Fear the Walking Dead: Madison and Alicia’s story, we’ve seen it before

Fear the Walking Dead has been hit hard by critics in its seventh season. Even the return of Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) didn’t make quite the impact that showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss had promised. Sure, the season finale, “Gone,” was the best episode of the season, but it still wasn’t great.

Throughout this season, viewers have met new characters who could add something to the story but were killed before the episode’s end. The season finale was the same with Ava (Lyndon Smith), a woman whose daughter was taken by the elusive PADRE. Earlier in the season, Will (Gus Halper), Paul (Warren Snipe), Ali (Ashton Arbab), and others were introduced and could have added much to the quickly dwindling list of characters but only lasted one episode.

Aisha Tyler, who also directs in TWDU, portrayed Mickey, who has been mentioned but not seen since episode 5, “Till Death.” This is a character who could be a fantastic addition to the series. Demetrius Grosse portrayed twin brothers Emile and Josiah LaRoux; with only Josiah surviving, he would be another tremendous regular to add. Hopefully, we see Mickey and Josiah in season 8.

Fear the Walking Dead – Madison and Alicia

Fans looking forward to the reunion between Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Madison were sorely disappointed in the penultimate episode, “Amina,” when it was announced that this would be Alicia’s last episode. This was such a failure on the part of the creators, even considering the storyline in the season finale episode.

Madison has become a collector of children for the mysterious PADRE, and rather than face her children and let them see what she has become, she decides not to look for them. This explains where she has been and why she didn’t look for Alicia and Nick (Frank Dillane).

But all of that aside, this storyline was recently used in the exact same way, and it baffles the mind as to why these stories need to be rehashed instead of coming up with something new.

In season 6, John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) met his maker in the form of a bratty little girl, Dakota (Zoe Colletti). She killed him because he found out her secret and she couldn’t let him tell the others. This was a good story as Dillahunt was ready to depart the series, and it was believable that Dakota would do something of this nature.

But, a few episodes later, his father, John Dorie Sr. (Keith Carradine), appears out of the blue and just so happens to run into his daughter-in-law, June (Jeanna Elfman).

Now don’t get me wrong, having Keith Carradine in this series was a great idea, but why not introduce him earlier to see his son? The same goes for the Madison and Alicia reunion. Fans were not happy with the Dorie situation. What makes the creators think they will like the same story with two original cast members that they have a much more emotional connection with?

The season 7 finale felt more like a season premiere, but it doesn’t give a bit of hope for season 8. With filming moving from Texas to Georgia, things will change dramatically and be reflected in the storyline.

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