For both Nick and Luciana, and Madison & co, they prepare to escape in the finale of season two of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’.

As the hotel residents isolate Travis (Cliff Curtis) for his murders, Madison’s (Kim Dickens) emotions better her as she fights for his freedom. Meanwhile, Alejandro (Paul Calderon) is dying—but Luciana (Danay Garcia) refuses to let the faith and belief of her people die with him. Helena aptly sums it up:

There’s been too much blood.

The Clarks prepare to leave with Travis when the residents inevitably kick him out. Strand’s (Colman Domingo) reluctant—he wouldn’t die for Thomas before. He says darkly he wouldn’t die for any of them either. Things worsen for Nick (Frank Dillane) in a nice juxtaposition in which he prepares to leave whilst Alejandro gives an impassioned speech to his people: to stay together.

Madison confesses she’s done much worse than Travis, and it’s apparent the pair have a lot to sift through before they get their balance back as a couple. In an unbelievably tense stand-off, Andres (Raul Casso) attempts to shoot Travis who recognises his crimes…only for Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) to intervene by stabbing Andres in the chest, killing him. As a result, the family leave hastily, but Strand remains—and it’s yet another separation.

As Alejandro is dying, Nick mercifully helps him to do so in peace. And it’s a nice mirror—it is now the drug addict easing the drug giver of pain. The Clarks head north to seek Nick. Instead they find dead bodies of hostages Madison held for interrogation, with an ID and an address for Colonia. In pursuit, they find a dying Alejandro whilst Nick and Luciana are beaten and ready to die at Marco’s hand.

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There’s a lot of suspension of belief in this episode…a lot.

For a much-hyped season finale, the previous episode ‘Wrath’ bettered ‘North’ by far. The highlight of that was certainly seeing Travis let loose of his morals and beat the dimwits who took Chris under their ‘wing’. But in this episode, things started to wander off into “really?” territory.

It was undeniably good—that’s a start. The pacing and characterisation has been excellent, as has the cinematography…but then the last fifteen minutes happened, and it was so unbelievable to a point where it was almost eyeroll-worthy.

Why? Because how on earth did they just happen to stumble across this dead family? This dead family Marco coincidentally killed—this dead family who lived inside some sort of warehouse? Even if the previous were true, how on earth did the Clarks just happen to know where Colonia was, and show up looking for Nick? If the guy shot dead by Marco had the address anyway, why couldn’t Marco simply take the card and leave the family? We’ve been explicitly shown via Nick’s encounters with him that Marco is not some insane psycho. He’s also not an idiot. Even idiot kidnappers go through their victims’ belongings…

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The protagonists fail to deliver anything we’d want to root for them against.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. We’ll start with Nick, who is easily the most interesting character of the season—and the series. Street-smart, quick, resourceful and charming, Nick’s strength lays with his refusal to accept people as less than just that: people. But what was so contradictory about Nick’s storyline this season was his lack of care in abandoning his family. In one episode, he is so concerned about a little girl who has lost her sister and has an overwhelming desire to find her. Yet he has shown very little to no concern at all for Alicia, who is his own sister. Dillane and Debnam-Carey’s chemistry was one of the best things about season one. Now it seems so pointless.

Alicia and Madison are probably the only two others left. The hotel guests are selfish and treacherous; Strand and Ofelia have practically been non-existent; Chris is dead and Travis did not redeem his snooze-worthy self until the finale.

But Madison’s been the headstrong leader of the group. She’s trying so hard to hold it together but she has lost her husband and her son. She makes foolish decisions (the beacon!) but we can’t not root for her. By far, the most compelling character has becoming Alicia. Written off many as boring (we’d like to see you try some knife tricks…) Debnam-Carey has worked her charm in exceptional conjunction with the script. Alicia’s honest, determined and that naivety has been sorely ripped from her, Give her just a little more time. She’ll kick your ass.

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‘Fear the Walking Dead’ delivers an episode in which a lot of stuff happens, but it kind of doesn’t.

This is one of our major quibbles with ‘Fear the Walking Dead‘. Not only does the premise have so much potential in veering away from its big brother show and showing the fall of humanity, the destruction of civilisation and how humans go about rebuilding it—it’s done it in a peculiar, roundabout way.

The exploration of Travis’ and Chris’ storyline was an excellent set-up for that, though Chris’ death was extremely anticlimactic considering his character’s development and often violence. It didn’t feel like a fair goodbye to Lorenzo Henrie, whose character may have been incredibly divisive, even unlikeable, but never his depiction.

The big one here is Ofelia. Why are they sending Ofelia away…on her own? There is not a chance she’ll be able to survive alone—she wasn’t even let out of her house in LA by her parents! There are already so many storylines or different plot-threads it’s unfeasible and unwise to add another. It does look like the Clarks will be reunited, but Ofelia had a chance to interact with others beside her father. Her and Alicia could have been a potentially brilliant team-up.

Speaking of her father—so…are we to assume Daniel Salazar’s (Ruben Blades) definitely dead?

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Final Verdict: ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ hit a snag it’s hit so often—it sounded promising, but ultimately, played out to be something less.

This season’s been one heck of a rocky ride. There have been some real standout episodes (‘Captive’ and ‘Wrath’ were really good) and that’s just it. There’s no middle ground. When ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ is good, it’s really, really good. When it’s bad, it’s really, really bad. It seesaws so ferociously it’s enough to make one seasick.

There are a lot of consistencies though. The first major criticism was down to the juggernaut overarching plot. But the cinematography department has always been top-class. ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ is an undeniably beautiful show. It’s never gratuitous but even when it’s slow, it produces some gorgeous shots.

Secondly, the acting has always been top class. In this episode, Strand was featured a lot more and it gave Colman Domingo the much-needed opportunity to show that he can truly act, as if we needed a reminder. Cliff Curtis has always been steady but in the two-part finale he pretty much stole the show. Danay Garcia has been one of the best and smartest additions we’ve had on television. But this was like an anchor to a perfectly fair ship. ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ isn’t a bad show—it’s just one that hits a lot of icebergs along the way. And it’s disappointing because you know from this calibre of actors and these writers, they can do more. They should have, with ‘North’. Unfortunately, in term of quality, the episode just headed south.

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Questions and comments to ponder:

• Ofelia, Ofelia, Ofelia. Where do I begin? Mercedes Mason is too much of a gem and too talented to lose—and there is surely no point in killing Ofelia without giving her so much as a glimpse into her story;. But if you’re going to isolate Nick, why Ofelia too? Will everyone just suddenly go off alone? And why, character-wise, would Ofelia make the decision to abandon her group and leave?
• It was so unbelievably good to see more of Colman Domingo’s Strand. He brings so much more charisma to the cast. The brief glimmer of Strand/Alicia we got still stays in my mind. We need more of those two.
• If the Clarks do reunite, I need a big emotional hug between Nick and Alicia. Please. Please.
• Talking of team-ups: Luciana and Madison, anyone?!
• Do you think Madison will kill Alejandro? Tweet us
• One last time: goodbye, Lorenzo Henrie. A fine young actor.