Stuffed with zombies, apocalypse survivors and genocidal maniacs, Fear The Walking has a lot of characters to keep track of. So when the writing isn’t up to scratch – as in this week’s new instalment – the long-running spinoff becomes a slog. Here are our key grumbles from Fear season six episode 15.
Bombs away: big bad Teddy shoots his shot
After Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) informed Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) of the nuclear submarine’s location, this episode focused on the fight to stop Teddy’s (John Glover) masterplan. Morgan, Strand and a bunch of other survivors converge on the sub, busting through hatches and avoiding radiation zombies to find the missile control room.
By the time Morgan and Strand catch up with Teddy and his loyal follower Riley (Nick Stahl), the pair have already activated the power and triggered the missile launch. The silver lining is they only managed to set off one missile before Morgan and Strand’s intervention, stopping them from unleashing the power to supposedly “take out a continent”.
Doom is still on the horizon though, as one missile equipped with 10 warheads can still do significant damage to countless lives. The missile’s target is unclear though, with Teddy vaguely suggesting Morgan’s newly built sanctuary is in the splash zone. Let’s hope next week’s Fear The Walking Dead finale gives us some answers.
A miraculous escape: did Morgan get bitten?
Of all the WTF moments this week, Strand’s decision to sacrifice Morgan by throwing him to a group of walkers stands out. He gives vague justification that he’s the only one capable of making the tough calls, while trying to prove he’s driven by the greater good, but the decision comes out of nowhere. Strand has a history of making unpopular decisions, but this felt like a handbrake turn towards caricature.
Another weird moment was when Morgan somehow managed to escape. He was seen weaponless, flailing on the floor as zombies surrounded him, yet managed to bounce back unscathed in order to save Strand from an armed and dangerous Dakota (Zoe Colletti) just minutes later. The only rational way to explain this circus of events would be if Morgan was bitten by a walker in the process – otherwise this entire sequence was completely pointless.
Discussion point: is this the worst episode of the season?
The prevailing narrative around Fear The Walking Dead season six has been the show’s return to form after a torrid fifth outing. Episodes like ‘Mother, Bury Her Next to Jasper’s Leg’, ‘The Key’ and ‘Things Left To Do’, were some of the best in years.
But this episode was a bitter reminder that Fear The Walking Dead is still a long way from clawing back its potential. Why did Morgan and Strand let Teddy go without questioning him on Alicia’s whereabouts? How did Morgan survive that zombie attack? How is Grace (Karen David) suddenly okay after going through the trauma of losing her baby? Why did all those survivors head into the submarine, if it was only Strand and Morgan who would actually do anything? The whole thing made next to no sense.
This week’s biggest question: who will die in the finale?
Given the franchise’s bloodthirsty tendencies, a major death feels unavoidable every time the season finale rolls around. So who could it be? And perhaps more crucially, how many characters will croak?
The show has a huge opportunity to do something drastic which could carry Fear The Walking Dead into a new era. What if everyone did actually die apart from Alicia? It’s a bold move which feels unthinkable, yet The Walking Dead hasn’t been shy about wiping out batches of characters at once — like Alpha’s piked head massacre which took out 10 people in season nine.
As he’s skipped death countless times, Morgan feels like the character with the biggest target on his back. Regardless, the finale looks destined to make a splash no matter the outcome. We’ll just have to hope the show’s writing quality flips in our favour for the final hour.
Most ominous quote: “It’s because of people like you that the world has to end” – Dakota to Strand
‘Fear The Walking Dead’ airs Mondays at 9pm on AMC in the UK
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