Last night’s Fear the Walking Dead was almost entirely in Spanish, and featured only five significant speaking roles. It was a bold move for a show that seems to pride itself on predictability, and it made, at times, for a genuinely engaging hour of television. “100” was the best episode of a so-far lackluster season, and the reason for that is Daniel Salazar. He’s the character the show takes the biggest risk on, and for one simple reason: FTWD is never afraid to make Daniel look like a monster. This is different than being morally compromised, or heading down a dark path. There are times in “100” – which is still a somewhat uneven episode – when you really feel that a man’s very soul at stake, and because of this the show is able to attain qualities that typically elude that, those being gravity, and something close to grace.
Let’s start with the obvious: Daniel surviving the conflagration at the estate is a narrative cop-out either way. On the one hand, if he dies there it seems like a disservice to the character. On the other, it’s great to have him back, but Fear hand-waves any story of his escape, which he sums up succinctly: “I don’t know how, but I got out.” That’s not good enough, not by a country mile. “100” is an episode concerned with Daniel’s journey to safety, and the beginning of his path to redemption, so it makes no sense not to include his escape from an incredibly dangerous situation. We all know him to be crafty and resourceful, so let’s see it! Instead, the show offers us a shrug that is close to being actually insulting.
The rest of the episode fares better, though, and actually boasts something of a plot structure. First Daniel is rescued by Efrain, who isn’t an incredibly interesting character; more of a collection of tics and quirks. He blesses walkers before disposing of them, while anointing them with his flask; he makes reference to himself as a drinker, but we never see him drunk. Efrain is one of those tertiary characters who only exist to further the protagonist’s development, but as far as those characters go, he’s not a terrible one. He’s a good foil for Daniel, and it’s a breath of fresh air to see Ruben Blades again, delivering a characteristically great performance (compare it to any of the actors playing the Clarks, who only seem to insist over and over that they’re total badasses). Blades brings very little vanity to the role, and isn’t afraid of looking dirty, weak, even pathetic. Colman Domingo does something similar with Strand, which is why they’re the two best characters on the show (although I have to admit the Ottos are growing on me, damnit).
The episodic structure of “100” can be confusing at times; to wit, Efrain takes Daniel to Lola, who helps him with his leg. But the scene is shot in such a disorienting fashion that when Daniel encounters Lola again at Dante’s dam, you’re not even sure it’s the same person. Director Alex Garica Lopez (Misfits) handles himself fine – the episode begins with some stunning shots of Daniel walking alone, dwarfed by emptiness – but the script by Alan Page is doing him no favors. “100” feels too episodic, and seems to glide along on a track towards a predetermined terminus.
For instance, the head of security at the dam, JC, takes an instant dislike to Daniel, because the script requires him to, and because Daniel can now stab JC in the hand in order to get Dante’s attention. Dante has apparently heard of a killer named Salazar from San Salvador, and a marking on Salazar’s inner lip is enough to confirm Dante’s suspicions and get Salazar appointed as Dante’s new chief torturer. It’s all very convenient, but to Fear‘s credit, it’s not boring. This is a mostly dialogue-based episode, and all but a few lines of that dialogue are in Spanish, and it still manages to be more captivating than whatever is going on at Brokejaw Ranch.
The best scene of “100” is its final one, which is a good example of what I mentioned above, the show’s willingness to have one of its characters truly and fully engage with human darkness. After giving up Efrain to Dante, and beating him until Lola gave up herself, Salazar is back on the ledge, seemingly ready to throw them both (and Strand) to their deaths. In most episodes of Fear the Walking Dead this would be eyeroll-inducing, but we’ve seen what Salazar is capable of, and Efrain and Lola don’t have the protection afforded to main characters. This is a long way of saying: for a moment, I genuinely believed that Salazar was going to throw Lola off the ledge.
Instead he gets a nice hero moment, which is cathartic, but more importantly, it’s earned. He kills JC and Dante, and gives the gun to Lola. He kneels as a supplicant, asks for forgiveness, and allows her to shoot him, if that’s what she wants. The credits start before Lola does anything. It’s been noted that Fear the Walking Dead protects its main characters, and that’s usually a source of frustration and annoyance, but after “100” I hope that Daniel Salazar doesn’t go anywhere.
A Few Thoughts
- Daniel is looking for Ofelia. He seems to be the only person, including showrunner Dave Erickson, who cares where she is. Four episodes in and he’s the only character who has said her name. Honestly, the only way to salvage this is if she shows up two seasons from now as a villain.
4/5
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