First off, I do understand the hostility towards this series. We live in a climate where most of the tv shows or movies we watch are based or loosely based off of characters we see in books/comic books, with The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones being the two that really stand out. FTWD is, in every sense of the phrase, a spin-off. No background on the characters, no source material to work from. And I feel as though that's been the biggest problem with the show so far - "How can we care about these characters?"
The answer to that, my friends, is quite simple. Disassociation. If you can put yourself in a position where you can watch Fear without saying "Ohh our group would have done this", "Rick would never have done that" then you're half way there. The whole point of Fear was to give us a feel of what society was like as the outbreak began to spread, and I think it's done a tremendous job of showing that so far. Where I do feel that Travis has a long way to go before establishing himself as a strong lead, he's certainly showing early signs of the traits that need to be adopted in the zombie apocalypse - such as convincing Madison that saving the group of people on the small fishing boat was dangerous, and it was the right decision to leave them be.
The episode begins with a hectic scene on the beach, as Nick and Strand lead half the group to Strand's luxury boat, leaving Travis, Madison and Chris to hold off the walkers until the others return to collect them. Was a really strong opening, with the walkers coming down onto the beach and attacking, all the while Chris is sat next to his mother's corpse, who was put down by Travis after being infected. Nick returns with the small boat to collect the three, who pile their bags on, along with Liza's body, and set off to join the others.
The rest of the episode was rather slow, and understandably so... I mean, what much more can be asked for when the entire group are on a boat in the middle of the ocean? We get a few scenes with Alicia talking with another survivor on a radio, who she seems to strike a bond with, but ultimately when she tries to talk Strand and Travis into going to help him, they refuse, seemingly leaving him to his demise. They continue to explore Travis' relationship with his son Chris, who holds a grudge against his father for shooting his mother in the head. I like the naive side being shown of Chris, because it'll ultimately make him a stronger survivor in the long run when he realises that things have to be done in order to live, he could be one to watch in the series.
Besides that, Frank Dillane continues to do a grand job portraying Nick, who for all intents and purposes is my favourite character on the show. Very much the "Daryl" of FTWD (the fangirls will lynch me for that one) but it's true to an extent. He went back to shore on his own to make sure the others got to the boat safely, didn't think twice about diving into the water after Chris not knowing what or who was waiting out there, offering Ofelia advice on how to treat her wounds, and generally being the most interesting character to watch, while still trying to act as the moral compass to an extent by trying to reason with Strand, who straight up wants to hear nothing of other survivors being aboard "my god damn boat". Nick's encounter with the underwater walkers was intense and for a few seconds there I legit thought he may get bitten, but luckily he survives.
Strand continues to lose my trust as a viewer. He very much appears to be someone who wouldn't even have the others on board if he had the choice, far less entertain the idea of anyone else. His relationship with Nick appears, at first sight, to be a surrogate father type, and I think Nick looks at him in the same way, I just think he may have some different motives, and I believe Salazar and Madison are right in saying he should have eyes kept on him at all times.
This episode comes to a close with Nick and Chris getting back on the boat from the water, only to be told that whoever killed the people in the upturned boat they found are coming back, straight for their ship, as Strand tries to get a head start on the incoming threat.
All in all, I thought it was a good episode to kick off the new season. Really cool opening scene, some nice character development from Chris and Nick, although I would really like to see Travis fill his role as the leader a bit more strongly throughout the season. Nice cliffhanger to end it on, although there was a lot of filler scenes scattered throughout the middle. Therefore I'll give this episode a 7/10, gaining an extra point for the underwater walker scene which was cool as shit. As far as keeping watching goes, of course I will! I really think Fear has all the potential to be a huge show, as long as those connections can be formed with the characters.
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