‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Recap & Review ‘Do Not Disturb’
We are back with another episode of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’, where we finally pick back up with Travis and Chris. Alicia finds herself hanging on by a rope and both groups are met with new faces, as well as new challenges.
Chris and Travis encounter another group of Americans, Brandon, Derek and ‘Baby’ James, while scavenging for supplies. Even though Chris initially stole from them, they meet again later, and end up sharing medical supplies and a fire with Travis and his son. Not for the first time, Travis and Chris debate the idea of trusting a new group. Chris wants to travel with them, but Travis doesn’t trust their intentions and says he’d rather part ways.
Travis and Chris take their offer of a ride to the next town, but on the way stumble across a farm. While looking for supplies, they find a barn of chickens. Chris and the guys go about trying to catch dinner, when Travis realizes that the person who lives there must still be around after finding a few graves. Travis tries to convince Chris to leave, when the homeowner enters the barn with a gun. ‘Baby James’ gets shot and while Travis is trying to convince the man to lower his gun, Chris pulls his gun and kills the man.
At the Hotel…
Alicia encounters a woman who worked at the hotel, Elena, who is holding onto more than just the master keys for the hotel. She admits to Alicia that at the start of the outbreak, she, and her nephew Hector, locked a bunch of wedding guests in the banquet room when one of them turned. Now, she is hiding from the guests that were able to remain alive. They want the keys to the hotel and Elena dead, for locking them in the hall.
Alicia and Elena go looking for their respective families and encounter the remaining guests from the wedding. They are holding Hector hostage and want Helena’s keys in exchange for her nephew. Alicia tells Elena to hand over the keys. When she does, Alicia opens the door to the bar, releasing the infected onto the wedding guests, forcing them to leave the hotel.
Alicia, Elena and Hector make their way into the bar to find Madison and Strand, but they aren’t there. As they try to outrun the gathering herd of infected throughout the bottom floor of the hotel, they end up cornered at the end of the hall by a locked door. Just when they are about to be swarmed, the door opens and Alicia is reunited with Madison and Strand.
What Did We Learn from ‘Do Not Disturb’?
‘Fear the Walking Dead’ has its ups and downs, and for me, this episode was definitely an up. There was a high level of intensity and emotion throughout ‘Do Not Disturb’ that I haven’t been getting from previous episodes. The conflict arising between Travis and Chris has obviously been growing from the start, but with Chris’ latest actions of killing the man in the barn, how will Travis now deal with the fact that his son is becoming a cold blooded killer.
We all know that this world calls for a bit of detachment in order to survive; but we also know that type of mentality takes a while to develop. Chris has caught up rather quickly, which begs the question, was that killer instinct always there, just lying dormant. Is it people like Chris that turn out to be the Governors and Negans of the new world order? Personally, I think Chris has always been just a little ‘off’. This world is just allowing him to flex his crazy more openly.
As for Alicia, seeing her in action in this episode proved that she certainly has come a long way from that whining little brat we saw in the first few episodes. I see a strength developing in her that I still don’t see in the parental figures in her life. She will be the kind of survivor that in a few seasons (should the show continue on that long), we look back at her ‘transformation’ and look at this episode as a key component to that change.
Just a few lingering questions…
- How in the world did Madison and Strand get out of that bar?
- Where is Ofelia??
What did you think of ‘Do Not Disturb’ and the new characters that were introduced? Do you think Elena, Hector, Brandon and Derek will be around much longer? Sound off in the comments below!
Writer of stories, watcher of TV. I am an avid horror and sci-fi junkie who’s been riding with the Winchesters since their dad went on a hunting trip in 2005. Current obsessions are The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files and The Dark Tower movie. Find me on twitter – @jryan_author – for your daily dose of sarcasm and poems about my unnatural love of coffee.