Sanctuary

LOVED the first 5 or so minutes of the episode. Dwight is such a good character but Sherry drags him down. Unfortunately Dwight isnt alone for long but while he is he makes a solo trip back into the Sanctuary to retrieve some stolen supplies. This is easily the best part of the episode.

It quickly goes downhill when Sherry, June and Odessa arrive all the way in Virginia. I can put up with Sherry, but Odessa was pretty unbearable this week, and she and her storyline dragged this episode down. If it had been entirely focused on Dwight, with just a little bit of Sherry and June, it could have been much better.

Overall though, I had a lot of fun. But mostly because of the callbacks to the Sanctuary, Negan and the Saviors, and also because Dwight might be my favourite character left on Fear.

Madison, Daniel, Strand and Troy just aren't doing it for me lately. They don't even feel like their old selves anymore. I'm not super excited for the next episode because tbh, I just want more Dwight.

Also - Its ridiculous that Dwight went all the way back to his old home in Virginia and the Sancutary but didn't stop in at Alexandria. COME ON.

After the surprising eighth episode, it seems that Fear the Walking Dead regretted delivering something minimally good and decided to return to the standard mediocrity of this current season. Despite its questionable quality, this episode managed to handle a specific issue well (at least at the beginning); the accumulated traumas of Dwight (Austin Amelio) and the weight of his past. The first ten minutes of this episode are very good and easily the best thing about it, as it effectively addresses all the burden on the character. How traumatizing is the loss of a child? How difficult is it to live with terrible decisions from the past that cost lives? The episode starts by exploring these questions, but then it gives them up for a silly "nostalgia."

At first, we see Dwight finally confronting his past, and through his pain, we understand the weight of all this accumulation on him. Returning to his old house seemed to be seeking comfort and stability, but he realizes that the more he delves into the past, the greater the wounds that will be opened. Austin Amelio's performance shines in these early minutes, portraying all the physical and mental strain, the vulnerabilities, and the depression the character is experiencing are conveyed through his physicality, voice intonation, and expressive eyes, perhaps being the actor's peak throughout his character's history.

However, all of this is thrown away, all this buildup is discarded because after Jay's (Jack Mikesell) death, we have the return of June (Jenna Elfman), Sherry (Christine Evangelista), and Dove (Jayla Walton), and these three characters take away all the dramatic weight that was being well-built in Dwight. It's as if the episode didn't want to give him protagonism and desperately needed to fit more characters into the plot. This episode needed to be a unique journey for Dwight and Sherry, to conclude these open arcs of the couple and give them a worthy conclusion, especially after so many traumas and sufferings. June and Dove's presence not only takes up more screen time than necessary but also leads to a dragged-out and forced plot for the episode. This bloating in the story sidelines the character study that could have been very successful.

Having an episode focused on a character from the main series, where he revisits a place from his past to confront his demons and end a cycle in his life, is the perfect description for the 4th and this 9th episode. A replica of what was already done in the same season, but worse and not working as well as the first time. If in "King County," the narrative paused the main plot to tie up loose ends for Morgan (Lennie James), there was a justification and a final result that justified this delay in the story, as the final feeling was that Morgan's journey with his family had truly concluded. Unlike here, which appears to be just another adventure and a call to nostalgia to please the less demanding fans. It's undeniable that seeing the Sanctuary destroyed and in pieces after so long is cool, but now the question remains, is this nostalgic factor enough to sustain an entire episode? Especially one of the final episodes of a series that lasted 8 years.

The maternal plotline between June and Dove doesn't work and only serves to drag the episode further. Moreover, Dove, in this episode, only serves to occupy screen time and irritate viewers with every sentence she utters. The actress tries to make the character's fears and doubts plausible, but the writing is so weak that it makes her seem clueless in the end. If the character is so afraid of death and the PADRE base is where she feels most comfortable, why on earth did she decide to go on a mission alone to face an unknown group in an unknown place? It's decisions like these that make the episode disagreeable as a whole, how annoying these rushed decisions and narrative changes are, destroying the potential that the episode presented in its introduction. Additionally, once again, we have dumb antagonists who die easily, even after more than a decade surviving in this world. The group now residing in the Sanctuary seems to be derived from the PADRE soldiers in the first part of the season, they are so dumb, beyond caricature, with the most trivial motivations possible. The conclusion these "antagonists" receive is laughable and makes no sense. They literally infiltrate the middle of a zombie horde to die, in one of the most embarrassing scenes of the season.

This episode breaks the rhythm of the final episodes by introducing a core story that leads from point "B" to point "A," in other words, a regression from where Sherry and Dwight had stopped in the 6th episode, but now they seem to be together again. Austin Amelio delivers the best performance within the character, but his effort deserved much more than this accumulation of mediocrities that was this chapter. This episode is a true filler and ultimately serves no purpose within this end of the season and series. When watched, the impressions don't seem so bad, but when analyzed with a little care and considering the point at which the season is, this episode becomes a true house of cards. In the end, the only scene that makes the story "move" is the entire final segment involving Strand (Colman Domingo) and Tracy Otto (Antonella Rose). Victor seems to have found and captured Troy's daughter (Daniel Sharman), something the episode doesn't show or bother to explain, but instead of exploring this, it focuses on the relationship that no one cares about between June and Dove. This ending will be the only usefulness of this episode in the midst of this final batch.

I'm only really here for the resolution to the original fear characters' stories but this episode was a pleasant surprise. It felt the closest to a good original walking dead episode we're probably ever going to get at this point (coming from someone who hated when FTWD tried to go all walking dead in season 4), and it wrapped up the whole sanctuary business nicely. Really well directed and performed as well. Glad this little arc only had one episode dedicated to it and we can get back to the main conflict asap. The little tease of strand returning to his villainous(?) ways has me pretty intrigued.

... steal our entertainment!

These characters just aren't interesting, atleast, when they're together.

Dwight was a good character until Sherry came into Fear, Sherry has to be the most annoying character in FearTWD, shes uninteresting and makes Dwight uninteresting.

I think Dwight's personality change is pretty realistic, he's been through a lot, so I thoroughly enjoyed most of his scenes this episode, and generally enjoyed his character.

However, this episode was pretty boring, not much happened really, it's more of an update on these characters that have been left out so far in 8B, jammed into a 40 minute mess.

Dwight has always been one of the better characters in Fear, no just because hes from the main series. But the overall performance distracts me from the abhorrent writing this series is accustom too.

In all honesty, the first 20 minutes are actually really enjoyable. Like that opening shot was actually excellently crafted. Dwight is at center stage really shows the actor's talent, especially since these writers hire these extras off of Wish.

But it literally butchers it after Sherry, June and Dove show up.

The Dialogue man... Ugh the dialogue is utter dribble. Mainly from the extras and Dove but like... How was this approved??

And lets point out the stupid Disney ending. Dwight confronting his trauma had promise, but the execution was all cushy in comparison to the world this series takes place in.

Oh don't forget, Walkers literally banged on the old walls and it toppled and entire factory.

I'm well aware this review is coming more than a year since this episode premiered, I did watch this week to week as this season released. But like just its so disappointing.