Part 2 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462 is now available online after settling into its regular timeslot during the half-hour commercial break during last week’s episode of The Walking Dead. The series, being released in roughly one-minute mini-eps, serves as a pseudo-bridge between TWD and Fear the Walking Dead, portraying how the infection spun quickly out-of-control. One character from the Flight will continue on to season 2 of Fear.
AMC released part 1 of the series on their app before it aired during TWD season premiere (If you haven’t watched it, it’s posted at the end.) They then uploaded it to YouTube and their website. Now they’ll release them concurrently.
News of the new episode has been overshadowed by a real-life incident which is so bizarre it seems (but for its tragic ending) like a promotional stunt. A 24-year-old man on an Aer Lingus flight from Portugal to Ireland began shaking violently before he attacked and bit another passenger, then passed out. A doctor on the flight tried to revive him but there was no pulse, and he was declared dead by paramedics on the ground. Drugs are thought to be involved since a women traveling with the man (who pretended not to know him) had a suitcase full of amphetamines. Nobody else on the flight was affected – at least physically, I’m sure they’re all mentally traumatized.
The passengers on AMC’s Flight 462 are starting to act nearly as squirrelly, starting with the boy that was the focus of the first episode. Frantically texting his mom long after the main cabin door has closed (airplane mode young man!) he looks around with panic when he realizes his messages aren’t getting through. These passengers are now on their own. The woman sitting in front of him who slammed down his window shade in part 1 doesn’t help him relax, peering at him between the seats. However, we know from this promo image she’s going to protect him at some point, so hang in there kid.
Also, the boys seatmate is knitting…with big, pointy needles. Which led me to google whether knitting needles in your carry-on will raise an eyebrow with the TSA. It will not, though they recommend you take wooden or plastic needles, so AMC is obviously using dramatic license to foreshadow weaponry.
In another row, the gentleman who called attention to reports of grounded flights is violently ill – consider this a gag warning if you’re easily triggered. This could be a misdirection but, if AMC keeps releasing one-minute episodes, they only have 14 more minutes of the planned 16-part run to get to the carnage. Then again, as our poor Aer Lingus passengers discovered, real-life horror happens in a second, not a long, slow build scored by creepy music.
If you need to catch up on part 1: