Season 3 saw our characters being split up by the events of the previous season, and after the tragic and unexpected death of Travis (Cliff Curtis), the core group took up residence on the ranch of Jeremiah Otto (Dayton Callie). Their new home caused Jeremiah develop a bond with Nick (Frank Dillane) and Madison (Kim Dickens), but his feud with a tribe of Native Americans led by Walker (Michael Greyeyes) caused a significant problem. However, in the mid-season finale, we saw Nick kill Jeremiah to help stop the impending war with Walker’s Nation, and then Madison covering things up and claiming Jeremiah had committed suicide.

As for the rest of the group, Madison and her family were going to try to save Broke Jaw Ranch; Daniel is at the dam; Strand is trying to make it back after Daniel left him for dead; Ofelia is working with Walker, who has an uneasy truce with Madison and the people who defended the ranch.

The official synopsis for the mid-season premiere is short and sweet, but hopefully holds the promise of some exciting scenes.

“In the aftermath of the Clark family’s actions, new leadership assumes control of the Ranch. Daniel assists Lola in the distribution of water.”

Executive producer Dave Erickson teased an upcoming big bad in an interview with Syfy Wire:

“There will be nobody in the immediate first few episodes, but we will meet a character down the road who represents a greater danger and evil than anybody we’ve met to this point. And it’s someone who I think Jeremiah Otto will pale in comparison to him. So there’s the potential of a Big Bad that will come to the fore later on. As the family comes together, and it will be somewhat traumatic and somewhat violent if they do come together, they need to be in opposition to something. So one of the things we’ll thread into the story as we get towards the end is who that force is, who that person is.”

Fans will be treated to two hour-long episodes titled ‘Minotaur’ and ‘Diviner’, with another six episodes rounding out the second half of the season plus the show already renewed for a fourth season.

The mid-season premiere airs September 10th at 9pm (Eastern Time) on AMC.

Are you excited for the return? Tell us in the comments below!

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What show are you most looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC | December)

The Expanse Season 3 (Syfy | 2018)

Stranger Things Season 2 (Netflix | October 27)

The Flash Season 4 (The CW | October 10)

Star Trek: Discovery (Netflix | September 25)

Lucifer Season 3 (Fox | October 2)

Arrow Season 6 (The CW | October 12)

Westworld Season 2 (HBO | 2018)

Supergirl Season 3 (The CW | October 9)

Gotham Season 4 (Fox | September 28)

DC’s Legend of Tomorrow Season 3 (The CW | October 10)

Riverdale Season 2 (The CW | October 12)

The Orville Season 1 (Fox | September 10)

Preacher Season 2 (AMC | On Air)

Once Upon A Time Season 7 (ABC | October 6)

Marvel’s The Defenders (Netflix | August 18)

Black Lightning (The CW | October 9)

Fear The Walking Dead Season 3 (AMC | September 10)

Vikings Season 5 (History Channel | November 29)

The Walking Dead Season 8 (AMC | October 22)

The Gifted (FOX | October 2)

Marvel’s Inhumans (ABC | September 29)

Krypton (Syfy | 2018)

Teen Wolf Season 6B (MTV | July 30)

12 Monkeys Season 4 (Syfy | 2018)

Shadowhunters Season 2B (Freeform | On Air)

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Fear the Walking Dead’s mid-season finale pulled no punches and it was a surprisingly shocking and tense episode that had me glued to the screen for two hours. With the fight against Walker taking full attention this week, it was an intense ride to the end.

It seems that the first thing that needs to be talked about, as usual, is Madison Clark. Her arc over this season has become progressively more and more desperate as she has become ever more determined to keep both her family safe and herself in a position of leadership at Broke Jaw Ranch. This all came to a head in ‘The Unveiling/ Children of Wrath’, as Madison took control of many of the attacks upon Walker’s reservation.

She was so determined to not lose Alicia to Walker that she spearheaded the attack to rescue her, while also returning Ofelia and stealing the relics trailer that Walker held dear. As a leader, she is resorting to as many violent means as she needs to keep the ranch and her people alive.

