Fear the Walking Dead: Dead in the Water

Episode 1

Something Bad

Sun, Apr 10, 2022 8 mins

A crew of a US navy submarine have lost contact with their country after being given orders to patrol in the Gulf of Mexico. This is peculiar enough but to have no contact with command is even more concerning and it is left to the Captain and Lieutenant to figure out how to proceed. After getting a surprise during a dessert session in the mess, chaos is thrust upon the crew. S1E1 - Something Bad - is divided into parts which include a crew number countdown and the various interactions and discussions regarding their predicament and also, for Lieutenant Riley, the need to be honest with himself over what the birth of his son only days ago actually means. It all sounds so dreary. And it is. There's no room for any Z Nation chuckles in this one. There's some glaring problems with continuity and general disbelief suspension as per protocol of the franchise, but it's definitely watchable and reminds me of the potential the original TWD series exhibited in its first three series. It ain't perfect and it could've been played infinitely tighter but it's not a complete waste of 40 minutes. Certainly not compared to the mess that the original series became and is better than the entire first two seasons of Fear TWD.