Fear The Walking Dead Season 6 Premiere: The End is the Beginning

Six seasons into Fear The Walking Dead and the show continues to surprise in all the best ways. The premiere of season 6 is easily one of the most memorable episodes in the series yet, with Morgan Jones carrying the entire show as he inches his way closer and closer to death from Ginny’s gunshot wound that ended last season.

Never before have I seen a show so successfully reinvent itself as many times as Fear The Walking Dead has. Just when you think you have the series figured out and can expect what is coming next, an episode like this happens. After the group was split up and taken by Ginny aka “Virginia” to her camp, leaving Morgan dying from a gunshot, season 6 certainly had a lot of questions to answer from the start. We pick up with our most pressing concern however, Morgan, and how he has managed to survive despite the open wound still pouring blood from his chest. We’ve seen his bloodshot eyes in the promotions for the season and the cast was careful not to give too many details up to this point, but this episode truly puts him through the worst this desolate world has to offer.

The struggle for survival is pushed to the max with the involvement of axe-wielding bounty hunter Emile LaRoux and his bloodhound Rufus. He’s a ruthlessly efficient killer and keeps Morgan on the run for much of the episode, setting the stakes as his life hangs in the balance. Their fight that plays out over the course of the premiere is nothing short of epic. It’s exactly the type of intense survival scenario that makes the series so much fun to watch, and actor Lennie James continues to shine as an undeniable leading force in the role of Morgan Jones. It’s the depth of emotion in everything Morgan does that pulls you into the story and makes you honestly care.

There is a lot to unpack in this episode despite the fact that it mostly ignored the rest of the cast who are with the Pioneers. Morgan is desperately trying to carve out a safe area for not just himself, but for Grace who he just found out was pregnant  before being separated, while still fending off a bounty hunter, gangrene and potentially sketchy survivors. This will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish, and the ending is one of the most exciting of any TWD episode. It’s a new transformation for Morgan that sets the stage for a thrilling season to come.

The metamorphosis that Morgan seems to undergo in particularly traumatic situations takes a new step in the premiere of season 6 which ultimately shapes both the episode and the season to come. The focus on Morgan is deliberate and necessary, rewarding viewers with one of the best episodes of the series if not the best. Concerns for the group with the Pioneers is addressed in a thrilling way at the end with an ominous declaration that “Morgan Jones is Dead”. As a longtime fan, I have to admit that the way the episode concluded had me cheering loudly at the television.

It might not be a perfect episode, but it’s incredibly close. While Emile is a character you immediately want to see more of, from the origins of his axe to his meetings with his dog, it seems his presence could unfortunately be short lived on the show. The lack of any of the other group members in any way gives the episode a slightly incomplete feel, but it also helps to establish noticeably high stakes, so it’s difficult to find a solid complaint. The looming death of Morgan creates the feeling of a countdown to his inevitable end and successfully makes you forget about anyone else’s problems, drawing all of your attention to his struggle and never letting go.

Full of badass acts of survival, intensely emotional characterizations and most importantly a clearly coherent direction, Season 6 of Fear The Walking Dead is off to a truly remarkable start. The premiere episode delivers everything fans look for in the long running zombie franchise, never forgetting to keep horrifying fear as the driving force of the story and being all the better for it. This is an episode you will see fans talking about for quite some time and for good reason, it’s just that awesome.