#i’m also hoping madison and alicia will reunite

[upat4amwiththemoon]

I’ve finally caught up with Fear the Walking Dead! The first two episodes of season 8 were wild haha

Anyways, I really wish Alicia and June interacted more!! I think they could’ve had a sweet relationship especially after Madison ‘died’

[dailyfeartwdgifs]

Fear The Walking Dead's Creepy New Villain Already Needs Her Own Episode

The back half of Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 is starting to look like an eight-part post-apocalyptic slasher flick, which is in stark contrast to the more emotional journey taken by characters new and old during the first half. The "slasher" in this case would be Tonya Pinkins' kooky, as-yet-unnamed villain (listed on IMDb as "Filthy Woman"), who made another string of unhinged appearances in "Weak." Though horror villains usually benefit from limited screen time early on, I'm already in need of Pinkins' disturbing antagonist getting her own standalone episode posthaste.

To the slasher movie point, Season 4 has generally adhered to standalone episodes, and these past four have seemingly laid out the set-up for a traditional genre sequel, in which a group of set-apart characters reunite at a central location (usually with newbies joining the fun), where they're all picked off by whatever murderous entity happens to be targeting them. We don't know much about Tonya Pinkins' villain at this point, or if she's got any nuanced motivations beyond tracking down the truck that Wendell and Sarah stole, but we've already witnessed how violent and deadly her go-to reactions are in any given situation. Which led to her gaining possession of Al's van, something that Al would not be happy to hear about.

So she might not need to have much going on that goes deeper than her surface instincts, and her backstory likely contains at least one particularly disturbing incident that really cracked her psyche. It probably involves Pervis' philanthropic trek prior to his death, though we don't yet know whether his current handler was responsible for his lethal arm bite(s). That can be assumed, considering she'd faked a mile marker sign and used Pervis to dispatch Quinn, who then became her new pet to mark up and weaponize. We know from references to the truck driver's journal that Pervis was part of a group of long-haulers that kept the roads cleared and stocked with boxes of trade-able goods. But was she part of that group before things went kablooey, and when did his death happen in relation to Sarah and Wendell stealing the truck?

The episode's title, "Weak," comes from the mysterious character telling her new walker he won't be weak anymore, which is a pretty unsettling point of view for anyone on this show to have. It was also curious the way she told Pervis he was free now, as if he's actually got a concept of captivity. Tonya Pinkins' villain clearly views walkers as something other than a pure threat, which shares some characteristics with others in the Dead-verse. She seemingly has a system of using walkers as weapons and as messengers, and not quite how we've seen it done by the Wolves or Lizzie Samuels or The Vultures or any others. But to what end is she carrying this connection to the undead?

Since we've only seen the creepy woman interacting with zombies, it remains unclear what she'll be like around a group of living survivors. No doubt she's going to keep up the facade that she's presently part of the supply-offering group, and the fact that she has control of all of Al's videos is the biggest bargaining chip the character could possibly have for when her act runs dry. Viewers now know that some of Al's past loved ones are featured on those videotapes, and Al already put June's life in danger in an attempt to get her vehicle back. I kind of hope the new villain watches all the videos to keep herself busy, which can obviously be part of the standalone episode that I'm aiming to see.

I assume Alicia, Strand, Luciana, Charlie and John will find a way to Morgan's new group soon, at which point viewers will witness a strange and fatal crossroads among this group of morally swishy characters. (Look for it to probably go down in Episode 14, titled "MM 54.") It doesn't appear like Tonya Pinkins' character will have a swath of walkers waiting to ambush the protagonists, but she'll definitely have one trick or another up her multiple sleeves, which doesn't bode well for anyone's survival. Some big deaths are definitely coming in the season's final four episodes -- for instance, Aaron Stanford's hop-master Jim was destined for an awful death as soon as he exited his brewery -- and Nick and Madison's deaths earlier in the season truly proved that no one's safety is guaranteed.

So who's going to get killed off next? And, more importantly, will this new character get her own episode and/or a proper name soon? With just a few more episodes to go, Fear the Walking Dead airs Sunday nights on AMC at 9:00 p.m. ET. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

FTWD 4x06: Analysis - Parallels to Alone/Coda

Okay, this episode got me super excited!

**Spoilers abound in this post for FTWD 5x06. Seriously, there were some major things that happen in this episode. I'm going to talk about them in detail, so don't read until you've watched! You’ve been warned!**

My post last week was about the billion parallels in to Still I saw in FTWD 4x05. We saw Jonah and Naomi's romance in the cabin. By the end of that romance, she disappeared and they were separated. So if 4x05 was a re-telling of Still, then this episode, 4x06, was a retelling of both Alone and Coda.

Believe it or not, when I say there are parallels to Alone, I don't mean in a Beth and Daryl sort of way. The major parallels I saw to Alone were Maggie/Sasha/Bob parallels. I picked up on it the instant Madison, Strand, and Naomi went out together. Think about it: we had three people, two women and a man, on the outside together, searching for something. The dynamics between the characters were very similar, and the plot was almost identical.

Aside: I’ve noticed the show putting Madison and Strand together as a duo. Of course, they’ll never be romantic, because Strand is gay, but they're a duo the same way Maggie and Jesus are. In fact, that's a good analogy because Jesus is also gay, and both Maggie and Madison have lost their significant other and are now leading a community.

But the exact same thing happens with these as happened with Maggie/Sasha/Bob. One of them (Naomi/Maggie) wants to be on their own and the other two try to convince her to stay with them because it's safer that way. When the other two (Madison/Strand and Sasha/Bob) go to sleep, they wake to find her (Naomi/Maggie) gone. In both cases, they go after her. In both cases, when they found her, she was surrounded by walkers and needed help. 

