552: FTWD Series Finale Rant (with Erik Kain of Forbes)

[00:00:00] Podcasts, I'm Jason. And I'm Lysi. And this is The Cast of Us, Episode 552. And this episode we're covering Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episodes 11 and 12, Fighting Like You and The Road Ahead, i.e. Fear the Walking Dead is over.

[00:01:02] For those who haven't been tuned in to where we are with Fear, well you don't like that show. We stopped covering it halfway through Season 7 because we just didn't like it and didn't want to put all that negativity out all the time.

[00:01:17] But people were like, oh, we like it. It's fun when you rant about it. So we decided to do Patreon exclusive Fear the Walking Dead roundtable rant. So we actually have done that on every episode since.

[00:01:27] So we've now covered every single episode of the Walking Dead with this, I mean, Fear the Walking Dead with this podcast. But all that is to say that if you are a fan of Fear the Walking Dead at this point and

[00:01:38] you don't want to hear anyone trashing it, you should definitely skip this episode. No hard feelings, we hope. And we'll see you for the next Walking Dead rewatch episode. You'll hear we have a special guest and I'm going to leave in the beginning part before

[00:01:55] we do his intro because that was when Lucy discovered for the first time who it was. So that's what you're about to hear. Hey. So our guests will be on in just a minute, I think. Okay. So we have a special guest. No way. That's amazing.

[00:02:21] Oh, that's so cool. So we have a very special guest today. You might have heard Lucy and I mentioned him pretty much anytime we talk about Fear the Walking Dead because we both read and love his reviews of that show. They're very cathartic.

[00:02:37] He says a lot of the same things we say but with more literary flair. And that's Eric Kane. Eric's a writer, a journalist, a video game, movie and TV critic. He's been published in the Atlantic, the National Review and Mother Jones. So real full gamut there.

[00:02:53] He also writes a sub stack newsletter and makes videos on YouTube and most notably for this podcast, of course, over the years he's written some of the most brutally scathing otherwise known as completely accurate reviews of Fear the Walking Dead for Forbes. So welcome Eric.

[00:03:07] Thanks so much for coming on. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Sure. It's a momentous occasion I suppose. What would the show finally, finally ending? Is any part of you sad about it? Yes.

[00:03:19] There's a, I mean there's been no other show that has been quite so fun to hate I suppose. You know like there have been shows that I have been very, very disappointed in like Game of Thrones when that ended I was very sad.

[00:03:35] It wasn't really fun to feel that way about that, that show and a number of other shows that have gone downhill but Fear the Walking Dead I guess it's just been going for so long

[00:03:46] now and has been so ludicrous and terrible for so long that it's almost like how can they, how can they outdo themselves this time? And they always deliver. They always deliver. I mean I almost hoped for this last season that it would just be worse than ever and

[00:04:04] they wouldn't even try and I feel like I got my wish. Yes. You know for me it was like how do you get worse than season seven? Which was just you know the radiation blanketed Texas with them in their radiation suits and

[00:04:22] the really, really bad cinematography and you know they'd be in like radiation zone and then four minutes later they could just take their masks off and the yellow color would be gone. It's like how do you get worse than this?

[00:04:34] And then they did it in season eight somehow. I don't know. They really did. I don't know but it's somehow it's worse. I mean I read you wrote recently something about maybe it's just like the fresh hell just seems like the worst and I wonder that too.

[00:04:48] When Charlie's killing herself just so people might be able to protect stupid Padre that's highly offensive. It's like it is. It is highly offensive. Let's do teenage suicide in a really flippant and careless way. That's fun.

[00:05:05] And we've all basically at this point kind of not forgotten about Nick but we're all sort of over it. Sort of overdue. I mean we're not over it like in our hearts we're not over it. I'm not over it. You're not over it Jason.

[00:05:16] Like some of us are more over it than others. So having her kill herself with that. Yeah. Very strange. Very strange choice. Very strange. Well I would say that I'm not over Nick. Oh I mean I don't blame Charlie I guess is what I would say.

