Fear The Walking Dead, spin-off of AMC’s The Walking Dead, just wrapped up its fifth season. There have been many twists and turns as the group navigates how to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. The group has banded together on a mission to help those in need, and made some admirable, but also dumb, decisions along the way.
They’ve expanded, met new adversaries, and honed new skills. Still, a few things don’t make sense now that we look back on the last season. Note: spoilers ahead right up to the season finale.
They Let Luciana Go That Easily
After the oil fields were discovered, the group had to make a tough decision. Luciana agreed to stay to show the thieving pioneer settlers how everything works in exchange for everyone else being able to leave, unharmed. Instead of fighting or coming back to save Luciana, they all seemingly shrugged their shoulders and left.
Considering the group consistently refuses to back down and goes to great lengths to save one another, they let Luciana go far too easily. Her name wasn’t even spoken of again until they saw her from afar. Were they secretly hatching a plan to get her back, or had they just written her off? It seems contrary to their usual behavior.
June Changing Into a Wedding Dress
We get that the apocalyptic wedding between June and John was a sweet moment to prove they had something to live for, and a middle finger to Virginia. And we love that they conveniently had costumes to play dress up. But was it really the most practical decision for June to put on an ill-fitting and uncomfortable dress right before being taken away?
You’d think she’d want to be in her own comfortable clothes, especially in a world where running from and fighting off flesh-eating zombies is par for the course. Attire is sort of a big deal. Why didn’t she quickly change back into her own clothes after the “I dos?”
Virginia Not Killing Morgan
We understand that Virginia’s first two attempts to kill Morgan were unsuccessful, but why did she simply leave him for dead instead of finishing the job? Given how ruthless and cruel she can be, why wouldn’t she have grabbed his stick and driven it through his skull, or hit him hard enough to cause blunt force trauma?
Maybe that was too harsh a means of murder for her, but let’s not forget that she had just attempted to shoot him point blank in the face. She also seems like far too smart a leader to leave his death to chance. For this reason, we suspect that Morgan survives.
The Group Saving One At The Expense Of Many
There’s something called “the greater good,” but in the eyes of this group, every life matters even if it means the death of many. They risked everyone’s lives and ended up in dire circumstances in order to find saline for a presumed dying Grace. Morgan put himself and the others at risk multiple other times as well, like when creeping through land mines and chasing down an injured Dwight.
For a group that focuses so much on saving as many people as they possibly can, they sure risk the lives of many to try and save one, often times ending in the death of someone anyway.
Tom’s Death
After most of the group successfully made it across a falling bridge, Tom decided that he had a few seconds to stop and record some footage to praise the group’s efforts and the good, honest work they were doing.
It made zero sense that he would be so irresponsible. He wasn’t live streaming. Grab the camcorder, run to safety, then record your video. Sadly, the dimwitted decision led to Tom’s demise. Weirdly, it was caught on tape. How Al was able to procure that tape given that Tom plummeted to his death is yet another mystery.
Grace Not Being Sick
We love the underlying message behind the group sacrificing so much to save a dying woman only to discover that she was actually pregnant and malnourished.
We understand that maybe this thought never crossed Grace’s mind, since she conceived seemingly during a one-night stand with a former colleague who had since perished. Plus. She was convinced she was dying from exposure to radioactive chemicals from the plant. But if she’s perfectly fine, what was the point of that whole radioactive storyline? Does this mean that Alicia will be the one who gets sick? Or was that storyline just a waste of time?
The Video Recorder Always Having Power
Al sure loves to record every moment, and she somehow has the time (and resources) to make copies where people, once again, have VCRs, television, and power to play them. Where are they getting all of this power?
Maybe there are a lot of packaged batteries lying around, or there’s some serious solar gear. Nonetheless, she seems to have no problem always having the camera ready and powered up when she needs it.
Why The Group Gave Up So Easily
It must have been a total bummer to arrive at Humbug’s Gulch only to find that it was overrun with Walkers. But this isn’t the first time the group has encountered such adversity. Usually, they’d devise a clever plan to clear them out. So why did they give up so easily?
We get that they had just been through a lot, were tired, dehydrated, and defeated. But they still could’ve come up with elaborate plans to draw the Walkers out and burn them, kill them one by one - whatever it takes. Given that Morgan understood exactly what Dwight meant when he referenced having been through a similar situation before (with Negan) and not wanting to do it again, he should have practiced his own constant “there has to be a better way” preaching.
The Consistent Western Theme
Fear the Walking Dead is not a Western, nor should it be. It’s a post-apocalyptic horror drama, so stop trying to make it something it’s not. We were fine with the quick-shooting John Dorie because it made sense given his occupation and extra-curricular activities pre-apocalypse.
But Virginia with her hat and cowboy boots, and the consistent Western-themed music made some episodes of the season seem more kitsch than dramatic. It doesn’t make sense and seems to be shifting the show into completely different territory.
They All Know How To Ride Horses
Maybe everyone had ridden a horse before, and Virginia and her settlers are clearly in their element. But the others, who come from all across America, all seemed to have a pretty good knack for riding. They not only expertly led horses into a field strategically in front of a herd of Walkers, but also weaved in and out, back and forth as they followed.
Even the actors noted that they needed to learn before filming (Morgan had previously ridden on The Walking Dead). So how are we to expect that they would all be so comfortable hopping on a horse and being able to keep it on the right path, like professional equestrians?
