Fear The Walking Dead Season Premiere Review

If you were hoping to jump right into Fear the Walking Dead amidst a plethora of action simiilar to what we've grown accustomed to seeing with Rick, Daryl, Michone and crew in The Walking Dead, you are going to be disappointed. Of course, as a spin-off to the wildly popular show, Fear The Walking Dead still deals with the zombie outbreak, but is set during the initial stages of the outbreak. Its focus is on the zombie outbreak itself and the impact it has on the country before we were introduced to the post-apocalyptic world in The Walking Dead.

Fear the Walking Dead doesn't show you ground zero or how the outbreak started, though. It's more of your classic in between-quel where it is set prior to Atlanta, but shortly after the initial outbreak. Near the beginning of the episode, we're informed that five other states already are exhibiting illnesses with similar effects and flu like symptoms already hitting the Los Angeles high school. Spoiler alert – It's  not the flu.

It's a slow build-up, which shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering the original series didn't start off with a bang either. One of the major tie-ins of The Walking Dead is the attachment we have to its characters after seeing some back story for each. Fear the Walking Dead takes the same approach.

Early looks teased a dysfunctional family, and boy were they right. This is the epitome of dysfunctional. The four main characters are Travis, Madison, Nick and Alicia. Travis is an English teacher at a local high school who falls in love with one of the guidance counselors, Madison. They live together despite Travis having an ex-wife and son who's always pissed off — the standard television "kid who's confused and not sure what he's feeling because his parents are recently divorced so he's going to act out and get in trouble" kind of thing. You know, that kid. Alicia (Madison's daughter) is a high school senior and youngest of the group. Nick (Madison's son) is a drug addict who failed out of college. Point blank. In fact, Nick plays the role of the stereotypical "that guy" in Fear the Walking Dead. He's basically a d*ck. Well, not basically. He is a d*ck.

By the end of the episode, I couldn't stand him; but, we're left with a cliffhanger that I see ending in one of two ways. Either Nick straightens up and becomes that bad ass guy a zombie outbreak needs, or he gets eaten. If I were a betting man, I'd be willing to bet he gets eaten because no one needs a "that guy" during a zombie outbreak. You know, the guy who is just completely oblivious a zombie outbreak is going on and just wants to bitch about his own problems? Like, dude, we don't care about your issues. There's flippin' zombies chasing us. The end isn't written yet for Nick, but it's very close to the point of no return for him already and we're probably looking at the male equivalent of The Walking Dead's Lori. Ughh, just mentioning her name leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Of course, not every Walking Dead character has a Doppelganger in Fear the Walking Dead as Shane (loser) and Daryl (awesome) aren't represented. This is a good thing, though. What Fear the Walking Dead did well in its first episode is lay the foundation for its characters. Some mystery remains, of course, but you can tell that as the outbreak continues Travis will bring his ex-wife and son into the group. There will probably be some issues between her and Madison, one of them will get eaten, the son will get mad and hate everyone, cry a bit, and then like his dad again after witnessing someone in the group die very closely to him. Boom. Fear The Walking Dead.

The entire episode, which was slightly longer than an hour, sets the tone for what's to come in the next few episodes. Don't expect to see patient zero or some revelation tying this show into what the CDC guy told Rick in Atlanta because it's not there. What is there is the premise for another good zombie show that understands what it is. It was great in its own right.

Fear the Walking Dead pulls off what not too many other shows and spin-offs of its popularity can. It sustains the intrigue of the original while also making sure we stay on board with the message of Kirkman's franchise.

Fear the Walking Dead airs every Sunday on AMC leading up to the October 11th premiere of the Walking Dead's season 6.