[00:05:28] There was never even really a part of me that was like oh that Charlie she's so bad. I was at first but it took me a while to get to where you are now.

[00:05:37] I think right away I was like okay for sure Frank Delaney just wants off the show. That's the first instinct I had and I was like okay so all right they wrote him off

[00:05:45] the show and they had a at that point you know they hadn't introduced so many kid characters and all this you know since then there's been just so many child characters that have been

[00:05:56] so preposterous but at that point it was like okay all right I guess I can deal with this like Delaney wanted off the show they killed him off cool she's just a kid no big deal you know having it all come back in season eight is like oh.

[00:06:10] But it seemed like such a like it just when she killed him I'm not usually one to be like I want my characters to go out in a ball of fire but that was such a just little spurt

[00:06:25] of a moment that I was like that's how they're gonna take Nick out after all of this. It just felt bad and there's so many moments since then that have felt bad on this show

[00:06:37] and I mean there's a lot of I kind of wanted to talk about the major sins of the show but one is how it can just be downright offensive like the Charlie thing we already mentioned but also when Sherry ran that horse to death for no reason.

[00:06:49] That was really offensive. The Mother's Day episode. Oh the Mother's Day episode yeah. Oh my god that was awful. That was the first one I was like wow these guys are just assholes. What is wrong with you people?

[00:07:03] And how like when I think it was Daniel in these two episodes is pointing out how bad Strand is and he's also bad and I'm like yeah everyone here is just a piece of shit pretty much at this point.

[00:07:17] Why did we have to watch a show about these people? Yeah like who are you actually rooting for at the end of that show? I mean I guess a lot of people I think were rooting for Troy and then of course they ruined Troy.

[00:07:28] I knew they were gonna root as soon as I heard rumors they're bringing back Troy I was like well there goes that character they're gonna destroy him too. I was hoping they'd bring Tobias back but then they would ruin the entire thing.

[00:07:40] Yeah he would have talked about making up for all the bad things he's done and getting a second chance and all the just maudlin cheesy cringey crap that apparently they think is important over and over again it's the most redundant show ever.

[00:07:56] It's what they think yeah it's they're so in love with their story and they just have the characters regurgitating like their summaries and everything but so I want to read just I mean I think people already get an idea of what Eric's all about here but just in

[00:08:10] an article about well in season 8 episode 10 his review was entitled there's something fundamentally wrong with this show which I love and you criticized how it's like when Madison immediately blew Strand's cover when she could have just played along and figured out what was going on.

[00:08:27] He's an old friend she hasn't seen in years makes total sense to just throw him under the bus to total strangers. Yep. What the fuck? It's like that like these characters have no they don't none of them behave like real people do in real life at all.

[00:08:42] I know. And of course like fans of the show are like well it's a zombie show how why do you care if they don't act real it's like it's just because it's a zombie show doesn't mean people shouldn't act realistically within the parameters of the fiction.

[00:08:55] You know that's what made The Walking Dead good to begin with was that it was like real people behaving like real people for the most part in a zombie apocalypse. With this crazy situation. Yeah absolutely.

[00:09:07] But what you were saying earlier about it's kind of fun there's never been a show maybe that's so much fun to hate on kind of along those same lines I found myself especially

[00:09:16] during these last two episodes almost wishing for people to die and I'm usually a very compassionate person even when a villain dies on The Walking Dead usually there's a part of me that's like

[00:09:25] oh man it's so tragic that the story went that way but now whenever Tracy pulls out a gun and you know is threatening to shoot anyone I'm like killer kill him. Yeah I was so excited that Madison died and then I was excited when she died again.

