Fear the Walking Dead gives us an hour that ultimately lives in the shadow of the previous episode. The latest episode entitled “Red Dirt,” is a pretty slow hour for the series that deals with the consequences of the previous episode and sets up the 2 hour mid-season finale.
When we last left Fear the Walking Dead, Madison, Troy and a bunch of Troy’s soldiers were taken hostage by a Native American chief saying they need to get off the Otto’s land before they take it back forcibly. Madison, Troy and the others stumble back to the farm after walking for hours on their bare feet. This sets up something that has been a long time coming on Otto’s farm, people start to wonder if this place is really safe.
Despite Troy’s protest, a long standing family on the Otto farm leaves, but this is Fear the Walking Dead and nothing happens this easily. Madison, Jeremiah and Nick venture to find the family when one of their horses returns to the farm. They quickly find all of them turned into walkers and Jeremiah is quick to blame Troy. This is when Madison and Troy’s blossoming friendship is tested, especially when Madison sticks up for Troy saying there’s no possibly way he did this.
And sadly, this is all that really happens on Fear the Walking Dead in this episode. Once again, Victor and Daniel are completely absent, which isn’t helping us fall in love with this storyline. From the start of season three, we’ve been saying that Victor and Daniel’s is the weakest part of Fear the Walking Dead and this further proves it. Their storyline has failed to connect to the Clark’s, which is why we aren’t invested. They are left out of “Red Dirt” and we’re confused as to why. We hope they come out swinging in the mid-season finale, or else Victor and Daniel are two characters we don’t see a point to having around anymore.
Madison and Troy continue to carry Fear the Walking Dead on their shoulders. Kim Dickens and Daniel Sharman have come out swinging in season three and we’re continuing to love their relationship as Madison and Troy. This week continued to add to their story, especially when Troy begins to open up to Madison when people start fleeing the farm. Madison convinces Troy to keep fighting, his people need him more than he thinks.
This leads to Troy rallying everyone on the farm to start fighting. They need to follow him if they want to survive. It’s a great moment for his character as he continues to ride the fine line between villain and hero and we’re loving every second of it. Daniel Sharman has been a great addition to this season and we can’t wait to see what Troy does as a leader in the mid-season finale.
While Madison and Troy are a great asset to Fear the Walking Dead, there are two storylines that we just can’t seem grasp. First is the threat of the Native American’s wanting to reclaim their land. This is a massive, somewhat political, topic Fear the Walking Dead is trying to tackle. The threat of walkers infiltrating the farm isn’t even prevalent, instead its the fear that people will come reclaim their land and start a war. We think Fear the Walking Dead is a little too early in its history to move away from walkers being the threat to humans. The Walking Dead even waited until season 7 to truly move away from the threat of walkers to humans. This storyline seems a little last minute and simply a way to create fear for our characters and we just aren’t buying it right now.
Next up is Jeremiah’s alcoholism. This is another character trait that seems to have been added last minute and doesn’t make much sense to us. This week, Jeremiah’s alcoholism took center stage and Nick even tried to help him. The alcoholic father storyline just seems very played out and doesn’t have a place in Fear the Walking Dead. We’re also still wondering about Jeremiah and Nick’s relationship and what will come out of that.
This episode of Fear the Walking Dead doesn’t have much going for it and ultimately hinges on Madison and Troy’s growing relationship. The rest of the characters and storylines are slow and don’t hold much weight. We hope everything picks up before the mid-season finale. If anything, we have faith that Madison and Troy can save these storylines.
Also, where the heck is Ofelia?!
MVP’s of The Week
Once again, Madison and Troy take this category. They continue to be the ruthless and fearless characters Fear the Walking Dead always needed. They are rallying the troops to begin to fight for the farm and they’re the only characters on Fear the Walking Dead we would whole-heartedly follow into battle.
Rick Grimes Moment of the Week
Definitely Madison dragging the bodies of the family back to the farm and showing the people that live their that outside of the farm isn’t as safe as they thought. It’s a total leader move as she continues to take a leadership role on the farm.
Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC