Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 (1 Viewer)

[Paul D G]

Every week I want to come here and complain about some logic in this show but I don't want to be 'that guy.' I also wonder if I'm being too hard on the show and others see the same sort of thinking in TWD that I'm just being more forgiving on.

When the cars blew past her in Martha's back story I fully expected this to have happened right at the start of the apocalypse; because they were fleeing the city and Martha was perhaps unaware of what was happening to the world. But as someone else pointed out, that wasn't the case. I also expected this to be a Martha-centric episode with either showing more on what she's been doing or her terrorizing the group, but then she disappeared for the bulk of the episode! Why introduce her backstory and then move on to something else?

Also, given that the timing of this season is maybe a couple months after the end of last season of TWD (however long it would take Morgan to walk there), this group is amazingly unaffected by everything. The beer guy has never killed a walker? Was he never part of a group? Why is he still alone? Has he just been wandering around the last two years looking for a new batch of hops? It's like he's not suffered any loss.

And yeah, the whole hospital thing. They were able to just walk through the city without being attacked by walkers or other groups of villains, then when trapped in the hospital by walkers who can be sent flying by heavy wind gusts and whose heads are as fragile as paper mache, their solution is to go to the roof. I would have thought an underground parking garage could have been more obvious. Getting the power restored was another poor bit of writing. It was so easy.

 

[MarkMel]

I agree will all of your points but the Beer Guy said that he was holed up in his brewery until the beer lovin' truck driver kidnapped him to make beer for her. So in fictionland, it is conceivable that he never killed a walker.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I've been defending the logic of this show, but there were two pretty unexcusable lapses in judgment with tonight's penultimate episode:

1. When Martha collapsed after shooting at Alicia and Charlie, Alicia should have driven her sharpened barrel shroud right through her skull, or -- at bare minimum -- left her to bleed out on the pavement.
2. I can understand Al's note given that she didn't know what was waiting for her on the other side of that door, but once she realized the ceiling collapse had held off most of the walkers, she should have taken the regular elevator up to the roof to give the rest of them the all clear. If she'd gotten up there and found it overrun, she could have just taken the elevator back.

Other than those pretty major issues, I liked the episode. It's nice to see people working together, and it's nice to see some optimism in the face of despair. By the end of the episode, I really felt like the current iteration of the cast was a cohesive group, in a way I haven't all season. They've fought hard to find each other again, they now been through an ordeal together.

Presumably the show's smart enough not to make the same mistake the mothership has with Negan, and Martha will bite the big one next week. It still seems like she's only still alive because they had an episode left in their order.

In response to last week's episode:

And Morgan leading them UP the stairs at the hospital. I mean, after all this time, how do you make a ridiculous choice like that?

They were penned in from all sides. That was, while definitely not a good option, the only available option.

And there are hordes of zombies out in the hinterlands where there are no structures chasing the group INTO the city and conveniently trapping them in the hospital. Where were those hordes living before the apocalypse? They come out of nowhere for the sake of ... plot contrivance.

Zombies are attracted by sound, and the series of massive explosions caused by Martha's attack on the big-rig is what formed the horde. They were gathered together by the explosions, and then once they got there the live meat of Morgan's group was the only thing to give them a direction.

I like the actor but it is tough to buy the character's motivation and that she's stone cold nuts but also able to outwit a group of people who have managed to survive this long.

It's worth noting that mental illness and mental acuity are not mutually exclusive. There are a lot of very bright people out there who suffer from mental illness, and there are a lot of people who are dumb as bricks who are untroubled by any mental illness whatsoever.

And yeah, the whole hospital thing. They were able to just walk through the city without being attacked by walkers or other groups of villains, then when trapped in the hospital by walkers who can be sent flying by heavy wind gusts and whose heads are as fragile as paper mache, their solution is to go to the roof.

They brought the walkers with them. They were limited to the speed of their least mobile member, a paraplegic deprived of his wheelchair. From the site of the attack, presumably just on the outskirts of Austin, they maintained a pace just slightly faster than the walkers trailing them. They went to the hospital because it had the best odds of a wheelchair for Wendell to replace the one Martha shot up. When they arrived, they needed to take a beat so that June could patch people up. By the time she finished, the horde had surrounded the hospital.

I would have thought an underground parking garage could have been more obvious. Getting the power restored was another poor bit of writing. It was so easy.

This is assuming that the hospital had an underground parking garage. As for the generators: It's unrealistic that the remaining gas would still be usable after sitting for this long, but that's a conceit that we've had to accept across the whole franchise. Assuming that there was someone left to shut things off near the end before the hospital fell the first time, it's conceivable that they'd still be ready to go.

I agree will all of your points but the Beer Guy said that he was holed up in his brewery until the beer lovin' truck driver kidnapped him to make beer for her. So in fictionland, it is conceivable that he never killed a walker.

Exactly. It conceivable that they are pockets where people have managed to hole up and mostly ride this thing out.

 

[TravisR]

It's worth noting that mental illness and mental acuity are not mutually exclusive. There are a lot of very bright people out there who suffer from mental illness, and there are a lot of people who are dumb as bricks who are untroubled by any mental illness whatsoever.

That's certainly true but her mental problems seem like they're bad enough that she'd have trouble functioning in the world.

 

[ChristopherG]

Zombies are attracted by sound, and the series of massive explosions caused by Martha's attack on the big-rig is what formed the horde. They were gathered together by the explosions, and then once they got there the live meat of Morgan's group was the only thing to give them a direction.

While technically true (in this story anyhow) I was taken out of the show when the zombies have our heroes surrounded on the firetruck, a meal in sight and there for the taking, yet a beeping alarm is enough to drag them all away....

