In this week's episode, Nick, Madison, and Alicia are stuck in the house and are waiting around for Travis to get back, but Travis and Chris are stuck in the barber shop while riots continue outside. A fire is started in the place next door and everyone in the shop must leave, before the barber shop catches on fire. As soon as the door opens, rioters come inside and bust the place up. The streets are chaotic and along with the riots, there are a few zombies biting people, which goes mostly unnoticed. The escape, but not after someone gets hurt.
Back at home, Nick, Madison, and Alicia are playing Monopoly, and Madison hears some noises. In the last episode, she saw her neighbor get attacked, so she's trying to keep the family together.
Travis and company try to make their way to the hospital, but there's a heavy police presence there. They witness the hospital catching on fire and the police firing on some walkers. Travis has to take the barber and his family to their house because there's no where else to go. The lights start going out in LA as they drive away.
The lights are out at home, where Travis and Madison avoid telling Alicia what's going on. They find their dog, living, covered in blood and a walker is outside the house. They get to their neighbor's house, Susan and Patrick, which has power, but no one seems to be home. Travis knows they have a gun and grabs it. Alicia wanders off on her own and sees the walker go into their house. Travis comes back and finds the walker eating their dog. Alicia has to run back for the shells, but Daniel kills it off. Alicia is being hunted by the neighbor, who is a walker now and Chris helps save her. They all try to understand what is going on with their neighbor, Susan. Nick says she's dead.
Madison wants to head to the desert right away, but Travis says they need to leave in the morning, especially with Daniel's cousin coming to pick them up. Plus, traveling in the dark might be too dangerous.
Daniel talks to his family and reveals that he doesn't have a cousin coming to pick them up. They're going to take it day by day but his daughter wants them to go with everyone to the desert. Madison talks to Liza and tells her that if she ever turns, Liza needs to kill her and not to have Daniel do it.
The next day, Madison stands in front of Susan, who is caught behind a fence, and Madison is holding a hammer. Travis walks up and talks to her. Travis doesn't want her to kill Susan because there may be a chance that she can be helped. Madison walks away.
Daniel, his wife, and daughter stay behind while everyone else takes off, heading for the desert. While leaving, Patrick shows up at his house, and Madison runs in to save him. He gives Susan a hug and as it happens, the military comes in a shoots her in the head and pulls Madison back. The military tells them to stay inside and Patrick was taken away because he was covered in the walker's blood. The military has control of the block and Travis thinks it's going to get better.
The opening scene with Travis and company leaving the barber shop is a perfect example of what this show will eventually be about. We're getting the early stages of a complete societal breakdown. Now, the breakdown isn't because of the zombies. It's because of a protest going wrong, but it gives viewers a glimpse into how insane something like this is and there will be more of this to come. The opening delivers some thrilling moments.
While everyone watching the show is ten steps ahead of the characters here, the way the characters are dealing with the walkers they run into seems pretty rational and normal. There's a lot of wanting to help them because they're "sick," but ultimately, some get put down because their attacks are unrelenting. However, not all these characters have a reaction that everyone could consider normal.
Daniel seems too knowledgeable about what's going on, much like Tobias in the first two episodes. It's actually pretty annoying, but hopefully, there's something much more to that. Did something like this happen in El Salvador when he was younger. There's obviously a lot more to this character as this episode really built him up, but he just seemed to know too much about what's going on. On top of that, there's the story with Nick coming off of drugs which falls flat as it feels shoehorned into a few scenes and is probably the least interesting thing about the show. In concept, it seems like a great idea, but just doesn't work.
Looks like we're never going to get to the desert, but that's completely ok because the military element, which made their way in the end of this episode, seems like it's going to be a really great story for the next episode. More importantly, it's going to give the characters a sense of safety, so they're going to think that everything is over and it was all a fluke. Obviously, that is not the case, and everyone is just being lulled into a false sense of security.
Fear the Walking Dead is a different beast from the show it spun-off of. It moves different and feels different and that's what make it a great show and not just the run-of-the-mill spin-off. There's still a few bumps in the road here and there and everything is still being set-up, but overall, this was the strongest episode yet and one that actually delivered a lot of scares.