In the world of the Walking Dead committing an evil act out of fear is exactly the same as committing an evil act because of intent

Rubén Blades who plays Daniel Salazar on AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, said something really interesting in last night's episode, entitled, "Not Fade Away." After Madison Clark's character returned from her afternoon adventure in which (to her horror) she found evidence that the military "protecting them" was killing innocent Americans, he told her of this story from when he was a boy. The military had come to his village in El Salvador, taken people away, and when he asked his father where they had taken them he was reassured that they would all come home again. He didn't think anything of it until he found them all in the river. His father told him, "Men don't do bad things because they are evil. They do evil out of fear." And then Mr. Salazar said, "My father was wrong. There's no difference between the two."

It's this that I wanted to talk about. At first I thought that Daniel meant there's no difference between evil and fear. However, that didn't make sense. Then another interpretation occurred to me: Daniel was saying that people who commit evil acts out of fear are exactly the same as those who commit evil acts just because, well...they're evil.

Within the framework of The Walking Dead world, I find this thought particularly troubling because what does it say about Rick Grimes? He's our protagonist from the series that launched Fear the Walking Dead, and we ended last season with him doing particularly evil actions out of fear. So really, Rick (who started the series as a hero and with a heart of gold) has made a transformation to being an anti-hero...to essentially being the villain. At least that's the conclusion I'm left with when I consider the wisdom of Daniel Salazar's words.

What do you guys think? Is committing an evil act out of fear any different than committing an evil act because you intended to do so?

Fear the Walking Dead is already better than The Strain and it's only one episode in.

The pilot for Fear the Walking Dead was really really good. It accomplished for me what another apocalyptic undead tale, The Strain, simply fails at. In the 90 minute pilot we got introduced to a junkie named Nick Clark, who stumbles his way around a derelict church where all the other junkies have been killed and eaten presumably by his friend Gloria (a zombie) who (I think) probably overdosed on heroin and then became a walker. And although there was plenty of gore, the show emphasized suspense and atmosphere over action, and in this prequel (which takes place during Rick Grimes' coma) it really works.

The thing that I love about the show are the ominous portrayal of events. A troubled student hints that something strange has started happening across the country. Then there are the horrific events that went down at the church where all the junkies shoot up. There's moody, cinematic lighting, sound, and pacing that actually had me a bit "on edge" even though I just met these characters. And then there's the traffic grinding to a halt with helicopters blaring for "all people to stay with their cars." It's the kind of thing that has just enough "down the rabbit hole" content to it to engender a sense of disquiet and unease in the audience. It's masterful storytelling, and I can't wait until next week's episode.

I almost wish I could tell these characters that what they are witnessing is not just a phenomenon. It is the end of the world, and the crazy has only just barely started.

Fear the Walking Dead actually looks better than The Walking Dead. How is that even possible?

You all know how much of a HUGE fan I am of The Walking Dead. I like the characters, the setting, zombies...what more could you ask for from an ongoing series? Everybody else seems to agree with me because The Walking Dead is a monster hit. In the world of cable shows, it's basically what Harry Potter was to young adult fiction. With only a couple weeks and counting from the premiere, AMC released another trailer with some "behind the scenes" peeks at the series from showrunner Dave Erickson and many of the cast members.

What can you expect from season 1? Well it's going to take place in the time that Rick was in a coma (a period of about five weeks). But what I get from the sneak peek embedded below is a tremendous sense of dread, fear, and full on horror. It also promises to be action-packed because we all know how the world basically ends. That it ends in a mere five weeks is incredible. Imagine going from everything that we take for granted right now to five weeks later where we see the total and complete collapse of civilization as we know it.