The End may only be the Beginning… but within The Walking Dead Universe, everything is connected. So, the main point for everyone involved is to just survive somehow, before we meet again next year. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s discuss how Fear dropped the bomb on The Walking Dead.
This year, it took me a little longer than usual to complete watching Season 6, because I was very torn up from the death of John Dorie, my favorite character in the show (who also was the heart, the soul and the conscience of the series for the past two years). I was very upset about the character getting killed off and even questioned whether I’d return to watch any more (Killing off Fear‘s Best Character Has to Mean Something!), but I am glad I endured it all, as the Zombie Cowboy Western got a couple of great veteran actors to fill Garret Dillahunt’s void.
The arrival of Keith Carradine as John Dorie Sr. just a moment too late was an immediate success, but learning his lifetime adversary was also our protagonists’ main opponent was an added bonus. John Glover was absolutely diabolical as Teddy Maddox, a former convict-turned cult leader and the main visionary to mold a whole new world out of the Zombie Apocalypse. Turns out his big plans involved a beached submarine with multiple active warheads, just waiting to be launched. Never did he imagine he’d run into Morgan’s Crew.
Other storylines involved Virginia getting killed off half-way through the season, Sherry finally reuniting with Dwight (Sherry’s Return Highlights Fear‘s Relationships) and Alicia getting stashed away in some hotel bunker along with the Maddox cult. “In Dreams” involved a trippy, cool Wizard of Oz-like storyline that foreshadowed the possible futures of Morgan, Grace and others that will never be. This was one of my favorite episodes, along with the semi-formal funeral for Dorie Jr. in “J.D.” which made me cry more than a few times. I’m still not happy about the character getting killed off, and I really didn’t like Old Man Salazar getting wasted with memory loss once more (this time for real).
“There is nothing that you or I can say or do that’s gonna make any of this OK, right?”
By the end of the season finale, our heroes have inexplicably separated once the bomb launched, living out their own lives as best they can, I suppose. I would have assumed after everything they just endured for the past few years, they’d stick together, but maybe not… A random baby is introduced, so maybe Grace and Morgan can finally live happily ever after. But if there’s one thing TWD has taught us, it’s that ALL children are evil during the Zombie Apocalypse!
Three characters are taken away by a CRM black helicopter. Where will they go? Will they finally meet up with Rick Grimes for the upcoming TWD feature film? Will they crossover into the World Beyond? They might actually meet up with Isabella, who’s destined to find Althea once more (For some reason, Maggie Grace was missing in action for the finale.).
What kind of ramifications will these nuclear warheads have on Fear, as well as the other two TWD series? What about all the radioactive fallout? Are all of the survivors poisoned? Will this explosion actually lead the surviving characters to those of the mothership?
On Talking Dead: Home Edition, Executive Producer Ian Goldberg revealed, “The nuclear apocalypse will bring out a new element of human adversary” and a lot of gas masks. So, there’s that to look forward to. But I’m more interested in the rumored Bonnie and Clyde adventures that Dwight and Sherry will get into next year. And I can’t wait to see how John Dorie Sr. develops as a character, continually bringing out new “old” stories about his son to the show.
But I hope Old Man Salazar’s memory loss as a PTSD device the character uses to deal with a lifetime of deceiving others gets resolved rather quickly.
Unfortunately, AMC didn’t have Talking Dead available for the majority of Fear‘s last half of the season to explore more of the show’s finer details. That is a trend I hope comes to an end later this year, as World Beyond wraps up its two-year arc and the mothership closes up shop (finally).
Talking Dead is something we, the fans, need for both of those shows now more than ever, but especially for more Fear!