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I can't even. This has turned into the stupidest show on television. And why don't they just call it the Morgan Show? He was such a great character they had to split him off from the original to build this spin-off around him? His two-dimension constant torment, to kill or not to kill, wore off ages ago. And all this season has been is him going back and forth along the same road (what kind of highway is that anyway?), promising they're all going to Alexandria and then, at the last moment.... nevermind. Well, of course not, then it would just be the original show again. But now, with the premise they are setting up for next season, they should just call it "Zombie 9-1-1"

Don't even get me started about how they've wasted Garret Dillahunt. Did he even get to grunt in this episode? And he reunites with his big love June, but was there ever a moment except them gazing across each other in the convenience store aisle? Waste. And the ridiculous psycho of the season subplot. Let's get away from her, no let's save her, no let's get away, no she needs to be saved. Arrgggh.

And the moronic anti-freeze gambit? So with hundreds of water bottles in the store, they all drank contaminated water. They're all stretched across the floor dying. They're in Mississippi. Morgan is in Texas. But they need Morgan to come back and save them. Has anyone else driven across Texas? It takes 10-12 hours. And that's on a highway at top speeds. Not hot-wiring a car here, walking, hot wiring another car, walking (and with a gouge in his leg the size of a tent spike). Oh, but we can be saved by ethanol. Suddenly they all spring to full action mode and kill dozens of zombies going after the truck. Shoot some holes in it. It's all gone? It's all gone?! The entire tankerful? Not even a level below the bullet holes? Oh, but here's Morgan showing up and he's got beer. It's Miller Time!

No, it's I'm done with this show time. Maybe zombies have the time for this brainless shit, but I don't anymore.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I don't disagree with any of your points this week, Wayne. A lot of stupid in this finale.

Remarkably, though, the timeline was actually pretty accurate. It takes 24-72 hours for organ damage to occur from antifreeze poisoning, so even if it took him 20 hours or so to make the journey, he would have made it in time to stave off long-term damage. And I do think the implication was that Martha had contaminated all of the water bottles, so it's not like they just happened to pick the few bad ones.

That being said, I do like the premise they've set up for next season. It's something different than the mothership has ever done. Hopefully now that Morgan has confronted his demons, it'll go back to being more of an ensemble. I actually like the group they've got now a lot.

 

[ChristopherG]

I watched this last night and had much the same reaction as Wayne did. Holy crap did this show get stupid...

 

[Nigel P]

The scenes in the hospital were obvious evocative of the pilot for the main "Walking Dead" series, but they also reminded me a lot of the Mercy Hospital areas of the original Left 4 Dead game, especially with the emphasis on making it up to the roof.

I felt exactly the same way.

I agree with everyone's comments on the level of stupidity in the show and the Martha character never worked for me either, which is a shame as I thought they introduced some interesting characters this season.

 

[Paul D G]

i really enjoyed the first half of the season but this second half took me right back to hating this show again.

To be fair, I'm really not liking the promos they're running for TWD. i don't have good feelings for the upcoming season.

 

[TJPC]

Is it possible that Amazon is not carrying the Season 4 Blu rays? I can only find a link to individual companies that carry it, on Amazon, and no way to buy it directly.

 

[TravisR]

Is it possible that Amazon is not carrying the Season 4 Blu rays? I can only find a link to individual companies that carry it, on Amazon, and no way to buy it directly.

I don't think there's a North American release yet. Probably not until around the time S5 starts up.

 

[TJPC]

I like to pre-order my Blu rays. There is a listing for “Fear The Walking Dead” season 4 DVDs, on Amazon, which indicates you can switch formats. When you pick Blu ray, up pops a Spanish edition of some season of The WALKING Dead!

The only sets I can find for FTWD are from Britain and they have a disclaimer saying they will not play on region 1 machines.

I don’t care if I can’t buy them now, but I have done a long search and can’t even find a release date for North America.

Is it usual for Europe to have Blu rays of North American shows before they are released here?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Austin Amelio is crossing over to Fear the Walking Dead for Season 5

His character, Dwight, was one of Negan's top lieutenants in the Saviors. He was exiled by Daryl at the end of Season 8 of the mothership.

During Season 4 and Season 9 of "Fear" and the mothership respectively, the timelines of the two series aligned, allowing Morgan to transition from the mothership to "Fear". However, midway through Season 9, the mothership had a six year time jump. Reportedly, "Fear" will not have a similar time jump, meaning the spinoff will again be years behind the mothership chronologically.
Lennie James, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Danay Garcia, Garrett Dillahunt, Maggie Grace, and Jenna Elfman are returning as series regulars. No word yet on whether Alexa Nisenson, Daryl Mitchell, and Mo Collins -- who recurred heavily in the fourth season -- will be back, nor in what capacity if they do return.

Is it usual for Europe to have Blu rays of North American shows before they are released here?

Usually when studios drop shows from getting Blu-Ray releases, they cease the North American releases before they cease the UK releases. In some cases, there will be a mainstream release in the UK first, and then the Blu-Ray will come out as a retailer exclusive in North America months later -- some of the Marvel shows have gone this route.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I don’t care if I can’t buy them now, but I have done a long search and can’t even find a release date for North America.

Lionsgate has announced a March 5 release for Season 4 on Blu-ray:

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Alexa Nisenson promoted to series regular for Season 5 of "Fear the Walking Dead"; Karen David joins the cast

Her character, Charlie, killed Nick last season. However, she later developed a fraught but close relationship with Nick's sister, Alicia. "Her character has faced the demons of her dark past and now has found her place amongst her new family and will continue to seek redemption in the forthcoming season of The Walking Dead spinoff."

David will be playing a character named Grace.

 

[TJPC]

My season 4 blus were delivered yesterday from Amazon.ca. !