Much to my surprise I am actually digging the past few episodes of Fear the Walking Dead. It is by no means as good of a show as its companion The Walking Dead but is a marked improvement over season one; however, Travis (Cliff Curtis) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) still annoy me. The biggest turn around for me is with Nick and his development this season. Let’s waste no more time and jump in to this week’s episode. By the way, have I ever told you that my reviews contain SPOILERS?
The episode begins with my new favorite character Nick out for a night swim in his birthday suit. He did have clothes in a water proof container he was swimming with. Anyway he gets to land and proceeds to dress and head into an abandoned mega-camp. He draws a walker to him and stabs him in the head then proceeds to cover himself in walker blood and guts; a little trick he learned in last week’s episode.
Back at the Abigail, a lifeboat shows up bearing two men and a bleeding pregnant woman. I bet I know where this is going. As Madison (Kim Dickens) assists the pregnant woman, Vida (Veronica Diaz), to the bathroom, an armed, confused Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) doesn’t know if he should shoot. Well Chris, ya should have. Remember Alicia and her radio friend Jack (Daniel Zovatto) who was with his brother in law and sister in law? Well, this is them. Jack and Reed (Jesse McCartney) quickly disarm Chris and Daniel (Reuben Blades) and tie everyone up while Madison is forced to head-butt a mirror by the pregnant woman. Alicia hears what is going on and recognizes Jack’s voice and when she confronts them you can see a twinkle in Jack’s eyes as he may have some real feelings here.
Strand (Colman Domingo) hears all of this going on and decides to man a lifeboat and head to shore. Jack and Reed see him. Jack is gun shy so Reed takes a shot which seems to hit him. Strand is in the water and we get the start of flashbacks to he and Thomas Abigail (Dougray Scott). They met in a hotel bar where Strand takes advantage of a drunken Tom and returns him to his room and makes off with a bunch of credit cards.
The show goes back and forth with flashbacks of Strand so I will highlight the flashbacks here. Tom and his associate Luis Flores (Arturo Del Puerto) track Strand down and instead of beating or killing him, Tom sees him as useful to his thriving real estate business. Their relationship grows into, well a relationship and Tom does not want Strand to go north as the sickness has begun but he assures him he will be fine and return. Well, I think we now know how he got the Abigail and who he is on the phone with. Clumsy from the cold water, he drops his phone into the ocean.
Meanwhile, we see why Nick swam to shore, he went under Strand’s direction to meet Luis who makes Nick shower before entering his Porsche. Hell, yeah, I would have too! Back on the boat, Madison is keeping the attention of Vida as Daniel is trying to loosen his restraints. Travis is being forced by Reed in anticipation of the arrival of Connor (Mark Kelly) who apparently is the leader of this charade. Jack and Alicia are alone and Jack tells her that Connor is a reasonable man that does not like violence and that he can protect Alicia. Alicia makes him promise her family will be safe as well. Connor arrives with two rifle toting thugs (not cool like this Thug but thugs none the less). Connor does genuinely seem like a nice guy just coping with the way the new world is headed. Anyway he leaves with Travis, Alicia, Vida and Jack leaving the thugs and Reed to watch the captives and bring the boat to where Connor and the gang are based.
Nick and Luis are on their way to the Abigail and spot the thugs so Luis takes his high power scoped rifle out and ends the two thugs just as Daniel gets loose and grabs something long and sharp he introduces to the gut of Reed. Madison hops on a life raft to retrieve Strand who is hurt but still alive.
Again, this episode of Fear the Walking Dead shows some promise and we are now starting to see some development of Strand’s character. Blood in the Streets goes in the direction the last few were headed, with Nick becoming a hero — a total opposite of the zero he was last season (you see what I did there with the rhyme). Here’s hoping to this show developing into what we expect from its companion The Walking Dead.
Fear the Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 4 “Blood in the Streets” 
(2.5 / 5)