[00:09:39] Me too. Yeah right. The two fake out deaths in the finale that's really something they must have really been patting themselves on the back they're like oh man this twist is crazy and then we're gonna

[00:09:49] say that Tracy is actually Alicia's daughter even though two seconds of thought reveals that that makes literally no sense like how how would it be Alicia's daughter that makes this yeah the two fake out deaths all their little twists and turns and it's just I don't

[00:10:06] know I don't know how anybody actually liked this finale because when you sit down and think about any piece of it it's just absolutely crazy. Like Tracy makes it back from wherever she was with Strand she finds Padre by herself

[00:10:23] gets to the island digs Madison out of the rubble carries her on a stretcher back to a tent which I assume she set up herself gives her antibiotics and nurses her back to health and then Alicia hears stories about someone sacrificing themself finds Padre which is

[00:10:40] an impossible to find place that literally they've been trying to keep a secret for years finds it the next day and shows up five seconds after Madison wakes up and like this is after

[00:10:52] like eight years of none of them being able to find each other despite having magical walkie-talkies that can pinpoint the exact location of anybody at any time at any distance it's just so stupid. Yes I wanted everyone to die. I wanted everyone to die.

[00:11:03] Everyone should have really died like quite badly. Quite badly. Quite badly like Alicia when she was like those people they told me where you were and then you see who those people were and I'm like Alicia you know literally every single one

[00:11:17] of those people like why are you acting like you don't know that that is Daniel and Strand you're like yeah they were mysterious I'm like were they just people that you've conveniently forgotten you knew like.

[00:11:30] And then they don't go and actually like talk to any of them because it's better if they're an idea and inspire people. They just release the cat. It's to the point where like you're saying that people don't act like real people where

[00:11:45] occasionally there will be a bit of dialogue that seems like a real person and it really stands out and I'll be like oh cool. Unfortunately it's usually when zombies are attacking them it's like why are you even talking right now.

[00:11:57] I know or they're just sort of hanging out on the back in the periphery just chilling you know like they're at a cocktail party or something. I don't know what kind of shows YouTube you've been watching but I love it when people explain

[00:12:09] something we've either already seen or that happened off screen that was actually quite important. We have to watch the scene where they're talking about it and describing it to another person and also explaining their motivations and inner thoughts which also make no fucking

[00:12:22] sense like that's my favorite kind of TV. Isn't the best piece of writing advice tell don't show? Yeah absolutely. Wait is it that or is it the other way around? I think it's like little hey Tracy let me tell you a story.

[00:12:38] Oh piss off that was creepy as hell. It was like I just wanted I didn't know I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or just curl up in a ball and die.

[00:12:50] The biggest sin of this show to me and there are many and many big ones is that I always say it feels like these characters are walking around with little note cards in their pocket where they've the showrunners have written down what this character is and then they

[00:13:05] just read it out to people occasionally. You know like they just they people are not aware of their core motivations like that most of the time and even when you might be because you've done some work or something you don't go around saying it to people.

[00:13:19] So I kind of liked when in this episode Strand said something like to Daniel you know you the way you act is just a projection of how you feel about yourself or what you say about

[00:13:27] me is a projection of how you feel about yourself and then Daniel was like what are you a psychologist? I kind of like that. Yeah yeah Daniel had some good lines and then he like then they threw it all away when

[00:13:37] he was when he came back and he's like hey Strand actually we're best buddies now I love you you're great. Oh god. I was wrong. Because it's the end of the series so let's get my moment.

[00:13:45] And let's all go in separate directions now for some reason because that makes sense. Let me say one thing I liked is um. That it ended? Thank you. Goodbye everybody. No um that so it was so frustrating I mean not that I cared all that much because it

[00:14:06] was so bad at this point but they're bringing Madison back I want to know why Kim Dickens came back we can talk about it in a second. Money money money money money money. I guess so.

[00:14:14] But they're bringing Madison back and then they have Alicia leave the series one episode before and I felt so critical of that but now I see that they presumably had it in the

[00:14:26] plan the whole time for them to reunite at the end so actually that was kind of smart to leave us kind of hanging on that and feeling like we missed something and then to give us it at the end as stupid as it was.

