Fear the Walking Dead recap: Minefield builds suspense on Channel 4

Fear the Walking Dead’s ‘Channel 4’ episode felt like a faux documentary, an infomercial with a minefield stealing the show and changing the tepid pace.

This recap contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead  Season 5 Episode 9.

Morgan stepping on a mine and being forced to keep his foot there to maintain pressure made for great suspenseful television. It was easily the highlight of this week’s Fear the Walking Dead, and added a new element to the show. Watching walkers step on mines was also something that hasn’t really been explored yet in the TWD universe but is functionally realistic.

To recap, Morgan walked a minefield in an attempt to rescue a mother and son waiting for a husband who’d already passed. It was personal for Morgan based on his similar history of refusing to leave what was already gone. The foundations of the house remain physically but the spirit exited long ago.

Outside of this, Fear the Walking Dead has started to place a strange over-dependence on the character of Althea. It almost seems like the series is fading away Alicia in favor of Al as practically its lead character. It wouldn’t surprise if that was the case, as the show has already written off the rest of the Clark family. For multiple episodes now, Al’s camera reporting has overtaken the entire narrative structure. The camera interview as a plot point worked on The Walking Dead season 5 in Alexendria because of Rick Grimes and it was fresh.

Think about that, the interview as a plot point was done on TWD season 5 in 2015. It’s 2019 now, even if viewers don’t remember the exact spot they’ve seen it. “The Simpsons did it” deja-vu feeling cannot be avoided.

“Channel 4” is easily the most guilty, tending to the show’s recent repetitive trait of constant motivational speeches and “my past is dark” monologues. The show is not very subtle about it either, just going around having the gang wanting to help random strangers seems like the basis for a Captain Planet episode. Not a show meant to be entrenched in a nihilistic spiraling abyss, plot-wise.

The reaction of a newly-introduced character at the end of the episode to Al’s infomercial-style tape practically broke the fourth wall. Telling Logan, “That tape is a whole lot of other bs!” brings a surreal level of self-awareness. Where’s the internal group strife by the way?

Everyone is on the same page. Even Dwight forgave John Dorie instantly about hiding Sherry’s letter. The Walking Dead’s early seasons were gold because you had Rick and Dale disagreeing with Shane, Lori and Andrea taking sides. Carl taking sides. Now even Daniel and Strand are friendly, even though Colman Domingo said in a recent interview that he agreed Strand thrived when someone like Daniel disliked him. It gave Strand something to prove. Having tension boiling in the ranks is a driving force of great television.

Bring some drama within the core group back. The type that had Luciana basically telling Nick to choose between her and Nick’s family just seasons ago. Meanwhile, Logan could actually use a solo background episode. As the current villain, Logan hasn’t been built up strongly enough. Remember what the name Negan already meant before you ever saw him on screen. All that said, the minefield was an excellent idea to explore on the series. Similar in some ways to Strand’s boat and walkers in the ocean.

Kudos to Lennie James for great acting work this week. Morgan Jones is a dependable acting staple each episode. Alicia shadowing him looked like something out of Karate Kid.

Missed the last FTWD episode? No problem! Check out a recap of the last Fear the Walking Dead chapter and catch up on Season 5.