Fear the Walking Dead - "Captive" Season 2 Episode 5 Review

May 12, 2016

Anyone who likes Patsy Cline and is that handy in the kitchen can’t be all bad. Connor makes Alicia about as good a meal as she’s probably going to have ever again in an act of good will. The only way she’s going to eat better is if she gets to Mexico in one piece. Connor tries to get to know Alicia but before that happens, the power goes out and he leaves to tend to the problem. Vida follows, taking Alicia’s steak with her before she was able to eat more than one bite. Pregnant or not, this girl has a shitty attitude. Alicia takes the opportunity to scout around, only to find that they’re not at sea at all, but dry docked in some kind of ship yard. Jack finds her and she convinces him to check on Travis for her.

Back on the Abigail, we find that impaling does not mean killing, and Reed is still alive but at the mercy of Daniel. I think Daniel’s character works best in this element, seemingly harmless but unafraid to get his hands dirty. As he cleans/tortures Reed, he learns some important details about Connor’s strengths. Strand is still recovering so Daniel and Maddie have taken over captain’s duties and are dead set on finding Travis and Alicia. Luis has a problem with this and bringing our heroes into Mexico in general, but Strand repays Maddie for saving his life by granting them time to mount a rescue.

Alicia meanwhile seems to be doing just fine, learning the ins and outs of piracy thanks to Jack. He even gives her a task: finding new boats to raid. All too happy to bring her into his world, he doesn’t notice when she slips his knife out of his back pocket. Alicia is a bit more street smart (sea smart) than I gave her credit for, and perhaps I was wrong to think that Nick was the only clever one in the family.

Travis is not so fortunate and wakes up in a makeshift cell. Ironically a book titled “Jesus Saves” has a paper clip bookmark in it. School teacher, nautical mechanic, and now master locksmith. Travis is really a jack of all trades. His lock pick is interrupted by Alex, previously left afloat by Strand and found by Connor. As if she didn’t see Strand cut the rope, she blames Travis for her misfortune and reveals that she’s the one that gave Connor Abigail’s position. I’m a bit confused by her recollection of events, but we’ll see how it shakes out.

Strand feels well enough speak with Maddie about Nick’s usefulness, and she makes it a point to try to dissuade Nick from any more away-missions. Her mothering seems out of place, since Nick has pretty much been on his own since the show began. Alicia seems okay with helping Jack find new vessels to raid, except for when the Abigail pops up on the sonar and she realizes that Reed, in his normal run of things, executes the people he finds on other boats. Jack seems to genuinely want to help Alicia and they find a ship for Connor to check out, with the intention of escaping with one of the boats in the dock while he’s distracted. Jack doesn’t appear to be a bad guy so it’s going to suck when the consequences of his decisions come back to him, as they surely will.

As Abigail approaches the marina, Travis and Alex spend quality time together mulling over the past and the nature of the world, good and evil, etc. While they share some of the same hardships, it seems that Alex was waiting for some kind of confession or apology from Travis because when he tells her he’s no better than Strand, since not stopping him was the same as cutting the rope, she gives him a bit of juicy info:

“Connor said he could use me. People don’t use me.”

Back on the Abigail, Reed tries to get into Chris’ head but Nick intervenes at the right moment. It’s a wacky world when the heroin addict is the chilled out voice of reason. Jack and Alicia find Travis, who spills the beans about Alex, and tells Alicia not to come back for him. We go back to the Abigail, where Maddie and Connor negotiate a trade of people: Reed for Alicia and Travis. It seems like this might be a straightforward deal, since Connor isn’t a rampaging psychopath like The Governor or Negan, but of course things get unnecessarily complicated. Chris, “Fuckup of The New World,” blasts a hole in Reed’s face, giving the excuse that Reed was about to turn. While he does seem to know that people turn after death no matter what, that still doesn’t change the fact that Reed is missing his jaw. It’s only when he hears Daniel and Luis arguing that he realizes how thoroughly the pooch has been screwed. It may be a moot point, since seeing Reed with a crowbar through his abdomen might have sent Connor into a rage just as much as seeing him dead, but now we’ll never know.

As Ofelia and Nick clean up Reed’s teeth and such, it’s apparent that they don’t understand the nature of walkers the way Chris does, that is until Reed wakes up. Nick goes for the kill, but perhaps a moment before Daniel stops him, I saw a new plan, and so did Daniel. An animate Reed is a trade-able Reed. Oddly, as Daniel is prepping Reed, he hears the Voice of Hispanics Past, telling him to take the gun. I’m sure this means Daniel is going to go insane later.

Amazingly, the hostage trade goes pretty well, with only a small hiccup in retrieving Alicia. Reed bites Connor and another grunt, while Travis delivers an impressive head-butt to another henchman. Alicia tries to rescue Travis from his cage but gets into a tussle with Vida, who ends up locked in the cell. Jack survives the whole encounter, perhaps suffering only a broken heart. But this isn’t to say that he, Vida and Alex won’t seek their revenge later on.

