‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Cobalt’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It is definitely safe to say, that season one of the AMC series, Fear the Walking Dead, is a true zombie-themed masterpiece regarding what the fall of mankind would look like if the dead were to return to life and attack the living. A feat that this season has accomplished by having us watch in excruciating detail how humanity would fall and how our own ignorance and fear and outright arrogance would help living death populate our cities and become the dominant species. But while that alone could have carried this first season, its back half has opted to go deeper regarding such matters. By also exploring how what remains of mankind in the days following the initial onslaught would be doomed for different reasons. In part, because little would change and also because of what we saw play out in the show’s next episode.
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For ‘Cobalt’ is a story that informs us… that dueling agendas and a desire to find direction from both survivors and saviors would bring about great trouble in those delicate days where one would think mankind would regroup and prepare a counteroffensive against a foe that is slow and mindless and weak in many ways. But instead, this episode showed us a military that was beginning to syphon people away from safety to help maintain its struggling infrastructure, which didn’t sit well with the people of the sanctuary, the military created. Because they wanted their families near them since that was one of the few things they had left in this story and that led to distrust and disdain between the two sides, and we also came to learn… that any semblance of safety or illusion of protection, can also quickly fade when the circumstances are right.

Because despite offering bravado and bluster to Travis when he asked to see his ex-wife and Griselda at the military’s headquarters, when faced with a real zombie threat, one that was only growing in nature by the minute since Los Angeles was now home to millions of walking and flesh-eating corpses… the oath taken, and the safety offered by the military… disappeared. For the good of the one always comes into play in a crisis, and that wasn’t the only example of how old-world services and infrastructure would break down in the delicate days following a tipping point of sorts. Since we saw rampant corruption rolling through that very headquarters, the kind that allowed for deals to be made by a man named Victor Strand. The kind that could have put the entire facility at risk had Nick been harboring a bite. Since Strand paid handsomely to save him from being thrown in isolation and studied for withdrawal symptoms. 

But truly… the most powerful point this story made, revolved around what would cause the final collapse. Which would be ideological decisions made in the name of the greater good or in the name of safety. All of which we saw play out via Daniel Salazar’s journey in this tale. Since his decision to torture a soldier in a terrifying old school way, in the City of Angels no less, spoke to how that which we hold dear in the Americas was now abandoned so Daniel could keep his family safe and well… Adams, the soldier in question… revealed the plan for the greater good. Since this was the first canonical mention of Operation: Cobalt in the franchise’s storied history. A move that was clearly designed to abandon the everyday people of the United States of America, in the name of keeping the concept and the core of the country alive and well. 

If anything, this episode simply inches us closer… in a dreary manner… toward those final moments where America died and where the living dead finally won the day and claimed the world from all of humanity, and it did it well. Since that strange sense of consistency and tenuous safety found in the last episode, is gone here. Replaced instead with unease and distrust and a real sense that Yeats influenced this episode heavily since things did indeed fall apart and this center cannot hold. Which means that all that remains in our second journey through season one of this incredible series… is the end of everything. And truly it will be fascinating to experience that one more time, now that we have a better idea of what lies ahead for this family, following the harrowing dawn of the dead we are bearing witness to. Until next time.

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