Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 11 Review: You're Still Here
Paul Dailly
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Can we keep him?
Pretty please?
Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 11 was a real diamond in the rough, and it was all thanks to Wes.
It's rare for a new character to have such an impact off the bat. Maybe it was because we knew Wes was not a villain and that he wasn't linked to Logan in any way.
There was real heartache behind those eyes, and we moved from scene-to-scene in a way that didn't feel as forced as earlier episodes of Fear the Walking Dead Season 5.
The police station setting was the real surprise because it seemed like there was a reunion on the cards for him and his brother.
But this wasn't predictable like most other episodes of the series.
Wes is a creative individual that tried to keep the memory of his brother alive through his writing, and the fact that his creativity helped Alicia through whatever she was going through was the icing on the cake.
I never should have radioed you.
Wes
When the man rushed from the police station with a bullet wound, you would have thought that he stole a kidney or something, but this was something that was helping keep Wes going in this post-apocalyptic world.
If you don't have something to keep you going at the end of the world, then what's the point in continuing on?
It's a shame that the memory of the novel has been tarnished forever as a result of Wes stabbing the man who stole it. Wes went to great lengths to get it back and then decided that he was through with it in a matter of scenes.
Related: Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 10 Review: 210 Words Per Minute
Whatever Wes decides to do down the line, he will always be able to return to Alicia and Strand, assuming they are both still alive.
There were several moments during "You're Still Here" that could have written these two fan-favorites out of the show, so I'm thankful they survived to slay another day.
One of the biggest positives is that the brush with the walkers was terrifying because we had Alicia, who was struggling with severe PTSD and Strand who was essentially blind thanks to the tear gas.
If there's one thing this show has been lacking, it's deadly battles with the undead, and it seems the mall was just the tip of the iceberg on Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 10.
Related: Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 9 Review: Channel 4
Alicia and Strand need to work together going forward because they understand each other on a level that none of the other characters will ever understand, and them working together is something the series has been lacking in.
Having Daniel along for this ride would have been another way to throw it all the way back to the good old days.
Alicia appears to be on the road to recovery, and it's all thanks to her letting her creative side out by painting the trees. It may sound silly as hell, but doing something you wouldn't normally do can yield some positive results.
Don't you guys have bigger fish to fry?
Wes
Alicia has been trying to pick up the pieces following her giving the zombies a beatdown, leading to her getting radioactive zombie blood on herself.
She's been considering her own mortality in a way that she's never had to before, and that's only going to intensify whenever Grace starts to succumb to the radiation first because she spent more time in that wasteland than the others.
It's still ridiculous to think that everyone else is safe from radiation despite the way things played out on Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 8, but we'll just put that down to Fear the Walking Dead Logic.
The character I'm struggling with the most is Morgan, but he wasn't as bad throughout this installment.
Related: Fear the Walking Dead Renewed for Season 6
His showdown with Logan was eye-opening in that it proved that Morgan's group were making a big mistake by leaving the videotapes around sitting idly by.
It was always going to cause problems, and now the villains know everything there is to know about her heroes that they are proving to be a huge weakness.
Logan has now proven that he will go toe-to-toe with just about anyone -- even if he hasn't made his mark by killing any of the characters.
I can't be the only one who thought that one of his goons were going to kill Althea in the act of aggression after Morgan held their boss up against the truck.
Fleshing out Logan has been needed for some time. When you have a villain that appears to be a throwaway character, then there are some big problems.
We haven't even been given much insight into his goons. Are they just out there for the oil, or are they playing a bigger angle here?
We'll probably get the answers in the final five episodes of the season ... unless the series falls off the rails again and focuses on the silly instead of the exciting.
What did you think of Wes? Do you want more? Are you buying Logan as a villain?
Hit the comments below.
Remember you can watch Fear the Walking Dead online right here via TV Fanatic.
FTWD continues Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
