Thoughts on #FearTheWalkingDead... compared with #TWD! #TWDFamily

Anyone remember that show about a woman called Madison and her family and friends, surviving the zombie apocalypse in LA, Texas and Mexico?  Just wondered, because yesterday I finished Season 4, and felt like I'd been watching a different series from the one I started two months ago.

TWD obsessed though I am, I don't feel the same Fear The Walking Dead.  Then Morgan went off to join its cast, so it became a 'must'.  There were some great episodes earlier on, such as S2:8 Grotesque, in which Nick wandered off on his own towards Tijuana, and the episode in which Travis tried to stop Chris going off with those guys who killed him.  My problem with it was that I didn't really give much of a stuff about any of the characters apart from Nick and Madison.  I quite liked Strand and the stuff on the TEOTWAWKI ranch, but Alicia, Travis, Ofelia, Luciana and others left me fairly underwhelmed.

Then came Season 4.  Enter Morgan ~ and the show went from sunny to grey, with an almost completely altered cast.  I liked how the first half went back and forth in time to show how Alicia, Strand, etc had got to this point; it's a structure that's always effective, but it seemed a bit too neatly tied up.  Yesterday, though, I watched the final three episodes of S4, and came to this conclusion: it's the Happy Shopper version of the 'real' TWD.  It's just not so compelling.

Take, for instance, the two-character-only episode in the storm, featuring the so-cardboard-I'm-tempted-to-fast-forward-through-their-scenes Alicia and Charlie (also discussed on Teri Polen's blog).  Then compare it with the excellent TWD S6:4 He's Not Here, featuring Morgan and Eastman.  

....or the Rick/Carl ~ Daryl/Beth episodes of S4.  Or, of course, The Grove.  Triumphs of dialogue and characterisation, all. 

Afterwards, I went back and watched one of my favourites: TWD S5:9, What happened and what's going on, in which Tyreese dies, and I thought, this is just so much better.  Bottom line: I care what happens to these people, whereas even marvellous actors like Lennie James and Gareth Dillahunt have a job to make FTWD work.  

Don't get me wrong, I do like it enough to keep watching it, because, hey, it's TWD, but....several people poisoned with antifreeze for which the antidote is ethanol, and there just happens to be a tanker of it outside?  Then it's punctured with bullets and not one of them manages to stagger forward with a cup to collect some, despite having had the energy to despatch a whole load of walkers?  Carol would have sorted it out, no problem!  Or was this any more unlikely than Carol's saving the day at Terminus?  Maybe not, but that worked, while this just made me think, really?

I wondered if the whole 'escaping from the roof' thing was intended to mirror the fabulous TWD S1:2 Guts ~ but somehow, even though I'd only just 'met' Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, etc, when I first watched TWD, I cared more about what happened to them than I do about the FTWD grifter woman and her brother; I can't even recall their names.

I hope Morgan will save FTWD ~ if not, we will welcome him back to Alexandria, and he can bring John with him!

Talking of which..... yes, October 7th draws near!  I have watched the trailer but make a point of not reading spoiler articles; if you're an addict, you probably know more about what's going to happen than I do.  I still can't believe Rick's really leaving... I finished my TWD watching session yesterday with the last two episodes of S8, and got all damp-eyed about this, all over again.....