And then it happens. Like a bolt from the blue or a spark from a zombie virus jump starting neurons in a lifeless brain, something suddenly lurches into action and the result is almost worth all the effort it took to get this far. Obviously, I’m referring to the fact that after three episodes of relative boredom, Daryl Dixon’s relocation to Spain has finally paid off with La Justicia Fronteriza, which stands arguably as the best episode that the spin off has had since the first season.
While it seems that I’m constantly referring back to the glory days of The Walking Dead, where a sudden and brutal action episode would not only rug pull the status quo into oblivion, but we’d constantly get new and evermore disturbing ways to use Zombies as offensive weapons, it’s still a genuine kick when the new stuff manages to get it right; but while we’ve still got a bit of work to do when it comes to salvaging an actual plot, this welcome segue into battle proves to be muy bienvenido.
Things still seem to be turning at an alarmingly slow rate at Solaz del Mar, even after the events of Justina offering herself up in place of her friend to be traded to El Alcázar for guns an protection. Roberto isn’t happy, of course, and is ranting and threatening anyone who’ll listen as he goes through the whole emotion set of an angry lover – but while his words seem that of enraged youth, they’re still cutting enough that Fede is holding his father Antonio responsible. Meanwhile, all Daryl seems to give a shit about is fixing his damn boat and getting the fuck back on the ocean, but while Carol tries to tug on his heart strings, his plans to leave are scuppered when Roberto changes his mind about leaving.
However, just before we’re convinced that we’re stuck in another episode that’s annoyingly going nowhere fast, Solaz del Mar is suddenly attack by a marauding force made up of a berserker community decked out in horned masks and slashing weapons. We later discover that these are Los Primitivos, a savage group who believe in destroying everything that’s survived the fall and aren’t afraid of dying to accomplish their goal. As the battle draws into the night, Los Primitivos prove to have quite a disturbingly novel use for Walkers during open warfare when they hammer the city with balls of flaming zombies launched by catapults.
Soon, with help from Daryl, Carol and the various weapons obtained from El Alcázar, the flood of lunatics and the flaming dead are eventually subdued – but with it comes a more complex issue.
While Fede maintains that their victory over Los Primitivos is thanks to their new weapons is proof that the deal with El Alcázar is indeed beneficial, Roberto is incensed that the protection they’ve “bought” with their offerings garnered them no safety whatsoever and speeds off to get Justina back. Obviously, massive ramifications are forthcoming.
While I wouldn’t exactly say that La Justicia Fronteriza is the redemptive shot in the arm the season was needing, it certainly proves to be a massive step forward in the right direction. Unfortunately, the drama element is still fairly stale with the episode cooking up random issues to keep everyone vaguely busy until the flaming zombies start flying – the best it can offer Norman Reedus is that Daryl is getting vaguely bratty about anyone other than Roberto joining them on their voyage back to America as he offers a terse “we’ll be fine” in response to the reasonable opinion of no one wanting him and Carol to attempt an Atlantic crossing on their own. Carol, on the other hand, continues having brief, gentle moments with Alberto and has yet another quiet spot of reminiscence about her long lost daughter in between bouts of trying to get grumpy old Daryl to appreciate the concept of young love.
Meanwhile, the rest of the cast go through the motions before it’s time to start running and fighting, but it’s just mostly stuff laying out stuff we already knew. Fede is growing ever more frustrated with Roberto’s troublemaking, Robero blames Fede for everything and Paz’s entire plot thread about her former lesbian relationship with Guillermo’s wife seems to be virtually nonexistent at the moment. The episode seemingly doesn’t even seem to know what to do with the newly introduced Valentina for the time being other than making jibes about Carol and Daryl dating, which is even more of a shame considering how much of an impact she made last episode.
By then shit gets crazy and just like that, we once again get that taste of just how good The Walking Dead used to be when it managed to get those old juices flowing and the episode remembers the cardinal rule of staging a sizable battle scene within a story and that’s staging it as a self contained story film within the story you’re already telling. The battle starts small, with the armoured up horde of Los Primitivos attempting to pick off the members of Solaz del Mar who aren’t “safe” within the confines of the city – luckily (but not for Los Primitivos) they prove to be our virtually unkillable leads who manage to stab, shoot and bludgeon their way back to the city. However, once there the fun really starts when we shift into a seige mentality and the townsfolk push together despite their differences and it’s a smart character moments to see Fede truly fight for his community and even gets injured for his troubles. Up until this moment, the character has been portrayed as the town leader who is very much on board with the sinister demands placed in his community, but watching him get well and truly stuck into the battle shows us that he really does care about Solaz del Mar, even though it does raises questions about how far he’ll go to defend it. However, you know you’ve got a great Walking Dead battle on your hands when it comes with an innovative new make to make the undead even more destructive. The vision of a flaming ball of body parts busting apart on impact to reveal blazing Walkers emerging from a pile of flaming bodies is exactly the type of nightmarish image the series used to deliver on a weekly basis.
Once Los Primitivos are finally vanquished and the burning zombies a first put down and then put out, the melodrama kicks back in and normal, rather sluggish service is resumed. However, while I can hardly say that Dixon’s third season has been playing things coy in order to blow up the budget on battle scenes and whatever comes next (creating a ruined, deserted London in the first episode hardly comes cheap), there’s the hope that the sight of a Spanish barbarian horde attacking a city means that momentum will hopefully once again pick up and the promise of the season will finally be realised. I mean, you can’t expect immolated walking corpses to solve all of your problems, right…?
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