Why Fear The Walking Dead Season 6 Is So Much Better Than Season 5 – Screen Rant

Fear The Walking Dead has experienced mixed fortunes since debuting, but season 6 is a considerable improvement upon season 5. Here's why.

Fear The Walking Dead season 6 has seen big improvements - here's how the zombie spin-off turned its fortunes around.AfterThe Walking Dead's runaway success, confirmation of a prequel series in 2013 didn't come as a huge surprise, andFear The Walking Dead premiered 2 years later with its own separate cast, setting and tone. Centering around the Clark family,Fear The Walking Dead couldn't immediately match the popularity of its parent series, but found a solid audience nonetheless amidst mixed reviews.Fear The Walking Dead underwent a soft reboot for its fourth season, introducing new characters, advancing the timeline, and playing up the wild west aesthetic.

Heading into its fifth season,Fear The Walking Dead still hadn't escaped the shadow of its predecessor, despite adding several recognizable faces, but continued to push aheadwith confidenceafter a strong fourth outing. Unfortunately,Fear The Walking Dead season 5 is generally considered the spin-off's weakest run yet, currently rated at 55% on Rotten Tomatoes - the lowest of all 5 seasons. The pacing was slower than the zombies, too many episodes were uneventful, and character development lurched back and forth without capturing the audience's interest.

Related:Fear The Walking Dead Season 6 Sets Up Madison's Return

While viewers might've been tempted to shift their attentionto one of the other 94Walking Dead projects currently in development,Fear The Walking Dead season 6 has redeemed the spin-off in spectacular fashion. By making significant changes to format and character,Fear The Walking Dead hasdiscovered a new lease of life, justifying AMC's decision to renew the spin-off for season 7. One could even argue that withThe Walking Dead heading into its final season,Fear The Walking Dead is beginning to catch up to the original's standing and reputation. Here's howFear The Walking Dead season 6 fixed season 5's mistakes.

Onerecurringflaw in bothThe Walking Dead andFear The Walking Dead has been splitting up the main cast at the wrong time. While focusing on one or two charactersper episode allows an ensemble cast to share the spotlight, rarely is every single pairing capable of sustaining an episode by themselves. The zombie apocalypse doesn't exactly offer much variety in terms of setting either (take your pick between abandoned building, abandoned road, or abandoned forest), so splitting the cast often leads to forgettable filler. Thanks to Ginny and her Pioneers,Fear The Walking Dead's main cast have been split once again, but for the first time, theyall have a vital, distinct role in the overarching story.

Fear The Walking Dead season 6 opened with Morgan out in the wild alone, then saw Alicia and Strand attempt a failed coup,introduced 2 brand new groups with Al and Dwight, and delivered a fantastic murder mystery inCSI: Dorie. The first block of episodes ends with June choosing not to kill Ginny,while Alicia narrowlysurvivesa horror-inspired creepy cabin episode. Where splitting the cast would usually result in some groups falling flat,Fear The Walking Dead season 6 has so far delivered 7 separate stories with enough variation in setting and tone to make each compelling in its own right. And where dividing the cast often means the long-term arc takes a back seat, each episode adds a piece to the larger puzzle of Ginny's Pioneers.For the first time since the days of Madison, eachFear The Walking Dead character is clearly defined and colorfully presented, while occupying their own place in the narrative.

If there's one area thatThe Walking Dead has far outpaced its lesser-knownyounger cousin, it's in the bad guy stakes.Fear The Walking Dead has a patchy history when it comes to villains, from racist cowboys to a woman in desperate need of a shower. MostFear The Walking Dead villains simply aren't afforded enough screen time to make an impact. The likes of John the Proctor, The Vultures and Martha showed enough promise to become long-term antagonists, but only appeared in a handful of episodes before the story moved elsewhere. Meanwhile, the likes of Connor the pirate leader have been swiftly forgotten. The onlyFear The Walking Dead villain toleavea lasting impression isTroy Otto - a good-looking and charismatic military man with psychological issues to spare.