The best part of these two episodes though was the fact that the writers managed to convey both sides distress and motivations in a believable way. Through both Alicia’s time as hostage and the return of Ofelia (Mercedes Mason), we learnt a lot about the head of Blackhat Reservation.

Walker is no longer just the violent leader of a group determined to get their land back at all costs. Now he is a leader that not only wants his land back, but is trying to the best by his people and provide them with a way of living through the apocalypse. He talks of how his people, the First People, have been prophesized to reclaim the land once more and shows Alicia the bones of his grandfather, who was buried on the land that Jeremiah now owns.

Like last week these episodes were truly about leadership and who deserved to stand up if Jeremiah was to kick the bucket. Obviously, Madison set herself up as a prominent replacement but so did Jake. He nearly got scalped in an effort to bring peace and despite being sick helped everyone with the anthrax attack. Nick also stood out as a leader, joining Troy’s militia and fighting off an anthrax attack before stepping up and doing what had to be done after he found out Jeremiah’s secret.

The tension of the Walker conflict continued to escalate until the last fifteen minutes or so. Madison revealed that she had always done what needed to be done, telling a haunting tale of how she killed her own father to protect her family before the apocalypse, as a way to reinforce the reason why she hid Troy’s secret (killing the Vernon’s) from Alicia. This directly led into why she went and asked Jeremiah to kill himself, the price Walker requested in return for peace. It also serves as a reason to explain why Nick killed him in the final moments, as he is following in his mother’s belief of doing what needs to be done.

It was hard to feel sorry for Jeremiah or think that Nick didn’t make the right decision by the end of the episode as the Dayton Callie’s did an excellent job of portraying Jeremiah as a racist and conflicted character. The reveal that he had killed Walker’s family years before made it easier for his death to be accepted as a suitable way of gaining peace.

Aside from all the drama featured at Broke Jaw, the second half of the finale featured Strand as well. Strand is in a desperate situation, alone and without a home and on the verge of giving up. He found the Abigail again and, after a brief and interesting conversation with a Cosmonaut, ended up burning it and leaving it behind. It was good to see his leaving of his past behind him and hopefully his story demands more attention in the second half of the season.

Fear the Walking Dead set itself up to be a serious contender to the original show this season. However, its lacking in Strand and Salazar’s divergent plotlines needs to be explored more in the future. Apart from this it was good to see that maybe our survivors aren’t on the right/good side of this conflict as they originally thought and the finale provided a brilliant end to the Walker/ Broke Jaw conflict.

What do you think of the first half of Season 3? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Clark’s and the Otto’s. The Otto’s and the Clark’s. By this point in the season, it is becoming hard to tell who is really in charge of Broke Jaw Ranch. Once more ‘Red Dirt’ plays a focus on the relationship springing up between Troy and Madison as the Ranch is faced with the threat of Walker and his men.

This week’s episode was solely based at Broke Jaw Ranch, there was no Strand or Dante and this seemed like a strong play as this season really needs to ramp up the tension before the mid-season finale next week. ‘Red Dirt’ managed to do that by introducing the threat of Walker to the entire Ranch in the first few minutes. It wasn’t long before the survivors were divvying themselves up between those who wanted to stay and those wanting to leave.

By this point in Fear the Walking Dead, the Clark’s have almost completely integrated themselves into the life of the Ranch. Alicia is dating Jake, Nick has his own house, Madison is taking on a leadership role. They have all found their place within the Ranch and are intent on making it their own.

This episode was a slower episode than previous ones, the action only coming in the second half, however this benefited the show greatly. Viewers were treated to a whole new side of Jeremiah as he strongly stood up for his own beliefs, that Walker wasn’t a threat and they were safe on the Ranch. It wasn’t until Vernon (Hugo Armstrong) and his family, including Alicia’s friend Gretchen (Rae Grey), attempted to leave the Ranch that things grew heated.

