All of our questions were answered. We know that Althea and Madison had met prior and we also find out why the group has been so shattered as we see the conclusion to Madison’s story. I apologize for the pictures, but this episode was very dark, so the pictures aren’t as pretty to look at. My name is Kent, and for Fear The Walking Dead, I only ask 5 questions and some final thoughts to make this blog a little more compact your reading pleasure. Any comments in BOLD are written by me. I hope you enjoy and if you or someone you know may want to do this blog, contact me, leave a comment, whatever. The contact info is at the bottom of this blog.
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- This is the obvious question on my mind. Why did Althea at no point allow Alicia, Strand, Nick, and Luciana a chance to see the videos? Did Al never even consider that this brother and sister duo could have been Madison’s kids?
Bob: Al’s interactions are not limited to this small group. She has a wider picture of things. The videos are her life, her reason for living through the zombie world.
Chris: She had filmed it before the stadium, and which means it had been quite some time before she ran into the kids. I can see how she couldn’t connect the dots.
Kent: Finally, a question where I can disagree with Bob and Chris on. I understand both of their points, and they aren’t wrong, their answers simply don’t line up with my philosophies. I’m still calling BS here. She didn’t have THAT many video tapes. It strikes me that upon hearing Nick and Alicia’s stories, she would be like “Hey, I ran into a few ladies like this. You can check the videos just in case if you like.” Boom, problem solved, but then this season doesn’t unfold masterfully. Still, logic is an issue in my opinion here.
- Given what we know, why were Alicia, Strand, and Luciana so mad at Naomi?
Bob: I was angry with them. They were just focusing their rage wrongly. Alicia should be blaming herself for just sitting in the truck and not leading the zombies away…. That’s why Madison died. That’s why Nick ended up dying. See, Nick’s rage was appropriately focused… (Huh, you broke that down very analytically and I wholeheartedly agree. Alicia’s lack of action when she has been full of quick decisions the past 2 seasons led to Madison’s death.)
Chris: I think they just assumed she turned on them when they saw her with the vultures. There was already a distrust of her to begin with. (Distrust is probably the best word to use.)
Kent: They could only trust what they knew. After being screwed over time and time again, you can’t necessarily fault them. They felt betrayed.
- Which of the three names do you prefer: Laura, Naomi, or June?
Bob: Did you notice each name has a different number of syllables? I like Laura in general for her but her last hairdo makes her a June for me. Like that’s her superhero name. (I totally get what you are saying with the hair thing, and I’m bald, so that’s impressive!)
Chris: June, not because it was my favorite, but because John’s reaction was awesome. (Yeah, John made that moment more special than it normally would have been.)
Kent: I prefer June because it’s one less letter that I have to type. She actually felt like a Laura to me though. One thing is for sure. None of us picked Naomi.
- Did you fear for Morgan’s life in this episode? Also, do you prefer your Alici as the calm and caring girl or the raged filled crazy chick?
Bob: There was one second but then I realized it would never happen. I frankly thought that Rick from TWD would suddenly appear and kill him for fleeing with Rick’s on the run justice. Alicia does a great job acting the crazy chick, but I prefer her calm, she is scarier. (The line about Rick’s on the run justice made me laugh. At this point, it’s more likely to be the other way around, considering what we know about Rick’s status.)
Chris: No. I couldn’t see them moving Morgan to a new show only to kill him off so soon. Crazy Alicia creates more drama. She’s become quite a badass. (I like bad ass Alicia. I remember once Travis died, and ya know, I stopped swearing a lot, I determined that Alicia was going to be the one not to be trifled with in the family. Shockingly, I wasn’t wrong for once.)
Kent: I admit it, I thought for a few seconds that Morgan was gon get got, but with Madison and Nick gone, it just didn’t make sense. Morgan was brought to this show to what Daryl is on TWD, although I think John has that role now.) I love crazy chicks, seriously, my dating history is indicative of that statement, so gotta go with what I know.
- Were you at all disappointed that we didn’t get to see a parking lot full of flaming walkers?
Bob: No, as I said before, they should have never made it to the stadium. Do the show writers take into account that brain damage occurs would you get entirely burned from temperature? Most of them probably should have been dead. (That point is really good and I am mostly upset that I didn’t think of it first.)
Chris: It wasn’t something I needed to see, so I wasn’t really disappointed. (Need is a strong term. A strong term that I would have used.)
Kent: I would have liked satisfaction. I would have totally slapped a producer in the face with a glove and challenged them to a duel over whether they add that scene or not.
- Did Madison’s death sadden you in any way or were you simply relieved to have the questions answered?
Bob: The show did a great job on leading up to and concluding her story. I enjoyed the comic book effect the show had. (Good point on the comic book effect.)
Chris: She wasn’t one of my favorites, but I didn’t expect her to die. I’m glad to finally know what happened to her. (I am glad that it was answered rather than a cliff hanger. I also loved the endless speculation. It was fun.)
Kent: I have long loathed Madison since the very first episode. I didn’t like her attitude or demeanor most often, but last season and especially this season, my stance softened a bit. I was sad, but it was a necessary death to really force Alicia to become the true leader. She imparted some wisdom in a similar way as Herschel, but unfortunately for her, she did not have a shotgun with infinite ammo. That reference will never get old for me.
- Were the Vultures a decent choice for an antagonist, or were they on the same level as Joe and The Claimers?