[00:14:36] If only they'd earned it. But Nick was in a coffee can. Yeah Nick was in a coffee can. A magic coffee can. Because the alternative would have been for them to meet and have some kind of reckoning

[00:14:49] and then somehow Alicia dies or leaves you know and then that's it for Alicia so I'd rather them do it this way if they're going to do it. Yeah but even that Madison was like you know I would have searched for you I never would

[00:15:00] have stopped I'm like apart from the seven to nine years where you were like. You did. You did it. You were like stealing babies. You were stealing babies just like I gotta do this for my oxygen like huh?

[00:15:12] Or when I think there was a point where Troy said I know you won't kill me and Madison why and because you're not that kind of person and I'm like he she fucking did kill you back

[00:15:21] in season three and also a second ago she swung as hard as she could with that hammer. So huge hammer. I think like we need to talk about Troy's physical state because they're like oh yeah she shoved

[00:15:39] Alicia shoved her arm right through his stomach like you just did so he's had two skeletal arms to the gut. He didn't bleed. And a branch. And a branch. And a branch. And a branch was up and fighting after about I would say three minutes. It's very odd.

[00:15:55] Whenever I get stabbed through the chest with a branch I'm fine literally five minutes later so I mean it's very realistic. Which happens you know pretty frequently. Getting hammered to the head. Hammered to the head, gouged eye, skeletal arm to the stomach, car accident.

[00:16:14] It's all in a day's work. Well I mean Alicia was dying from a zombie bite in season seven and she managed to make it another eight years or whatever so. She was. She was.

[00:16:22] So how did in this show where clearly nothing matters and nothing needs to make sense and plot lines are introduced and abandoned when the writers are tired of them. How did that happen?

[00:16:35] How did these I mean I really like I want to say the actors I think the acting has been top notch on this show at times a lot of the time. A lot of great actors. Half of the Deadwood cast. Yeah.

[00:16:49] Yeah it has been beautiful cinematography a lot of the time. Just everything about the show at times has been incredible. It's all even like the script the scripting sometimes the dialogue like if you're a writer

[00:17:04] who just got assigned an episode then you did the best with what you had but it's all to me at the feet of Chambliss and Goldberg and the plotting. I mean maybe that's overly simplistic but that's kind of how I see it and I wonder how

[00:17:21] that could have happened and gone on so long. Eric what do you why? It's one of the great mysteries. I don't know. I don't know. I honestly I it's so perplexing because it's not like they had a few good seasons and then it went downhill. No.

[00:17:42] A few good episodes I think at the beginning of season four I was actually kind of into it. Yeah. It kind of me too. We were too. Because it was like oh hey this this is an interesting like John Dory. Yes.

[00:17:54] You know the the MRAP the swap van or whatever was absurd but it was like okay you know it's still early in the apocalypse it's probably going to crash of course that you know they're

[00:18:02] gonna have it for a little while and then they're gonna lose it and of course they never did. But it was going strong in season eight with the Alicia fan girls. So many bullets so many bullets and gasoline.

[00:18:17] Yeah no I don't know I mean I think it must be so you know they don't exist in a bubble at AMC in the whole Walking Dead universe which you know unlike a lot of shows AMC they produce that show and air that show.

[00:18:34] They don't hire you know it's not like it's not like Breaking Bad which was produced by a separate studio. You know that's why it's not dying. And that's why sometimes it's also why they don't have the same quality controls right there.

[00:18:48] There's just AMC and they can cut the budget however they want they can you know they're in charge of everything so there's not like a like a brokering or bargaining process that goes on between like the developer and AMC.

[00:19:02] And I think that there's just become this culture that you know this is speculation obviously but when you look at like what happened with The Walking Dead around season seven with the Negan and the Savior of Wars which I thought were just atrocious.

[00:19:17] And just kind of the quality across like world beyond and even something like Daryl Dixon where you've got some beautiful cinematography and music and costume design but you just have no like care to the actual script to the writing. I mean that shows absurd. It's just absolutely absurd.

[00:19:34] We liked it but we had no hits. The premise is so stupid though that the people from France send a ship that takes tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline to America to get zombies and bring them back like zombies? You don't have zombies in France?

