At the beginning of episode “Reclamation” (7×06) of Fear the walking dead (Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson, since 2015), we return at different times to the recordings of the reporter Althea Szewczyk-Przygocki (Maggie Grace), who have served as dramatic component from “What’s Your Story?” (4×01), that is, since Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (Once upon a time) took the witness as showrunners Of the first spin-off about the zombie apocalypse. And his beloved SWAT vehicle, of course.
But it is not the only thing that returns here, but also the soldiers and helicopters of the infamous Civilian Military Republic, whose greatest development has occurred during the two seasons of The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Scott M. Gimple and Matthew Negrete, since 2020), two episodes from the end. Both elements had not been seen in these parts since “The Beginning” (6×16), although at the beginning of “Breathe with Me” (7×04) the matter is discussed; and now they openly show up as narrative ingredients of villainy.
The characters of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’, in their emotional labyrinth
“Reclamation” also relapses in the dynamic by which Morgan Jones (Lennie James) he proposes to convince to other characters of what Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) already insisted during the six seasons of Lost (JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber, 2004-2010): they must live together so as not to die alone. And that Althea insists on not abandoning her journalistic work and following him is neither more nor less than pure consistency with personality that they have drawn up for the role of Maggie Grace.
Respect for emotional evolution of the protagonists of Fear the walking dead by Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, clearly demonstrated in this and the three previous seasons, is equally noted by Grace Mukherjee’s (Karen David) opportunity to express herself about how she now feels about the terrible events of “In Dreams.” (6×12).
His words, like all the eloquence of Morgan Jones and Althea’s replies, we owe to what they have written with four hands the executive editor of the story Calaya Michelle Stallworth (Daybreak) and the producer Alex delyle, who has previously also signed the librettos for “Buried” (4×04), “The Code” (4×11), “The Hurt That Will Happen” (5×02), “You’re Still Here” (5×11), “Bury Her Next to Jasper’s Leg ”(6×06) and“ Mother ”(6×14) and that, therefore, she is one of the scriptwriters of Fear the walking dead that has contributed the most text to date.
When simplicity is enough to thrill us
The director’s staging Bill Woodruff It is reasonable but it does not get us very worried; and the soundtrack by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans (Ozark) does not make that vary one bit. Something paradoxical because the filmmaker has spent more than a decade directing tons of video clips, including “My Heart Will Go On” for Céline Dion and Titanic (James Cameron, 1997); and then he dared with nine feature films unworthy of any mention, but without neglecting his audiovisual contributions to pop music.
Then he put his head into television fiction and has carried out his work in series such as Empire (Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, 2015-2020), Black lightning (Salim Akil, 2017-2021) or Genius (Kenneth Biller and Noah Pink, since 2017), until premiering in this episode Fear the walking dead, containing one of those great ideas for the use of places and instruments that, for whatever reason, we do not find in the other adventures of the zombie franchise. And some lines in the last section that they thrill us to the chills with utmost audiovisual simplicity, before Morgan Jones’ endeavor succeeds.