The leaving of one of the Ranch’s founding fathers left the place crippled and it was good to see that Jeremiah wasn’t okay with this. At this point in the show it feels like the Clark’s are effectively running the place. Madison is a voice in Troy’s ear, Nick is learning and influencing Jeremiah, and Jake listens to Alicia. There was a lot of talk of leadership this episode and it seems that Jeremiah’s fate on FTWD is going to be short-lived. There a few possible contenders for leadership role but it feels that when it comes down to it, the role will fall to one of three possibilities. Nick, Madison or Troy.

‘Red Dirt’ dealt with a lot of these characters setting themselves up to make leadership decisions. While Jake is Jeremiah’s chosen heir, he spent this episode planning to run and confront Walker at his reservation. Troy, however, is showing the potential to rule a violent leadership. The militia is under his control and he has them primed and ready to go. But it is Madison and Nick who are showing the most potential.

After the return of one of Vernon’s horses, the two of them and Otto set out to find out the fate of Vernon. They find them all dead and turned and quickly execute them all. Upon returning to the camp, Madison shows the bodies to all and delivers an impassioned speech calling the people to arms and to protect their home. Nick, however, believed this was done by Troy, but still backed his mother’s play.

Luckily, the show didn’t hold out the mystery of Vernon’s family’s deaths for long. In the closing moments of the show Madison confronted Troy and he confessed to the murder of the family. Madison truly is a voice in his ear at this point, playing the role of the mother he never had. She comforts him but gently berates him for his actions making him promise not to do it again and that she will help him become a leader.

In an episode that dealt with the imminent threat of Walker and his crew, it was nice to see the Clark’s step up and be the leader they need to be for the Ranch. It shows they are serious about keeping this place and it feels like Madison is truly keeping her promise of taking the place, by force if necessary, from the first episode.

What did you think of the episode? Tell us in the comments below!

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Fear the Walking Dead picked up the pace this week. This was the third episode since Travis’ death back in the premiere, and so far, his killer, or killers, had not been revealed. That all changed in this week’s episode, ‘Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame’, when Madison and Troy set out to find the crashed helicopter.

Surprisingly this episode managed to not only feature all the main cast of FTWD (including the Otto family), but it succeeded in giving each character a decent amount of air time and story. Episode 5 featured not only the hunt for the helicopter, but Alicia and Nick tried to find their place within Broke Jaw Ranch. It also revisited Salazar and Strand, now on the hunt for Ofelia who hasn’t been seen since last season.

This episode really took time to look at what life is like now the apocalypse is fully under way. Alicia is struggling with that fact that she will never live a normal life again and she sleeps with Jake in an attempt to feel like a normal teen again, who then tries to show her that the world is still worth living in. This all tapped back into the Alicia in season one, the teen who was interested in art and living a relatively normal youth. Alicia believes this version of her is gone and there is no way that working towards any sort of career is useful. This world is all about survival. But Jake presents a different way for her to view the world and offers her a vision of a world where it’s not just surviving except Alicia struggles to fit this in with her own personal views.

In complete opposition to this, Nick was attempting to make a home within the ranch. Nick has already shown that he is more a part of this apocalyptic world than he was the old one and so the fact that he was trying to build a home isn’t all that surprising. What is surprising is that he wants it at Broke Jaw Ranch. After talking about escape for three episodes, Nick seems to have done a complete turn and is now looking to build a life at the farm with Luciana. Luciana, featured for effectively the first time this season, is not okay with this and ends up leaving the ranch behind. It seems odd that Nick didn’t appear to chase her, as she seems to be his prime motivation for finding a safe place, but it will be interesting to see where this will take him now.

It does seem like Jeremiah and Nick are slowly beginning to build some kind of bond. In one of the stronger scenes this episode, Nick and Jeremiah shared philosophies on this new world, and the home that they could form. Their dynamic is something that would be good to see further explored as the season progresses.

What ‘Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame’ managed to do superbly this episode though, was let viewers into the twisted mind of Troy Otto. From Jeremiah’s stories of the boy locked in the basement, to his brutal minute execution of the prisoner zombies, to his dealings with Madison. Troy became more of a three-dimensional character this episode and it had already been established that he was fascinated with death, but the way he hacked limbs off a zombie before executing it showed a violence in Troy, that he has barely shown. Yes, he ordered many people to death, but this far into this season he has shown very little violence.

