‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘The Dog’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One particular trope in zombie-themed storytelling that is a tad exhausting these days, is the knowledge that everyone seems to garner when the dead begin to walk. For they all seem to quickly accept what’s happening and they all quickly figure out that you go for the head to make the dead, dead, and well… that can be… silly. Because it takes time to understand what is going on when a big disaster arrives, and people aren’t that accepting of the truth and in the event of the death of death… there would be no quick learning curve. For people would not accept that the dead are returning to life and attacking the living and figuring out how to bring them down would take time and would be difficult to get to the masses, because of the stupidity that exists on the internet.
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Which is why we can further appreciate the early episodes of Fear the Walking Dead. For this is a zombie story that shattered those tropes in its first season by showing us everyday people dealing with this terrifying reality whilst surrounded by a chaos that felt genuine and was terrifying. Forcing them to learn on the fly and figure out how to handle themselves without an expert or some entity that quickly instructs them to go for the head, and that wondrous aspect of the show is top of mind today, because it was on full display in the next episode of the series. A feat that ‘The Dog’ accomplished by fully removing the sense of safety surrounding the Clark/Manawa, and Salazar families. After all, thus far they’d be able to walk away from the dead or accidentally figure out how to put one down, and hiding was not a problem for any of them. 

But here, hiding places were compromised. For instance, Travis and Daniel’s safe space was compromised by the riot and they were forced to head out into the open world, with injuries no less. Which allowed for them to finally learn how dire the situation was by way of hospitals now filled with living death and through the horrible visuals surrounding them as the lights in the greater Los Angeles area began to flicker and fade into darkness and of course… back at Travis and Madison’s home… the situation grew worse. For the dead were beginning to surround the house through standard means, and that finally put this family in the toughest and most realistic place they had faced to date. After all, they didn’t have weapons, they didn’t have training and now… the living dead were working their way into safety and forcing them to try and figure out how to defeat a foe they didn’t understand.

Which led to some tense and terrifying sequences for certain. The kind that really did hammer home that this story defied convention. Because there were little discussions here about how to defeat the dead, nor did one particular character suddenly rally and decide to be some sort of inspirational expert. There was just fear, and chaos and confusion and gratitude when they collectively managed to kill one of the monsters that now roamed the neighborhood and that was refreshing to see, to say the least. Because that felt akin to what would happen in reality if this occurred, and it stayed in tune with the prophetic nature of the show. Since that confusion echoed our world and our worries from not that long ago. But most important of all… this episode offered us an outright terrifying story through and through. 

After all, we didn’t know who was going to live and who was going to die in season one, and that sense of danger made this episode horrifying during our initial watch and it is horrifying now. Plus, it preyed upon some primal fears as well. For who hasn’t wondered if a dog barking in the darkness or noises in the night are something sinister waiting to harm us? If anything, this rewatch of season one has made it clear that this opening chapter to this long and desolate journey was top-notch back then and has only aged like a fine wine, and to top it off… we are about to enter a new and unsettling chapter in the story. One that will showcase the death throes of modern civilization and how this world ended in both a bang and a whimper. Until next time.

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