Let’s think about what Chris has been through on Fear the Walking Dead

Lorenzo Henrie as Christopher Manawa, Fear The Walking Dead -- AMC
Lorenzo Henrie as Christopher Manawa, Fear The Walking Dead -- AMC /
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Everybody hates Chris on Fear the Walking Dead. You can still hate him, but let’s look at what he’s been through in the last 2 months.

I get a lot of flack for what people consider my defending of some characters, especially on our Facebook page, but I can’t help myself. Once again, might I remind you that I’m not necessarily defending as in saying I think they are right in their behaviors. I’m explaining what I think is behind their behavior.

Chris was definitely not right to go into the home of that man and hold the little boy hostage in order to get him to send Travis away. But Chris thought he was doing what was best for Travis. If Travis thought Chris was lost to him, he might go on without him and Chris thought that’s what was best for Travis and the rest.

He considered himself a problem for his dad so he wanted to remove himself from the situation. He didn’t think he was welcome anymore in the group. He needed to  force Travis to leave him behind.

Let’s look at what Chris has been through since this all began. He already felt abandoned by his dad in the divorce. Then when he was forced to merge with this new family, his mom left him to help people in the hospital, where she was eventually bitten.

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Chris didn’t know the circumstances of her bite, Chris and Alicia were left behind in the parking garage when the adults went to get Nick and Liza. Then when he was reunited with his mom, his dad shoots her to prevent her from turning, before allowing Chris a chance to say goodbye or process what has happened.

Let’s put a little perspective on this. Imagine you’re a teenager and a neighbor tells you your mom is in the hospital. She drives you to the hospital. When you arrive you find out your mom had something fatal wrong with her and there was no hope so they are going to took her off of the treatment and she died and they make all these decisions before you arrived at the hospital even though they could have waited until you got there.

Now let’s add that you can’t go home and cry in your own bed. You have to go on a boat with people you don’t want to be around and mourn in public. A day or so later you kill a living person on a plane who begs you to put him out of his misery. So you understand what your dad did for your mom, but you still wish you could have been there.

Next: In defense of Travis

Let’s put this back in real life, non-apocalypse scenario. So a few days after your mom died, you get in a car accident that’s not your fault at all, but you kill a person in the other vehicle. Don’t you think that might mess with your emotions a little bit? Imagine you’re a teenager!

Back to the apocalypse. You panic and freeze in a moment with the zombies and now your step mother and step sister think you want them dead. Another time, you hesitate and pirates board the ship and things go very bad for everyone in  your family.

All of these things have happened to Chris and yet people think poor Nick has had a bad time.