While the Season 2 premiere of Fear The Walking Dead took place mostly on the water, the latest episode proved that they can still have adventures on land as well. It was a welcome change of pace that included some ominous new characters. On Sunday, Fear The Walking Dead introduced the Geary family: George, Melissa, their older son Seth and two little children Harry and Willa.
The boat survivors were happy to find a safe home for a few nights, but as an experienced viewer of The Walking Dead, I knew that this family couldn't be trusted. The longer they stayed with them, the more the cracks began to show. They have built a fence around their land, which seems convenient. Madison doesn't buy that Melissa turning the light on in the night was an "accident" instead of a signal. Nick found out that the younger kids were surprisingly chill about the world's situation and mentioned "pills" that they could take and be able to stay with their family forever. Had California developed some kind of cure to the walker virus already? If they're bombing cities, I highly doubt that.
From Seth and George, we also learned that the family has been living somewhat off the grid and preparing for the end of the world their entire lives. However, with walkers headed towards their door all the time, they don't have a lot of faith that they'll be able to make it forever. George also has a fascination with Maori culture, which explains why he was willing to trust Travis Manawa. This family is weird, but I'm glad to know that survivalists have a place on Fear The Walking Dead. It makes for good conflict, at the very least.
Eventually we learned that first, Melissa had indeed lured them there with the intent to have them take her youngest children away. She has multiple sclerosis, and therefore didn't think she could travel safely. Nick also did some poking around the house and found the "pills" that the kids were talking about and identified them as poison. At some point, as Nick put it, George is planning on "Jonestown-ing" his whole family. From that revelation on, everything went downhill. Our heroes rushed to get the little kids on the boat, but it was too late. Presumably because she didn't want to leave home, little Willa took her "pill" and died almost instantly — only to be reborn and start munching on her grieving mother. Travis and Madison took off with Harry — but Seth tracked them down with a rifle. Ultimately, the yacht left with no new passengers.
I doubt that we'll see the Geary family on Fear The Walking Dead again, though there is certainly more story to tell there. It was nice to see Chris get a lesson in the old "stab a walker from the other side of a fence" technique that's so basic on the original series. On the other hand, I like the idea that since the Fear The Walking Dead characters can travel significant distances on their yacht, each episode could introduce "survivors of the week" that are all coping with the apocalypse in different ways.
Images: Richard Foreman, Jr/AMC