And of course at the and they all realize they need one another and decide to stay together and watch each other's backs.

Before going into details, let’s skip to the end.

Naomi shows up and seems to be a part of the Vultures. 

Remember last week I said that John =s Daryl and Naomi =s Beth (mostly)? So we have yet another indication (there been several in the past) that Beth will show up with an enemy group. I thought it would be Madison who stepped out of the car. Nope, Naomi.

Remember, John thought she was dead and he suddenly saw her standing there. He went to go over to her, but then Alicia freaked out because Naomi was with the Vultures and shot him.

I think we can interpret this two ways. The first and most obvious is that it’s a retelling of Coda. Think of it this way: the two characters who represent Beth and Daryl have been separated for long time. Finally, they see one another in the middle of a tense, hostage-like situation, and move toward one another. Before they can swap stories/hug/exchange two words, one of them is shot. And the one who is shot, used to be a sheriff/cop. (John even wears a sheriff-like hat.)

It was even an accidental shot. Alisha was aiming for someone else (Naomi) and John stepped into the line of fire. That's exactly what we think happened with Beth. Someone was probably aiming for someone else (most likely Dawn, though some theories suggest Rick). Beth stepped to the left, right into the line of fire.

Next question: Will John Dorie die? We don’t know for certain yet, but I seriously doubt it. In the sneak peek for next week, we see Naomi and Morgan doing various things to try and save him. She says they have to get him to a doctor. So at the very least, he won’t bleed out and die instantly. Everything they’ve set up suggests he’ll live.

Here's another bit of evidence for you: on TTD, Chris Hardwick said there will be a surprise guest next week. He made the joke that he hoped it wasn't Garrett Dillahunt (who plays John Dorie). That's actually really good indication that it won't be. If he were dying next episode, they wouldn't of had him on this episode of TTD. They would have wait and had him on next week. So I really don't think he's dying. At least, not yet

I also think there’s another way we can interpret this ending. Not everything in this situation is identical to Beth and Daryl’s situation in Coda. For one thing, John thought Naomi was dead. Definitely not the case with Daryl and Beth at Grady. He knew she was alive and was going to get her.

…But Daryl believes she's dead now, doesn’t he? So, I think this is also a foreshadow for what will happen when Daryl and Beth finally see one another. She will probably arrive with an enemy (Wolves, Whisperers, what have you) and I'm even thinking there's a possibility that right after they see each other, Daryl could be shot. 

But, like John, he won’t die.

Either way, my mouth dropped open when I realize the implications of this episode. 

Now let me digress and talk about something they said on TTD:

Chris asked Gail Ann Hurd to give us a timeline for John and Naomi’s story. They said John and Naomi were together at his cabin for probably a month or two. So not super-long, but longer than what was obvious in the episode. In my mind, that confirms that Beth and Daryl were probably on the road together for many weeks, rather than just a few days, as so many people believe.

But it gets more interesting. Garret Dillahunt said John had been looking for Naomi for about a year before finding her again. So their separation, from the time she left the cabin to the end of this episode when they saw one another again was about a a year.

As of 8×16, it's only been 4-5 months since Beth was shot. I have no idea if they’ll stick to the same timeline for Beth and Daryl, but given all the parallels, they might. So this actually might support a longer time jumped than I initially thought there would be. Maybe it will it really will be more like 5-6 month time jump so there’s a full year between Coda and when Beth and Daryl finally reunite. Of course, even if the time jump is shorter, we have 5A, and they could always do time jumped between 9a and 9B. We'll just have to see. I thought it was interesting that they were so specific here. It could be a template for Bethyl.

Okay, let's talk details.

The beginning we see one of the Vultures raiding a gas station. Some very familiar symbols here including the gas station itself, lights, batteries, etc. A cash register is seen plainly.

We see an arrow just before we see Morgan, pointing to the right. We saw something similar in 6x04.

We also learned about what happened after the damn blew up last season. Strand says that Madison saved him. She says “I wasn't going to let you drown." And then he says, “you didn't have to pull me out of the water." Not tons of detail, and we did see Madison in the water, so water being involved isn't surprising. All the water references, because of Beth, really jumped out at me. Lots of talk of drowning and saving people. Madison then says, "I know who you are. And I really like drinking with you." Something Beth and Daryl could've said to one another.

I noticed that Flight of the Valkyries was played at this part. I’m sure that’s important, but I haven’t had a chance to research it yet. If anyone else wants to look into it, have at it. But it’s important to note that during this conversation about water, drowning, saving people, and not leaving others behind, they are drinking alcohol, talking about being drinking buddies, and there’s a huge X in the background. Just saying. ;D

Speaking of that, this episode was chalk-full of Xs. I noticed quite a few, but I’m willing to bet @wdway noticed more. ;D

Scissors around Naomi. (A.k.a. Beth proxy. Madison was there too, and she’s still missing.)

More interesting wire colors for hot wiring cars. (So many cars in the apocalypse laying around with viable batteries! 😁)

Later in the episode, Madison says, "I get it."

At one point, strand says to Madison, that people “always show you who they really are." The conversation reminded me of Beth and Daryl's, “you gotta stay who you are” conversation.

The motel they stopped at was interesting. Not only a few Xs, 

but red doors, 

a dinner that looked suspiciously like the Alone dinner (and a few others we’ve seen), 

and a pair of glasses jammed in a door lock.

That last one is especially interesting, and I’ll have to think about it more. The glasses themselves are most reminiscent of Patrick from 4a. When he died, they nailed his glasses to his grave marker. We could also compare them to Father Gabriel in S5. The blond woman he knew, and that he had a picture of, wore glasses. It’s how he distinguished her and seeing her as a walker freaked him out. The interesting thing here is that the glasses are jammed in a door lock, almost as though they were used to pick it. So the glasses (only one side is intact, as if to suggest one eye rather than two) was being used as a key. Like I said, not sure what to make of it yet, but it’s interesting!

Let's talk about Naomi at the FEMA center.

We find out that Naomi’s daughter got sick and Naomi went to look for medicine but didn't tell anyone how sick her daughter was. While she was gone, her daughter died, bit everyone, and everyone he inside the FEMA center died. So, a huge parallel there the virus at the prison in S4. Patrick died and turned in the night, biting people inside the prison.

When Naomi goes into the FEMA center, she sees a lot of baby and child stuff. Again, because her daughter was in there, that's not surprising. But it might be more evidence of the child/baby stuff around Beth. It especially reminded me of the baby stuff around Denise in 6x14, which was right before Denise’s death, which was also a re-telling of Coda.

We can also compare what happened with Naomi’s daughter to what happened with Michonne’s son. He died while she was out on a run, and she came back to find him dead and her camp overrun.

We saw two more turnips again so turn up symbolism still here.

Naomi crawling across the wire was a whole lot like when Spencer did it in S6/

We saw Beth symbolism there, especially because Spencer lost a shoe and carried a green bag. Naomi didn't lose a shoe, but she was wearing her backpack. That didn't jump out at me when I first watched it, but on TTD, they pointed out that her backpack was on her back, joking that she was stupid to let it dangle toward the walkers rather than putting it on her stomach. That made me realize Naomi was wearing the black bag that looks exactly like the one Beth carried in S4 when she crossed the rope. 

Lots of blond walkers in this episode. After telling Madison and Strand her story, they went to get the truck. Low and behold, there's a blonde walker in the cab.

I also noticed the rule of threes several times. They see a sign that says glass lodging and food, and Strang remarks, "three things we really need." When talking about her daughter, Naomi said it took 3 days to find the medication. That one especially jumps out at me. There’s the resurrection of Christ, which took three days. The way it was worded though. I also thought of the story of Lazarus. Christ didn't arrive until three days after Lazarus died. He then raised Lazarus from the dead. I'm not saying Naomi's daughter secretly alive. (That would be interesting wouldn't it? I mean, we haven't actually seen her body.) So, just like Lazarus, Christ arrived after three days and found that the patient was already deceased.

In terms of the plot, the Vultures leave the stadium, but obviously they and Alicia’s group hate each other now, so I’m assuming they'll be back.

Another connection I didn't make until I watched TTD is that Naomi wanted to get the supplies from the FEMA center and bring them to Madison's group. She wanted to do it to help save them as a way of making up for the people she believes she was responsible for killing. It's literally an example of the "good out of the bad," game that Sasha and Bob played. She wanted something good to come from a terrible situation, and didn't mind if she died doing it. Luckily, she survived.

Overall, this episode made me super excited! These last two episodes retold Bethyl’s story, which is awesome! I’ll say the same thing I said in 6x03 when Glenn's death fake out happened. I said if Glenn died, that would be bad for TD because there were so many Beth symbols around him. The same is true of John. I'm not necessarily going to give up hope on Beth if he dies, but it would be much better for TD if he doesn't, because the parallels are so strong. I believe he’ll live, just as Beth did. Thoughts?

[luciana-galvez]

GIRL, I WAS WATCHING THE FINALE AND I KEPT THINKING ABOUT THIS BLOG AND I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FINALE.. That's if you've see it yet, of course. Sorry for all caps btw I'm just shook-

GIRL, I GET YOU. Also, you thought of me when you watched it? I love you, that is so cool! 

And thanks for avoiding spoilers! (Even though I stayed away from Tumblr until after I had seen the episode, but still.) I’m in Europe so I actually only got to see it this morning, because it airs like 3am or 4am my time. I don’t really understand American TV schedules haha. :)

Anyway, under the cut you’ll find my two cents about the episode, because I feel like this is going to be a bit longer:

Speaking strictly from the perspective of an objective viewer, I really liked the episode. It wasn’t the strongest one of season three, but it made for a satisfying season finale imo, especially with the dam crashing at the end. Now, as an emotionally invested viewer that’s a whole other story but I will get to that in a minute. 

The one thing I didn’t really understand is why Alicia gave up her lone wolf mission after two minutes and joined the thugs and just left her new friend like that? I mean I get that the writers needed a way for her to reunite with her family but I feel like that really undermined the moment two episodes ago where she took a stand and said she needed to be alone, which I really liked. Was there some kind of explanation that I missed for why she abandoned that plan right away?

Anyway, the elephant in the room: Troy. Man, I have very conflicting thoughts about this. On the one hand, if he had to die, I feel like the way they did it was beautifully done. If anyone had to do it, it had to be Madison. I’m pretty sure I would have been upset if anyone else had done it. There was this little moment after she hit him for the first time where he looks up at her and there’s this short moment of genuine surprise and disbelief on his face, a nanosecond of ‘how can you do this to me’, which really got me. Daniel Sharman played that beautifully. Just in general the conflict that they had was bound to happen and I thought it was very telling that she hit him right after he said ‘you understand. you understand and you see thing’ (something along those lines). Maybe I’m reading to much into this but as much as Nick and Troy shared the same self-destruction, Troy and Madison shared more than she would like to admit as well. Growing up with alcoholic parents, an abusive father. If you disregard the whole racist-parents-and-isolated-environment situation, I think Madison might also see a small glimpse of herself in Troy, of what she could have turned out to be if she wouldn’t have been able to get out of her situation by killing her father. Because after Jeremiah died we didn’t only see Troy upset, but also relieved (that whole ‘he was a drunk’ scene at his grave with Nick). And the moment Troy reminds Madison of how alike they are, of their shared ability to make the hard calls, she kills him. I just think story wise that was the best way to do it. 