[00:19:54] That's a Fear the Walking Dead plot point. It's literally something out of Fear the Walking Dead just done better. Maybe fear has inoculated us. I think that's it. I think my tolerance for dumb ass shit. I'm like yeah that seems normal.

[00:20:09] I am waiting for Strand to show up in a beer balloon and save Daryl and bring him back to the United States. Strand and Carol. It's gotta happen. It's gotta happen.

[00:20:17] No but I just think there's this overall culture of like okay we can just get away with it. Our fans are going to watch it no matter what. And so they must have just been making you know the ratings must have been high enough

[00:20:28] for AMC that Fear the Walking Dead just skated on you know on whatever the hell they were doing. I don't know how. I mean honestly since the scene where they had the ethanol they were they had the you

[00:20:41] know the Martha character poisoned them with antifreeze and then they had that tanker of ethanol and they shot the tanker and the ethanol was pouring out of the bullet holes and instead

[00:20:51] of like going out with a bottle and filling it up they just watched it pour out onto the dirt and I was like oh that's it this is the stupidest shit I've ever seen. And from there it just kept getting worse.

[00:21:02] The documentaries that they made you know the little PSAs about that they put it you know it just how do they keep getting away with it? I have no clue. There was I mean we had the same thing you know we liked season three and I think you

[00:21:15] did too and we thought yeah they're starting the show's finally starting to find its stride but unfortunately they had already announced that the showrunner was going to be leaving before the season even started. So then season four we're really hopeful and we're like Morgan that feels a little

[00:21:31] cheesy but Lenny James is great and it's just with the new cinematography and yeah they they managed to introduce this amazing character John Dory and I think Garadilla Hunt has a

[00:21:41] lot of credit for that but it really brought us in and now I kind of wonder because I still think back on the first half of season four and think that was pretty good but I bet you

[00:21:50] if we went back now knowing all the foibles of Shambles and Goldberg that we'd find a lot more wrong with it you know. It started slipping pretty fast I think it started slipping when when they started to

[00:22:03] edge towards Madison's death and they started telling it in like the little snippets of Al's documentary where she's like interviewing Strand and they're talking really vaguely about something bad that happened and they're and they're finishing each other's lines

[00:22:18] and stuff and I was like what is going what is happening here what's going on and then they kill off Madison and it's like and I know that Kim Dickens did not want to leave

[00:22:26] the show like she unlike Franklin she did not I Garadilla Hunt joined that show because of Kim Dickens and then they killed her off because you know that's a Deadwood I mean all these guys you know Dayton Calley am I saying his name right Otto from the third

[00:22:50] season oh yeah John Dorie's father all these actors are from Deadwood Keith Carradine yep I'm just remembered his death sorry he was dressed in the like tinfoil suit or something how do you get worse than season seven and they did it so there's like all these great

[00:23:10] actors from a from a you know this critically acclaimed HBO show and then of course other people so many other actors like Coleman Domingo and Frank Delaney and all these actors that

[00:23:20] are great actors so there was a lot of yeah there was a lot of promise and then it was like what like or like in season for the the vultures that like surround the stadium and

[00:23:33] then they just like let them go scavenge for supplies it's like this isn't how you run a siege people know siege is to starve them out yeah and the obsession with this show about weird things with locations in geography where sometimes they can't escape but other

[00:23:52] times they just zip around the country and the plane tower so important the stadium so important Padre is so important dude like 99% of the population is dead there's a lot of vacancy out there no those are the only three buildings in America left Padre the

[00:24:08] sanctuary the office building and then oh yeah Dwight wants to go back to sanctuary where which collapsed about to collapse because zombies were pushing on it and he that's where all his PTSD happened and it's right down the road from Alexandria where all his friends

[00:24:23] are that they never mentioned which would have been a better spot to go if you were Troy or like you know I never saw the appeal of Padre I'm just gonna say it right at right

[00:24:33] now didn't look like a very nice place to live what creepy kid indoctrination island good I'm good I don't want to live there especially when every asshole is trying to take it maybe it's not the best place just let him have it right what like did we ever