Bob: Yes, I enjoyed the culture they had. (Yeah, that was pretty unique, especially compared to what we have seen in the past. It was clever.)
Chris: They were fine for a short-term antagonist, but I’m hoping this second half will actually have the zombies be the antagonists for a change. (Yeah, short term is the key there. A full season of them would have been irritating I think.)
Kent: They were a very good choice to connect the pieces to move forward. Meaning, they wante dto kill Madison and had to kill Nick, so this was the right kind of antagonist to do that while keeping the group united. Way better than the Mexico nonsense. WAY better than the boat folk.
- Did you find it lame or weak how they chose to kill Cole and the “red shirts” of the group in such a quick manner?
Bob: They were really putting all of this to rest so I was satisfied.
Chris: I guess, but they were doing so much slow motion with Madison’s death, they didn’t have much time for the rest.
Kent: I would have been fine had they did a better death, but the reality is that nobody cared about any of them, I don’t think, so in some ways it was perfect. Unremarkable characters get unremarkable deaths. Now why did Beth get such a big death is still beyond me.
- Where is Daniel Salazar? Note, it has been confirmed by the showrunners that he is not dead and that we will see him again in the Walking Dead universe.
Bob: I have no idea where this dude is. Maybe he is behind your couch or chair, in your basement or attic waiting to take you out. (I don’t have a couch, basement or attic. I am terrified to look behind my chair.)
Chris: Walking to Virginia! Make it happen Gimple!!!! I have no idea, but he needs to come back. (He would be a very dynamic character on TWD. I actually like this idea a lot. He could be a good leader for The Saviors.)
Kent: I looked this up, because I was making sure that he didn’t have a contract issue or anything. Come to find out, Ruben Blades is like this incredibly popular performer who is busy winning awards, and he still tours. Furthermore, the dude is a lawyer and legit ran for president of Panama. SO this guy is legit. I never knew any of this. It is confirmed that he is still alive. I’ll provide a few links. I doubt we see him this season, unless it’s at the very end, as he wasn’t on set according to Garret (John Dorie). In my opinion, the best thing they can do is leave him gone until season 5 at the minimum. When he returns, give him a 90 minute episode similar to Morgan and tell the story of his absence. That’s what I think they should do.
https://www.tvguide.com/news/fear-the-walking-dead-season-4-wheres-salazar/
https://www.biography.com/people/rub%C3%A9n-blades-185852
Bonus Deuce
- Who was your least favorite character of the half season?
Bob: June, very weak constitution. (Man, that makes me think about my character in this video game called DIvinity. She also had a very weak constitution, so her health was always garbage. But she was a very good shot.)
Chris: I like a lot of the characters, but I guess I’ll go with Madison. I’ve never really liked her character, and I thought she could have saved her people if she had just not been so stubborn about the stadium.
Kent: I was going to say Madison, but Chris did and presented a similar argument so I will choose Cole. He was just useless. Seriously, the way that he got got, it was so deserving. He could have had a stronger will and manned up. I really found him to be weak. Dude could have done very well with Strand, but he done f’d up.
- Who was your most favorite character of the half season?
Bob: Madison because she died and I never really liked her much until this season. (HA!)
Chris: John Dori is the only correct answer. But I will also add, Morgan was great too. They fit him into Fear perfectly and he will be a good lead character for them.
Kent: John Dorie is the answer, but props to Enis, Mel, Althea, Morgan, and especially Alicia. She had that primal thing going on, and it was great to see.
Final Thoughts – We’ve now seen such a drastic change this season compared to what we are used to in the Walking Dead universe. It was a soft reboot of sorts. Do you feel that something like this would have benefitted The Walking Dead by getting rid of more characters?
Bob: No, TWD has to have a STORY to move along. They seem to just drag everything out and throw a shock out there or a twist which is just enough to keep you going. It’s all about characters and conflict, not story with great actors.
Chris: Walking Dead has, since season 4, had too many main characters. I mean, Beth had 2 full episodes about her……. Beth! Fear is wise to have a small group. It allows the main characters to have more development.
Kent: I concur with what both gentlemen said above me. I’d guess that we’re getting a new beginning this season, of sorts. With the news about Rick and Maggie, maybe it’s not the worst idea. I don’t think it would work due to the insane amount of characters, BUT if we did it, let me quickly outline how it would go.
Tara takes over Oceanside and finds new lover(s). Rick and Maggie continue verbally sniping at each other. Daryl and Jesus get bored so they make out and really depress a good chunk of the female audience. Enid does some Hand That Rocks the Cradle shit on Herschel (Maggies’s baby). Negan spends his days locked up and sharing stories with Gabriel. Rosita continues to turn down Eugene. Maggie and Rick kill each other in a battle. Michonne and Daryl take over. But what’s this? It’s Eugene, Dwight, Sherri, Jadis, and Heath along with some others come to Alexandria and they have Rosita and Tara’s head and many of the other Oceansider’s heads. They say that they are taking over and making a New World Order. Ezekiel and Carol strategize about how to take them down while Jerry eats lots of pies. I mean, you have to admit that the NWO of the ZA with Eugene, Heath, Dwight, Jadis, and Sherri would be totally bad ass, the group of people who have continued to be overlooked or talked down to, or even forgot. At the end, the big reveal is that Daniel Salazar and the Vatos from season one are behind all of it. Yeah! With a new war on the horizon, we start to hear whispers. Delaying the inevitable.
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