I liked how they interpreted "family" in this spinoff. The word "family" is the key topic in TWD universe. In this spinoff, we see how some Marine Soldiers faithfully serve the US Navy to protect the country and hence protect their families. They believe "no America no family": the country should always be placed before their families. While being absent from their family members in blood, they treat each other like family.
The soldiers acted differently towards the outbreak: some soldiers (I.e. Alvarez) broke down and lost hope; some soldiers sacrificed themselves to protect the others (I.e. Pierce), and some (I.e. Alvarez) betrayed their brother-in-arm so they could live. Perhaps that was how they thought "family" was, some would do anything to protect their "family" but some would let them be "scapegoats". For Jason Riley, he believed they could get out while he never forgot to save innocent lives: although his commander asked him to surrender the key to launch the warheads, but he refuses to comply with. "If we launch the warheads, we might kill a lot of people including our family"
The moment that Jason Riley finally broke down at the end because he knew that his family was still alive but soon he realized that they weren't which really touched me. Like what Maggie Greene says "when I heard Beth was still alive, then lost her in the same day: watching people close to you die can really break you, that's what Riley went through, losing his loved ones, losing hope to survive.
Nick Stahl did a very good job in this spinoff, for presenting Jason Riley's life throughout the outbreak, from a good hearted, faithful and loyal soldier who feels sorry for not being around for his family to a brainwashed and formidable henchman who would do anything for Teddy's cult. Zombie apocalypse is dangerous, but what really is dangerous is people, like Teddy, turning a good person into a villain's pawn. That's what TWD is all about: the walkers don't rule us, people do.
The soldiers acted differently towards the outbreak: some soldiers (I.e. Alvarez) broke down and lost hope; some soldiers sacrificed themselves to protect the others (I.e. Pierce), and some (I.e. Alvarez) betrayed their brother-in-arm so they could live. Perhaps that was how they thought "family" was, some would do anything to protect their "family" but some would let them be "scapegoats". For Jason Riley, he believed they could get out while he never forgot to save innocent lives: although his commander asked him to surrender the key to launch the warheads, but he refuses to comply with. "If we launch the warheads, we might kill a lot of people including our family"
The moment that Jason Riley finally broke down at the end because he knew that his family was still alive but soon he realized that they weren't which really touched me. Like what Maggie Greene says "when I heard Beth was still alive, then lost her in the same day: watching people close to you die can really break you, that's what Riley went through, losing his loved ones, losing hope to survive.
Nick Stahl did a very good job in this spinoff, for presenting Jason Riley's life throughout the outbreak, from a good hearted, faithful and loyal soldier who feels sorry for not being around for his family to a brainwashed and formidable henchman who would do anything for Teddy's cult. Zombie apocalypse is dangerous, but what really is dangerous is people, like Teddy, turning a good person into a villain's pawn. That's what TWD is all about: the walkers don't rule us, people do.