Fear The Walking Dead: That’s a killer way to start new series

The double episode launch of Fear The Walking Dead had some shocking moments — and the death of a popular character as well.

WE have become used to The Walking Dead killing off fan favourite characters. But to see Fear The Walking Dead kill off Travis so early in the season was an eye-opener.

Perhaps not quite as much of an eye-opener as when Madison stuck a spoon into the eye socket of new character Troy and promised to scoop out his eyeball, but it was close.

The double episode launch has set things up for a fascinating third series.

Watching Travis die was hard, and to see it happen like that was a blow. I thought he was going to sacrifice himself to save Nick and Luciana. It nearly happened that way. To go down in a random shooting seems a little careless at first viewing.

Travis is gone, but not before he took down a pit full of Walkers in a way that would have warmed Rick Grimes’ heart.

But, when you analyse the episode, you see that he had to go.

The new, violent Travis was never going to be able to last at the ranch. After the way Troy treated him, and threw him into a pit full of Walkers, he was never going to be able to live on Troy’s father’s ranch. So by painting himself red with Walker blood, he actually painted himself into a corner.

Still, there is no denying it was a huge shock. All three of the Manawa family are now dead, when the premise of the show was the blended Clark and Manawa families surviving together.

Now, he is still listed on IMDB as being in every episode of series three — but that is surely to avoid the spoiler giveaway. How could he survive that fall?

The next big shock was that Ofelia did not feature in either episode. Naturally she will be back but why not in the first two? has she been captured by another group of the Ottos’ militia? or is it some other pack of wackos dressed in combat gear?

I mean, we saw Strand again, and while it was reassuring to see he will be an ongoing part of the story, it seemed like the hotel was kissed goodbye a bit too quickly.

Strand has left the hotel for parts unknown. We want to follow his story.

Surely the hotel had to be swamped by an army of Walkers as a finish. Or maybe it will in a future episode ...

But back to the ranch, where the Clarks (Alicia, Nick and Madison) have wound up on the ranch run by Russell Otto and his two sons, the lunatic Troy and the decent Jake.

No doubt they are fundamentalist Christians as well as Doomsday Preppers, so will it be a case of an eye for an eye with Troy and Madison?

A ranch full of wacky Doomsday Preppers looks like the perfect base for the series. There is going to be plenty of conflict — and that’s before Madison meets Nick’s new lover, Luciana.

Thankfully it appears to be a long way from the snore-fest that was Hershel’s Farm.

Alycia Debnam-Carey has promised her character Alicia is going to go a bit Michonne on us this season.

We spoke to Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia Clark) and she hinted that Madison was going to go all Carol on us this season, while she was going to take on more of a Michonne-type role.

Sounds good!

Fear The Walking Dead continues from next Monday at 7.30pm on Foxtel’s FX Channel.