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Fear the Walking Dead 4.04 Review – ‘Buried’

May 7, 2018 | Posted by Katie Hallahan
Fear the Walking Dead - Buried
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Fear the Walking Dead 4.04 Review – ‘Buried’  

Tonight on Fear the Walking Dead, everyone’s stepping into the confessional booth on Real World: SWAT Van, as we learn about the moment that Strand, Luciana, and Alicia all believe sealed their fates and the fates of those around them.

The plot: As they drive to a particular spot to bury Nick, Althea finally gets her asked-for stories from Alicia, Strand, and Luciana, about the day they could’ve chosen differently, and saved lives if only they had. On the same day, they all went to some unusual spots designated by Madison as ones the Vultures have likely overlooked. The Vultures, of note, who are still doing quite well after a few weeks of hanging out, while inside they’re starting to starve but still insisting on being optimistic. Strand and Cole, who was developing a crush on him, check out a greenhouse, and Cole pushes Strand to find out why he won’t open up and has never been on a run with him before. Strand tells him he’s done terrible self-serving things in the past, and that’s not who he wants to be anymore. He shows him a car stashed with enough food to last two people a month, and says he has it ready to go just in case, because he’s a survivor. This is who he is, and Cole is not impressed. He heads back to the stadium on his own, and eventually Stand brings his supplies there, too. Alicia and Naomi check out a water park, find some supplies, and Naomi nearly bolts but Alicia convinces her to stay, and they even decide to set up an infirmary (Naomi was an ICU nurse). Meanwhile, Luciana and Nick go to a library, find a man who killed himself, and Luciana opens a book of maps, saying we’ll go to whatever page we open it to, Nick turns it around into being a major supply run that can, apparently, revitalize the whole place, and Madison later agrees to this plan. We don’t yet know to what page they opened the map book. In the present, they say because they didn’t leave, or convince Madison to leave, or choose another page, these things all lead to where they are now and Nick’s death. We also see Madison again offer to Mel to join them inside, but he still says no. In the present, the burial spot turns out to just be a stash of guns. They have a map of where the Vultures scattered to, and they plan to hunt them down. Dangling the promise of more of their story and seeing how it ends, they get Althea to agree to drive them. after burying Nick by a tree, it comes out that Naomi is also John’s lost love Laura, and she died back at at the stadium. Grief-stricken, John stays behind and Morgan with him while the others drive off, with Althea promising to come back.

This was an interesting if unusual episode, with the flashback weaving not only with one another, but also with the present day. It was done very well, though–I was never lost or confused, which is definitely a risk with this many narratives to switch between. It helped that they were all so visually different: the video quality of the present made it stand out, as well as the almost confessional style of those moments. The greenhouse, library, car yard, and water park all stood out nicely from one another, with my personal favorite being the water park. They used the setting to show off some unique Walkers and dangerous situations, it was really creative all around and I would’ve gladly watched more things happening there.

Speaking of which, we learn some new information about Naomi here. Though she rattles off stats when she sees a particular car in the parking lot, she tells Alicia she really doesn’t know much about cars. This makes me think she picked up on somethings from someone who meant a lot to her–maybe John Dorie? Maybe someone else? It just has the sound of something you know only because you heard someone you love talk about it, enough that you learned it for their sake more than your own interests. We also learn Naomi was an ICU nurse, so she’s rather use to people dying and also to knowing when a situation is going to go South. It’s heartwarming that Alicia convinces her to stay but pointing out that she wasn’t always right about who was going to live or die in the ICU, but when we learn that Naomi is also Sarah, John’s lost love, that makes her even more interesting. It’s been unclear why John and Sarah parted ways, especially since it would seem to have been on good terms since John is still looking for her, and she still carries her matching pistol. This just drives home that there is much more to their story we don’t know, and I’m glad that it looks like we’ll get more of that next week.

Strand and Cole, meanwhile, is something of a morality tale about how a tiger can’t change his stripes, even if he wants to. Strand is certainly different and changed from where we left him in Season 3, and he even still carries a piece of that dam with him to remind himself of who he doesn’t want to be. He doesn’t want to get people hurt, not anymore. But even so, he could not help but keep a go bag, or in this case, a go car stuffed with bags of food and supplies, at the ready. Strand is really sending some mixed messages here. He says all this stuff about wanting to change and be a better person, but he also uses this packed car to show Cole that he is not a good person and that he is still ultimately out for himself. The difference seems to be that he no longer wishes to hurt or dispose of anyone who gets in his way, though it’s questionable if he’s hurting the stadium residents by not giving them this food when they need it. He tries to change his answer, and himself, by bringing the food back in the end after all. But given that we know that went poorly in the end, how reliable is Strand now? He’s set on revenge, sure, but what about when that’s done?

Then there’s Nick and Luciana. Nick is still fixated on trying to win over Charlie, which, that’s admirable and all, dude, but you’ve got bigger problems right now. Luciana, however, is at the end of her rope when they find the dead librarian, and refuses to stay so long that they end up like that. She wants go anywhere, so long as it’s away from here and a new start, and I don’t blame her. Nick’s optimism, however, wins her over and she doesn’t want to leave him again, not really. I’m very curious to know what page she turned to and what went so wrong with the run they made to that place.

And finally, Madison, at the center of it all. Her determination and calm, can-do attitude are ultimately what win over all these people, make them believe that they can make this work, even though their crops are dead and they’re eating cow food. She tries to win Mel over again, and vice versa, but neither is budging. We do get a dose of backstory on him as well, though, and how he was once like her, determined and hopeful, until it cost him his family and some friends of theirs as well. He taunts her with the fact that eventually, her people won’t come back, but she doesn’t believe that even for a moment.

Here’s what bugs me about this, though. We’ve yet to really see how the stadium situation isn’t tenable in the long-term. Bad crops aside, when the Vultures showed up, they were in a pretty good place. They’ve got livestock, and they’d be eating better if the Vultures hadn’t pre-raided everything. They have weapons (even if they aren’t using them for some reason), they have walls, they have numbers, so…why did this place seem like the one to park in front of to Mel and the Vultures? And seriously, why has no one suggested using force against them yet? Maybe no one wants to resort to that–and storywise, sure, we’ve seen that kind of conflict before, so yes, this is something different at least–but it doesn’t make sense to not have anyone even discussing the idea of either taking them out or at least threatening them. Even if they decided not to, it would be more realistic to at least have the option brought up for discussion.

I was glad to see that they’ve got a plan of action, though, in the end, when they dig up the weapons. Which, how did those get there? Who did they actually belong to? The Vultures? The stadium? Someone else? But I’m ready for some more action in the present and to see this conflict actually be, frankly, a conflict. I’m enjoying the unfolding of the mystery of how we got here, but I’ve suspended my disbelief on why the Vultures are so awful about as much as I can without seeing something to back it up.

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
This episode is on the average side, but the execution of weaving the narratives and executing that really cool water park set piece kick it up a notch. I'm enjoying the unfolding mystery, but I'm getting to the point where I need to see how the Vultures are actually a threat to keep believing it. I liked seeing Strand, Alicia, and Luciana all struggle with old demons in the flashbacks and overcome them, only to regret doing so in the present. It successfully makes their stories of hope bittersweet, topped off by the revelation to John that his lost love, whom he believed in and pined for, is already dead. Then again, we didn't see it on-screen, so who knows?
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