'Fear the Walking Dead' Brain-Dead Move of the Week: Travis the Teacher Flunks Zombies 101

Every week on Fear the Walking Dead, someone does something stupid that needlessly endangers the lives of themselves and others. Here, we commemorate those decisions in the hopes that they won’t be repeated. But of course, we know they will be.

Last week, we bemoaned the stupidity of guidance counselor Madison, who couldn’t grasp the concept of zombies even after seeing several with her own eyes. But after smashing her principal pal’s skull in with a fire extinguisher, she seems to have caught on. So why is her English teacher boyfriend Travis still so dumb?

Related: Take a Bite Out of Our ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Recaps

Travis — who, you’ll remember, went to a drug den alone at night where he knew something very bad had happened — has seen Nick’s friend Calvin turn into a zombie, along with several other walkers the cops have gunned down. But he apparently still thinks they’re all “sick,” and just need a good talking-to. (Keep in mind: This man was licensed by a functioning school district to teach our children.)

This week, after escaping a chaotic riot with his ex-wife and son, Travis returned to Madison’s house to find his neighbor Peter chowing down on the family dog. Clearly, this is not neighborly behavior. But did he try to subdue Peter? Or even keep his distance from him? Of course not! He walked right up to Peter and tried to reason him, telling him, “You’re sick.” Um, well, that’s one way of putting it, we guess.

The zombie-fied Peter tackled Travis to the ground and almost made a meal out of him, except Madison burst in with a shotgun to save the day. Actually, Daniel Salazar grabbed the shotgun out of Madison’s hands — a little rude, don’t you think? That’s her shotgun! — and shot Peter in the face. And once wasn’t enough.

But did Travis thank Daniel profusely for saving his life? Of course not! He turned to Daniel, all hurt, and asked plaintively: “Why did you do it?” Why did you do it?!?!? Because you and your entire family would be dead right now if he didn’t! Did Travis really think he was on the verge of getting through that guy? If so, we’re revoking his teaching license right here and now.

We know, we know: Travis is being set up as the innocent in this cruel new world. (Because the plots on both Fear and the original Walking Dead hinge on at least one person being a complete idiot.) Travis even said to Madison later, “You know how I feel about guns.” Well, you better change how you feel about them pretty soon, buddy, or you’re not even gonna make it out of this six-episode first season.

Daniel seems to know that, too. As he said near the end of this week’s episode: “Good people are the first ones to die.”

Runners-Up: That poor schlub Patrick Tran, who came home to find his wife Susan all zombie-fied — and then actually went in to hug her (!) before a soldier shot her in the head. So he didn’t catch any news on the way home, we’re guessing?… all those hipster protesters at the riot, for allowing a zombie apocalypse to fester and spread because they wanted something cool and edgy to put on their Instagrams. Way to go, millennials.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.