Fear the Walking Dead
Season 5 / Episode 12 - "Ner Tamid"
Charlie: Children are curious, but Charlie's questions to the rabbi were too much on the exposition side for the audience, and brought up a problem with Charlie as a character: what is her purpose now? I assume she's long past the guilt stage of killing Nick (since Alicia forgave her), so her journey is undefined. She just seeks to buddy-up with random adults--first Daniel,(a man she doesn't know well at all) and now its the rabbi. Again, not much of a purpose, other than "we need a safe place" idea that everyone is looking for, so its not a unique plot point for her.
Rabbi: The Walking Dead showrunners and their selective treatment of religion, and it comes in two parts: aside from the rinse and repeat of a religious figure believing his troubles were (in part) tied to a negative past with his congregation (Father Gabriel), the glaring difference here is that characters like Hershel Greene were often mocked for his beliefs (not happening in this case) , or not trusted from the start / always having to "prove" himself, no matter how many positive and/or heroic acts he performed for others (Father Gabriel). And before anyone mentions Gabriel warning Deanna about Rick's group made him untrustworthy, it must be remembered that this was the period not long after the slaughter of the Terminus survivors in his church, and the impression that wherever they go, people end up dead (as in the failed rescue of Beth, and Tyreese being fatally bitten not long after). So, in the timeline, his concerns were legitimately motivated.
The second part is the idea of a religious person or leader either abandoning faith (in TWD S4, even Hershel admitted that he had briefly "lost his way"), while the show's survivalist (as in violent survivalist's) rarely have any crisis of belief, which is unrealistic, since they are in what they perceive to be a permanent disaster zone (the world), so they have to be motivated not to blow their brains out by something. Either a belief in something larger than themselves (IOW, not the atheistic / quasi-feudalistic system of Negan and the Saviors, or scavenging barbarity of the Wolves or the "Claimed" gang). But this is never explored--that kind of character is just allowed to be strong until they run out of luck / run into the Bigger Bad. Without a greater belief / foundation or purpose, humans living in a world overrun by the cannibalistic dead would be among the first to fall apart, but again, the WD TV franchise loves to drape that doubt or crisis on the religious characters, when they would likely have stronger internal tools from which to draw strength either to live another day, or see a day beyond the ZA.
John Dorie / June: Er..the reason they never carry tools like spears, bats, or hammers? That would have solved the issue of being cornered by walkers, and give a bit of distance when striking. Have thy learned nothing from Morgan?
Dwight: Its good to see him sort of settling into being a part of the group, but as mentioned in other reviews, I'm hoping this does not lead to another, possibly fatal encounter with the Logan-ite he spared, or he learns Sherry is among the group they are fighting, leading to his final fork in the road.
NOTES: So, Logan's gang reach the quarry where the gas is stored. From the previews, Wendell sort of looks like he's up the creek without a paddle (again, as in the runway/lighting scene weeks ago), while there's just chaos all around. From the fires, one might guess the gas supply might end up being wasted/weaponized.
GRADE: C+.