Madison also had a strong role this episode playing along with Troy’s gang. It was at the end where she truly shone though, standing up against Troy and hitting his nerves with all the talk of his mother. The fact that she calmly stared him down when he lay a knife to her throat only proved more so that she knows exactly how Troy’s mind is ticking.

It was in this episode that, finally, viewers were invited to meet the group that killed Travis. A Native American that goes by the name Walker (Michael Greyeyes), appeared in the last half of the episode, with a warning for Broke Jaw Ranch. Apparently, the land is owned by his people and he wants it back, and as a first act against them had shot down the helicopter. This is an intriguing way for the show to go and something new and fresh within the universe of The Walking Dead.

Strand and Salazar felt like the weakest link in this week’s episode. Although they were searching for Ofelia, their scenes were interspersed with that of Madison and the others. By combining the two stories like this, it felt like we were losing so much in the plot of Strand and Salazar. In the short moments they had, both characters were portrayed outstandingly well but it felt all too rushed.

In an episode that was strong in both character development and pushing the plot forward, ‘Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame’ found time to bring the horror as well.  Starting with the elderly zombie without teeth, then finishing with a man, his brain exposed to the crows, endlessly repeating the poem ‘Antigonish’ by William Hughes Mearns, this episode featured some of the most striking visuals in this season so far.

Did you enjoy the episode? Tell us in the comments below!

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Madman. Soldier. Thug. Survivor. Who is Daniel Salazar and where does he belong in this new world? These are the questions that Fear the Walking Dead brings into the light in the fourth episode of the season.

It has been almost a year since we last saw Daniel Salazar feature on FTWD, and ‘100’ is the show’s attempt to catch us up on his adventures. This is the first ‘solo journey’ type episode of this season and it works incredibly well.

The episode starts off with a burnt, beaten and battered Salazar, walking through the infested streets of Tijuana.  He is saved by a man named Efrain (Jesse Borrego) who takes him to a group of scavengers for healing. After being healed by a woman named Lola (Lisandra Tena), who also happens to work under Dante’s new regime, he is taken in by Efrain.

This episode excels at making the quieter moments work, especially when talking about Salazar’s violent past. In one such moment with Efrain, Salazar admits to killing 96 people and not knowing if he had burnt his own daughter, Ofelia, to death. He is truly a broken man and Ruben Blades performance is once more phenomenal, bringing the character to life.

It is good to see that the show has decided to shrug off the temporary madness that befell Salazar partway through season two, instead having him admit to his slight insanity and now putting him back on a new path.

It is the second half of the episode that truly shines though. Once Dante has figured out about Salazar’s past as part of the Sombra Negre, he employs him into his service as one of his personal bodyguards. This quickly ties back into last episode in which he encountered Strand.

Once more it is good to see Strand’s con-man act failing him. It seems important to note that even when being visited by someone he used to call friend, he resorts to half-truths and lies to get himself out of a situation. But this time Salazar didn’t believe any of what he said and basically signed his death warrant. This part of the episode felt a little rushed, as though the creators needed to speed things along, as it feels warranted that Strand and Salazar should have a longer conversation about what happened to everyone.

However, it is the kidnapping and subsequent torture of Efrain that I think stood out in this episode. With his past roots, Daniel made a choice between effectively killing his saviour or leaving the scavengers without a water source other than Dante’s. You could see that his plan was taking a toll on him, as he prepared himself to kill Efrain himself.

The final moments of the episode were when we truly saw Salazar take on his death squad past. He promptly ended the guard’s life before firmly shooting Dante in the face. The scene was a nice moment of Salazar seeming to finally accept that he must accept the darkness within him to survive in this world. Though it seems to be a task too heavy for him, as he offered his gun to Lola in a request for her to end his suffering.

Fear the Walking Dead made a wise decision in not killing Salazar this episode, however his continual giving up does seem like it could drag him down at some point. Hopefully now that he has found peace with Lola and learnt that Ofelia could possibly be alive, this tendency won’t keep recurring.

