Fear the Walking Dead – End of the Line review S5 E16
Does Angela Kang have a sister or just have time to want to save another Walking Dead show? Hope was rapidly fading that The Walking Dead would ever be must-see appointment TV after the last pair of underwhelming seasons until Kang made her showrunner debut this past season. Suddenly TWD became a thoughtful, engaging and entertaining show again. Fear the Walking Dead might well be too far gone at this point and the season finale, End of the Line, felt less like a dramatic cliffhanger and more the ideal jumping off point.
Creating real stakes and drama has been a challenge for the showrunners all season and that streak didn’t end tonight. Morgan and his crew faced long odds of survival and figured the only way to make things right would be to take Ginny up on her offer to partner up in some vaguely described alliance.
Then of course it dawned on the gang to just clear out the 263 walkers at Humbug Gulch 2 and settle down. Dwight found some horses and if there’s horses there must be water so this place might be a worthwhile sanctuary after all.
Ginny laughs when Morgan tells her their location. She’d warned the previous leaders about taking their offer and when they didn’t they all became walkers. Ginny’s leaving out the important tidbit that her Pioneers killed them for daring to fight back, but that’s minor details. The important thing is Ginny is going to split the gang up in the work crews she thinks best.
Besides convoluted drama and the main plot for Season 6 what sense does that make? Why would Ginny arbitrarily decide to split everyone? Also, these guys fixed a crash plane using a hot air balloon and a child labor law violation workforce. What’s taking care of nearly 300 walkers?
After an impromptu council meeting they use the horses to lead the herd out. This season has really neutered the walkers’ effectiveness. It took all of 30 seconds to take care of a problem that had Morgan panicked enough to ask Ginny for help. Naturally Morgan doesn’t want a fight as they lead the walkers out. Instead he wants to use the walkers to discourage Ginny from coming up on them again. I’m trying to remember the last time weaponizing a herd worked out in this show…
MORE:
- DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Fourth Season digital copy
- 5 Black Panther Hot Toys figures we want ASAP
- Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover adds Birds of Prey series star
- Lyles Movie Files Podcast Ep. 103 – Films With the Most Satisfying Ending
There’s a commercial double feature of The Walking Dead’s new season and Zombieland: Double Tap. Will that be the most entertaining thing I see this hour?
For some reason Morgan takes dying, knocking on death’s door Grace on horseback during this herd distraction mission. She mentions that crush she had before everything went terrible again and casually throws out that they did hook up. This is subtle foreshadowing Fear the Walking Dead style.
With the herd all rounded up, why can’t John just shoot seven bullets and kill all the walkers? He’s a great trick shot after all.
Strand wants to deal with Ginny. Finally a dissenting opinion, but this seems like a ridiculous backtracking of Strand’s character after a season of drinking Morgan’s Kool-Aid. The send the herd to threaten Ginny plan gets derailed when Luciana shows up with them. Who is now operating the very pivotal and key oil fields now???
As we knew, controlling the herd goes badly and Dwight’s horse becomes a meal. Great. Now there’s something else hurt by working with these guys. Dwight messes up his leg and apparently led the entire herd to follow him. Walker priority on victims always seems a little spotty on this show. John, June and Grace lead the herd through the river allowing me a moment to try out a series of bad puns since that was more fun than this scene. Here’s what I came up with:
- You can lead a walker through the rapids, but you can’t teach em how to swim.
- The herd plan was a washout.
- Dwight, we found the water!
Time for another pep talk! Morgan makes the deal with Ginny, but in the meantime, they’re going to live how they always planned. Somehow Ginny takes the super extended long route allowing Wes and Alicia to get in some quality paint time (not a euphemism) and for June and John to get married. Dwight offers his wedding rings for them. There weren’t rings in the costume shop along with the fancy dress John got June? Daniel and Grace bless us with another duet. They should take this show on the road presumably one we’re they’re not stuck on this crummy show.
While this ridiculous scene played out, I wondered how cool it would be if we got a Dynasty season 5 finale here? Oh yeah I’m dating myself with that one.
How insane was that? But no, that would be remotely interesting and also kill off a cast member. That’s only reserved for idiot selfie cameramen. No wedding crashing at all. Ginny and company arrive before the reception (rude) and start aggressively pulling the group away from each other like they’re Stormtroopers in Cloud City. Ginny does make good on her deal to get a doctor for Grace.
And wouldn’t you know it? All those signs of radiation poisoning Grace thought she had was really just pregnancy symptoms. #WorstTwistEver
Ginny decides Morgan is a danger to the future (#facts) and shoots him in the chest. To make sure he’s dead, Ginny grabs another gun and it misfires. But she’s pretty sure the five or so walkers will kill him. Has Ginny not been paying attention at all this season? No character of consequence has been killed by walkers ALL SEASON.
Morgan somehow still has his radio and leaves a message of hope as the walkers close in. I’m pretty sure if he was going to die Ginny would have just done it then so yes, Morgan will be back next season.
The real question is will the viewers? Like Ginny’s gun, Fear the Walking Dead’s fifth season can’t be described as anything less than a misfire of terrible characterization, underwhelming villains and idiotic decisions. And Tom.
I’m so ready for the return of the main show next week.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Photo Credit: AMC