Fear the Walking Dead - Season 5 discussion and spoilers.

Well, they went back to the thing of only focusing an episode on a single main character, in that this episode was almost entirely Al and Happy/Isabel aside from a brief appearance by Morgan, Alicia and the kids at the end. Despite my previous lack of enthusiasm for this type of episode which both Walking Dead shows partake in, I was kind of expecting this to happen the longer we went without seeing Al after the premiere, so I'm at peace with it. The episode itself isn't bad though they were predictably lean on answers regarding the Black Armour people. They're definitely not a friendly gang, but appear to be one of the most advanced, organized and prepared group ever encountered on either show.

Is it me, or did Happy/Isabel's hair style kind of resemble Jadis's?

 

Well this last Al-based episode is now the second lowest of the series... Still, no further ratings collapse is a good thing.

 

Well, cool. We spend a whole hour with one of the Black Suits and we still know almost nothing substantial about them. They are looking toward the future beyond the ZA-- or at least that's how they imagine themselves, or what they tell their soldiers. And yet they don't actually help anybody, and they try to keep their existence a complete secret, to the point of killing anybody who knows about them. In Walking Dead, they seemed to be recruiting the pick of the litter, either Father Gabriel or Rick (with no indication of what made them so special), but here there was a "payload" of some kind. Probably related to the nuclear power plant.

But are they a part of the US government? A paramilitary group? A private corporation? Did they exist before the ZA? If so, were they also working to create a new civilization or did their mission change? Are they, perhaps, the very people that created the ZA and are now working damage control?

And how does Karen David fit into this? Is she part of this group? Does she know about them? Why didn't they kill her? Maybe she was supposed to die, but Happy developed a crush on her, too. The ZA is a lonely place!

In any case, it's an intriguing mystery, and a step up from This Year's Tin Hitler plots, and hopefully it will lead to some evolution in the franchise as a whole.

 

I like that Matt Frewer's character doesn't directly dominate the storyline so it should be refreshing vs tiresome when they circle back.

 

Yes, they are. This long into the ZA, and they still have well-maintained transportation, fuel, armor and apparently a presence that Isabel--one of their own--was hesitant to discuss. Eventually, we will see this group down the road, and in the Rick movie, but I hope its not just another dictatorship kind of situation. After The Governor, Negan and Alpha, threats need to take on the form of a different kind of approach to surviving other than Angry/Sadistic Leader and Bloodthirsty Followers.

Ehhh..its short and not very stylish. Its likely a practical hair cut similar to what some women in the armed services wear, as its not too long (in conflict, that can be used against the one sporting it), and is practical from a care point of view.

 

So the comic book series is ending with no lead-up or fanfare. Will this affect the series? They are still many, many years away from catching up to the comics, right? Given that there is no lead-up it's unlikely that there will be a real ending, short of everyone dying?

 

Do you have a link with the details?

My imagined last season would end with the group finding a civilization from North Dakota (or even Canda) going down south to Texas to a refinery... so gas is being made on a regular basis but other things happen in between as well as trade. This strand in mid-America becomes key to rebuilding civilization, and the group becomes part of it...

 

No news about how it ends yet, just that it's ending this month.

 

Spoilers in this link:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/l...rkman-comic-book-ends-surprise-finale-1222097
This isn't as abrupt as it seems Robert Kirkman had this planned for a few years now but kept it a secret because he wanted the ending to catch everyone off-guard. The story is wrapped up, and there is a proper ending.

 

So, assuming the main show continues to (just barely) follow the comics' storyline, how long until it catches up to the ending?

 

Not sure how it could.

 

I'm just reading the comic now. Let's put it this way: if I'm reading the time frame right, the show has plenty of wiggle room.

 

The TV series has become its own animal in so many ways, and if AMC has its way, they will move beyond whatever conclusion the comic has. They already made a major shift in plots and character arc by creating Daryl for the series, so that proved they would be successful without copy+pasting every idea, event or character from the comics.

 

From what I just read, it would be impossible for the series to have the same conclusion as the comic.

 

Although true, one has to wonder how much longer the main show can go on for. I'm not trying to be doom and gloom saying the end is nigh or anything silly like that, and I know AMC has said in the past they'd gladly keep it on for twenty years if they could. But with spin-offs and telemovies in development, and the show's main cast already dispersing, I'm sure at some point even Norman Reedus is going to want to move on, and when that happens they probably should end the show. I don't really expect the show to last much longer than a fifteenth season, though I'd love to be proven wrong.

And by a fifteenth season they should have time to move on from the current Whisperers storyline and delve into the next one from the comics. Which should be interesting given some fan theories circulating that

Spoiler

the Black Armour people are from the Commonwealth.

Pretty much, yeah. That being said I would love for the show to somehow end with

Spoiler

Maggie becoming POTUS.

 

It would just be interesting to see the virus/plague/curse finally eradicated. That would be the best way for a zombie series to end. No loose strings of "...and the adventure continues..."

Spoiler

Ahh, That would turn out to be an interesting turn of events considering Maggie has lived there for some time, and Rick was on his way there--well, five years ago in series time.

 

That would be exactly the type of ending I'd like to see.

I've always thought the perfect ending to a Zombie Apocalypse would be for the Zombies to just suddenly drop as inexplicably as they rose. It's over, guys. But will it happen again?

 

Hmm... any children other than Judith? One of them could die...but the parent does not want ANYONE to spike their head...so they wait...and wait....and wait... and see that it has stopped (at least for "new" people)...

 

Fear the Walking Dead
Season 5 / Episode 6 "The Little Prince"

Morgan / Grace: The reactor sub-plot is the most interesting element of the season. I cannot imagine her story ends with her just being some semi-enigmatic figure who disappears as fast as she was introduced. I would hope she fails so it places the heroes on a timer--and we can guess the new group will stand in the way of their leaving the region.

Alicia/Annie: Annie's story about her parents was too on the nose a parallel to Madison's forced separation/death. I felt that was unnecessary to sell the plight of Annie and her brothers to Alicia. Basic human empathy would allow anyone to understand how tragic the kids' lives were/are.

Strand / Charlie: Taking a kid aboard a hot-air balloon? That's risky in the normal world, but in a situation where there's no readily available medical care (or other safety measures for the balloon) no one would drag a child along--or allow her to talk her way into being a passenger.

Dwight / John Dorie: John is best used still thinking like a cop, instead of just being the sort of strange guy of the group. Not telling Dwight the truth (about the letter) reads like something unexpected will come their way. If Sherry is still alive, I can see her now being a part of the new Big Bad group (kidnapped, or fell in to survive), and although she says (in her letters) she still loves Dwight, it would throw the audience to see her move beyond sacrificing herself for the sake of Dwight anymore.

NOTES: Who in their right mind would trust using a plane constructed by people knowing absolutely nothing about that...sheesh. Seems like a set up for more tragedy. Even on a series with cannibalistic corpses, this stretched plausibility to the breaking point.

GRADE: C+.

 

FTWD has become like a family adventure show with a bunch of characters who will never get up against all odds and are trying to save a bunch of plucky kids. Trying to Macgyver a plane and flying in a propeller in a big novelty hot air balloon seems like something right out of an 80s movie. I'm not necessarily complaining but it's a funny turn.