Fear the Walking Dead 410 – Close Your Eyes
With torrential rain drenching the landscape and high winds tossing walkers through the air, things can’t get any bleaker than they already are on Fear the Walking Dead. The storm whipping across the land mirrors the turmoil bubbling inside of Alicia’s broken soul. Seeking refuge from the tempest, she breaks into an abandoned house. Empty, save for the family of walkers that once inhabited it, the house offers Alicia some time to reflect on what she’s lost. Unable to stomach the sight of anything that echoes the family that’s been torn from her she quickly dispatches the walkers and any photographic evidence of their former lives into the yard just beyond the front door.
Despite her best efforts to be the apocalypse’s version of Greta Garbo, Alicia’s plans go up in flames when she discovers Charlie hiding out in the very same house. That girl is everywhere it seems and now she’s alone with the one individual in the group that hates her the most. Distraught at seeing the person responsible for the deaths of her mother and brother, Alicia bolts from the house but ends up right where she started a few moments later after an unfortunate incident with a car door.
Close Your Eyes is a painful study of two broken girls, who in another more peaceful time could have been friends. Alicia’s rage and Charlie’s silence creates a tense and interesting dynamic between the two. Faced with painful reminders of the agony she’s been forced to endure, Alicia’s grip on sanity is a tenuous one with some disturbing scenes punctuating the depths of her despair. She’s not the only one spiraling out of control though. Charlie has her own demons to slay and her past actions force her to try and come to terms with what she’s done.
The twist in Close Your Eyes isn’t unexpected but it does shift the narrative in a necessary direction. Alicia’s quest for vengeance against a minor isn’t something Fear the Walking Dead could’ve traded on for too much longer. The strong performances from both actresses are the real highlights of the episode. Operating under uncomfortable conditions they deliver performances that negate some of the hiccups surrounding the perhaps expedited resolution to the Charlie/Alicia conflict. Close Your Eyes allows for Charlie and Alicia to sidestep the clouds they’ve been under and gives their characters the opportunity to forge new bonds to replace the ones they’ve lost. Fear the Walking Dead is an ensemble but with the departures of Kim Dickens and Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam-Carey is poised to assume a much larger role on the show.
