Fear the Walking Dead S02E09 Preview: 'Los Muertos'

Fear the Walking Dead returns the rest of the cast tonight and desperately needs a Hail-Mary play before ratings dive any lower. It’s time to bring in an original…

Despite a Nick centric episode last week, it’s getting late in the game to turn this around. If you casually caught an episode of Fear the Walking Dead in its first season and watched now, you’d have no idea what’s going on anymore. The show’s left its Resident Evil-like origins of a claustrophobic close quarter outbreak in big city Los Angeles. Now feeling more as an alternate Walking Dead replica in the open deserts of Mexico. What should have been built like the film Contagion has seemingly lost its way. The prior boat, open waters angle was fresh, it hadn’t been done before on the mainstay show.

Walking Dead Callback Deja-Vu

Last week’s episode felt like a callback to the Walking Dead episode where Rick’s group struggles to survive as they hold that barn door closed before Alexandria. They took a major page out of that episode and redid it with Nick Clark at center stage. There’s nothing wrong with this on paper from the aspect that Nick is the best character on the show and can carry an episode (if not all episodes) on his own. However, it’s been done already and seen by the same set of viewers. All Fear the Walking Dead viewers practically are crossover viewers of the main Walking Dead. It can’t be a fresh idea when the original was on the parent show.

Ratings Spiral
Yes, the show still topped cable ratings last week with a 1.6 (ages 18-49). However, compared to Season 2’s debut episode’s 3.08 (ages 18-49) it’s clear the numbers are dwindling. They have never reached that number since this season, trending downwards each and every week.

Consider that Season 1’s debut episode scored a 4.93 (ages 18-49) and at least held steady in the middle 3s, and you realize this is very concerning news. The sharp trend is distinct and obvious, the show’s spotlight off the ‘Walking Dead‘ portion of its name is clearly losing its luster. Sure, it carried over some Walking Dead fans that might have tuned out of AMC till each new Walking Dead season but slightly damaged the brand as a whole. Will fans be as electrified over a future spinoff without an original Walking Dead cast member in sight like last time? Unlikely.

Fear the Walking Dead S02E09 Preview: ‘Los Muertos’: Video Preview

Based on the preview, Madison and Alicia will likely reconnect with Nick again. Possibly as soon as tonight’s episode. The name ‘Los Muertos’ which means ‘the dead’ in Spanish means this will be a walker/zombie focused episode, likely with lots of action, and perhaps a character death shocker. Sure, if the character death is big enough it might spark ratings for the week but it’s not the direction the show needs. The show needs a clearly defined goal like Alexandria, Terminus, or Woodbury before it for the group.

Fear the Walking Dead’s Ambition

As the season seems to be wandering aimlessly from location to location hoping for an oasis like the one Nick found last week in the town. Stumbling onto brilliance doesn’t always just happen, things don’t always click no matter how strong the cast/crew are. They need a big name to turn the tides, a Walking Dead original. An important one that hasn’t been seen for a while like The Governor or Merle, even a simple cameo would turn things around. If they’re willing to go all the way, put in Negan for an episode or two.

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