Fear the Walking Dead 405 – Laura
A flashback into John Dorie’s past opens Laura, this week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead. The meticulous care John devotes to his antique guns is a window into the soul of the man. John’s life, pre-Morgan and the gang, is a solitary one filled with foraging for food, watching television, dealing with walkers and solo games of scrabble. This all changes with the arrival of a wounded woman on his doorstep and surprise, surprise it’s Naomi.
To avoid any confusion, Laura and Naomi are one in the same. Unwilling to provide John with a name, he dubs her Laura and even though his engaging and welcoming ways are open to her she maintains a protective level of distance and secrecy. Although Laura is itching to be on her way the pair do find some common ground and offer a sliver of light into each of their pasts. John’s methods for keeping his sanity in the apocalypse are interesting and his former life as a policeman continues to inform his moral compass.
Functioning like a two-person romantic stage play, Laura delves into the connection that Laura and John begin to develop. Although the world is in chaos, these two strangers warm up to each and begin to heal not only physically, but emotionally as well. People being people though, things are never as they seem. Repressed anger, issues of trust and a faulty bridge over troubled waters mar any potential chances the couple may have had.
Dorie’s reluctance to bear arms and the event that changes his mind has ripples that extend into the current timeline on Fear the Walking Dead. Unwilling to embrace the pain of his past, Laura opened his heart to possibilities he thought were gone forever. Now with both guns in his possession he’s reclaimed a little of what he’s lost but his tale also provides inspiration to those around him. Morgan also sees the light and realizes that there is hope out there for them, as long as they are willing to embrace it.
Laura, is a heartfelt study of how broken individuals can find their way through the darkness if they are willing and able. With such a bleak start to the season perhaps some of the sunshine of the past will find a path to those who need it in the present.
