The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead, Season 4.
I am a Walking Dead nerd. My Sunday schedule and cable subscription revolve around the show, and have done for years. My friends have stopped inviting me to viewing parties because, if I’m there, no one is allowed to talk. When Michonne and Rick first hooked up, I made a noise so loud, my next door neighbor heard me (and laughed at me the next day). You get the idea.
Because of my level of investment in the show, its ill-conceived spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead, has been nothing but a burden to me since it started three years ago. I wanted so badly to love it that I tolerated the splintered story lines, aimless roaming, endless subtitles, and interminably dull characters, in the hope that it would, one day, go somewhere good. It was partway through Season 3 that I had to call it a day. “If I don’t care about the fact that Travis just fell out of that helicopter,” I concluded, “I am never going to care about any of this.” Reluctantly, but resigned, I quit the show, despite my love and admiration for Frank Dillane as Nick, because one interesting, well-drawn character does not a great show make.
When I heard that Morgan from the original Walking Dead was crossing over into Fear, I was pleased. Not because I thought it would make the show better, but rather because Morgan has, to me, always been the most boring major character on Walking Dead. It seemed perfect! Send the boring guy who keeps making infuriating decisions (Wolf in the basement, anyone?) to the boring show where everyone makes infuriating decisions.