening to kill/trying to kill Alicia. Even the most capable person in the group, Salazar, is having difficulties with his past coming back to haunt him at the worst possible times. These are all incredibly flawed people struggling through unspeakable losses, and it’s not surprising to see the group start to fray. Even Strand had to shoot his boyfriend in the head to keep him from coming back as a walker. Given that the compound is nominally controlled by Celia, I can’t help but wonder how this is going to play out. Chris is proving to be dangerous, like a cross between Shane and Carl’s psycho killer phase, Nick’s drinking the Kool-Aid of Celia’s cooking, and Travis and Maddie have gone from a couple to a “she’s my daughter, he’s your son” situation. Gone is the Maddie who wanted everyone to stick together, who needed Travis on her side. Now she’s looking out for her daughter against his son, and not offering Travis as much help as Travis gave her every time Nick did something underhanded and dope-fiendy. I can’t help but think these divisions are going to make it hard on the group, especially when their host wants to keep the walkers in the basement. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, Captive, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan was sad to see that dog getting tossed down a chute to be zombie chow. That’s no way to treat a puppy. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi.
