Fear the Walking Dead 505 review: Endings and beginnings

Fear the Walking Dead just raised the lid on the Helicopter People, but did “The End of Everything” deliver? Here’s our review of episode 505.

It has been a minute since fans have seen Althea on Fear the Walking Dead. In fact, she hasn’t been seen since the season 5 premiere, and in “The End of Everything” we picked up from the moment she was captured and we end up back with Morgan and Alycia after the helicopter departs. However, a lot happened in between those two events and we need to break it all down.

The big question after “The End of Everything” is whether or not it reveals the identity of the Helicopter People. Fans hoping for all of the details about the mysterious group who abducted Rick will be disappointed to learn that we didn’t learn anything about what happened to him, but we now know that this group is working to secure a better future. Wherever Rick is, that’s what he’s part of now.

Maggie Grace absolutely delivered in this episode. Grace brings a cool, calm demeanor to Al that reflects Al’s life experiences. As a journalist she has no doubt been in rough spots before, but after being captured by Isabelle she’s in a constant fight to stay alive and every move must be calculated.

This was the first bottle episode of the season and it was a doozy. Not only did the episode reveal details about the Helicopter People, but it provided the first real deep dive into Althea’s backstory. Her drive to always “get the story” comes not only because of a sense of duty but also from a sense of guilt after she abandoned her brother to cover the early days of the outbreak. Instead of being with him she went after the story of the military moving in, and in doing so she lost her brother Jesse forever.

Al revealed this secret to Isabelle after Isabelle discovered the Bog #7 tape that we’ve seen in other episodes, and Al admitted that she’d never told anyone about her brother. Later, after reuniting with Morgan and Alicia, Al opened up and revealed her hyphenated last name in the spirit of sharing.

In addition to learning more about Al, fans were treated to a big moment as Al and Isabelle themselves got caught up in the moment and shared a kiss. This was the first time Al has been seen in any kind of romantic situation and until now she has been the only member of the cast who hasn’t been in some kind of relationship, aside from Charlie of course. And having Al’s “coming out” moment arrive on the last weekend of the World Pride celebration is pretty damn cool.

“The End of Everything” had everything you can hope for in a bottle episode. It filled in the blanks after Al’s capture and returned her to where fans left off at the end of 504. There were walkers and insane walker kills. There was action and there was suspense. And there were surprises galore. All in all, the episode worked on every level and it really sets the stage not only for the back stretch of 5A but it potentially sets up a big story in 5B as well as a major tie-in to The Walking Dead.

Fear the Walking Dead episode 505, “The End of Everything,” was written by Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, and directed by Michael E. Satrazemis.