Thread:Fedora Kid/@comment-24141224-20150827033255/@comment-1734566-20150827042056

I honestly really enjoyed it. I like that it (as of now, at least) it has a much smaller and more concise cast, with just the right amount of side characters who are all pretty much doomed anyway. Obviously, I really like the build-up to the outbreak in that it hasn't all gone to hell yet - people are still literally joking about the sickness like it's just another swine flu or something. And even the initial disbelief, like the teens scoffing at the viral video, calling it "fake," etc., to me, perfectly captures just how our society would actually treat the initial signs of something of this magnitude.

As far as the characters themselves go, the only one that stands out to me is the son, Nick, and that's mainly because the actor playing him, Frank Dillane, is absolutely amazing in his performance. His two separate monologues (first in the hospital bed, and then to his drug dealer) were absolutely captivating. I think I'll enjoy the main character Travis, but mostly because of the actor playing him. Cliff Curtis is fine, obviously, because he's Cliff Curtis; just as Ruben Blades will be fine because he's Ruben Blades (but we haven't even got to his family yet). The girl, I guess is technically a good actress - she plays up the role of "bratty, stereotypical teenage girl" right to the tee, even if the character is so plainly written and one-dimensional. The one major character who's not doing much magic for me is the main woman. Not only is she inconsistent and comes across as dumb and/or uncaring, but the actress playing her is really not that great. Like, at all. But fortunately, Cliff Curtis should be enough to take the focus away from her.

All in all, I gave the series premiere a 9/10, and I highly anticipate a fresh start for this spin-off that vows to leave behind all the bad things that Walking Dead did wrong (the soap opera-esque drama, etc.). It is technically starting off with all the typical tropes you'd see in an American disaster movie (divorced couple, daddy issues, drug/sex problems, bladda-bladda-bladda), but I think most of those should be quickly dealt with once the actual apocalypse breaks out. From the trailers, it looks like it'll be The Purge 2 all up in this sh** once it hits the fan, lol.