Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 12 Review: Ner Tamid
Paul Dailly
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Disappointing is a perfect word to describe Fear the Walking Dead of late.
There is so much squandered potential, and Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 12 did not even attempt to break the wheel.
Despite a solid opening to introduce Jacob, most of everything that came after felt like further setup for the storyline of Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 13.
What are we going to do with Charlie? Her decision to sneak off into the night almost had some fatal consequences for John and June.
It wouldn't be the first time a character has made a selfish decision that resulted in death, but I found myself wanting John or June to die just to give the series some much-needed conflict.
If you watch Fear the Walking Dead online, you know that Charlie has never been one of the better characters, but there's no way in a million years that she would sneak off without telling anyone.
There's a lack of coherent writing on this series, and it's becoming more apparent during Fear the Walking Dead Season 5.
It's not easy to think of a million different ways in which Jacob could have been introduced to the series without a needless subplot, but we would be willing to give it a shot.
John: This isn't just about the gas.
June: I know.
John: I want you to stop and take a breath.
June: This isn't the right place to do it.
John: Okay.
Charlie complaining about wanting a more robust home for the group fell on deaf ears because they have the denim factory.
Did the creative forces just forget about that place? Because this is becoming tedious?
It could be argued that Logan knows about it, but the dude knows where everyone is going anyway since they tell him and his people over the radio.
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The only tension in this outing was John and June moving between the vehicles on a ladder. One or both of them were poised to die, and while they are both decent enough characters, their loss would have helped advance the story.
Sarah: Chow down and rest up, babyface. We're heading for Tank Town at Oh-eight-hundred.
Dwight: We're going to have to wait. The headcount is off.
June: No, everyone was accounted for when we packed up.
Dwight: Look, I don't know what to tell you, but someone is missing.
One of Fear the Walking Dead's biggest flaws is failing to properly serve the characters, so dispensing of some of them with gruesome deaths could be the best foot forward.
Even worse is the way John and June just forgave Charlie. There was no question about whether she knew she was wrong, but if they plan on her growing into a young woman with any semblance of common sense, she should have suffered some consequences.
It would have been easy to let it slide if one of them had bothered to mention the existence of the denim factory, but it's almost as if all of the logic gets thrown out of the window to advance the plot.
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It's rare for me to say that a series needs to end, but if they choose to continue to travel this route with nonsensical storylines, there's a chance there will be no fans left for it to continue.
It's a real shame because Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 11 felt like a nudge in the right direction. What a difference a one episode makes.
Jacob himself seems like a solid addition to the team, but if he's going to be part of this journey, then he needs to have a meaningful storyline as opposed to just existing with little to do.
Locked up tighter than a fireman's sphincter of the fourth of July.
Sarah
Sarah and Dwight might have had a brush with death, but their inclusion in this installment felt unecessary. They were used as a plot device only to reveal that Logan had found the correct location of the oil.
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For people to take TV seriously, there have to be organic actions from the characters that help move the plots along without feeling forced.
At times, Fear the Walking Dead has been better than The Walking Dead, but some of the recent episodes have been the worst in the entire franchise.
The only thing that could save it at this stage is if many of the characters got killed off, and the rest tried to rebuild from scratch somewhere else.
For this show to thrive, there needs to be some change at the wheel because there's a severe lack of creativity. It's a shame because there have been great episodes of the show, but it feels like it's in a state of disrepair.
The positive from this outing, though, was that Morgan was not around for one of his boring chats in which he says something along the lines of, "We need to do better."
God, he's tiring.
Not a lot happened on "Ner Tamid." There was needless drama that had very little significance to the overall arc, and the episode ended just when things got interesting.
Logan has proven to be a pitiful villain, and there are very few stakes with him.
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Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 13 will make or break his villanous reign. If he can offer reasons why our heroes should be scared of him, then fine.
If not, then hopefully he disappears into the ether because I've wasted enough time watching this subpar series. We need payoffs that have lasting effects — not this drivel.
That's all I got, Fear the Walking Dead Fanatics.
What did you think of this mediocre installment?
Hit the comments right below. Chat with me!
Fear the Walking Dead continues Sunday at 9/8c.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
