“Fear the Walking Dead” (AMC) is a strange show. I’m not sure the creators have any idea what to do with it at this point. Season 1 started out as a fresh take on the “Walking Dead” universe with new and interesting characters. My understanding was we were going to get a show about the early days of the breakout and how the world handles it. The first season is, in my opinion, really good. The time period allows the writers to show the change people go through from normal life to post-apocalyptic life. However, it moves so fast that they basically go through the breakout in three or four episodes.
Then Season 2 and 3 changed the feel of the show as the group heads to Mexico and more sparsely populated areas and we get the same type of plot as in the original “Walking Dead.”
So, Season 4 comes along, and all of a sudden we have a time jump and now “FTWD” is running concurrently with “TWD.” The big hype of the season is a character crossover, and the announcement is … Morgan! And everyone said “meh.” Now we have two shows about the same thing with some different characters and one commonality.
And speaking of characters, the turnover on this show is worse than the turnover of employees at the local McDonalds. The rate at which this show adds and drops characters is probably true to life given the situation, but it can alienate an audience when they remove the characters you like. This has become popular in recent shows such as “Game of Thrones,” but “FTWD” is doing it wrong and losing steam.
Anyway, this season does add some interesting new characters before playing the game of single-character episodes “TWD” does so well. I was on board, even though it was again a different show. The midseason finale is really good, with a shocking moment. Then it returns for the second half, introduces a very un-intimidating villain and goes nowhere. It could be said that the purpose is to set up the show moving forward, but to me it loses all momentum.
I will check out Season 5, but as has become common with “TWD” and “FTWD,” I’ll let a few build up on my DVR and binge them, or watch them while I’m working or doing something else. I can’t put full attention into these shows anymore. There’s too much other good stuff out there.