Spoilers ahead for last night's episode of Fear The Walking Dead.
Season 3 of AMC's Fear The Walking Dead is a game changer for the young series, as its cast becomes more deadly and badass than ever before. But this season also flipped the script when it came to presumed dead character Daniel Salazar, who made a surprise appearance in last week's cliffhanger. The newest installment is capsule episode for Daniel, merging the past with the present timeline. But the episode is also notable for being 95% in Spanish, save from a scene between Stand and the Salazar. So why did the network make such am ambitious decision? For accuracy, mostly.
Fear The Walking Dead showrunner Dave Erickson recently spoke to EW about the decision to have most of "100"'s dialogue spoken in Spanish. And while he's cognizant that this may frustrate some fans, he thinks its the right decision.
I hope that people don't get frustrated by the subtitles, but creatively, it just made sense. That was not something that I was concerned with and it's not something that the network ever expressed any worry over either, so it's just what it is. I mean, if you're telling a story that's set in Mexico and the characters are all Spanish-speaking characters, there's no reason to play it in English. If we had thrown in a character who was English-speaking just to make sure we had some balance between the languages, that would have felt a little bit cheesy, a little bit forced.
This actually makes a great deal of sense. While the most recent episode made it hard to take your eyes off the screen for strictly English speakers, adding in scenes or dialogue in the language wouldn't have been logical. Dante and the residents of The Dam all use Spanish as their first (and sometimes only) language, so the script adhered to that. Any English speaking scenes would have been out of place.
But in addition to the logical reasons, the use of Spanish in the episode helped the audience further connect with Daniel Salazar's story. He'd been missing since Season 2's midseason finale, so Fear fans needed to reacquaint themselves with the OG badass of the cast. Having most of the dialogue available through subtitles forced audiences to put their phone down and focus on the contents of the episode. And with Salazar returning to the series in such a dramatic way, it's a blessing that the fanbase was forced to give the episode their full attention.
But with Dante and his cronies now dead, it should be interesting to see if Strand and Salazar decide to stick around The Dam for a while. Newcommers Lola and Efrain will presumably stick around to try and help the dehydrated locals, and there's no way for them to logically find the Otto Ranch. So who knows?
Fear The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC. Be sure to check our summer premiere list to plan your next binge watch.
