Another series about the zombie apocalypse was an unexpected gift for fans of The Walking Dead from its creators. The television project, the first season of which was released in 2015, received very mixed reviews from viewers and critics. “Fear the Walking Dead” - a show that from the first episodes managed to acquire both fans and haters. The article provides arguments for both of them.
Genre and plot
The series The Walking Dead provided the audience with the opportunity to watch a world in which a zombie apocalypse has already arrived, and the few survivors are trying to survive by all means. A new TV project about zombies allows you to see the first days of the spread of the epidemic. The audience of the show will be able to watch how the lives of ordinary people collapse overnight.
In the thick of things will be the ordinary school teacher Travis Manawa and his life friend Madison, roughly torn from the familiar world and forced to save themselves and their children, gradually getting used to the new reality. Drama, thriller, horror - genres to which the fascinating show "Fear the Walking Dead" belongs.
TV series reviews
As already mentioned, the new television project received both positive and negative reviews. “Fear the Walking Dead” - a series that disappointed viewers who wanted to know the reasons that led to the spread of the epidemic. The creators again left this topic behind the scenes, leaving the audience to build their own guesses. But the fans of “The Walking Dead” had the opportunity to see the first days of the zombie apocalypse, which was appreciated by many of them.
What other pluses of the series indicate viewers leaving positive reviews? “Fear the Walking Dead” - the show, according to many fans, has a unique atmosphere. It is not hopelessness that reigns here, as is happening in the universe of The Walking Dead, but the hope with which the heroes of the television project have not yet parted. The world is collapsing before their eyes, however, the central characters do not cease to convince themselves that all troubles are temporary and they will cope with them if they continue to fight.
Persuasive arguments are also expressed by people leaving negative reviews. “Fear the Walking Dead” - a series in which there are too many cliché characters, if you trust their opinion. Many viewers did not like such a standard plot move as the appearance at the end of the first season of a man in a suit with a mysterious plan, the presence of evil military men, scattered neighbors, and paranoids in the show. Such types, as opponents of the show believe, are too often found in modern series.
Character Reviews
The main characters of The Walking Dead (Rick, Shane, and many others) know how to handle weapons, have hand-to-hand combat skills, in other words, they are ready for the apocalypse, if not mentally, then physically. The series “Fear the Walking Dead” presents the audience with completely different central characters. The actors are chosen so that no one doubts that their characters are ordinary people who find it difficult to survive in a world hit by a mysterious epidemic.
This decision of the creators of the series found both supporters and opponents. Negatively-minded viewers believe that it is boring to watch how ordinary people fight for life, constantly making mistakes and endangering themselves and their loved ones. Fans of the television project, on the contrary, believe that this is what distinguishes it from The Walking Dead, where most of the characters can shoot and fight right away.
Cliff Curtis and his hero
Travis school teacher is one of the central characters in the series. The creators considered several applicants for the role, as a result of which Cliff Curtis received it. The actor plays an ordinary person who taught children English in the world "before the apocalypse." Travis has an ex-wife and son who hates his father for abandoning his family.
Not everything is smooth in the new family: the son of his girlfriend, Madison, is a drug addict who constantly has to be pulled out of difficult situations. However, all problems recede into the background when the spread of the epidemic leads to the gradual disappearance of the familiar world.
Cliff Curtis claims that he immediately liked his character. The actor was fascinated by the idea of playing a man who is forced to perform heroic acts without having the necessary qualities for this. Travis is forced to adapt to the world around him and change with him, however, the desire to help people still lives in him.
Cliff comes from a family of New Zealand Maori. He was born in 1968 in New Zealand. The actor acquired star status long before the release of the series. Viewers can remember him from such popular films as Die Hard 4, Hell, and Elemental Master.
Who played Madison
If the actor for the role of Travis was searched for a long time, then with the candidacy of the actress, who will play his wife Madison, the creators of the show “Fear the Walking Dead” decided almost immediately. The choice fell on the charming Kim Dickens, which can be seen in many popular TV shows. The most striking roles were played by the actress in such projects as "Lost", "House of Cards" and "Sons of Anarchy". The star’s birth year is 1965. Kim is from Alabama.
Madison Clark is a school psychologist and single mother raising a son and daughter. Her affair with colleague Travis began after his divorce, and soon the lovers began to live together. Madison's life was not cloudless even before the apocalypse. Her main problem was her son Nick, addicted to drugs. Clark was also troubled by loan debts and occasionally quarrels with her husband. Of course, all this ceased to seem important with the onset of the epidemic.
Kim Dickens is convinced that her character is among the most striking characters in the show. It is Madison who constantly takes on the role of a leader, taking care of saving the family. She is capable of decisive action, quickly learns to survive in the world after the apocalypse, to fight zombies and other surviving people.
Frank Dillane and his character
Nick is a teenager who is addicted to drugs due to family problems. At the beginning of the series, all his thoughts are devoted to the problem of finding a new dose, and for this he is ready for any action, including those that go beyond the law. However, the hero has a clear mind, the ability to quickly navigate the situation, survive in extreme conditions. He was the first to realize that infected people are dead, not sick. Also sympathy is caused by such qualities as optimism and a great sense of humor.
Nick is a hero that almost all fans of the series “Fear the Walking Dead” like. Season 2 of the series allows the actor to clearly demonstrate the best qualities of his character, Clark's negative traits go by the wayside.
The role was received by a young actor Frank Dillane, who was born in 1991 in the UK. Participation in the series is not the first professional achievement of Frank. For the audience, the actor could be remembered for such films as “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “In the Heart of the Sea”. He also starred in the popular television project Eighth Sense.
Alicia Clark
Alicia Debnem-Carey - the actress who played in the series Alicia Clark, daughter Madison and sister Nick. The girl, born in 1993 in Australia, was made famous not by the series “Fear the Walking Dead”. By the time the first season of the show was released, she already had fans who fell in love with Alicia as the proud ruler of Lexa from the sensational television project Hundred.
The actress in all interviews talks about how difficult it is for her to switch from the role of the fighting queen Leksa to the image of tender Alicia. Her heroine is an ordinary schoolgirl, absolutely not adapted to the struggle for life in an epidemic-ridden world. She suffers from the loss of her beloved guy, who was among the victims of the deadly virus. Alicia dreamed all her life of escaping from the bustling Los Angeles in which her family lived, but the forced escape from the city with relatives, the absence of a home to return to, did not please her at all.
Chris Manawa
Alicia Debnem-Carey is not the only one who got the role of a weak character. Chris Manawa, the son of Travis from his first wife, played by Lorenzo James Henry, also feels lost in the new world.
Chris is an ordinary schoolboy, a complex teenager, angry with his father, who left his family and lives with another woman. As a result of the death of his mother, who was the victim of a zombie, he is forced to stay with his father and his new family and run away from the city in search of refuge. The experiences gradually drive the guy crazy, he begins to do strange things that frighten his companions.
Chris was played by Lorenzo James Henry, an American actor born in 1993. It was thanks to the series “Fear the Walking Dead” that he became known to the public. Prior to this, the young man was trusted mainly in episodic roles, for example, he can be seen in the movie "Star Trek."
Salazar family
Mercedes Mason is a little-known actress from Sweden, born in 1982. In the series, the girl received the role of Ophelia Salazar, the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador. The civil war forced Ophelia's parents to flee her home country. The girl was born in the United States, speaks equally well in English and Spanish. In the early days of the apocalypse, she loses her mother, the additional suffering of Ophelia causes the news of her father’s dark past. Together with the Madison and Travis family, she and her father flee from Los Angeles, which was flooded with zombies.
Screen "father" Mercedes Mason - Ruben Blades. The hero of the actor is Daniel Salazar, a native of El Salvador, who once served in the infamous Death Squadron. Of the whole team, only he knows how to handle weapons well, successfully applies skills from a past life to receive information from enemies. The main goal that Daniel sets himself after the death of his wife is to save his beloved daughter.
Other characters
Of course, not all the interesting characters that the spectators of the series “Fear the Walking Dead” can meet with are listed above. The actors who played Strand and Lisa, the former spouse of Travis, also deserve attention.
Strand is a mysterious stranger whom Nick meets during his stay in a refugee camp. He has a plan on how to get out of the United States, the details of which he, however, refuses to devote to his random companions. Stranda played Colman Domingo.
Lisa Manava is Travis's ex-wife and Chris's mother, present only in the first season. She is a nurse who puts help to people above all else. It was after the death of his mother with the psyche of Chris that terrible things began to happen.
Watch or not watch
Does the series “Fear the Walking Dead” deserve to be watched? Everyone will be able to make this decision on their own, having familiarized themselves with the first series of the show. Reviews about the TV show that events are gaining momentum, slowly introducing the audience into the world of the apocalypse and introducing the main characters. With each series, there are more and more spectacular scenes and unexpected plot twists, new puzzles appear in the series "Fear the Walking Dead." Season 2 is even more dynamic.