Last week, Fear the Walking Dead brought back Daniel in a definite jaw-dropping reveal. After seemingly blowing up in a fire, everyone believed Daniel didn’t survive. Fear the Walking Dead‘s latest episode “100” shows what Daniel has been up to since the explosion and his supposed death.
Before we catch up to Daniel coming to Strand’s aid in present day, we find out what Daniel has been up to and how he’s survived. The Walking Dead has accomplished episodes similar to “100.” We’ll follow one character that has caught back up with our main group and figure out what they’ve been up to. Notably in the season 6 episode “Here’s Not Here,” we learn about Morgan’s journey. Prior to that episode, Morgan was a character fans were intrigued by. We wanted to know how Morgan survived and got to Alexandria.
Daniel is similarly an intriguing and complicated character on Fear the Walking Dead, however at the start of the hour we weren’t all that interested. We do have to give it to Fear the Walking Dead, it’s a risky move to follow up arguably one of your best episodes, with an episode about a character that has been all but absent in recent episodes. Also, almost all the episode is in Spanish, which is pretty remarkable.
While the groundwork laid, “100” fails to capture any spark. Daniel and Strand are just not characters we are caring much about. Like we said last week, their storyline is so far removed from The Clark family, we don’t find ourselves invested. There is not enough plot that connects these two storylines as of right now. Until the last portion of the episode, we kept wishing to see Madison, Alicia and Nick. Daniel is a complex character, but simply can’t hold our attention for an entire episode.
Fear the Walking Dead also dives into Daniel’s Civil War past where he’s a feared killer. It’s a very interesting background, but the episode doesn’t utilize it nearly enough. Like we said, Daniel does a lot of repenting in this episode, but the remorseful Daniel isn’t balanced out with scenes of Daniel being a brutal killer. We know he has that side to him and this episode would’ve been the perfect time to showcase this. For every moment where Daniel is ready to give up, there should’ve been another showing him slaying some zombies, or even humans.
The show doesn’t utilize the carnage aspect of the zombie apocalypse nearly enough in this episode. The most exhilarating moments of the episode comes at the end when Daniel tortures Efrain. Then, right before Efrain, Lola and Strand are about to be thrown over the dam, Daniel kills Dante and his crew. It’s only five minutes, but the most thrilling part of the entire episode.
Fear the Walking Dead needs to bring Victor and Daniel into The Clark storyline. Daniel is an interesting character, but can’t seem to hold an episode. The last ten minutes of “100” remind us the potential Fear the Walking Dead has, especially with the suspense. This Daniel only episode would’ve been better if we got to see more of Daniel being the savage military man we know him to be.
MVP’s of the Week
Daniel is the MVP of the week. Not only because he’s the central character in this episode, but he did survive a massive explosion and lived to tell the tale.
Efrian is also an MVP this week. He’s a peacekeeper and makes the perfect foil for Daniel’s character. Even when he’s captured and tortured by Dante and Daniel, he never reveals Lola as his accomplice for stealing the water.
Rick Grimes Moment of the Week
Daniel’s “Rick Grimes Moment of the Week” is definitely when he takes out Dante and his crew on the dam. It’s a total badass moment that makes up for the lack of action in the rest of the episode. Also, Daniel has a “Glenn Rhee Moment” when he hides underneath a car from walkers.