The “Walking Dead” spinoff is in dire need of change, and its showrunners need to go.
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Online Editor
Fear The Walking Dead | Season 5
Episodes 1-16
Airdates: 6/2/2019-9/29/19 on AMC
***SPOILERS BELOW***
Before we talk about Season 5 of this once great series, a little history lesson must be given. When the fourth season of “Fear The Walking Dead” concluded in September 2018, fans were in an uproar. And rightfully so.
Since the show’s introduction in August 2015, the show had been slowly building a loyal, diehard fanbase, and creatively the show just kept getting better. For my money, the show’s third season, which aired in the summer of 2017, is perhaps the best season of either Walking Dead series. If it’s not the best, it certainly has to be in the conversation. The show had a lot of potential to really become something special.
And then came Season 4.
The show’s controversial fourth season completely changed the dynamic of the show, both on and off camera. Co-creator and showrunner Dave Erickson departed, and was replaced by Andrew Chambliss and Ian B. Goldberg. They took the show in a completely new direction, but not necessarily a direction it needed to go.
Season 4 sees the show’s central figure, Madison Clark (played expertly by veteran actress Kim Dickens), seemingly killed off in the dumbest way possible, with the show becoming centered around “Walking Dead” original Morgan Jones (played by Lennie James). Nick Clark (Frank Dillane), one of the show’s other central characters, was shot and killed by a child in mid-season episode, and later on that child is accepted into the group for reasons I still don’t understand. On top of this, there were so many more changes, most of which didn’t need to happen. While it wasn’t the worst show on television, it was completely antithetical to what “Fear The Walking Dead” had been to that point, and it was disrespectful to its fans, even if unintentionally. Fans tuned in to see something different from the Walking Dead mothership, not Walking Dead Lite.
The show’s fifth season wasn’t designed to please those detractors, with the show relying on the dynamics of the main series more than ever. The introduction and exploration of the helicopter group that took Rick Grimes to places unknown (but based on a teaser that was released this summer, probably Philadelphia) and the “Fear” debut of Dwight (played by the talented Austin Amello) were fun, but unnecessary. They didn’t help the show stand out from the pack, but rather blend in with the pack when it really shouldn’t have.
There was potential for things to get better, but I’m sorry to say that “Fear The Walking Dead” has hit rock bottom. It might actually have gotten lower than that. The show has seemingly gotten worse with each passing episode, with the beer balloon scene from the sixth episode and the documentary-style episodes in the season’s second half being particular low-points. It actually became the worst show on television.
There was no coherent plot. Things just kind of happened, and none of those things made any sense. Characters acted in ways that were completely nonsensical. Longtime fan favorite characters like Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), Luciana Glavez (Danay García) and Daniel Salazar (Rubén Blades) are reduced to shells of the badass characters that they once were. The whole “we’re here to help” ideology is beyond stupid and yet the show continues to have it be the foundation of whatever stories it wants to tell.
The season’s final episode was a slap in the face. It’s clear that Scott Gimple, who has a heavy influence on the show, learned absolutely nothing from the main show’s Negan cliffhanger back in 2016, because this season of “Fear The Walking Dead” ends with another infuriating cliffhanger that may just scare off any fans the show has left.
How showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss still remain employed is beyond my comprehension. They have taken a show that was once had so much promise, and one that was different from the mothership series, and completely massacred it beyond recognition. Especially given the show’s finale twist, I’m not sure that things can be salvaged anymore. I’m not sure “Fear The Walking Dead” can last another season with Goldberg and Chambliss in charge.
I’ve said in other reviews that I’ve done that the showrunner is one of, if not the most important aspects of a show. I stand by that. It’s time for a change of direction, and more urgently, it’s time for a change in leadership. Based off a recent interview with the showrunners done by Insider’s Kirsten Acuna, it’s clear that they are not going to budge on what they’re doing with the show, and are not really listening to any of the criticism directed towards them.
In order to survive, “Fear The Walking Dead” needs to evolve, but at the same time, it also needs to return to its roots. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to bring characters back, although the return of Madison Clark would be a welcome one. It needs to be the kind of show that scares people, and the kind of show that shocks people. It can’t be a show were no one dies until the last episode, and it can’t be a show where literally nothing of importance happens.
“Fear The Walking Dead” won’t change for the better with Goldberg and Chambliss at the helm, as they seem perfectly fine continuing the show the way it is. But it’s time for a change. It’s time for new showrunners, or maybe even just one showrunner, who won’t waste 16 hours of my life with complete nonsense.
Until that change happens, I’m not sure I’ll give “Fear The Walking Dead” any more of my time.