With some cool (albeit unbelievable) moments, such as a walker being killed by lightning strike, this episode offered plenty for the viewer to get invested in. It was a nice touch to have the episode almost entirely in Spanish and the episode provided a strong return for Daniel Salazar.

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After last week’s shocking premiere, ‘TEOTWAWKI’ had a lot to live up to. Although it didn’t quite match the standards that the premiere set, the third episode of Fear the Walking Dead still provided a strong episode with a surprising ending.

‘TEOTWAWKI’ invited viewers to get to know Broke Jaw Ranch and its inhabitants. This episode had the Clark family attempting to settle into their new home, while Strand’s past came back to haunt him in Mexico.

The Clark family is having some trouble joining the Otto’s and the other survivors at the ranch. Not only is Troy’s recent villainy hanging over the family’s heads, but the recent death of Travis is still taking its toll on them.  Fear the Walking Dead did an excellent job in making Travis’ death matter in this episode. In prior seasons of both FTWD and The Walking Dead some character’s deaths have been skipped over, either by a time jump (in the case of Jesse and her family in TWD) or another major event happening soon after. It is good to see that FTWD isn’t willing to let Travis leave without any major impact.

The theme of this episode seemed to be about finding one’s place within these new communities. Alicia is the strongest example of this and she was hesitant at first, but upon the insisting of Madison, she joined the local ‘Bible Study’ class to get to know people. Turns out bible study is code for a party and Alicia had the chance to just chill out and be a teenager for the first time since the apocalypse really began. Over the course of the party, which involved a zombie head named Jeff, Alicia came to realise the difference between her and those that were in the ranch. She was more experienced in the outside world, and although this set her apart, it also made her someone the others looked up to in awe.

Madison also began to try and find her place in the community and both her and Jeremiah continue to be very similar characters. As is revealed in this episode, Jeremiah, was not the best father to his children, and Madison admits to the same fault. It is through the apocalypse however that both have become very connected with their families and would do anything to ensure their survival. It is interesting to see both characters follow almost parallel storylines, their differences coming from the paths they were set on before the apocalypse. This familiarity between storylines would be an interesting thing for the show to explore going forth.

Most of the tension in ‘TEOTWAWKI’ arose from Nick and his animosity with Troy Otto. After the way he dealt with Luciana and Nick in the premiere, Nick wants nothing to do with the Otto’s or the ranch. This all culminated in the final few scenes where Nick jump-tackled Troy before threatening him. Troy faced all this with a calm efficiency, once again a brilliant performance by Daniel Sharman, and when Nick stole his journal and started throwing bits of it around proclaimed they could be friends. If Nick and Troy are destined to be friends it would be more beneficial for the show to put this later in the season. If this point is the start of their friendship, it feels like it came too quick after the events of the premiere.

The whole time that all this unfolded on Broke Jaw Ranch, Strand was facing his own personal struggle in Mexico. Reunited with his old friend, Dante (Jason Manuel Olazabal), it appeared that Strand had it all back. A position in a new community, an old friend to reminisce with and safety. He was wrong. It was interesting to watch the crimes of his past come back to haunt him in this episode. The con-man routine has succeeded in many aspects on this show, but it was nice to see a so-called friend call him out on his true motives.

In the final moments of the episode, the show revealed its next big twist. Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades) is alive. I’m not sure if this was a shock to some viewers, as it has been widely speculated that he survived after the events in the mid-season finale last year, but this brings more promise to the show as Salazar was, before his descent into madness, one of the characters who knew more about survival than most.

Going forth Fear the Walking Dead has a lot of new ground to cover. From the mystery of Travis’ shooter to the return of Daniel Salazar, this season is shaping up to be one hell of a ride.

What did you think of the episode? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

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SPOILERS AHEAD

Fear the Walking Dead is only two episodes in and already viewers are reeling from a major character’s shocking death. ‘The Eye of the Beholder’ and ‘The New Frontier’ aired as part of a double-sized premiere that was both intense and emotional.

Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead left much to be desired but it appears the writers have heard the viewers pleas and this premiere shows it as from the get-go, this episode sets out to be something different from prior seasons. The whole Manawa/Clark family were joined together at the military base in last season’s finale, but rather than the hope Nick (Frank Dillane) thought it would provide, the base turns out to be more like a slaughterhouse.

In ‘The Eye of the Beholder’, the first episode of FTWD’s double-episode, viewers were invited to meet (and hate) Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman), the cocky unit leader of a group of soldiers who were slaughtering Mexican survivors. Troy claims to be killing in the name of ‘science’, an attempt to study and observe resurrection rates. Travis (Cliff Curtis), Nick and Luciana (Danay Garcia) are imprisoned in the basement where all these tests are being conducted, whilst Troy tries to sweet talk Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Madison (Kim Dickens) into joining him.

‘The Eye of the Beholder’ is an intense hour of action. Troy is set up to be a brilliantly, creepy antagonist, while the main characters are forced to find a way to survive his plans. Travis and Madison both shine in this episode, their desperation to bring everyone together fuelling them into more and more desperate actions. We see Travis boldly face down a soldier (played by guest star Neil Fisher) while Madison takes on Troy in his office, ending in her shoving a spoon through the back of his eye, easily one of the more gruesome moments of the episode.

That is another thing that this episode does great as it brings back the gore and makes zombies scary again. The viewer is constantly treated to haunting vistas; from a field littered with dismembered and bloody corpses, to a sewer opening up onto a crowd of zombies, and in the final moments as a horde of zombies bears down on the escaping survivors. Zombies are back and they are still a threat.

The strongest part of ‘The Eye of the Beholder’ though is Travis Manawa. Ever since the death of his son, Chris, in season two, Travis has been slowly spiralling into a more violent lifestyle and never has this been more clearly expressed than in this first episode. Travis was forced into a pit where he had to fight zombie after zombie and he flicks between his fists, rebar and bricks to take them down until he is rescued, only to be thrown headlong into a horde of zombies. He narrowly escapes this with Alicia and Troy’s brother, Jake Otto (Sam Underwood), in a helicopter.

That’s why, after showing how much of a force Travis is, ‘The New Frontier’ shocks with his sudden death. As a mysterious shooter strafes the helicopter, Travis is hit and goes into shock. His dying words, a repeated mantra of “help me”, are chilling and haunting sticking with the viewer as he heaves himself out of the helicopter.

After starting on such a tense moment, the second episode of the premiere has a lot to live up to. This episode slows down on the action and continues the setup for the first arc of the third season. It also brings about the return of Strand (Colman Domingo) who is currently at the hotel in Mexico.

Strand’s parts, although short, were very refreshing. Viewers got to see him in full survival mode, using all his skills to survive and help the hotel. This mainly involved using all his confidence in scamming the assembled crowd into believing that he was a doctor. This all culminated in the hotel forcing him out in the belief that he would be caught out in his lie. Hopefully going forward this means that he will meet up with the others at Broke Jaw Ranch, though for now he seems to be a long way from anyone.

‘The New Frontier’ began to explore where this season is headed. Nick and Madison began to discover the ranch and get to know its owner, Jeremiah Otto (Dayton Callie), while Alicia trekked back to the ranch with Jake. It was good to see the dynamic between Jeremiah and Madison, both people on the same path, that of parent’s trying to protect their families, but approaching it in different ways. It was also good to see a reaction to Travis’ death that felt real and genuine, Madison on her hands and knees crying and throwing up after hearing the news.

Overall, the first two episodes of Fear the Walking Dead’s third season make it feel as though the show is on a stronger path. It remains to be seen whether Jeremiah Otto will be a proper villain for Madison and co. but that is part of the potential for season three. Madison’s final words, eerily close to something Rick Grimes would say, show a stronger, more determined Clark family than in season two.

With strong performances by all the main cast, particularly Cliff Curtis and Daniel Sharman, in the new role of Troy, the season premiere got off to a good start. The only fears for the ongoing season will be if they get stuck in the same cycle: find a new place, be threatened by others, have to leave the new place.  With the season already off to a running start, viewers can only hope the show doesn’t slow things down from here.

What did you think of Fear The Walking Dead‘s Season 3 premiere? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

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