The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 7, Episode 11, “Ofelia,” which aired Sunday, May 1 on AMC.
Fear the Walking Dead Season 7, Episode 11, “Ofelia” is — by no surprise — a focus episode on Daniel and Luciana (affectionately known as Luci). For weeks Fear the Walking Dead has been in a drought of tasteless and stale episodes, but its recent installment might have put a bit of color back into the show’s paleness.
For a quick recap on who Daniel and Luci are, Daniel is a Season 1 character who escaped Los Angeles with the Clarks on Strand’s boat. Alongside him was his daughter Ofelia, who tragically died by a walker bite in Season 3. Luci was introduced back in Season 2 when Nick went rogue and joined her community, La Colonia, on the outskirts of Tijuana. Since Season 3, neither of the characters have had much to go off on story-wise, and been left to turn into forgettable characters in the series.
Fast-forward to Season 7, Episode 11, where both of the characters are able to share a solo episode, but it mainly serves Daniel’s story. When looking at the large set of characters Fear the Walking Dead currently has, Daniel is by far the most interesting, but is never given the proper storyline for his character. In the earlier seasons, he was a loving father with a murderous past that made him the most formidable survivor of the group. However, Ofelia discovering his past as a torturer in a war-ridden El Salvador left him guilt-ridden after her death.
Nowadays, Daniel is sadly deduced to the “old man” arc, where his deteriorating memory defines who he is as a character. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Daniel was a secret agent who ruthlessly killed over 100 people whenever he’s complaining that he lost his cat or when characters only refer to him when they’re talking about him “losing it.” It’s a disgrace to his character, who is truly defined by the regret of lying to Ofelia, but also knows the right place and time to bring out the torturer within.
This brings Fear the Walking Dead to his solo episode, which starts off with Luci helping him improve his memory through a card game. Every character — including Luci — treats him as a broken child, yet they decide to leave him alone in the submarine when they go out searching for weapons. It’s a reckless act that ends with Luci and Wes searching for Daniel, who escaped to look for Ofelia (he still believes she’s alive). By pure dumb coincidence, Arnold and his crew of Stalkers (yes, that’s what they call themselves) find and capture them because… they just hate each other.
The majority of the episode stays within Fear the Walking Dead‘s story parameters that are limited to “bad guy finds good guy, but good guy kills them to escape and save everyone else,” but it does give good character work for Daniel and Luci. Daniel uses everyone’s perception of him as a delusional man to deceive the Stalkers into letting them go. However, the only way Daniel retreats back into his old self is when he thinks about Ofelia, who he believes is being held captive by Strand.
Luci pops in to be a useful character for once by lying to Daniel, telling him that Ofelia needs his help. It’s a deceptive, cold choice to use Daniel’s memory of Ofelia to get him to infiltrate the Tower, but it’s about time one of these characters isn’t purely good. Fear the Walking Dead‘s core characters are the most boring characters on-screen right now because their intents are so disgustingly righteous. Every “good guy” is concerned with one thing: saving their people and finding them a safe place. While Luci’s decision to trick Daniel comes from this desire, she’s at least a little morally corrupt while doing it.
Fear the Walking Dead has failed most of its OG characters, but it’s at least trying to show they still care. With Madison soon returning, Alicia getting a little more screen time and Daniel and Luci getting a solo episode, Fear the Walking Dead seems to be preparing for a revival that will reminiscent the earlier seasons. It’s a long shot, but “Ofelia” may be the step in the right direction for Fear the Walking Dead to turn itself around from this horrible mess it’s currently in.
New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead air Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and are available to stream a week early on AMC+.
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