But that being said, obviously I had hoped that they would keep Troy alive. Listening to my morals it was hard to root for him when he brought up that the ‘Indians’ did not deserve the land, but as a viewer, I would have loved to see what the writers would do with his character in the next season. Troy was by no means the good guy, but no good TV show consists only of good guys. You need conflict, and having an arch for Troy next season (even if it’s not a redemption arch) would have definitely given the viewer interesting conflict. I feel like every single scene with Troy was interesting to watch, mostly because Daniel Sharman did such a wonderful job with the character (I’m actually convinced 80% of the sympathy for Troy stems from just how great Daniel Sharman plays him and how much charisma he brings to the role, at least that’s the case for me. I didn’t even know Sharman before, so I started season 3 hating Troy’s guts haha). I loved the dynamic between Madison and Troy, and I loved the dynamic between Troy and Nick even more. I feel like Nick and Troy understood each other in a way that Madison or Alicia would never be able to, just because they are so alike. And I feel like (that was also something they touched on in Talking Dead) Nick had been given so many chances every time he fucked up that he wanted to give Troy a chance too, you know? If he could manage to help Troy redeem himself, maybe he could be redeemed as well. Saving Troy and saving himself by proxy, basically. I think they could have both been good for each other, especially now that Troy was away from the ranch and the toxic environment there, so I’m mostly sad we don’t get to see that. 

Also, writing for his character so much I also realized that I had become much more attached to him than I had expected, so even though I expected him to die I was surprisingly hard to watch. I just hope that with my stories I can turn him into someone worthy of a redemption arc.

Speaking of, what I really, really loved about season three was how well all the characters were written. Contrary to season two (or one even) there was so much ambiguity and morally gray areas. It’s the apocalypse, and I love how they don’t have clear bad guys (except Jeremiah, he can choke) and good guys, because that’s just not how an apocalypse works. As opposed to TWD where you have the Governor and Negan who are the all time evil villains, season three gave us Walker, who we thought was the bad guy and then turned out to be the one in the right. And Madison, who is arguably the main protagonist and the ‘good guy’ of the show manipulates and kills and does things that would technically define her as the bad guy. I absolutely loved that because it was so much more interesting to watch. If you’re in the apocalypse, who’s to say who is the bad guy and who is the good guy? Everyone is just trying to stay alive, and I think FTWD has portrayed that amazingly this season. 

I also really like Madison. I know there is a lot of hate for her going around, but I just think her character is so interesting. I loved her development from season 1 to now, and for me it’s so refreshing to see a female lead that is not portrayed as the lovey-dovey good guy, but as a survivor who can make hard calls but who we still get to see soft moments with (how much she loves/protects her children, even though I think we can all agree it’s clear who’s her favorite lmao). That scene with Nick after she had killed Troy was amazing and so definitive for both of their characters. When Nick questioned/stated that she would put even him down if she had to. What an amazing moment. And again, it also made me wish Troy would still be around, because just as much as Nick loves his mother and feels he owes her, you can tell how hard it is for him to be around her for long periods of time. With Troy he seemed almost at ease, like he could be himself without having to pretend to be strong and responsible all of the time (like he feels he owes Madison).

Anyway, I have rambled on for quite a while now, so I’ll stop. Thank you for asking! I would love to hear what you thought of the episode as well, none of my friends watch FTWD so it’d be nice to discuss it with someone! :)

[assheda]

FTWD analysis time… brilliant, spectacular, raw, everything TWD universe is meant to encompass all wrapped in two 45 mins of our dearest Alicia. Girl rose FR! I mean obviously she’s not like an unstoppable killing force but like ADC said on the Talking Dead, she is now the character we wanted at the beginning and waiting for her to develop seeing what’s built up to her breaking point. I think that this is the journey that we got to see for Carol in a way we didn’t see for Rick. Glen was strengthened but he was always good and pure.

Alicia’s journey is most like Carol’s and though I didn’t always like where Carol went, her transformation was always one of resilience and toughening.

ADC came with the microexpressions, the fight choreography, the laughter, and the deep, deep despair of the loss of innocence (that’s not even the right word). The trauma in her eyes throughout the entire episode is just so mind blowing. And she only had a day to learn the lines?? I’m not a watch it again kind of person but I’d do it just to capture all the details of her work. Just phenomenal. I can’t wait for TWD hold outs to stan her. God, I love her acting. Enough ass kissing…

God, from a writing perspective they can do so much with her character and if they do what I want they will shape nick’s storyline with hers. Troy is one of the most interesting characters on the show undoubtedly but I hope the writers use him as the wedge between Nick and Alicia. Nick is just learning to be a leader but he also keeps lying and making excuses for Troy. For Nick to survive in the long run he needs to distinguish himself from Troy and people like him. I think they can flesh out Alicia and Nicks sibling relationship to highlight who Nick is/decides to be. I am waiting for Alicia to acknowledge that Troy was the one who brought the horde… I think she knows she was just in shock to actual be aware to that. I want Alicia to finally blow up in anger at Troy and give Nick the ultimatum to take responsibility for Troy or get out of her life.

Also, Ophelia and Crazy Dog. I’ve got a lot of affection for them. They will be the only interesting thing about the dam though due to Ophelia reuniting with Daniel. I can see Ophelia wanting violence to solve the dams problems and Daniel being heartbroken. I’d like Lola to be more interesting but I easily would say she’s going to die in the next few episodes and the dam will fall soon after.

