Fear the Walking Dead saw a wayward Chris make a consequential choice and showrunner Dave Erickson dishes on why.
Warning: Spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 2, Episode 13, “Date of Death.”
Fear the Walking Deadis readying the rollout of its final two episodes, concluding a sophomore season for the spinoff that was as structurally split as the eventual state of the show’s blended Clark and Manawa family. Yet, one of its gestating storylines has showed the slow descent of young Chris Manawa from confused attention-seeking teen into a creepy post-apocalyptic sociopath. However, the episode, “Date of Death” seemed to showcase the crucial trajectory of Chris’s arc.
In an interview with EW, Fear the Walking Dead showrunner Dave Erickson breaks down the disturbing descent into savagery that has befallen Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) who intigated an act that many would consider to be an egregious, unforgivable betrayal of his father Travis (Cliff Curtis). While teenagers falling in with a bad crowd normally results in slumping grades or maybe a run-in with cops, Chris – said to be “barely 16 years old” – has upped the ante with a group of roaming ravaging young American gringo guys south of the border.
Yet, Chris, who, in the cause of helping his “friends,” has already murdered an innocent farmer in cold blood who was protecting his property, compounded his actions in the latest episode, choosing to abandon his morality preaching father to continue running with the ignominious apocalypse bros. However, Chris’s act of ditching his father was apparently an oblique act of love. As Erickson explains:
“[F]or Chris, he’s finally found a group with whom he feels his place. It becomes pretty simple for Chris in this episode. And by the end of it, it really is Chris that’s trying to educate his father. It’s really Chris trying to say, “This is the world and you need to embrace it. And I don’t think you can. And as long as you can’t, I think it is better that I am with these guys and you’re by yourself.”
While Travis spent time trying to set Chris on the ethical straight and narrow, Chris – in his own misguided manner – reversed the parental dynamic, trying to convey to his father the way of the new world and also get him safely away from his friends, who were close to killing the pesky paternal gadfly. While Chris’s actions also include deceiving his father so that his young American cohorts could (unnecessarily) euthanize their injured friend to relieve themselves of “dead weight,” his underlying intentions were apparently to help Travis. Relieved of the hopeless mission of trying to “fix” Chris, Travis was free to seek out prospective happiness with his partner Madison and the others in the Clark family (as he eventually did).
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Ambivalence has always been the primary attribute of the confused Chris, who we first met in the streets of L.A. protesting the police shooting of some homeless, who unbeknownst to him, were actually early infected. Now, stuck in a zombie apocalypse in which he witnessed his father mercy-killing his walker-bit mother, he’s in the polar opposite place of his early righteousness and there seems to be nothing that can be done to remedy the situation. Yet, while Travis made the choice to leave Chris (which was technically forced upon him,) he will always be filled with doubts. As Erickson further elaborates:
“I’ve got two teenage sons as well, and as a father, you will never forgive yourself for that because you will always second-guess, and you will always wonder. The reality is, if he had tried to forcibly make Chris stay, would he have faced a beating? Would he have ended up dead? That’s what Chris is worried about. But whether he should have done more or not — he’s always going to feel that he should and that’s something that Travis will carry now for the rest of the season and into season 3 as well.”
However, with “Date of Death” also dangling a post-climax teaser moment in which Chris’s amoral running buddies show up at the hotel, minus Chris, it’s clear that the boy’s path has not yet seen its final destination. How do we know? Well, because Erickson states explicitly that, “Chris is out there. We will answer the question of “Where’s Chris?” in the final two episodes, and that’s part of the story to be told.”
Fear the Walking Dead will close out Season 2 on AMC by dropping a doubleheader of episodes on October 2 (this Sunday).