Fear the Walking Dead: The return of Morgan Jones

The Fear the Walking Dead season 6 premiere brought back a lot of former fans

Fear the Walking Dead did something that has only happened one other time, they’ve brought me back as a viewer and it’s all because of the amazingly talented Lennie James and his character Morgan Jones! Morgan Jones has been on one heck of a journey since he appeared in the first season of The Walking Dead.

There have been times his story has frustrated me (All lives are precious)  but Lennie James has ALWAYS been consistently strong in the role.

Some of my favorite non-Carol episodes from the main show were Morgan centric:

Season 3 – “Clear”:  The long awaited return of Morgan showed a character who had lost everything including his grip with sanity. Lennie portrayed a broken but determined to live Morgan and spawned one of the oft quoted lines from the show “Everything I see is RED”.  It was a shock to see Morgan like that but completely understandable once we learned the “why”.

Season 6 – “Here’s Not Here”: A vastly underappreciated but critically acclaimed episode showed Morgan at his most “wild”.  Animalistic and dangerous, it was the slow work and connection with Eastman (Played by John Carroll Lynch)  that broke through to Morgan. Lennie does  fantastic work  in this episode.

Season 7 – “Bury Me Here”:  One of the few episodes during the over drawn Savior war that was outstanding was “Bury Me Here’. Lennie was able to switch from the teachings of Eastman, something that “saved” him, to the version of Morgan that is both terrible and beautiful to watch. The loss of Benjamin showed how fragile the peaceful ways Morgan clung to. If you don’t remember the scene, I really hope you check it out and see just how outstanding Lennie was in this episode.

This brings me to the season 6 premiere of Fear. As I mentioned, I pretty much stopped watching Fear, not because of Madison’s death, but because I got bored. Even with characters like Morgan, John, June and my OG Fear favorite Daniel the show just didn’t hold my attention like it did in season 3.  I was intrigued by the promotional material for season 6 and the early reviews  which lead me to taking a chance and watching. I am so glad I did.

Morgan proves once again why he has managed to stay alive so long. Despite being seriously wounded he is still the biggest badass in the zombie apocalypse (sorry Daryl), while still managing to have dedication to the family he has found in Alicia, Strand and the others.

Lennie gave an Emmy worthy performance displaying all the pain and strength in Morgan. Unlike other standout moments for Morgan, the writers seem to have found a balance for emotionally and mentally for Morgan. For fans of this character, its taken a long time to get him to this point yet “the End is the Beginning” makes it well worth the wait.  Lennie is completely in his element, bringing the best of Morgan to our screens.

I know fans of other characters are disappointed their favorites weren’t in this premiere and may want to skip it, but I really hope folks give it a chance because Lennie was outstanding, the episode moved, not a minute felt wasted and it does set up the rest of the season. It’s officially got my interest and I can’t wait to see the next episode.

Here’s hoping for more of this Morgan in Fear the Walking Dead season 6 and a continued strong season for all the characters.