‘Fear the Walking Dead’ S4’s craziest moments
Fear the Walking Dead returned on June 2nd for S5, and now we have word that a new The Walking Dead spinoff, A New World, is on the way – along with a feature film! To celebrate, we’re revisiting the craziest moments of S4.
Like a walker on a hot tin roof, the first half of Fear the Walking Dead S4 was seriously hoppin’ – in the grimmest, most savage way imaginable of course. There have been a lot of cool zombies, a lot of uncool deaths, and a lot of shocking moments that we seriously didn’t expect. Including that heart-wrenching twist played during the jaw-dropping mid-season finale.
Whether you loved it, hated it, or simply get far too invested in TV characters to be dealing with an apocalyptic show anymore – imagine how you’d fare during a real zombie outbreak! – there’s no denying the past eight episodes have featured some seriously crazy moments.
Here’s our ranking of the eight biggest, boldest, and bloodiest moments from the first half of S4 to keep you quaking in your boots.
Fair warning: a ton of spoilers ahead
8. Garden center zombies: “Buried” (S4E4)
This episode was brimming with some truly innovative and memorable zombie encounters, but seeing walkers studded with cactus spines? It was gloriously fiendish and a little cartoonish and we’re still absolutely living for it. Sadly there appears to be no images or videos commemorating this moment of genius, so please just close your eyes and let your imagination fill in the blanks for you.
7. Water Park zombies: “Buried” (S4E4)
Fear the Walking Dead features some of the most unique and imaginative zombie infested set pieces on television. In the fourth episode of S4, the downright disgusting water park was squalid and gross but also strangely beautiful. It also provided the setting for some genuinely tense and scary moments with some incredibly cool zombies and a genuine sense of threat towards Naomi (Jenna Elfman) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey).
6. Alicia kills Mel: “The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now” (S4E7)
Like John, Mel (Kevin Zegers) very nearly avoided a fatal blow when Alicia turned his ambulance into a firecracker on wheels. Somehow the dude survives the explosion and crawls away like a cockroach surviving a nuclear blast. However, Alicia is no mood to spare him and after asking what are basically some rhetorical questions – cos this girl ain’t waiting for any answers – she kills the dude by driving a blade through his head.
5. Alicia shoots John: “Just in Case” (S4E6)
Proof that no moment of joy in Fear the Walking Dead can be allowed to manifest for more than a fleeting few moments, an enraged Alicia shot John (Garret Dillahunt) in cold blood right after he was reunited with his beloved Naomi (Jenna Elfman). Still, the dude survives so it’s not all that bad. Just took some of the glide out of his stride, is all.
4. Morgan and Althea are ambushed by the FTWD gang: “What’s Your Story” (S4E1)
We’ll be honest here and say the inevitable crossover episode between The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead was about as limp and unexciting as we’d come to expect – but that’s mostly down to how limp and unexciting The Walking Dead has become.
Still, by all accounts the best (and craziest) moment of the whole episode arrived when Morgan (Lennie James) and Althea (Maggie Grace) are ambushed for a second time by Alicia, Nick, and the rest of the gang. It’s a nice twist and completely unexpected.
3. The stadium has fallen: “The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now” (S4E7)
What a vision! Yet another example of Fear the Walking Dead’s immense world building utilizing interesting spaces to explore fresh nightmarish visions of the undead. Using the baseball stadium as a strange nest for the undead allows for the show to muse upon the decay of Americana while showcasing some nasty ass visuals – a scorched field overrun with burnt out walkers.
2. Nick’s death: “Good Out Here” (S4E3)
Nick (Frank Dillane) has been a particular fan favorite within the show since its very first opening scene. So his sudden and tragic death sent understandable shockwaves through the fan community who most definitely didn’t see this quick, fiendish death scene coming. However, as Forbes explained, the scene was “shocking but not senseless” despite happening in the middle of the character’s arc and “long before Nick’s story had reached any kind of satisfying conclusion.”
1. Madison’s death: “No One’s Gone” (S4E8)
Some fans might be clinging on to the hope this is going to be a “Glenn under the dumpster” fake-out moment that The Walking Dead is so fond of, but we don’t think that’s going to be the case here.
After remaining a mystery for most of the season, Madison’s tragic fate and whereabouts are finally revealed and oh boy are they a punch in the gut. Madison (Kim Dickens) dies in the burning stadium after helping her family to escape and it’s one of the most shocking deaths in a show full of them.
There’s been some outcry from fans desperate for Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead to “stop disintegrating their casts”. But we’d argue this is exactly what apocalyptic television needs to depict – no red shirts and no convenient body fodder. Just a solid story where every character is expendable no matter how invested the fans may be to them.
