Fear the Walking Dead season 5 episode 12 review: There is a light that never goes out
By Sonya Iryna
Fear the Walking Dead’s “Ner Tamid” dives into the issue of faith in the apocalypse, while Logan ups the ante for the squad.
Fear the Walking Dead has never really tackled the thorny issue of religious faith in the apocalypse world in a meaningful way. But during “Ner Tamid,” Fear the Walking Dead does a good job of looking at the role of faith in a world overrun by the dead, thanks to the stellar addition of Peter Jacobsen to the cast. Rabbi Jacob, who still performs religious rituals in an empty synagogue in between killing stray walkers that break through the fence surrounding the synagogue, finds Charlie.
They strike up a friendship, and Charlie becomes fixated on the synagogue becoming their new home. She is convinced that she was led to the synagogue for a reason. But the real reason for her desperate belief that the synagogue can be a sanctuary is revealed to be Charlie trying to process her trauma.
She’s afraid that all of them are going to drift back to being the people that they used to be — the ones who killed indiscriminately and were rootless and faithless. Charlie believes that, if they can find a place to settle down, things won’t go back to the way they were.
She is fascinated by the ner tamid — a light that represents the eternal light of God — that hangs in the synagogue. Rabbi Jacob has a car battery that he keeps lit in a poignant representation of faith and humanity in the apocalypse, and it’s constantly threatening to fade completely but coming to life in spurts here and there.
Ner tamid
The ner tamid in this episode is a wonderful allegory for faith in the apocalypse and the role it plays in making sense of trauma. Peter Jacobson and Alexa Nisenson do a fantastic job with this material because neither of them is ultimately changed by the end of the episode. They still don’t have any answers, but they’re just moving forward in uncertainty and living with that. That’s just the world they live in.
Rabbi Jacob’s mix of pragmatism and gentle humor is exactly what was needed in the group, and I have a feeling that he’s going to become a big influence on the squad. If anyone rediscovers their faith or comes to have faith, it’s probably going to be because of Rabbi Jacob. It will be interesting to see if Rabbi Jacob keeps performing the rituals that he’s been performing for so long. Maybe sometimes the rituals come from faith and sometimes they restore it.
The Logan situation
While most of the episode was an enigmatic exploration of the role of faith in a world collapsed under the weight of death, there was a significant development at the end of the episode: Logan found the oil fields and refinery. He is prepared to attack, and right now the facility isn’t protected by much at all. The kids are there, and Wendell, but most of the fighters are out on the road with the convoy — which leaves the facility dangerously exposed.
Wendell has proven that he’s very capable, but the kids aren’t strong fighters and Logan definitely has the upper hand going into this conflict. Logan doesn’t seem interested in hurting people for the sake of it, but he definitely is capable of great violence to get what he wants.
Can the rest of the squad get there in time to stop him? With just a few episodes left this season, it looks like the Fear the Walking Dead squad is going to have to rally to pull off a coordinated battle effort one more time.
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