Related:World Beyond Ruins Its Story By Repeating The Walking Dead & Fear

Troy aside,Fear The Walking Dead was bereft of a proper villain until the arrival of Colby Minifie's Virginia. Virtually unrecognizable from her role as a sycophantic PR agent inThe Boys, Minifie's promotion to series regular in season 6 is a major reason behindFear The Walking Dead's recent upturn in quality. Ginny veers from sickeningly sweet to ruthlessly totalitarian with a single withering glance, and her weaknesses are barely hidden beneath a tough exterior. Like Troy Otto, Ginny's true strength comes from her ambiguity - moments that force the audience to question whether she'sreally a villain (she definitely is), or just playing a part. Through Ginny,Fear The Walking Dead finally has an antagonistic force to rival the Governor, Negan or Alpha in the main series.

Morgan Jones has been frustratingWalking Dead fans almost sincethe moment heentered Alexandria.Debuting alongside Rick as Andrew Lincoln's character took his first tentative steps in the zombie apocalypse, Morgan is rightly consideredThe Walking Dead royalty, and reappeared as a broken man mourning his son. After regaining his sanity and going "zen" with a crash course in Aikido, Morgan was inducted into the mainWalking Dead cast, but since then has constantly switched from being a ruthless killer who shows no mercy to villains, to an unerring pacifist who refuses to take a human life. For one reason or another, Morgan was always conflicted over his actions, whether he abstained from battle and letfriends die, or whether he went overboard with his wooden stick and regretted it later. After seasons of non-development for Morgan, the character was no longer working.

Fear The Walking Dead season 6 has finally delivered the version of Morgan Jones that fans knew was always beneath the surface. After surviving a near-death experience so desperate even the undead lost their appetite, Morgan faced off against Emile the bounty hunter, and barely came out on top. Since that landmark victory, Morgan has adopted Emile's persona - nabbing his clothes, adopting his dog and fixing the head of his ax to a sharpened Aikido stick before declaring "Morgan Jonesis dead." In his third spin-off season, Morgan is finally the badass he always threatened to be, but doesn't trigger a moral crisis by overstepping the mark. Morgan's the same friendly, peaceful leader as before, but with a no-nonsense attitude when theoccasion calls for some heads to hit the floor.

The life of a spin-off is typically a double-edged sword - one on hand, a show can dine out on the reputation of its parent, on the other, being a "side project" means working within the confinesset by another series, not making any major moves that could cause disruption elsewhere. For this season,Fear The Walking Dead hasn't enjoyed the same creative freedom asThe Walking Dead, and this means a lack of long-running teases and questionsto keep viewers hooked. Previous seasons ofFear The Walking Dead have also moved around so often, there's rarely time to set up an effective season-long mystery storyline.

Related:Fear The Walking Dead Season 6 References Dwight's Comic Death

Fear The Walking Dead season 6 has remedied that issue with a series of intriguing slow-burn plot points for viewers to ponder and theorize over. The identity of the enigmatic stranger who healed Morgan (could it be Madison?) remains unsolved, there's an unidentified group running around town with cans of spray paint, and Ginny is clearly hiding something big from her followers. These tantalizing plot threads, combined with characters the audience can now invest in, elevateFear The Walking Deadbeyond the simple spin-off from seasons past. Even better,FearThe Walking Dead knows when to give answers and when to hold something in reserve. The mystery of the masked group is solved almost instantly thanks to Dwight, but neglecting to reveal the true identity of Cameron's killer in "The Key" only makes the episode more tragic for John as he doggedly investigates.

Fear The Walking Dead has been a roller coasterof highs and lows since the beginning, and a lackluster season 5 threatened to put the spin-off down for good. Thanks to the changes implemented in season 6,Fear The Walking Dead is better than ever, and hopes are high for the remaining episodes and beyond.

More:Fear The Walking Dead May Have Ended Its Civic Republic Story

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Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. Having previously written for various sports and music outlets, Craig's interest soon turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally came into its own.Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS. Since joining the Screen Rant fold, Craig has been involved in breaking news stories and mildly controversial ranking lists, but now works predominantly as a features writer. Jim Carrey is Craigs top acting pick and favorite topics include superheroes, anime and the unrecognized genius of the High School Musical trilogy.

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Why Fear The Walking Dead Season 6 Is So Much Better Than Season 5 - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero