I’m pretty torn on this episode. For every step that “Grotesque” takes in the right direction – and there are a few – it spends twice as much time indulging in Fear the Walking Dead‘s worst impulses. This episode, if nothing else, shows just how badly FTWD wants Nick to be its main character. At times, the show (and Frank Dillane) come close to justifying that attitude, but since this is the midseason premiere and it’s focused entirely on one character, it ultimately shows just how unbalanced the narrative can be. This show doesn’t even pretend to hold other characters in the same regard as it holds Nick.
That said, “Grotesque” is far from a disaster. Nick may be a troublesome character – and the show’s attitude towards him can be downright maddening – but Dillane holds the screen nicely in what is largely a wordless performance. It takes a lot of presence to anchor a one-man show like this (Will Smith did fine work in I Am Legend, where he pretty much saves the entire film). The problem is, without anyone to talk to or react to, Nick spends a lot of time just…walking, which is about as exciting as it sounds.
Long stretches go by in “Grotesque” where nothing really happens, but director Daniel Sackheim, a veteran of The Americans, does a nice job with the surreal imagery. Nick covered in blood, walking alone through the mountains of Mexico, is one such example. It’s the kind of poetic imagery that Fear the Walking Dead strives for but rarely achieves. In fact, now that I think about it, a lot of this show’s strengths lie in its choice of directors.
The flashbacks don’t do the episode any favors, though. The episode description on my DVR suggested that we’d learn a “dark secret” of Nick’s, but we don’t learn anything new about him in the flashbacks. He was in court-ordered rehab – okay, nothing revelatory. His father died in a car accident – well, does that do more to inform his character or Maddie’s? Or neither? Up until now, neither one of them has even mentioned Nick’s father. Hell, “Grotesque” doesn’t even give him a name. Fear the Walking Dead might be unafraid to give its characters some dark qualities, but the character development comes too quickly to be believable most of the time. Since I can’t help comparing this show to its sister program The Walking Dead, Fear has yet to achieve any kind of character growth in the vein of Daryl’s search for Sophia in season two of TWD. And it shows in episodes like this. “Grotesque” all too often insists upon its own importance.
But like I said: not a total disaster. There are some pretty well-done sequences here, none better than Nick’s attack by wild dogs. He brains one with a rock, but not before being bit. He’s able to scramble up onto a car roof in time to see a massive horde of walkers roving over the horizon. It’s scenes like this where Fear the Walking Dead comes into its own as the harsh survival drama it wants so badly to be. Sackheim’s direction is on-point; the silence broken by snarling, then gnashing, and the fearsome unpredictability of nature bring to mind a similar scene in No Country for Old Men, which is definitely the highest praise I will ever heap on this show.
The only thing that really “happens” in “Grotesque” is Nick being rescued by Luciana, who by virtue of being tough and gorgeous will be head over heels from in no less than five episodes. I’m calling it now. She takes Nick to her compound, where his wound is patched up and he begins the next phase of his journey.
Speaking of his journey: why the hell is he on it again? Is he just following random groups of walkers? There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to his departure from the group, and I worry that Fear the Walking Dead thinks it can coast on its bald-faced adoration of Nick, assuming that the audience feels the same way. Don’t get me wrong: I like Nick. I don’t think he’s a superhero (or, more pointedly, Daryl Dixon) the way that Fear does, but when he’s written well he’s often captivating. Let’s hope we see more of that. I mean, he spent most of “Grotesque” aimlessly wandering. I can’t think of a better storytelling metaphor than that.
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