Couch Potato: FTWD 2.5 and The 5th Wave

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Couch Potato: FTWD 2.5 and The 5th Wave

Some non-FTWD stuff first. We rented The 5th Wave this weekend, which is based on the YA book by Rick Yancy. It's about an alien invasion of Earth, where the aliens soften us up by attacking in waves of destruction, starting with a world-wide EMP blast. The movie had exciting parts and some interesting twists. Unfortunately there was a lot of dragging parts in the middle too. Most of the characters are teens and kids, with the notable exception of Liev Schreiber as an Army colonel. The main character is played by Chloë Grace Moretz.

If you do watch the movie with teens or family it can be a springboard for discussion, specially on the topics of indoctrination and self-reliance.

Now on to Fear The Walking Dead. SPOILERS AHOY!



LAST WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE EPISODE YET!

Fair Trade

Episode 4 of the second season of FTWD is titled Captive since Alicia and Travis have been taken captive by Connor et al.

Alicia starts her captivity by being presented with a fresh grilled steak by Connor, who apparently was a galley chef before the zombie apocalypse. This is clearly a horrific new interrogation technique. But wait, now comes the torture, as when Connor is called away by an emergency, after Alicia can take just one bite, another surly pregnant woman grabs her food and takes it away. Only getting one bite of that yummy steak is too cruel. Yes, there is another pregnant woman, as Connor seems to have an endless supply of them. Maybe this is some kind of Maternity Ship.

Alicia is left alone and all exits are locked except one that leads up to the deck, where she discovers that the ship she is on is in a dry dock. Opening credits roll. I have to say, rather lame episode opening compared to the last two good ones.

As usual, not a recap, so let's go straight to our reactions.

Once again, Alicia is just too blank-faced throughout. Someone get this girl some acting lessons! Although apparently her character has some kind of "feed and protect me" pheromones that render her immune to harm.

Daniel is great. "In my time, I've known some men who inspire fear. You know what they have in common? They never say how frightening they are." And he is a master interrogator - gets the info without even asking. But is he going crazy already? Rick didn't start hearing voices until season 3.

Chris is a budding surly serial killer. Please stop leaving him alone with weapons.

Alex the Flight survivor is back! And wanting revenge! I admit I did not recognize her at first with the long curly hair. Interesting that she asked for Travis - how did she even remember his name? But Travis is a silver-tongued devil - seems like he talked her down from rage to dull contempt.

This is Madison's episode. She's the over-protective Tiger Mom who gets her family back. I'd like to see her throw down with Alex.

Nick is unnervingly likable and even-keeled this episode. What happened to the sneaky untrustworthy addict of season 1? And Strand seems to be developing a soft side - please let that just be a temporary side-effect of hypothermia.

Questions for the next episode: Will we see Alex again? (Can you tell I like her?) Who does Strand need to pay to get passage to Mexico? Will they kill off a crew member not named Luis?

Did you watch the episode? What did you think?