‘Fear The Walking Dead': The Good Guys Go Bad On ‘Not Fade Away’ 

‘Fear The Walking Dead\': The Good Guys Go Bad On ‘Not Fade Away’

So weird that things didn\'t get better this week.

When the military “saved” everyone on “Fear The Walking Dead” at the end of the last episode, it was pretty clear everything wouldn’t be smooth sailing from now on — even if we didn’t know the eventual fate of the world from watching “The Walking Dead.”

But yeah, things got pretty bad, pretty quick this episode. Here’s every big moment from “Not Fade Away.”

Just in case you weren’t sure “Fear” was totally different from “The Walking Dead,” this episode opens with a cover of “Perfect Day” as Nick relaxes in the pool, Travis goes for a run, and Chris records everything. Except maybe not

different… The “Fear” survivors are behind a fenced off area just like in Alexandria.

Except their little village is controlled by the (maybe oppressive) military. And Chris is watching the world burn outside their fence… At least until he sees someone blinking a “rescue me” light in a faraway window. Uh-oh.

Also differentiating the show? As promised, the pull between family drama and the zombie apocalypse. Madison talks to Alicia about repainting the family room, to which Alicia quips, “I mean, nobody is coming to the open house Mom, market’s taken a bit of a turn.” And then when talk turns to Travis’ ex-wife, finally Alicia screams, “It’s not normal! Stop acting like it is!”

And that’s really what this show is about, right? The pull of keeping things normal when everything is falling apart around it. It’s what makes the tension in “Fear” sometimes even more nerve-wracking than “TWD,” too… These people have something to lose.

Since the launch of the show, we’ve been wondering what they’d call the zombies, and now we know: infects. Or at least, that’s what the military tells their compound, explaining they are “infect” free in a six mile radius, and “The tide has most definitely turned.”

But when the military starts getting hammered with questions, the commander tells them they’re one of 12 safe zones, and the lucky ones, and jokes they should calm down, “or I’ll shoot you!” He’s not joking though, right? Of course not.

A quarter of the way through the episode, there’s a really fascinating scene for Travis, in particular. Seeing a fellow Dad who is terrified, holed up in his bathroom, Travis calmly explains, “It is going to be okay. That’s all you say. That’s all you have to say.” So this calm demeanor, and constant, “The world is coming back!” rhetoric Travis has been spitting… Maybe he doesn’t believe it, after all. Maybe, in fact, he’s hiding his true feelings for his family’s sake.

So, there are sick people inside the military’s foolproof fence. A man named Hector is being treated by Travis’ ex-wife, and he’s not doing so great. He’s not the only one of course, there’s Daniel’s wife… Though Hector isn’t being helped by the fact that Nick is using Hector’s meds to get a quick high between his toes.

Also not helping, the military dude meant to guard the fence is ignoring his duty in favor of making out with Ofelia… Who’s just using him to get medicine for her mom.

Anyway, both of these cases are clearly showing how this relative calm is letting people’s natural selfishness come out again. It’s shocking to watch how fast society falls apart; but it’s also shocking to see how quickly we become complacent again.

Liza meets a rival — or maybe an ally — in government doctor Bethany Exner, who has mysteriously taken Hector to… Well, somewhere. And Exner seems friendly enough, even compliments Liza on her skills, before revealing one secret: she knows Liza isn’t a nurse. “That’s okay, desperate times,” Exner says. “Perhaps… You’d be willing to pretend a little longer?”

We’re guessing Exner won’t be around for long, and in the new world order, the only doctors will be fake nurses.

Searching for Chris, who has gone after his mysterious light person, Madison ventures out into the DZ. There she finds garbage everywhere, horrible smells, and men who have shot themselves in the streets. Also, of course, military patrols that have “cleared” out the area. Hiding under a car, Madison looks over a dead body and sees graffiti that says, “This is our home,” and we’re like, “we get it.”

Given how well, relatively, the military is doing, it’ll be interesting to see whether Atlanta was an aberration, or the rule. Is it possible this won’t go the way we think, with the destruction of the military and the rise of the dead? And in fact, the military actually saved Los Angeles?

She gives herself a permanent tattoo based on the sharpie tattoo her dead boyfriend gave her. I mean, I don’t know, what’s going on with Alicia, exactly? Love the actress, but she still seems the least important part of this show. Anywho.

learn Daniel’s secret origin, which is literally never anything I ever thought about before, and it’s because he had a bad experience with some dudes dying. His father told him, “Men do these things not because of evil… They do these things because of fear.” But Daniel had a different take, “And at that moment I realized my father was a fool. For thinking there was a difference. If it happens… It happens quickly.”

So… Can we get a Tobias/Daniel team-up now? Because that would be the best.

Madison, who has spent the past two episodes as Nick’s dealer, finds out he’s still been using… And smacks the s–t out of him. It’s a big turning point in their relationship, and maybe for Madison too — who has been holding it all together for far too long.

And then they break down. Tattooed cool dude Alicia chills out Nick, while Madison goes out to the car to drink liquor from a mug.

Daniel’s wife gets taken by the military to get her foot fixed, which everyone is okay with… And then the military reads off a second name that needs medical help: Nick. And everyone freaks out. Madison, moreso than anyone else, not just because she kicked Nick’s butt just before, but while in the DZ she saw that the military wasn’t just killing infected… They were killing everyone.

Liza goes with Exner, too, in order to help the sick in the military hospital, while Madison tries to futilely push through the soldiers. “Liza. She did this,” Madison spits at Travis. And it’s here where the semblance of family that was holding together at the beginning falls apart.

Travis goes to the roof, almost crying. Madison is in the garage, definitely crying. And then Travis sees the light Chris noticed at the beginning. And different light comes from the house… Gunfire, as the military kills whoever was still alive there. Yeah, this ain’t such a perfect day, after all.

Writer/Editor at MTV News. You can follow him on Twitter, but not in real life because that would be weird.