I’m not sure how the writers are going to deal with Madison since she’s a reveal intense character and not necessarily a growth character. I would attribute that to why so many people think she’s boring. She’s been revealed slowly and slowly but there’s nothing new to her. She can only shock us at the lengths she’ll go to so much unless things get ridiculous. The other interesting point she has is her manipulation of Troy but he’s off with Nick and Alicia so we’ll see who gets to use him.

Taqa has SO much potential but they have not written nearly enough about him/for him. He has a stoic personality but I still feel like I have no idea who he is. I hope they utilize his bond with Ophelia and Crazy Dog to humanize him. His whole group is gone… they better show him feeling something??

Anyways all in all, ADC killed it. Phenomenal. The kids are carrying the show IMO. And there is so much potential now that everything is broken open. This ep made me grateful I’ve been sticking with it through the boring parts. I hope they can hit their beat with the other characters because as much as I love ADC, she doesn’t need to be held responsible for the entirety of a show. Here’s to wishing the writers good luck in creating the show that the critics of “slow burn” wanted all along… DONT FUCK IT UP

[clexa--warrior]

Fear has a problem. And it ain’t a small problem, either.

I could go on a tirade about the past and how the show has suffered because it’s moved away from the good ole days (aka Season’s 1–3), the Clark family, and Dave Erickson’s original vision and promise that we were seeing our heroes slowly become the villains in their own story, but I don’t need to bring that up because I already have in a previous article.

The show has become incredibly boring in it’s own right because it lacks any direction in both story and character development.

Instead, I want to focus on what’s wrong with the show in it’s current iteration within the framework that showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg have set out for their rebooted version of Fear. Simply put, without any comparisons to the past, they have not succeeded in pushing their own narrative forward in any interesting or compelling ways. The show has become incredibly boring in it’s own right because it lacks any direction in both story and character development.

Coming off of last week’s episode,”Ner Tamid”, the show has hit another series low this season. The latest episode debuted to a mere 1.14 million live viewers, which was a significant drop even from this season’s previous low of 1.37 million viewers. We are now 12 episodes into the fifth season and yet nothing substantial has happened. For starters, there hasn’t been any major deaths in these 12 episodes, let alone the half season that came before it in season 4B. And while the show doesn’t necessarily have to kill people off to create interest and tension, it would certainly help inject some stakes for the characters and give them something to work with that could further the story along.

Instead of copping out on contrived drama, such as Alicia getting radiated walker blood in her mouth that apparently is of no consequence despite being told just how dangerous a little drop could be; or Morgan stepping on a mine that could blow him up except we know it won’t, why not raise the stakes by putting a main character in real jeopardy and have it pay off with their death?

It’s no secret that the title The Walking Dead actually refers to the remnants of society who are left to survive and not actually the dead that walk among us. The dead rising is simply a narrative jumping off point to set the stage for character stories of those who live in this universe.

Death in a narrative, as in real life, is more about the people who remain and how they react to the grief, anger and hurt. Having someone die and having their death serve as a means to propel the story forward for those left behind can create some dynamic character moments and tension among the group. Death always serves as a way to remind the living that life is short and unpredictable. Death has an impact, both good and bad. It reminds us that life offers no guarantees and it can push us to live life to the fullest knowing just how precious and fleeting life can be. Others dwell on their loss and are so consumed by their grief that their only way to cope is to forge a destructive path forward to bury their grief and hold back their anger. There are just so many human complexities that can be explored through genuine loss, yet the writers waste the opportunity to mine this narrative gold.

Another issue that could easily be resolved is to stop forcing the characters to service the plot. Instead, the writers could do the fans and themselves a favour and have the plot service the characters. Apocalyptic shows, movies and books are a dime a dozen, but what sets them all apart is a focus on the characters. It’s no secret that the title The Walking Dead actually refers to the remnants of society who are left to survive and not actually the dead that walk among us. The dead rising is simply a narrative jumping off point to set the stage for character stories of those who live in this universe. Yet, all the writers on Fear seem to be more concerned with one-upping themselves on the gimmicks they put into the plot and connecting the characters to those gimmicks rather than to serve a real purpose.

These gimmicks are pretty much the only thing that people talk about — usually to outline just how absurd the show is being by introducing these gimmicks. It’s meant to up the wow factor I suppose, but it obviously is not working. Instead of applauding the “ingenuity” of these gimmicks, the fans have become bored and complacent by the missing character development and plot that they serve to replace. And no matter how I feel about the direction of the show and the writers in charge, I doubt that their goal is to bore people to death.

Instead of breaking up the characters and giving them menial plots that get resolved in a single episode why not plan out a thoughtful story for the characters and have the plot points that develop over the season act as tent poles towards the characters development? We should be able to reach the end of the season and look back and see the character growth and development of our main characters. Yet, as it stands right now, there is no singular character defining moments. And whatever character defining moments the writers try to introduce, such as Morgan leaving Grace behind because he’s afraid of losing her too, are stale and old.

In truth, there’s only the collective “I’m here to help” motif that is driving Alicia, Strand, Morgan, Daniel, June, John, Al, Charlie and Luciana. They are all main characters and have been since before this season began. They should have far more interesting and defining character traits and stories at this point. In fact, an excellent example of the absent character development comes from Fear’s latest outing, “Ner Tamid”.

This episode was meant to primarily serve as a Charlie story. Yet, the writing and the episode did her a disservice. Why? Because we had barely seen her all season and when we did she really didn’t have any purpose. When you can literally subtract a character from a scene and sub in any other character on the show and not notice a difference in the story that you’re telling there’s clearly a problem.

