TV Review: Fear the Walking Dead (Season 2, Episode 14)

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Season 2, Episode 14: Wrath

PLOT: The Colonia el Porvenir begins to crumble as peace goes out the window at the Rosarito Beach Hotel.

REVIEW: And there was much rejoicing, as the penultimate episode of Fear the Walking Dead's second season delivered two of the things I most wanted out of this show.

The smile began to creep across my face when Derek (Kenny Wormald) and Brandon (Kelly Blatz), those douchebag dude-bros that Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) was last seen choosing over his desperate father Travis (Cliff Curtis), showed up at the Rosarito Beach Hotel with a tale of their poor dead buddy who crashed their truck – a 16-year-old who didn't have a license yet. Now that scene several episodes ago where Travis was giving Chris driving lessons doesn't seem so pointless. I felt like I didn't need to see Chris learning how to drive when it was presented to me, but now it has purpose, as his lack of driving experience has played directly into his apparent demise. Sorry, Fear the Walking Dead, I thought you were wasting my time with that one, but you were actually just building up to a crowd pleasing revelation.

Chris was both a frustrating and captivating character. Clearly mentally off-balance, he could have become a great villain, he could have gone on to do some very sick and twisted things… But he was also incredibly annoying, and I wanted him dead. On one hand, I feel like his death has come too early. In one episode, Travis loses his grip on the kid, and in the next the kid is dead. Even if Chris wasn't destined to achieve villain status, they still could have milked his turn to the dark side a while longer. That is the leitmotif on this show; they'll milk the quiet moments, but fast forward through the most promising stuff. See the quick resolution of the pirate problem earlier this season. But on the other hand, Chris deserved to die, so good riddance.

Someone who obviously disagrees with my view on Chris is Travis, and he disagrees so intensely that it causes some major trouble at the hotel refuge his girlfriend Madison (Kim Dickens) has helped secure.

Meanwhile, at the Colonia el Porvenir, the show gave me that other thing I was hoping for – the exposure of community leader Alejandro (Paul Calderon) as a fraud. This guy has been grating on my nerves for several episodes now, spewing his nonsense, claiming to be immune to zombie bites, and he was brought down off his pedestal in glorious fashion tonight.

It doesn't look like the Colonia is going to make it past the end of this season, despite a valiant effort to save it with drugs, and I'll be glad to get out of that place.

Wrath was all about giving me what I wanted, so I have to rank it as one of the best episodes of season two. The Colonia crumbling, Chris dying, Ofelia (Mercedes Mason) stopping by to defend her crown as Claw Hammer Queen, Travis's titular wrath, this was a fun one to watch. For once, an episode didn't offer up anything that made me ask "Why is this happening? How this could this possibly be imporant?" It got to the point, and was all the better for it.

BEST ZOMBIE MOMENT: When that walker clamped its teeth down on Alejandro's arm, I felt like cheering.

GORY GLORY: The walker ripping off a victim's nose was pretty cool, but it was even cooler to see Nick (Frank Dillane), always such a zombie sympathizer, have to off a walker by sticking his fingers through its eyes.

FAVORITE SCENE: The Chris flashback.

FINAL VERDICT: