Fear the Walking Dead (TV Series) Captive (2016) User Reviews

Unbearable Characters

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 21 August 2016]

In a cabin of Abigail, Daniel cleans the wound of Reed that is tied up to a chair and brags and threatens Chris and Daniel. When Daniel leaves the cabin, Chris offers to look out for Reed. Meanwhile Madison heads the Abigail to the shipyard where Alicia and Travis are captive and she proposes a trade to Connor: her family per his young brother. Connor accepts to swap but out of the blue, Chris executes Reed. What will Madison do to bring her daughter and her husband back safe and sound?

"Captive" is a good episode of "Fear the Walking Dead". The problem is that the lead characters are unbearable. Chris, Madison and Alicia are awful and non-charismatic and nobody cares whether they will be killed or not. A Question: Why would anyone swap prisoners with a hood covering their faces? My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Captive"

It was okay

[ZegMaarJus · 7/10 · 15 May 2020]

This episode was okay, not good not bad. I expect more Horror this show is often a family drama with a little glimmer of Horror, i thought the potential of the show could have been better.

"Captive" concludes with a dramatic resolution that is both satisfying and thought-provoking, raising questions about the nature of justice and revenge in a lawless world

[fernandoschiavi · 6/10 · 10 April 2024]

The group plans to use the hostage as bait to get back Travis and Alicia. However, after he hits his last nerve, Chris ends up shooting him in the face. Madison worries that Chris is becoming unhinged when he tries lie and say the boy was about to turn. Daniel notices the brain was not damaged and believes the plan can still work.

Alicia attempts to befriend Jack, the boy on the radio, and find her way home on her own, while Travis is locked in a cell. Alex taunts Travis and lets her frustrations on him due to being left behind and Jake dying because of it. Travis manages to convince her that it wasn't his fault. Later, Madison is able to obtain Travis' release, by trading him for the now turned brother of the leader who bites. Everyone, including Alicia manage to escape amidst the chaos.

"Captive," delves into the psychological and moral complexities of captivity and negotiation in the post-apocalyptic world. The episode picks up in the aftermath of the previous episode's confrontation, with members of Madison's group taken hostage by pirates. As negotiations for their release unfold, the narrative explores the themes of power dynamics, manipulation, and the will to survive. The captives face harsh realities and moral dilemmas, providing a deep dive into their characters' psyche and resilience under duress. Meanwhile, Madison's leadership and negotiation tactics highlight her growing adaptability and toughness, qualities essential for survival in this new world order.

The episode is notable for its intense emotional and psychological conflicts. The interactions between captors and captives are charged with tension, revealing the desperation on both sides. This dynamic serves as a powerful backdrop for exploring the blurred lines between victim and aggressor in a world where the usual rules no longer apply. The character development is significant, with each character's choices under pressure revealing deeper layers of their personality and motivations. Particularly compelling is the evolution of Alicia, who displays resourcefulness and strength, hinting at her emerging role as a pivotal character in the series.

"Captive" concludes with a dramatic resolution that is both satisfying and thought-provoking, raising questions about the nature of justice and revenge in a lawless world. The episode expertly balances action with character-driven storytelling, resulting in a tense and engaging narrative that advances the overarching plot while exploring the moral ambiguities of survival. The themes of captivity and freedom are explored not just in the physical sense but also in the psychological impact on the characters, making "Captive" a standout episode that resonates with the series' exploration of human nature in extremis. In summary, this episode excels in its exploration of the complexities of power, survival, and human resilience, marking a high point in the series' narrative arc.

"Captive" Is An Ensemble Episode

[lunasnowhehe · 9/10 · 10 June 2021]

Everyone's skills and minds are put to the test in this episode, and it's wonderful seeing this group of people work together.

great

[rfgtdfgvdfg · 8/10 · 16 November 2023]

2x5 rating: 8.0/10

Storyline: Aboard Connor's ship, he cooks a steak for Alicia in the galley. After he leaves. Vida steals the steak and locks Alicia in the galley. Alicia ventures through an unlocked door and finds herself on the ship's bow with no way to escape. Jack warns her that she's not allowed to roam freely and ushers her back inside. Alicia demands to know if her family made it to safety. Jack agrees to find out.

Aboard the Abigail, a captive Reed informs Daniel that Connor, his brother, has a dozen men and a fleet of five boats and will come looking for him. Daniel allows Chris to stand guard outside Reed's door. Daniel suggests to Madison that they can use Reed's relationship to Connor as leverage. They locate Connor's base by scanning the radar for Connor's fleet. Meanwhile, Strand recovers in the wheelhouse.

Madison steers the Abigail north, but Luis reminds her that they have a small window of time to cross over into Mexico. Madison refuses to abandon her family. Strand agrees to give her half a day to rescue Travis and Alicia. In Spanish, Luis tells Strand that someone is waiting for them and they need to go, but Strand says "he" would understand. Luis counters that he only has enough money for two people to cross the border. "Everything is a negotiation," replies Strand, as Daniel listens in.

Daniel advises Madison to let Nick and Chris help fight Connor's group and urges her to stop treating them like children. Madison ignores his advice. Meanwhile, Jack instructs Alicia to scan their radar for more vessels that his people can hijack. Travis wakes up in a cell and is confronted by Alex, who reveals how desperate they were after being abandoned that she had to euthanize Jake on the raft, and also she is actually the one who informed Connor about the Abigail and also suggesting to capture it. Back on the Abigail, Madison forbids Strand from sending Nick on more errands. Strand argues that Nick knows how to survive, but Madison replies that Strand has never seen Nick in the throes of addiction and worries that he is using again.

As Jack spots the Abigail approaching on the radar, Alicia realizes Reed could not have possibly delivered her family to safety in such a short amount of time. Jack admits that Reed sometimes kills passengers after hijackings and offers to help Alicia find her family. Alicia tells Jack to radio Connor and alert him to a potential target vessel. They plan to escape together while Connor performs reconnaissance on the ship. In his cell, Travis tells Alex that he kept her on the raft because he was worried Jake might be infected. "You knew the right thing to do, and you chose the other," she tells him. Travis apologizes to Alex and shares that he was forced to kill his son's mother, telling her that "it cost a part of me."

Strand spots Connor's fleet docked along the shore and tells Daniel that they've arrived at his base. Reed talks to Chris and riles him up, but Nick shuts the door to tune Reed out. Chris blames himself for allowing Reed's group onto the boat, but Nick assures him it's not his fault. Meanwhile, Alicia and Jake find Travis and tell him they're plotting to escape that night. When Connor radios the Abigail, Madison tells him that they're holding Reed and will trade him for Travis and Alicia. Connor agrees. However, after Madison signs off, Chris shoots Reed and claims he was about to turn. The group finds Reed dead in the cabin with his face blown off. Madison comforts Chris, who realizes that he just destroyed any hopes of getting Travis back safely.

As Travis and Alicia are prepared for the prisoner exchange, Reed turns as Nick and Ofelia clean the blood in his room. Daniel pins Reed to a wall and places a hood over his head. Daniel hears a disembodied voice telling him to "take his gun." Alicia flees from Jack while Madison prepares the zodiac. Nick wants to deliver Reed, but Madison refuses to let him go. She leaves with Reed in the zodiac. Nick and Strand monitor the pier through binoculars and notice that Connor only has Travis. Meanwhile, Alicia comes across Travis' empty cell and is attacked by Vida. Alicia pushes her to the ground and locks her inside the cell. On the pier, Madison hands Reed over to Connor. Connor's men release Travis. Connor removes Reed's hood and is immediately bitten by the infected Reed.

Alicia escapes onto the ship's bow and spots Madison and Travis on the pier, but is cornered by Jack. Jack begs Alicia to stay with him and asks if she really wants to live with the kind of people who abandon survivors like Alex. "I'm sorry," she says and jumps into the water. Madison and Travis rescue her in the zodiac and return to the Abigail.

A Rescue Mission & Some Dumb Decisions

[panagiotis1993 · 7/10 · 16 December 2022]

I didn't expect for one of the characters that Strand left behind to come back, that's interesting. So Chris killed Reed, wow another dumb decision. Each episode has one dumb decision. And it's not the first dumb decision Chris made. Things got more complicated for no reason. Chris said that Reed was about to turn into a zombie but I don't know if I believe him. Also Chris shot Reed in the mouth not the head so that wouldn't prevent Reed from turning, so dumb. Now Connor wouldn't be wrong to wanna kill all of them. Wait, was Daniel hearing voices? That's weird. They should have put a gag in Reed's mouth to stop him from making the zombie sounds. Reed eating Connor was satisfying. Solid episode overall, my rating is 7.4/10.

Pretty Dumb

[puhfyn · 3/10 · 5 July 2016]

Producers - please spend more of the budget on writers. The characters in this show are generally unpalatable, faceless, trite, and boring. I don't care about any of them except for Nick. Nick is actually somewhat believable and compelling, probably because the writers for this show has some experience with drug addiction, which explains why just Nick succeeds as a protagonist while the other characters come off as impossible and woefully unappealing.

The dialogue seems to have gotten worse in this show. There are a lot of awkward scenes, appeals to platitudes and flat character stereotypes, and forced tension and interhuman conflict. The downfall of humans just happened, and human personalities are not going to change this much overnight. The zero-sum conflicts here should be more subtle, and more natural - be creative. I expect to see humans wanting to survive AND wanting to help each other, but some at the last minute deciding self is paramount and doing "unnatural" things to the end of self preservation. The hostilities and wanton violence we've seen so far this season is unconvincing.

So far the weakest episode.

[SamEdgar · 3/10 · 22 November 2018]

A group of scavengers enter the Abigail and capture the main characters. What follows is boring and ridiculous. Besides the dull dialogue, it's the implausible and stupid actions from everyone that make this episode really hard to get through. The second season started off pretty weak, but episode 5 is rock bottom so far...

Embarrassing

[Radiante · 1/10 · 22 April 2017]

This episode is simply embarrassing and ridiculous. The whole issue of swaping hostages (with the caps in the head) is something deeply stupid. In general, and not just in this episode, some characters, like Madison, Alicia and Chris are convoluted, awful, unpleasant and badly characterized. Hopefully things will get better in subsequent episodes.

Trying

[jjawilliams · 2/10 · 14 February 2023]

Trying, trying, trying. I'm trying REALLY HARD to get into this show and the kids are totally ruining it for me. And it's not just simple as they young and this is an unreal situation for them or anything like that. The writers are writing them like there all 8 year olds. NO common sense whatsoever and the decision making they're showing is that of small children. Now some of the adults, mainly Madison, are driving me crazy, but the kids are killing it for me. I thought it started out pretty decent, but I was really feeling anything for the characters, but that's ok. It just started right. So now I'm totally hoping the writers improve on some the the nonsense and get it to the state where TWD was.