There was much complaining in the wake of last week’s finale that the pace was too slow with too little to justify its bloated runtime. While I can see the argument, I disagreed with that assessment. This, the second episode, should more closely match fan’s expectations: more zombies, more carnage, more collapse of society. As is stated in the episode: “it all goes quickly.”
Madison, Travis, and Nick are mostly in shock at the start following the close of the pilot with Nick’s dealer, having been shot and twice run down with a truck, still giving them the glance-over with that glazed, zombified look in his eyes. Madison’s daughter, on the other hand, is concerned with her boyfriend who flaked on their last meetup and decides to go to his house. There she finds a house torn to pieces and Matt with a high fever and an unknownst to her bite on his shoulder.
After finally prying Alicia away from Matt without any damn good explanation of why, the group heads back to their house only to split up again. Travis goes to collect his wayward son while Madison leaves in search of meds to help with Nick’s heroin withdrawl.
Travis runs into interference, first with his ex, with whom he is apparently not on the best of times. And then with the sprawl of LA and its traffic issues. There he sees a cop, not helping defend the citizenry or clear up any misunderstandings, but stocking away a small bodegas worth of bottled water in the back of his cruiser. After finally reaching his ex, Liza’s house Travis finds out his son is embroiled in a civil protest of the police shooting of what we know to be a zombie.
Madison, not having been able to reach a doctor, decides to head back to her high school and raid the police confiscation locker for Nick’s meds. There, she meets up with pimply-faced Tobias from last week who politely asks for his knife back before he raids the school’s pantry full of food. All is well on their way out until Madison and Tobias run into Artie (otherwise known on the internet as Principal Obama) in a not-quite living form. With that same glazed, zombiefied look in his eyes, Madison attempts to reason and help him until ... well, he tries to eat them forcing her to fire extinguisher his zombie ass.
Much of the push-back from this week’s critisms are the actions of the characters but that is an argument I do not share. Spared the horribleness of the initial outbreak, I’d imagine scenarios like this episode happened the world over in the parent series. A father goes desperately searching for his son. A mother goes to find help for her son. They don’t really have the words to tell people (especially poor Alicia who’s still in the dark at the end of this episode) “Hey, Zombies! Don’t go near them!” In a world where zombie fiction is not a thing, Madison and Travis are at a loss to describe what is happening to express their concerns.
Travis is smart enough almost immediately to recognize safety is outside of the city. He is also smart enough to take refuge in a barber shop when the civil protests turn violent and riot-y. Madison isn’t dumb that she doesn’t tell Alicia her boyfriend is already dead and to stay the hell away. She’s not only dealing with the return of her drug-addled son but is in shock and disbelief over what has happened and what has to be done.
So when Mr. Parker, their next-door neighbor, stumbles across the street and attacks the other neighbors, Madison just forces good-hearted Alicia inside and blocks the door.
If the biggest asset to this show is that no one is an inherent hero like a Rick or Shane, just regular people figuring things out, it would be preposterous for Travis, Madison, or anyone else to start speaking with any authority on what the hell is going on. There is no word from the police other than stay inside, at this point most people are only seeing the periferals of the outbreak if any, and this is all unfolding in the matter of an afternoon.
Call me an pessimist but that’s how things would unfold if this happened in a world without Night of the Living Dead. People making the best decisions they can based on the limited knowledge they have. That’s why I can’t fault or complain when these characters do something stupid. You or I would likely do far worse.
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