Fear the Walking Dead 304: VIP
Welcome back Daniel Salazar – your presence has been sorely missed. Now that viewers can rest assured that the final moments of last week’s episode weren’t a part of Strand’s dehydrated hallucinations, a lingering question remains: Just how did Daniel escape the fire? Well VIP focuses on events after Daniel set fire to the compound and what led him to back into Strand’s orbit.
VIP flashes back to just after the events of the Season 2 finale to find Daniel roaming the streets suffering form burns to his body. After a close scrape with a walker, he’s found by a stranger who transports him to a small band of people in the city. While there Daniel receives medical attention from a young woman who is able to save his badly injured leg..
VIP revisits some of Daniel’s history and reaffirms that he’s still haunted by the demons of his past. After some truly divine intervention Daniel finds himself at the Gonzalez Dam and once again in the presence of the young woman who nursed him back to health. The young woman ironically is also in charge of water treatment at the dam and smuggles Daniel into the facility as a janitor to keep him safe.
It doesn’t take long for trouble to find its way to Daniel when Dante’s Head of Security takes issue with him. The altercation during lunch comes to a swift close but not before Daniel comes face-to-face with Dante. Daniel’s past a soldier in the army earns him Dante’s respect and admiration.
Dante’s admiration comes at a price however and Daniel soon finds himself working the new King of Water. Daniel’s new world is fraught with unseen pitfalls and as he tries to set things right his actions only lead to more heartbreak. You really have to feel for Daniel and the sorrow on his face when he realizes the futility of his good deeds only leads to more pain is palpable.
The last few scenes of VIP are tense, harrowing and certainly unexpected. What unfolds afterwards is anybody’s guess but Fear the Walking Dead is quickly becoming anything but predictable. The return of Daniel Salazar is a triumphant one and has opened the door to a myriad of narrative possibilities. VIP is the best episode of the season and sets the stage for Fear the Walking Dead to truly find its own unique voice and reach new heights.