Had we seen more of Charlie and experienced some of her feelings about the ever moving convoy and how it affects her given her time with the Vultures, and also understand that she couldn’t share that with the group because she still holds onto her guilt over Nick’s death, then it would have actually meant something that she was so determined to find a home for them, no matter how misguided her search may have been.

Instead her story, like so many others this season, fell flat and did little to move her character forward. At this point the writers should be more concerned with endearing her to the audience given that she is still to blame for Nick’s death. Shit, we haven’t even had her have any scenes with Alicia, which the show spent it’s only one good episode of season 4B defining their dynamic and Alicia’s forgiveness, this season. Seeing their relationship develop further and have Alicia continually have to reconcile her decision to forgive Charlie would be worth something. Instead it’s another failed opportunity.

Here’s some thoughts on what I think would be interesting to see and could take the show in several different and interesting directions:

June dies while trying to help someone because of Morgan’s blind passivism, which in turn challenge’s Morgan’s outlook on “All life is precious”.

Morgan spirals out of control because of his guilt over June’s death, and Grace tries to reach him and help him realize that he can find a compromise in his values and keep his humanity, despite having to realize he can’t help everyone. But before she reaches him his recklessness causes more issues than it does solve them. (A source of conflict)

John is broken from June’s death and separates from the group for a while. He comes across a stranger in the apocalypse and it turns out to be Madison, who couldn’t find her family and given up hope. Together they help each other cope but Madison’s influence makes John a little darker, given him new angles to explore in his character.

John reunites with the group and brings Madison back. Alicia is elated to see her Mother alive, but has to carefully navigate around her mother by hiding the truth about Charlie’s involvement in Nick’s death from her, knowing how volatile her mother can be. This would force Alicia to truly own up to the redemption she has been seeking, realizing that even though Charlie killed Nick, she really does care to protect her and not just because she was bored and Morgan told her she knew what it was and she had to.

Madison would sense the rift in her and Alicia’s relationship over time and they would easily come into conflict about the way things are done. Madison would eventually put two-and-two together and decide to lure Charlie away from the group in an effort to get revenge for Nick’s death.

The narrative of Madison’s return would to be for Alicia to complete her journey to leader and to stand up to her mother and tell her that she’s no longer willing to follow Madison but that Madison will have to follow her now if she wants to be apart of Alicia’s life.

BONUS: Madison, Victor and Strand could start drinking together and just being badass as filler episodes, which would be 10/10 better than the current filler episodes.

If Chambliss, Goldberg and Gimple could simply reign in their non-creative flights of fancy and focus on the quality of their characters and the dialogue they deliver the show would be about 80% better off for it.

Honestly, there are so many ways to drive natural conflict and push character development forward. Perhaps it would be best to pay for better writers and cut the budget put into these mindless and stupid gimmicks. And while we are at it, trim the cast down, too. This really can all be summed up in the age old adage of quality over quantity. If Chambliss, Goldberg and Gimple could simply reign in their non-creative flights of fancy and focus on the quality of their characters and the dialogue they deliver the show would be about 80% better off for it.

There are only four more episodes to go before this season finishes. I know that Andrew Chambliss has stated that the season will end with a big shift in how they tell stories, but really, can his words be trusted given how let down the fans feel over all the other failed promises to tell an exciting story? I mean, these guys reintroduced one of the best characters of the series this season in Daniel Salazar yet managed to make that pretty bland too, so I don’t have much faith in the show heading in a better direction with the same showrunners next season.

My hope is that AMC does some long, deep thinking on the state of Fear and make the right decisions to put this show back on track. I just began watching The Walking Dead again starting with Season 9 after skipping out completely since Season 7 because of these same sorts of issues. Two episodes in and I already feel a renewed sense of interest in that show. So clearly it can be done.

The thing is AMC and the other executive producers on Fear need to really want to make the show better. And sadly, right now, I’m not sure that they even care enough to do that. But if they do, maybe season six can avoid becoming a hot mess that attracts less than a million viewers. Just a thought.

[fathersonholygore]

AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 14: “El Matadero” Directed by Stefan Schwartz Written by Alan Page

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “This Land Is Your Land” – click here * For a recap & review of the next episode, “Things Bad Begun” – click here

Strand (Colman Domingo), Madison (Kim Dickens), and Walker (Michael Greyeyes) are headed back to the damn. They have Crazy Dog (Justin Rain) and Ofelia (Mercedes Mason) in tow, the latter of whom isn’t doing so well. She suddenly faints hitting the pavement. They stop the truck, but she says she’s okay, she only lost her grip. But it’s more than that. She has a bad wound at her shoulder… a bite. Out on her own elsewhere, Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) hears a vehicle stop nearby in the night. She readies herself, nearby she sees people stop. But it’s only Nick (Frank Dillane) and Troy (Daniel Sharman). Her brother thinks she’s “crazy.” At the Bazaar marketplace, Madison and the rest go through the gates, as Ofelia must do her best to keep her bite and burgeoning illness under wraps until they can meet with her father Daniel (Rubén Blades). They get inside, managing to stow away in Strand’s old hiding place. But the poor girl is getting sicker by the minute. Madison: “Smile. Your life depends on it.” Things aren’t so great, though. Madison and Colman are at odds over her decision to hand over a bunch of weaponry for entry. Believing when the time comes to make the deal for the water, they’ll be up the creek once Ofelia most likely dies and they have nothing else to offer.

