World-building can’t be the only intrigue, and yet that seems to be what we’re left with.
It does,as showrunner Matt Negrete teased prior, have aStand By Mefeel to it.
But the characters of these teens are boring by comparison.
And that, too, is sullied by bland writing and performances.
The only piece worth taking away this episode is Felix.
But even then, his dad wouldn’t let him inside the house.
“We were already killing ourselves directly and indirectly,” Elton says.
“Nature just took a shortcut.”
We’ll see if that becomes something explored more.
For now, there’s a trash fire to deal with.
More specifically, a tire fire.
The kids have to cross through something called the BOG (Blaze of Gory).
Some think it’s a Biblical, unquenchable fire to mark the end times.
Iris is all about this belief that she’s ready to face the world even though she’s not.
She thought she could fight the walker and couldn’t finish the job.
Still, as a group, they decide to proceed.
Along the way, they encounter an empty, who’s more like an animated beehive.
It opens its mouth and bees attack the kids.
Later that night, they take shelter in a tree fort reminiscent ofStand By Me.
In the middle of the night, Hope wakes up and deals with the empty.
The kids reach the BOG the next day.
They just have to make it through the field of crashed buses.
They decide to head out 30 minutes before dawn.
While they remember all the lessons they learned in their classroom, applying those practices is another thing.
The smoke blocks out their view of the sun, which disorients them.
That was just the space surrounding it.
They soon realize there are piles and piles of tires, all ablaze, that they must navigate.