I really love the tension and drama. Things are shaping up very well so far. It isn’t just people against walkers, it’s people against people, and their own natures. Our heroes are straying into gray areas fairly quickly, while it took Rick and company a while to embrace the darker realities of the world. Travis, Maddie and Alicia motor back to the Abigail and the next stop, presumably, is Mexico.

Written by A Play On Nerds contributor, Jerry Herrera - Lover of horror, sci fi, and fantasy in that order. Semi-permanent Disneyland resident. I'm at least one of the droids you're looking for. Twitter: @FrankenJerry - Instagram: @GeraldoPedro

The Path - "Refugees" - Season 1 Episode 7

May 7, 2016

As we begin this episode we see Hawk with his parents, sister, and the man in charge of discipline and unburdening within the movement gather around a hole that was dug. We quickly learn their motivation for being there is so Hawk can plant a tree in order of offset the perceived negative things he did. In what is similar to a confession in Catholic faith, Hawk begins explaining his wrong doing. I was all but biting my nails in anticipation for his confession to losing his V-Card when he snuck out of “gathering.” But he didn’t, he kept that piece of information to himself. To protect her perhaps? We won’t have much time to reflect on that, because we are soon distracted by the media storm brewing outside the compound as a result of Cal bring in the illegal refugees.

As all the elders and higher ups in the movement gather to discuss this, Eddie is late. He has snuck off to some cabin to bring things to Alison. Thank goodness he still helping her. When he returns to the compound and gets to the meeting they’re discussing the perception the media has of them and the potential devastation it could have. Something is telling me with all the extra eyes on the movement Eddie needs to be even more precautious when helping Alison.

Cal has a very rude awakening at this meeting, when not one person supports him for bringing the refugees to their compound. They all agree it is way too dangerous for their own families and the overall movement to have so much attention. When even Sarah refuses her support, you can see the rage start to boil. He then asks who they can expect to tell these refugees they need to go home to poverty and violence. He is stunned when the response was that it was to be him. And I can already see his wheels spinning as he tries to decide how he will get out of it.

Agent Gaines gets good news; he’s officially a receptive in the movement and Washington wants him covering the movement full-time. They finally see what he has seen in them this whole time, something bigger is going on there. Something that isn’t all peace and love. Speaking of love, Hawk is in deep. He has thrown all caution to the wind when it comes to his IS girlfriend, Ashley. They are skipping school, breaking and entering, and having lots of grown up time if you know what I mean. As for sexual exploration, Mary is finding a new friend herself. Someone to distract her from the fact Sean is gone, a girl within the movement. It makes me sad. I wish someone would help her deal with the sexual trauma she has been through instead of feeding into it. But this time, it seems Mary is doing the manipulation, not cool.

Cal heads over to where the refugees are to speak to them, and my heart breaks. I can’t stand him, but I have so much empathy for the displaced refugees. And apparently he does too, as he tells them the light is telling him to fight for them. “Your fate, is my fate,” he says. And this sounds a little scary to me. Something tells me blood will be shed for this promise to be kept. When Cal tells the elders what he said, they freak out, and rightfully so! He brought with him reinforcements; all of the younger members of the movement in all lower rungs. And they demand democracy, they want to vote.

And just when you think things can’t get worse, Cal finds Alison with Eddie. My anxiety goes through the roof, instantly. Alison makes a break for it while Eddie takes Cal to ensure she gets away. I wish he would have hit him harder, but I digress. Cal tells him he knew he never had an affair with Miranda and she told him that he said he saw no light. This prompts Eddie to tell Cal of all people what is really going on, and he tells him about what happened in Peru. His vision of Steve dying, and there being no light, no ladder. Cal freaks out because he knows that Eddie knows the truth, but quickly tells him that’s not true at all. At this point Eddie says what I am thinking by telling Cal he has the upper hand just like he wanted, he can now ruin his marriage with Sarah like he knows he wants to. But Cal tells him he needs to take the 250 mile walk that Steve did so he can regain faith. It’s December mind you, so maybe he’s hoping he will die in the cold keeping his hands clean? That’s my guess at least. He threatens Eddie that if he doesn’t do the walk he will tell Sarah everything, and his lack of faith would kill them. And she already has enough on her plate worrying about saving Hawk from leaving her precious movement.

Another big shock comes for Cal when Silas comes all the way from Peru to confront him. He tells him Steve has been communicating with him and sent him a message. He isn’t happy with Cal, and the movement is dead. My heart drops when Cal snaps and kills Silas when he calls him out for being a fraud. Even Cal seems to be scared of this darker part of himself when he realized what he did, he panics. He is so far gone, and the only person who really knows the truth is Eddie. It becomes very suspect when Cal doesn’t show for the vote that will decide if the refugees will stay. In place of Cal speaking, Sarah steps in. She defends the refugees, and speaks out to defend helping them. She speaks to their hearts, and Eddie chimes in to help bring her message home by quoting the ladder. In his absence Cal has brought them closer. Just in time for him to leave for his walk, but Hawk wants to walk with him. He says he is lost and needs to. But we can all see they are the ones who are awake. The lost ones are the ones in the movement. Especially Cal who is seen at the close of the episode drinking next to Silas’ dead body. I can’t wait to see how this all plays out.

Written by Kaylynn Kasandra. Awkward hippie who enjoys helping people, creating things, reading, sci-fi, fantasy, and Thor. Find more from her at kaylynnkasandra.com and
http://www.youtube.com/c/tiedyesmurf

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - "Failed Experiments" - Season 3 Episode 19 Review

May 6, 2016

The mission is simple. Kill Hive. After narrowly escaping his clutches last week, S.H.I.E.L.D. circles the wagons, and prepares to make a direct strike on the Inhuman Messiah. "Failed Experiments" is an action-driven episode with some surprisingly strong character moments sprinkled in. Daisy’s powers are taken to some new and creative levels, while the show’s second appearance of the Kree rounds out a thrill-filled hour. This episode seemingly answers the question of whether or not a piece of Daisy is trying to break free from Hive's control, thanks in large part to a stellar performance by Chloe Bennet. However, there are still some questions left to be answered as the season makes its way into its final two episodes (technically three since the two-hour season finale is actually two episodes).

When Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted, the general consensus was that its first season delivered an unfocused and sometimes sluggish narrative, with the Captain America: The Winter Soldier tie-in serving as one of its lone bright spots. Amongst these pointed, yet fair, criticisms was the notion that the series' main character, Skye, was held back by flawed writing and the lacking performance of Chloe Bennet. Since then, AoS has managed to remedy most of these problems. It's shifted away from season one's more episodic format in favor of complex season long arcs, and has increasingly incorporated characters and plot points from Marvel's comic and cinematic universes. However, while the return on these changes have been positive, Skye's development has lagged behind. The writers have tried to dress up the character with fancy powers and a charming sense of sarcasm, but their efforts haven't been able to mask the fact that Bennet had yet to fully come into her own, as an actor, (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is her first major gig).

Admittedly, Bennet handled the Skye-Ward “lovers turned enemies” dynamic well thanks to her chemistry with Brett Dalton. However, Daisy’s season two arc- spent gaining her powers and discovering her family- was just okay, and both plot lines should and could have felt a lot more impactful with a more convincing showing from Bennet. So, when the writers decided to place Bennet in the crosshairs of this season’s “Fallen Agent” arc, I was skeptical that she'd have the precision to pull off such a nuanced twist to her character. And, while her portrayal during the past two episodes has been nothing to write home about, I'm forced to nibble on some crow and admit that Chloe crushed it this week, specifically during her emotionally charged scene with Mack.

The best thing about Daisy’s current trajectory is that it allows the show to explore her character through her relationships with other members of the team. Daisy and Mack is one of the show's more underrated friendships, and has yet to be packaged with a juicy storyline, until now. This episode’s powerful confrontation between Mack (Henry Simmons) and Daisy reminds us that no matter how many fancy special effects or Samuel L. Jackson cameos a show might have, it’s the characters and their relationships that ultimately define it. I was surprised by Henry Simmons’ effectiveness in capturing a simultaneous feeling of fear and concern for his trusted partner, as well as Bennet’s menacing and subtly emotive performance as a brain-washed Daisy. It's possible that playing the bad guy is where Bennet's true talent lies, and I wouldn't mind her arc getting stretched a bit further if it meant more scenes like this.

The FitzSimmons relationship development is much less prominent this week, and the side story that we do get ties in more organically with the episode's overall plot, as well. Fitz and Simmons spend most of their storyline with Lincoln, and the three play off each other well as the team's three resident doctors. Coulson’s on the sidelines for the majority of this one, though he’s such a versatile character that a more behind the scenes role suits him just fine. May appears to have less of an onscreen impact than her field partner, Mack, but she has a quietly important character moment during the episode’s climax that’s worth noting.

The curtain gets pulled back a little further on Hive, as we get a closer look into his origins and motivations. Hive condemns S.H.I.E.L.D. for its never ending quest for war and for engendering the very violence it’s meant to combat. This seems to hint that Hive’s plan is driven by a desire to create some kind of utopian future; however, this hasn’t been built up as much as I’d like, and the show is running out of time to further flesh out Hive. The idea that Hive could actually have a benevolent, “greater good” angle to his ultimate goal is a compelling one. Presented in the right way, it could provide a nice moral quandary for AoS to wrap itself around. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that the show will put the necessary work in to make this possible. In order to truly make viewers consider the merits of Hive's plan, the writers will need to present a situation in which he lands on the unambiguously right side of the coin. This needs to resonate enough to make us overlook Hive's past actions, and quite simply, we’re running out of runway for this kind of development to take place. And frankly, I'm not sure if this is the direction they're taking Hive anyway, although with the Captain America: Civil War tie-in coming up next week, it's certainly possible given the film's similar central theme.

Garrett Yoshitomi is a contributor for A Play on Nerds. He covers Marvel films and television, and enjoys fantasy baseball, Big Brother live feeds, and Anna Kendrick. You can find his tweets @garrettweets