Nick and Troy discover a threat to the community at the dam. Madison discovers exactly who is responsible. And Alicia meets them face to face…

This is pretty much a textbook example of how to do a season finale. The show takes very nearly every plot thread still standing and ties them off. In doing so we get resolution to Madison’s mild psychotic break. a heart-breaking coda to Nick falling off the wagon, the end of the road for the last Otto standing and a very interesting new direction for Alicia. Oh and the dam, like the Ranch, gets wiped off the board.

The two episodes balance set up and payoff, action and character with so much ease that you know a ridiculous amount of hard work went into them. The first half in particular feels truly, honestly dangerous. The moment where Daniel locks the door to interrogate Nick. The moment where Nick tells his mother that Daniel will kill Troy if he sees him. The moment where Troy makes it clear he knows what he did and stands by it all. This is an hour of TV living in the second before the punch hits, or in this case, the hammer. Everything really does feel up for grabs.

And in the end, everything is.

This is Dave Erickson’s last episode as show runner and it’s clear he wanted to sweep the board in two different ways at once. The first is to give his successor some new toys to put on the board (The Procters! Houston!). The second is to tie off everything he’s done with the show. So, the season ends as the show began: Nick is a mostly recovering drug addict. Madison knows. Alicia is the most competent person in the room. Strand has a plan.

Except, of course, that a veritable flotilla of characters from that first episode are long since dead. And Nick wants to join them. And Madison kills someone with a hammer. And Alicia is the temporary nurse and ‘lucky charm’ of what Negan would look like if he wasn’t weighted down with years of expectation and unwieldy dialogue.

Oh and Strand has finally, irrevocably, completely screwed up. And is going to have to own that for the rest of his life.

This is the end of Fear The Walking Dead. But only Fear The Walking Dead chapter 1. If the show had been cancelled here it would be an audacious and fitting ending; Madison free of burdens and expectation. Madison’s children free of her.

As it stands, it’s an audacious, fitting ending to an extraordinarily strong season.

Verdict: No TV show this decade has improved as much as Fear The Walking Dead. It’s intelligent, driven, poetic (We loved the Christmas dinner scenes) and unpredictable. Houston here we come. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart