Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 10 Review: 210 Words Per Minute
Paul Dailly
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If you were one of the many criticizing Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 for the lack of character development, then Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 10 was probably the episode for you.
At the root of "210 Words Per Minute" was Grace, the woman who is counting down the days until radiation catches up with her.
Grace has been the best addition to the team in quite some time, and this deep-dive into her mind and how she felt about things was needed to propel her storyline forward.
For the first time in a long time, the dialogue was not only believable, but it was gut-wrenching.
Grace knows there's a huge question mark hanging over her in regards to when she will die, but she's trying to do what she can to save as many people as possible.
She doesn't want to go out laying down in her final days; she merely wants to make an impact in this post-apocalyptic world before she meets her end. She knows nobody will remember her down the line.
The human race is dying out, so the chances of there being much left after she passes are pretty slim.
Dwight: So, we should go meet up with the others.
Grace: Where our caravan's going, we need everything we can find in this place.
Dwight: What if they find us?
Grace: No, they won't. We were careful. No chatter. No breadcrumbs.
Dwight: They might have heard the same message that brought us here.
Morgan: You think they're in range?
Dwight: I'm picking up Daniel's signal.
Morgan: Right.
Grace: So, we go?
Dwight: They're pretty pissed about the gas. I want to make sure we're standing if they're on their way here.
Morgan: If they're hitting truck stops, we're going to need everything that's in here more than ever.
What was so harrowing about Grace's journey was that she never knew whether it was a cold, flu, or something related to the radiation. Her body is like a ticking time bomb, but she seemed at peace with the prospect of dying.
The struggle to get to the pharmacy was very well-executed, and there were several moments that Grace could have been written out, but I'm not so sure her going on the road alone is the best course of action.
There's no telling what's in store for her, and her being at the wheel of any car in her condition is probably not going to end well. That's why it was easy to be frustrated with Morgan throughout the installment.
Dwight: Did you bring something to tear my fingernails off with ... a pair of pliers maybe?
Man: I was thinking about your question. Gonna tell you the truth, I got no clue why Logan wants that gas, but he wants it and when you go that long without something, well makes you do even crazier things to get it. You can understand that, right Dwight?
Dwight: How do you know my name?
Man: Oh, come on now. Can't go a mile around here without finding one of those tapes y'all made. I gotta say, when I saw your part, I thought, I get this guy. He's all broken up over what eventually breaks us all.
Even if he doesn't admit it, he has feelings for Grace that extend well beyond a platonic level, and that's a change of pace for him. However, he couldn't help but speak about his family throughout.
It's hard to assess whether it's the not-so-stellar writing or the character is at fault here. Morgan has a knack for saying one thing and doing the complete opposite and judging people for things he too has done.
It was nice that he went out of his way to make sure that Grace was safe in the mall, but he should have followed his heart and went on the road with her.
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It certainly makes it seem like Morgan is still suffering from the loss of his wife and son, and that he's worried about getting close to Grace if he's going to lose her. What he doesn't seem to understand is that the human race is sitting ducks in the narrative.
Any one of them could become a meal for a zombie if they take one wrong turn, so him letting Grace go alone will probably come back to haunt him.
Karen David is attached as a series regular, so it's not like she's going to be away from Morgan for long.
It's difficult to imagine how a love storyline would work on this series given that most characters have been one-dimensional at best in the most recent episodes.
The biggest flaw of "210 Words Per Minute" was actually the mall. Chuck had made it into a safe haven, and given how many years had passed since the outbreak, it was ludicrous that it was still filled with supplies and seemingly in good condition.
In fact, it looked like nobody had set foot in it since the outbreak. Then again, the initial tranquility of it all was probably a ruse for people to think that it was a trap.
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It's not often you get someone offering you the keys to the kingdom over a radio -- at the end of the world no less. For that reason alone, it felt ridiculous for just three of them to go along for the ride.
Despite only knowing Chuck for one episode, his goodbye tugged on the heart strings. He was a good man who wanted to make sure all of the resources remaining went to good use.
He could have died and let someone else find it, but letting the heroes at the wheel of the story know about it was a good thing to do.
Man: Snatch.
Dwight: Don't touch that.
Man: See, that's the thing when we get good snatch, and I mean really good snatch. And we lose, huh. Watch out.
Granted, he did want to be buried so that he didn't become a walker, and that's something many people would worry about when dead bodies are reanimating as flesh-eating villains. It was a valid point to highlight.
The show continues to have very little in the way of conflict. Logan is the villain for now, but he's not done anything that makes him someone to be feared.
He's been like a damp squib for much of his tenure on the series, so he really needs to find a way to assert his power to make these people fear him. This show, in particular, has had some solid villains, but nothing about Logan feels worth watching.
He's been known to double-cross people, so it's possible that he will ultimately leave his gang behind and join someone else when the wealth of ammunition runs out. That alone should be scary, but it's not.
As for Dwight, he's just taking up valuable real estate on the screen and bringing very little to the show at this stage. His actions throughout the installment felt forced and like they didn't belong in this otherwise decent episode.
Moving a character like Dwight from The Walking Dead over to the spinoff should have given Austin Amelio more time to shine. Instead, we're being subjected to this man who isn't even sure what he's doing.
It isn't translating very well on the screen, and the writers are the ones at fault here.
That's all I got, Fear the Walking Dead Fanatics!
What are your thoughts on this deep-dive into Grace? Are you shipping her and Morgan?
Hit the comments below.
Remember you can watch Fear the Walking Dead online right here via TV Fanatic.
The series airs Sundays at 9/8c.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
