Fear the Walking Dead 4.13 Review – ‘Blackjack’

It was a very busy episode of Fear the Walking Dead tonight, with a lot going on for everyone. Hungry gators, hunting for beer, and helping people, we’ve got it all!

The plot: John is Strand-ed (I couldn’t help myself and I apologize) with Strand due to a flood in the area that has cut them off. They have a cabin, at least, but while Strand is uninterested in trying to escape, John is determined. They get their best chance with a water-sealed truck cover, but the gator lurking outside their door foils their plans and sends them back to the cabin. Luciana encounters a man stuck and injured in a car after crashing, but she can’t get him out or he’ll bleed out. Instead she fulfills his last request for a final beer, and actually manages to find one in one of the boxes that Morgan and co have been leaving–Augie’s Ale! The man thanks her and hands over some journals to her before dying; turns out he was “Polar Bear,” the original box dropper. She hooks back up with Morgan and the truck crew, who have been having philosophical differences over the radio with Crazy Lady–who shows up just as they hear from Charlie and Alicia and unloads on the truck with the SWAT Van’s guns.

Starting with John and Strand, who have the saddest story arc tonight (despite the other ones collectively ending in a hail of gunfire). John Dorie starts off as optimistic as ever–after all, he’s beat impossible odds multiple times before, from finding June when she was supposedly dead to surviving a gunshot wound himself. This current situation is a toughie, and him being stuck here with Strand is, of course, not ideal since Strand is kind of no help whatsoever. He grudgingly helps him get the truck cover, but nearly kills himself in the process because he wants to get drunk. But there is an air of ‘doth protest too much’ to Strand. Though he has good reasons to wallow, and little reason to care about getting back to civilization and their friends–I especially was touched by Strand saying he had no one left to drink with–Strand nonetheless continues to survive. He is not truly hopeless, though he’s thoroughly cynical. He still has hope for something, buried deep down, some reason he hasn’t yet just given up on everything. I hope to find out what precisely he’s holding onto.

While Strand’s unerring cynicism is sad on its own, the real low point on this storyline is when John Dorie, eternal optimist, finally gives in to despair and eats that candy he was saving for June. On top of losing his cowboy hat! I’m grateful he’s practical enough to have known he would die if he tried to swim across the lake. Anytime someone is so overwhelmingly positive on this show, I get nervous about how long they are for this world. But really, seeing his spirits so low is like seeing a puppy get kicked. And with how things are going for everyone else, I don’t know that things will turn around anytime soon for Strand and John. We all know their food is only going to last so long out there.

However, I do have two side notes to this storyline: One, I appreciate the threat here being a gator and not the dead, it’s a nice change up that uses their environment well. And two, I’m not sure yet how they fit into the current theme about weakness and helping others making both sides stronger. This is the one thing that really makes this storyline stand out from the rest of the episode in an awkward way. It was solid enough on its own that it didn’t take away from anything, but it also didn’t support the theme in the rest of the episode. I almost wonder if this story was originally intended to go in another episode, actually, but somehow ended up here instead.

Luciana, on the other hand, is also brought back to her humanity and her sense of connection to others by trying to help Polar Bear. There was a nice symmetry to this being the man who first put out those boxes to help others having inspired others to take up that calling, which lead to a box with a beer in it to fulfill his dying wish and not only giving him comfort before he passed–as well as not having to die alone–but leading Luciana to believe in helping people and connecting her with the people she lost. It certainly lends a lot more to the argument for Morgan’s point of view over the Crazy Lady.

But damn, that Crazy Lady sure isn’t about to let it go! I liked learning a little more about her and how she operates tonight, and her particular interest in Morgan, in turning him back into who he used to be. I wonder if, when they come face to face, if she’s going to be more interested in turning him–philosophically, not physically–than killing him?

Sarah, Wendell, and Jimbo are kind of just along for the ride and mostly there to make certain conversations happen. I hope they aren’t just here to be body count in Crazy Lady’s attack, but they’re certainly all the most vulnerable, being in the cab of the truck and not able to dodge like the people in the back.

This one ended very much on a cliffhanger, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next week. What did you think of the episode? Will everyone survive the attack? Will Strand and John be rescued, or find another way off their island? Let me know in the comments!

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

An enjoyable episode! For the most part, all the storylines tonight supported each other and came together both thematically and physically, with a great note of danger and peril at the end to keep things exciting. I continue to like how Crazy Lady differs from the usual villains on this show. John & Strand's storyline was the only one that was not a part of that collective whole, but I enjoyed it enough on its own that I didn't mind that much. It didn't take away from the rest of the episode, perhaps most importantly, just didn't really add to the rest of it, either. All-in-all, this was a good episode in what continues to be a pleasantly surprisingly quality half-season.