The Best of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ – Season 6

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Episode 616: ‘The Beginning’
Original Air Date: June 13, 2021

‘…we did our best. You know I’m still going to try and stop what Teddy started, but I’m not at all sure that that’s going to be possible. You see, the missile… well it’s going to re-enter the atmosphere, and it’s got multiple warheads. So, this… this may be all the time that we have left. So, you should use it. You should… you should make it mean something. You should give yourselves the ends that you wanted… even if it’s not the one we all imagined.’
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- Morgan Jones

Nick Stahl as Riley in Episode 616 of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ – ‘The Beginning’. (Photo Courtesy of Ryan Green/AMC.)

​If there is one common trope that we find often in horror and in storytelling in general, it would have to be… the happy ending. For we firmly believe that good will conquer evil in any capacity, and we also believe that it will overcome great odds to do so, the kind that involves sacrifice and pain and a real dedication to giving life to a better world. Because in trying times, the best of us rises to the surface and that’s why we see the monster be vanquished in these stories, or people find a way to rebuild from devastation and soldier on. Because happy endings have to happen, and good days have to be on the horizon. But as time continues along, and stories lean harder into the truth about the world, we are seeing that trope fade.
 
Because the hard truth about that trope, is that it is escapism at its finest, for while happy endings are a thing in our world… they are not a constant. For sometimes, evil wins the day, the virus spreads and devastation remains, and people just leave it all behind and start over fresh without giving rebuilding a second thought. If anything, that trope is starting to die, simply because… we are coming to understand we learn more from failure, and we gain strength from real hardships that scare us and challenge us, and we need to focus on that. And one particular series that leads the charge in busting this trope continues to be Fear the Walking Dead. For it often has no qualms with bringing about a sour ending or a big loss for the characters, and it also has no issue with letting the bad guys… win the day now and again.
 
For the season six finale of this show, should have been filled the joyous stuff that we sometimes find within this franchise. Wherein heroes win the day and teach everyone those all-important lessons about unity and wonder. In fact, we’ve seen it happen in the TWDU before since the Alexandria Alliance, with Morgan as part of it, defeated Negan and the Saviors and worked toward a better tomorrow. But ‘The Beginning’ was a story… that offered none of that. In fact, this was nothing short of a bleak and devastating episode where evil really did rule the day, simply because it had time to get its claws into the minds of the broken and because of that… there were nuclear bombs high in the sky, making their way back to Earth to destroy the survivors and everything they’d worked for.

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Colman Domingo as Victor Strand in Episode 616 of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ – ‘The Beginning’. (Photo Courtesy of Ryan Green/AMC.)

​Which allowed for many scenes to explore the fragility of morality, and the fear that would come forth if say the worst-case scenario arrived and nuclear bombs were about to rain from the sky. But more importantly… the heroes lost in this tale, and that was hard to watch, and it was even harder to watch them all scramble to just survive, somehow. Which led to one of the scariest episodes this series has ever put forth. Because despite having faced legions of the dead, and mad individuals with wild agendas in mind, this kind of threat… was a game changer and it truly gave rise to some amazing acting, some powerful moments, and some realistic observations as to how we genuinely find hope in our absolutely lowest moments. 
 
Which in the instance of facing a natural disaster, something we now all have experience with, is to find solace in survival. In being able to just breathe and know that we get a few more miles down the road. Wherein we can figure out a path that will make us happy when the danger passes. Not to mention, if evil is keeping us down, this episode reminded us that there are other ways to fight it, since sometimes turning the poison that a madman injects into a person’s mind against them can be quite impactful and powerful. But above all, we have to learn in those scariest of moments, that being the beacon, being the hero is sometimes the most important act of all. Because to know that others are depending upon us, need us… can give us what we need to stand up and take one step forward. 
 
Bu of course, those lessons were crammed into the end of a harrowing and horrifying tale. One where the clock was ticking, the tension was thick and where… darkness reigned supreme. Which made for a powerhouse episode, one that really did leave us wondering if anyone was going to survive this nightmare and what their future might look like in an irradiated world of the dead. But most important of all, it wasn’t a happy ending. Just an ending, where Teddy won the day and where the forces of good were left scattered to the wind and corrupted with fear, at least when it came to Strand and well… that’s a bold way to end a season and that is why this episode is outright the one we consider to be the finest that season six had to offer. Until next time.

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