I figured just doing The Mandalorian reviews wasn’t enough TV coverage, so I’m back on Fear the Walking Dead… for now.
I need a GPS and a program to keep up with Morgan’s philosophical changes. He’s been a sad sack, a broken-hearted widower, a vengeful wraith, a pacifist in the midst of a war and a motivational leader.
That’s a lot of hats between FTWD and The Walking Dead. At least from the start of this season Morgan might be back to being a great character again. Or at least an interesting one.
He’s become the de facto main character of the spin-off for better or worse so the season premiere needed to address last year’s cliffhanger.
Virginia left him for dead and as the season kicks off Morgan is happy to gradually die as penance for getting his pals caught by Virginia and her rangers. It doesn’t seem like Morgan will have to wait too long as he’s eyes are already bloodshot and walkers are walking by him like he’s already one of them.
But his clinging to life status isn’t helping Ginny sleep so she’s contracted a bounty hunter Emile LaRoux (Demetrius Grosse) to bring him in dead or alive. A bounty hunter in the Walking Dead universe is an interesting concept. Even if just for the fascinating manner in which a target could be identified with no photos or text messages.
A stranger who eventually reveals his name is Isaac (Michael Abbott Jr.) helps him, but Emile tracks them with relative ease. He’s good at his job. Tearing down Morgan’s water tower shelter was impressive until he acted like old school characters in this universe and got his truck stolen.
Isaac’s wife, Rachel (Brigitte Kali Canales) is pregnant and he desperately needs help getting back to their shelter. A guy who can walk by walkers undetected sure would come in handy. Back in the not so distant past, Isaac ran with Virginia as one of her rangers. Morgan is back in his guilty feelings and won’t help even after Isaac mentions he saw one of Morgan’s inspirational videos. He wanted to protect the water tower for the person who helped him escape and tried to stitch him up. Oooh, a new mystery.
The big problem with that subplot was Morgan thought it was going to be a some and done kinda thing, but he sparked the flame of hope for a lot of people and it’s not something he can easily just say peace out cause my pals got kidnapped by a loco park ranger.
And that’s enough to motivate Morgan to live again and help Isaac get back to Rachel in time for her delivery. Isaac’s potato chips must be laced with adrenaline for the nearly walker Morgan to get his second, third and fourth wind to take down a platoon of walkers. Isaac was pushing Morgan to help so much because he’d gotten bitten and was on the verge of death himself. Alright, that actually makes a lot of sense.
MORE:
Emile tracked them to the sanctuary, but after a brief struggle, gets decapitated. It’s time to admit Emile was weaksauce. He couldn’t beat a half dead Morgan with a stick despite having a battle axe and a tracker dog.
Still, Morgan isn’t the kind to leave a weapons upgrade ungathered. He can always fashion a new bo staff/spear anyway. Now if only he can find a razor… Isaac managed to properly stich Morgan up and get the bullet out before naming his daughter Morgan and dying. This guy did more in 24 hours than some TWD characters do in seasons.
Morgan goes on some vigilante stuff and leaves Virginia the box with Emilie’s head in it before proclaiming that Morgan Jones is dead. You are dealing with somebody else now? Django Unshaved?
Two guys are waiting for the key Emile snatched from his earlier victim. One ominously spray paints The End is the Beginning on a sub. These idiots couldn’t keep up with a small yacht and they’re going to do anything with a submarine? Yeah right. Hopefully this duo will be on hand to vandalize more property with episode titles throughout the season. That would be helpful.
As the start of a new season, this one was pretty encouraging actually. Of course with Fear the Walking Dead, the setup is rarely the problem. It’s the payoff that truly matters.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: AMC