After Troy and Nick leave Alicia, they head for the marketplace. The former also speaks about how similar they are, the “black sheep” of their families. Difference being he accepts his status, whereas Nick fights against it. But that IS the major difference: Nick is, beneath it all, a good man. Walker and Madison try making Ofelia comfortable, it’s all they can do. They talk about loss. And Walker, tough as he is, all he’s been through, recognises sometimes there is too much of it. Everyone has a threshold. However, he thinks Madison must do right by Daniel, reunite him with Ofelia. No matter if it ends in violence. On the road Alicia stops at an On-the-Go Burger joint. Inside are the remains of old meals, a ransacked building, flies and other insects. A customer or two left as withering corpses. While she looks for anything usable, locating a batch of instant potatoes, a walker creeps up. She quickly puts it down, only to notice a group of the undead shambling near the entrance. So she gets into the ball pit, waiting for any of them to make their way inside. BUT SHE FORGETS WHAT COULD BE UNDER THE BALLS! A zombie kid attacks. She gets a knife in its brain, though the others come in the door. She hides under the balls as they pass. Soon, a woman (Edwina Findley Dickerson) with a pick-axe bursts in slaying them. She cuts off fingers for any rings, even using pliers to pull out gold teeth. This is a bad ass. The mysterious woman likewise steals the potatoes and gets away in a vehicle. Alicia follows her to a parking lot where they face each other. Eventually they come to a compromise: sharing is caring. At the marketplace, Nick gives his mom a break. When she’s gone he finds the pain medication laying near Ofelia. He takes one; so much for sobriety. Dammit, Nick! I didn’t want this to happen. This is the last thing he, or any of them, needs right now. Troy’s out getting a bite to eat, freaked out by “all the Mexicans” and unsure about what meat is in the quesadillas. Immediately, he notices something a bit off about Nick, as well. Either way, they’re both on the pills, and drinking, too. Meanwhile, Strand is looking for Proctor John. Wants to make a deal for… something special. Hmm. It’s time for Ofelia to go to her father. Madison asks Walker to stay behind, not knowing what Daniel might do if he’s there. So, he says his goodbye to his close friend, for the last time. The two women head outside together, waiting. As they talk, about parents, children, just as Daniel comes across the parking lot, Ofelia dies. The reunion lost. He goes mad, pulling a gun on Madison, believing it a “sick joke.” I hate this dude. Used to feel there was redemption for him, but he only lashes out at everybody when he’s lived a lifetime of shit. So, I don’t know where they’re taking this character. I hope he does something major to redeem himself, otherwise he’s a horrible man. Later, Madison tries giving him hope. Although he deserves none of it. Inside, Nick and Troy are buzzed, roaming around in a state of intoxication. Nick finds a place called El Matadero, and the man “with the things.” There’s everything from cocaine to morphine to heroin, to a bit of “locus coeruleus.” Some brain stem. It’ll take you higher than you ever imagined. Nick slugs it back, ready for a trip, as does Troy. Blast off, baby! Alicia and her new friend eat together, the former talking briefly about the place she and Jake (Sam Underwood) talked about going, before he died. The woman warns it’s all endless ghost towns on the road, nothing to find. But Alicia’s determined, she wants to go her own way or perish. They get one chance to bond again, when they take on a group of walkers together. Out on their hallucinatory trip, Nick gets wild. He covers himself, and Troy, in blood. Then he runs for a group of walkers, deciding on walking through them. Like he used to do. This time it’s a hell of a lot more dangerous. Yet when Troy sees how it works, he’s mesmerised. They both stand in the midst of a horde and Nick almost sees it as a reminder, that he can’t go his mother’s way anymore. And this leaves the Clark family divided further, all over again. Loved this episode. Season 3’s been pretty stellar all around, so I’m looking forward to seeing where we go in these last few episodes. Very interesting things happening with many of the characters. “Things Bad Begun” comes next week, our penultimate Season 3 finisher. Fear the Walking Dead – Season 3, Episode 14: “El Matadero” AMC's Fear the Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 14: "El Matadero" Directed by Stefan Schwartz…

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Exclusive: Fear The Walking Dead Chief Promises More Walkers And A New Big Bad

Dave Erickson chatted with SYFY WIRE about what we can look forward to in the second half of season three, about the Madison of it all, and about an unexpected twist that may be in the future for one of our heroes.

Madison was true to her word. She took over at the ranch by the end of the first half of the season.

Dave Erickson: Yes, she did. And I don't think she took over in exactly the way she expected. But I think what she came to realize she chose on the wrong side. I think they all came to realize that. I think she saw an opportunity to make that right with Walker and with the Nation, but she also realized that in choosing the wrong side, she'd also chosen the weaker side. And I think she realized that the Nation taking over was inevitable, and what she designed quite violently was a way to offer a peace to Walker that he would accept.

Now going into the back half there is something of a conspiracy and both she and her two children are the co-conspirators. They have to make sure that this idea of Otto's suicide is the prevailing story, and hopefully nobody gets wind of that. Of course, Nick fowls that up in the first episode.

As we all know there are no secrets that aren't revealed at some point on a television show.

(Laughs) You're right. It's less about the secret than the conspiracy that surrounds it. From an emotional standpoint, it's more about the impact that that murder has on Nick. He's not a killer. Despite the fact that he shares Madison's DNA there's a fragile quality about Nick. There always has been. He takes the burden off of his mother in the finale by killing Otto himself and sparing her, and not forcing her to repeat the history that she's just shared, but the problem is that it does tears at him.

We try as best as we can whenever we have a major death to make sure that there are ramifications from that and that there are some repercussions. But I think you definitely will see that in Nick. And then ultimately Alicia, her direction in the back half of the season will be in no small part to that murder as well. Both those kids, as we move forward, will really define themselves and really set out in their own direction and unfortunately that's going to be, in all likelihood, in opposition to Madison.

