Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 1 Review: Here to Help
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Picking up months after Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 16, Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 1 found all of the major characters in miserable situations.
The cracks are starting to appear for Alicia, and she's struggling to hold it together, as evidenced by her slicing and dicing every walker she comes into contact with.
Her weapon of choice was some airplane shrapnel, and while it was effective, it looked uncomfortable to wield.
A person of sound mind would cover their hand in cloth or something that would stop it hurting their hand, but then there's Alicia who is too driven by her thirst to rid the world of the undead to care.
Alicia: How far to the truck stop?
Morgan: I don't know. We may be ten, fifteen miles from the touchdown site.
Alicia: We're not going to make it in time.
Morgan: No, we will make it.
The crash landing in this new locale was unexpected, but it was the perfect way to propel the story forward and introduce some new arcs for the characters.
Morgan is still the moral compass of the group, and his chats with Alicia were a highlight of "Here to Help."
If you watch Fear the Walking Dead online, you know that Alicia has lost her entire family, and everyone she's gotten close to. It's difficult for her to make connections with people as a result.
She thinks everyone is on borrowed time, and in a world filled with the undead, she's not entirely wrong.
It's okay. We're here to help. Get inside!
Alicia
It's still disappointing that Madison is no longer part of the story, but Morgan leading the group alongside Alicia is effective.
He was woefully underutilized on The Walking Dead and the hope here was that he'd have a chance for the kind of character development others in the series experience.
His inclusion on this spin-off might have felt like a ratings stunt ahead of Fear the Walking Dead Season 4, but he's one of the standout characters.
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Lennie James is delivering his best work to date on this series.
Hopefully, Austin Amelio will forge a similar path when he appears as Dwight from the parent series.
The sad thing about the trip to this new land is that it was all a ruse to get our heroes away from the denim factory to allow Logan to return and take over the location again.
Everyone was caught off guard, but those who went on the mission should have had their guards up. They've spent a lot of time in this post-apocalyptic world.
They had to know that it was odd nobody was seeking help. One of the group requesting help should have been taken with a grain of salt.
Max: Don't be scared.
Dylan: I'm not scared. Is it going to be loud?
Max: No. It won't be loud. Actually, I'm completely lying. It's going to be one of the louder things you've ever heard. Louder than when Dad's barbecue exploded.
Dylan: Annie said there was a crowd of growlers nearby.
Max: That's the next problem we'll handle.
Max: Dylan, you can do this.
Logan wants to take back what is his, but he clearly didn't get the memo that the same rules are not followed when the world is over. If he really thinks Alicia, Strand, and everyone will allow him to take up residence in the factory for long, he's mistaken.
It was smart of him to send the group on a wild goose chase to the middle of nowhere, but they're going to find their way back somehow.
Althea thought her message to Strand fell on deaf ears, and it's going to be fun to watch his journey as he attempts to fly a plane.
He managed to move The Abigail from A to B on Fear the Walking Dead Season 2, but a plane is a different ballgame entirely.
Althea was foolish to go back to the scene of the crash alone, but she wanted to learn more about what the eff was going on in the new setting.
Now that she's been kidnapped, we're probably going to learn a bit more about the mechanitions of the place.
The three kids never told anyone much of what was going on there, but Alicia falling on the radiation sign was a big clue.
The people in the suits will probably emerge as the good guys, and we'll learn that they're fighting a much more significant threat than the group thinks.
Let's hope everyone doesn't go on the search for Althea with guns blazing.
Things can go South real fast when weapons are involved.
What we do know about the three circles are that they have popped up several times on The Walking Dead.
They are linked to the people who took away Rick and Jadis on The Walking Dead Season 9 Episode 5.
It makes me think the company is much bigger than we could ever have anticipated.
That plot is entirely intertwined with the parent series. Who would have thought that would happen?
But it's an excellent way to get viewers of the parent series to check out the spinoff.
The biggest shock for me is that everyone survived the crash landing. This show has no qualms about offing characters, some for sheer shock value.
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However, it appears that a lesson was in the making, because it didn't happen here.
Luciana was the likely candidate to go given that a metal pole had impaled her shoulder, but wiht June's medical background, she managed to save Luciana's life. June is a true asset to the team.
Still, it was downright absurd that nobody thought to cover Luciana's mouth.
Did they expect to remain silent as they tugged a metal pole from her body? No, she screamed like the rest of us would, and she probably alerted every walker within a five-mile radius.
I dare say the group will encounter the three kids again. Leaving at such a pivotal moment proved that they are scared shitless by whatever is going on in the area.
The video of Daniel Salazar came out of nowhere, but it could be a convincing way to reintroduce the fan-favorite back into the world.
"Here to Help" was a successful way to start Fear the Walking Dead Season 5.
The show hit its groove with Fear the Walking Dead Season 4, and after the latest episode, it's clear there are still a lot of stories to cover.
The tone feels completely different from the first few seasons. Now we have a show that stands on its own two feet and doesn't feel like a cash cow.
Over to you, Fear the Walking Dead Fanatics!
What did you think of the premiere? Can you believe nobody was killed? What do you think is going in this possibly radiation-filled land?
Hit the comments below.
Fear the Walking Dead continues Sundays at 9/8c.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.