'Fear the Walking Dead' Season 6 Episode 1 Review: Morgan stares death in the face, finds a reason to live again
Spoilers for 'Fear The Walking Dead' Season 1 Episode 6 'The End is the Beginning'
Between last week's season finale for 'The Walking Dead' and the premiere of 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' immediately after, America's biggest zombie franchise has grown larger in scope than ever. This week, 'Fear the Walking Dead' started Season 6 by bringing the franchise back to the basics, focusing on the very thing that made people fall in love with the franchise to begin with — focused, human stories of fallible people finding strength in the apocalypse.
The season's first episode is an almost self-contained 'Fear the Walking Dead' story, focusing solely on Morgan Jones (Lennie James) in the aftermath of the deadly events of Season 5's finale. Not that anyone needs reminding, but Virginia (Colby Minifie) shot him right in the chest and left him for dead amid a horde of walkers. By all rights, Morgan should be dead and as far as Morgan is concerned, he might as well be, his still-beating heart be damned. Even the walkers have been ignoring him, as his rotting, gangrenous shot wound puts all but the most determined zombies off their lunch.
Morgan is on the run from a man hired by Virginia, an ax-wielding bounty hunter played by Demetrius Grosse. The episode's biggest tragedy is the hunter's death at the end, not because he's a sympathetic character, mind you, but because his screen presence and deceptive, charismatic mannerisms make him one of the most entertaining villains the series has seen. His thin veneer of civilized negotiation barely hides a brutally violent efficiency and he is equal parts charming as he is intimidating. The story is not about him, however, more's the pity, but about Morgan finding a reason to live again.
Morgan has been beaten down, time and time again, and his last encounter with Virginia may have just been the final straw. His performance of a man hovering at death's door with a foot in the grave is excellently bolstered by the show's make-up department, from his chalky skin to his bloodshot eyes. Even his body language, they all tell the tale of a man who knows he should be dead by now but is desperate for a reason to keep fighting. He'll lure walkers in, he'll face bounty hunters, he'll search for the meaning of mysterious messages, but it's not until a survivor named Isaac (Michael Abbott Jr) in desperate need of help does Morgan find the will to go on. By the end of the episode, Morgan's stared his own death in the face and realized that there's still a lot of work left to be done.
The focus on a single character allows the pace of the show to breathe, something that's sorely needed after the back-to-back blockbuster ensemble storytelling of last week. As Morgan accepts the death of the man he used to be and chooses a fresh start, this season lives up to the promise his message delivered at the end of last season. Every one of the survivors must find their own way of living, and what that means for them and this episode is a powerful start to an all new season.
The next episode of 'The Walking Dead' airs on AMC on October 18 at 9 pm ET.
