TV Review: Fear the Walking Dead (Season 2, Episode 11)

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Season 2, Episode 11: Pablo & Jessica

PLOT: The hotel action continues while Nick puts his drug knowledge to use at the Colonia.

REVIEW: The eleventh episode of Fear the Walking Dead's second season picks up from the cliffhanger ending of episode nine, answering the question that last week's episode left hanging: What did Madison (Kim Dickens) and Strand (Colman Domingo) do to escape the zombie-filled hotel bar where they were trapped? The answer is, they really didn't do all that much before falling back on a zombie survival tactic that is hugely over-used on this show. They coated themselves with zombie gore so the walkers wouldn't recognize them as regular humans / potential meals. Coating yourself in zombie guts to get around in a world overrun by the walking dead is a clever idea and all, but it's one that has been run deep into the ground at this point. I'd be quite happy to go a stretch of several episodes without seeing people wipe walker blood on themselves. 

Thankfully, that's only a stepping stone on the way to the most interesting aspect of this episode, which is when Madison, Strand, and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) work to bring the two separate groups of people they're inhabiting the hotel with together so they can clear out the zombie infestation and take over the hotel for good. I like this storyline not only because taking post-apocalyptic residence in a three building, seventeen floor hotel is almost up there with taking over a mall DAWN OF THE DEAD-style in my "cool book", but also because it's nice to see our main characters working to bring people together. On a show where it so often feels like we're watching the villains, it gives me a glimmer of hope to see them conducting themselves like decent human beings.

The two groups in the hotel do have reason enough not to get along. Represented by Andres Londono as Oscar and Brenda Strong as Irene, the surviving guests hold hotel employee Elena (Karen Bethzabe) responsible for the deaths of many of their friends and family, including newlywed bride Jessica. Jessica was already toast before Elena made the decision to lock the guests in a death trap, but even so, it's going to take a lot for people to let that slide. This should provide some interesting tension among characters as the show moves forward.

Meanwhile at the Colonia el Porvenir, recovering addict Nick (Frank Dillane) is gaining acceptance among the community by using his knowledge of drugs as a way to clean up his own mess. A couple episodes ago, Nick got on the bad side of a group of very dangerous men, and now the community leaders are happy with him for buying them time with those men through the actions he takes in this episode. But how much time could he possibly be buying? That scenario is a ticking time bomb… And I don't mind, as honestly I'll be fine with it if and when the Colonia collapses. These people have a grating outlook on the dead, and I don't like the story they're building up about Alejandro (Paul Calderon) maybe, possibly, if he's not full of it, being immune to zombie bites. I don't want to seem too unyielding in my view of zombies, but okay, I am – I don't like the thought that anyone could be immune to a zombie bite. I'm really hoping Alejandro will be exposed as a liar, right around the time that he gets bitten and infected.

Not even the romance that's starting to bloom between Nick and the Colonia's resident badass Luciana (Danay Garcia) as she deals with the loss of her brother Pablo is enough to get me to care about what's going on with this community. Wipe it out and let's focus on the hotel stuff.

Overall, I found Pablo & Jessica to be a very middle-of-the-road episode of this series. It wasn't as bad as some of the episodes that have preceded it have been, but it also wasn't exceptional. Like Madison and Strand's idea to rub on some zombie guts, this felt like it was just a stepping stone to other things – namely, bigger and better things in the form of a hotel residency. That's an intriguing, fun idea, and I hope this show will be latching onto it and running with it for a while. I don't expect a hotel residency to last too long, the place draws too much attention to itself and is a prime target for scavengers, but it could be entertaining while it lasts. Pablo & Jessica isn't great itself, but it has kernels of promise for the future.

BEST ZOMBIE MOMENT: The survivors' realization that it would be easier to herd the zombies out of the hotel rather than clear the place floor-by-floor led to a decent sequence in which they walk the dead out into a riptide.

GORY GLORY: There was a whole lot of bashing and stabbing walkers in the head, but nothing jaw-dropping. Madison and Strand giving themselves a zombie gutbath was the goriest moment, but I don't want to honor that repetitious element of the show.

FAVORITE SCENE: The Best Zombie Moment, the herding of the zombies into the sea, has to get this honor as well.

FINAL VERDICT: