‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Here to Help’

6/3/2019

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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When we settle in to watch a television show or a movie from the horror genre, there are some expectations already in place in our minds. We expect it to be scary. We expect it to have some quality gore that makes us cringe, and we expect a good story that draws us in and if it just so happens to have a little social commentary, well that’s a wonderful thing as well. But what we don’t expect, is to find anything positive in these stories, especially when it comes to tales involving the living dead. Because shows and movies involving walking corpses that eat people, are often bleak, since the dead returning to life signals the end of the world and a desolate journey through the land of the dead, gives us everything we desire from a horror story.

Yet, while desolation has been the focal point of zombie themed stories for as long as I can remember, there seems to be a fascinating paradigm shift happening within the world the of the living dead. For some stories are starting to explore whether or not hope can be found in a world where the dead walk and much of this exploration has been coming about via AMC’s family of zombie stories since The Walking Dead has toyed with the notion of hope on several occasions over the past couple of years before diving back into some terrifying plot lines pulled right from the comics, allowing for its sister series, Fear the Walking Dead to dive further into these concepts instead. Since season four of the series truly tried to examine as to whether or not hope can be found with the weight of the apocalypse bearing down upon one’s shoulders and even then, this is such a powerful idea that the show couldn’t quite finish that particular exploration since it became clear that some of the characters had to heal from their own trauma before moving forward in this chilling new world.

Which brings us to last night’s season five premiere of the show, since ‘Here to Help’, finally took the time to address directly, as to whether or not hope can be instilled in people when the world is mired in death and well, it turns out that such an undertaking, is no easy task. Because Morgan’s beautiful idea to use Clayton’s former base of operations to bring supplies and help and shelter to those in need, was not going as planned in the slightest. For the crew came to learn over the course of a few months that some of the people who were trying desperately to hold out, succumbed to the death that permeates the land, and others who were asking for aid, turned out to be so badly damaged psychologically by what they’ve seen, that the idea of receiving aid from anyone, was not worth their time, and the team also learned the hard way, that there are some people out there who are utterly good with taking full advantage of the kind heartedness of others, in order to enjoy a little personal gain.

Enter a man named Logan, who basically baited Morgan and his crew to do everything and anything to save him, in order to get them away from their home base. Because Logan was once Clayton’s business partner, and he even signed the lease on the riverside facility back when the world was still functional and well, he simply wasn’t good with Morgan using the building to keep a ‘silly’ ideology alive, so his little ruse helped him to reclaim his ‘home’ and allow for him to have a sense of normalcy once again and well, this was devastating to say the least. Because it once again speaks to how humanity is sometimes incapable of letting go of the past, and how places and things give us a sense of safety and really, Logan’s power play, while cowardly in nature, also reinforces just how difficult Morgan’s quest is going to be, since so much of humanity is still listless and fearful of well, anything and everything at this point in time.

Yet, while that kind of failure, would break any other man, everything that happened here only seemed to embolden Morgan, and his dedication to this mission, and the energy and drive he engenders in others was just fascinating to watch in this tale. Because everyone has grown, in a good way, since they’ve met Morgan and seeing June rush toward danger, rather than run from it, and see Al desperate to contribute to the cause and watch Alicia use her anger and pain for something productive, was beautiful in its own right, and I was equally as fascinated by the fact that they have in essence become heroes, despite the danger and for proof, look no further than the opening moments of this episode. For seeing Alicia emerge from the smoke of the plane crash and tell those kids to step aside while she handled business, or see Strand rushing toward his buddies was incredible to say the least, and seeing this serves as a wonderful bookend to what this series is trying to explore, because this group is living proof that hope can indeed be instilled in people in their darkest hour.

However, while the duality of man was a fascinating place for this episode to go, this is a story still set in the zombiepocalypse, and we need something juicy to look forward to over the course of the season and this premiere teased plenty of tidbits for the audience. After all, this story did reveal that Daniel Salazar is alive and well and that’s quite a big deal when all is said and done. Because that means that Victor Strand is likely going to be the one to reunite with Daniel first, and that is going to be ugly to say the least. For the last time he and Daniel interacted in season three, Strand was in essence Daniel’s enemy and I’m already desperate to see that reunion come to fruition for several reasons. Because it would be wonderful to see Strand atone for his sins with a man that he once called a brother and also because, Mister Salazar was one of the toughest and coolest characters from the old guard of the show and seeing him return to the fold will be an utter delight, especially if Strand and Morgan can convince him to join the cause.

Plus, we absolutely have to discuss the two grand mysteries that this story took the time to introduce. Because clearly someone out there wants people to steer clear of their respective territory for whatever reason since they took the time and effort to create roadblocks made out of the living dead and well, the why behind that, is what has piqued my curiosity. Because the person or persons who took the time to do that, are either hiding something supremely fascinating, or they’re straight up dangerous and are about to bring quite the fight to Morgan and his friends for violating their territory. But while that was interesting, let’s be honest, the bigger mystery involving the armored zombie is what has all of our attention. For not only was this walker a fresh one and sporting some seriously advanced gear, those maps on his person bore the same logo that was on the side of the helicopter that picked up Rick Grimes in his final appearance on The Walking Dead, meaning that Al is now in the hands of the same group and well, this plot thread could lead us to some incredible places, storytelling wise.

Which means, this was quite the epic season premiere when all is said and done, since it featured everything we love about this series. For there were plenty of zombies around to help create a sense of danger in the story, the human condition was once again on display as we explored the notion of hope, and the forthcoming story involving this mystery organization and the disturbed individuals obsessed with radiation signage and zombie art has me intrigued and well, you really cannot ask for much more from the opening episode of a brand-new season. If anything, I’m quite impressed with just how much they packed into this one since it seems our heroes will be fighting battles on multiple fronts, which will test them in ways we’ve never seen before and really, it’s just great to have Fear the Walking Dead back on the air again. Because it really is a breath of fresh air, since it’s trying to do bold new things and having it explore an important plot element from its sister series, makes the experience all that much sweeter and I cannot wait to see where this fascinating story takes us in the weeks to come. Until next time.

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