Fear The Walking Dead Season Seven: Who’s The Worst?

Fear the Walking Dead – Wes

A couple of weeks ago, I argued that Fear The Walking Dead deserved better ratings than what it’s been getting, citing episode 714, “Divine Providence” as my evidence. In preparation for that, I saw people online complaining how confusing Wes’ (Colby Hollman) full heel turn in that episode was, and, quite frankly, that just doesn’t make any sense.

Even before Wes joined Morgan’s group in season five, he was pretty cynical. In fact, the whole reason why he refused to join the group in the first place was because he didn’t believe Morgan’s offers of generosity and aid in the first place. It was only after meeting Alicia, and seeing her be willing to help both him and a stranger who stole her and Strand’s truck that he finally started to look at people a little differently, and break away from his long-held cynicism.

But, after seeing Morgan try to poison Strand when Victor was trying to make a deal with him and then seeing Luciana lie to a confused Daniel to get him to focus on attacking Strand, Wes had seen enough. He came to believe that, while Strand was a ruthless, murdering bastard, at least he was honest about being one. His faith in Morgan, Luciana, the whole group, and even humanity at-large diminished, Wes decided that the only thing left that was important was his own survival. When you put all of that into perspective, suddenly, Wes’ decision to go full heel makes a lot more sense.

As for what he did afterward, it all falls in with that logic of trying to keep himself alive. Wes had come to believe that Strand’s ability to judge people, his pragmatic nature, and the tower’s resources and defenses were the best chance he had of surviving. When he realized that Strand was considering keeping Alicia at the tower, he feared that Strand was losing his touch and being misled by Alicia, who he feared would just be waiting for a chance to let the rest of the group in to usurp Strand and replace him with what Wes saw as a more ineffective, and less honest leadership. He wasn’t about to let that happen.

With the rest of the rangers in tow, Wes tried to hunt down Alicia, Strand, and Daniel, eventually confronting and preparing to kill Alicia and Strand if not for the timely arrival of Daniel and Alicia stalling him long enough for Strand to finally stop his would-be usurper.

What would Wes have done had Strand not stopped him? Maybe ordered the execution of the rest of the group? Who knows? But, the fact he was upset that he thought Strand was “going soft” doesn’t bode well for what he might have done, and earns him a spot on this list.