Well, that seems inevitable too.

Yeah, as much as she's tried desperately to hold on, I think she's held on way too tight and that's going to come back to bite her in the ass.

Regarding the ranch, there's this new truce going on with Walker and the Nation. What will the concerns be with the ranch at this point?

One of the things Walker said is “We are the living. We have our differences but the war is over and we need to focus on the dead outside.” That's going to become a much more of a threat over the next few episodes. It's something that the ranch had been quite insulated from. They had the manpower to go out and to kill any walkers and now we don't have that as much. I think now they're going to suffer and they're going to feel that vise begin to close, so that's going to be a huge issue for the rest of the season.

The back half has a lot of do with reuniting characters. Characters that have been separated for quite some time are going to start to come back together. We'll bring Strand back together with Madison, and then hopefully we seem to be heading towards a reuniting of Ofelia and Daniel. To a larger extent I was very much interested in the idea of trying to bring the family back together as best we could by the time the season ended.

Any group that's run into Madison and her family hasn't fared well on the series so far. I'm a little worried about Walker and the Nation. Seems like it's only a matter of time.

It is only a matter of time. Primarily the drama, the tension, the jeopardy within the ranch has been about the infighting between the Otto family. It's been about the larger conflict about the ranch and the Nation. So now that we've found something of a peace, the next stage of that is probably going to be the undead. There will be a lot more pressure on the ranch. Unfortunately, where Madison and family go oftentimes violence tends to follow, so I don't think this is going to be an exception.

In the previews, Madison was talking about a water shortage coming up.

The resources, which we planted going back to episode three of this season and the introduction of the damn, all roads are going to lead to water. Ultimately the damn is going to become that much more important as we move towards the end of the season.

So the ranch is caught between the dangers of the dead outside, but also they're running out of resources. Despite the fact that they've got a very large store of food and MREs, the crucial thing they don't have a limitless supply of is water ... It's going to be one of the driving narrative lines for the rest of the season.

Are we going to meet some new people?

Yes. There will be nobody in the immediate first few episodes, but we will meet a character down the road who represents a greater danger and evil than anybody we've met to this point. And it's someone who I think Jeremiah Otto will pale in comparison to him. So there's the potential of a Big Bad that will come to the fore later on. As the family comes together, and it will be somewhat traumatic and somewhat violent if they do come together, they need to be in opposition to something. So one of the things we'll thread into the story as we get towards the end is who that force is, who that person is.

What's the thing that's given you the most gray hairs this season?

I lost all my hair in season one (laughs). It was a really good season. We found our rhythm from a production stance in Mexico. It was our second season there and the crew was fantastic... We had some location issues and challenges. The ranch itself, which was a wonderful location, but was not terribly easy to get to. I think the actors and crew had some very rough roads to go over morning. It was a bit of a strain. Aside from that, the writers' room was amazing ... We got to a place where we had directors coming back ... It was good.

After waiting so long it's going to seem like the second half of the season will be over before we know it. It looks like you're opening with two episodes on Sunday and closing with two episodes on Oct. 15. That seems very fast with only eight episodes total.

It feels much longer to me, I guess because it's been such a long hiatus between 3A and 3B. It will be good to at least finish this chapter of the story.

You guys have been picked up for another season.

Yes, picked up for Season 4.

Do you know if it will be split up again in two parts like it's been in the past?

That would be my guess.

It's interesting how they've got the two different Walking Deads set up through the year.

I think the networks goal is to have zombies on in every quarter.

Maybe they'll start a new one, like Beware The Walking Dead to take up the few weeks they have left without a Walking Dead on.

(Laughs) That's a good idea. We might have reached a point of critical mass of zombies though.

What has really surprised you most about Fear The Walking Dead. The thing you weren't expecting.

It wasn't a surprise, but one of the things that was most interesting to me, it's interesting to do a show that's drafting behind one of the most popular shows on television. There's an adjustment period. A goodly percentage of the audience seemed to be expecting a carbon copy of the show.

I think it's really different.

And that was part of the challenge. I think conceptually we tried to make it as different tonally as we possibly could. And there was an adjustment period. It took us time to get to a place where the audience who was watching Fear was watching because they liked Fear and not because they were hoping it'd be more like The Walking Dead. That's not surprising necessarily, but that was interesting.

But from a creative standpoint, that process as the audience was trying to adjust to the differences in the show, we were also trying to define those differences. We started to find that really in the back half of season two. We slowed things down a little bit in the story. We became less episodic. And I think that was realized as best we could in season three. It's been an interesting learning process.

For you, what's special about Fear The Walking Dead?

It's a different twist on the apocalyptic genre. From a character and a performance point of view I do think that for me this season in particular, and you can get a recap on the previous two and still go into this season and pick up here. But I think it's definitely much more than a zombie show. This season is very specific to what's going on in the country right now, and that is one of the things we wanted to lean into. And I think if you are a fan of the genre there's no shortages of twists and turns.

I think you also have one of of the most interesting characters on television with Madison.

I agree. She's something of a controversial character at times.

I actually I think she's the bad guy.

That's interesting ... There's a number of characters you meet on The Walking Dead, and when you meet them they are full blown villains, they're already Big Bads. And nine times out of ten you get some understanding of their backstory as they progress. I always thought it'd be interesting to take one of our characters who is ostensibly is good, ostensibly is benevolent when we first meet them and then to watch that process and get to a place where you realize that a character that you invested in, that you realized that they are bad. You realize they are becoming the Governor. I think that's one of the things we can possibly look forward to on the show.