[00:24:47] ever find out what happened to the ragtag band of orphans that were like doing the gas and oil no they just never find out that was one of those plot lines where they're like oh gosh

[00:25:00] I don't know it's just okay never just we'll just well they'll forget about it yada yada what about um Wendell and Sarah and and the the father uh did they die no they survived this is a show owner said in an interview in entertainment weekly that they survived

[00:25:17] and they were hanging out with Luciana and her crew but they didn't have time to fit them in the eighth season yeah I didn't have time yeah there's nothing but like uh they introduced like

[00:25:27] 18 new characters that in the final season and they didn't have time to include three characters who have been around for like four seasons you just see the rabbi occasionally standing there and he'd like wave and then they just didn't bother showing him anymore

[00:25:43] yeah pretty much or like you know what's weird in season seven I thought for sure they'd killed off Wendell yeah yeah he's gone for like 12 episodes then he just shows up there he is okay

[00:25:53] never mind he's there he's cool cool I guess he was here the whole time how about um they're like it's really important to know where this herd is in this episode and I'm like but they're

[00:26:05] going to padre so you know that much yeah then you find out this guy Russell took them to the corner northeast corner of the swamp hoping the current would sweep them to Padre shore or

[00:26:16] something like that and then how did and I'm still not sure how they knew where Padre was at this point yeah and how did they get him there and why would you send a herd onto this place that

[00:26:25] you're trying to take what's the plan there it's the same as the vultures with the stadium they'd like literally just lifted that entire thing including Madison going into Padre just like that

[00:26:35] it's just like lifted their own season for a plot and just redid it just put it into the finale Troy had Strand's storyline too all of a sudden he's a different person who wants to help everyone

[00:26:48] you know and that happened within a day because just I mean he's like maybe I could be like that and I think it was just the day before that he killed like half of Luciana's people right but

[00:26:57] meanwhile right in an off-screen gunfight we don't want to see that it's the best kind Luciana's like we had them surrounded but they did they they didn't care if they lived or died

[00:27:09] okay but what happened dude like how your people suck you've got like 800 people in your army and like four people just beat the crap out of gas I don't know how to shoot okay she's like I'm an

[00:27:23] oil refinery I'm a one-woman oil refinery okay okay so the whole thing about like her character yes they were in every character but the whole thing about um Tracy we all thought she would be

[00:27:34] Alicia's daughter and then she wasn't and I was like oh props to the show for not being uh you know predictable and then here it's like oh actually she is Troy's daughter and I'm like

[00:27:43] oh well I guess it was predictable and then when she the daughter figured out actually uh Troy just said that because he knew you well enough to know that if you thought I was related

[00:27:54] to you you'd keep me safe I thought oh that is smart I actually thought that was a little cool little piece there that kid actor was so fucking annoying and going oh my gosh she was

[00:28:03] horrible like oh my god I was like stop it no she wasn't terrible they're awful in the show like like in the last like like mo and finch the whole thing just every time I think about it that they spent seven years working for those idiots like

[00:28:26] what how how did that how did that happen like they separated and they like Dwight and Sherry just like raised their child without ever letting him know they that he was theirs and then they

[00:28:37] killed the kid off like yep it's just what do you what do you think offensive what do you think of Laurent in the Daryl show I hate the road oh see you and Lucy should do a podcast together

[00:28:50] I don't I don't hate no I do hate him I find him very annoying actually every time he talks I'm like oh you're so irritating and that whole like chosen one plot line is super super bad I'm sorry I just I can't it's

[00:29:06] been done a lot lately it's been done a lot and it's like how do they show up to this place where he's never been and everyone's like oh he's the chosen how you don't just get to be the chosen

[00:29:17] one line it was in the papers they're like what did they send a pigeon and they're like hey we're bringing the chosen one all right we're gonna here's this photo he's hugging a black lady up

[00:29:28] there we're all jesus again like whatever guys I think canonically they did send a pigeon I think they literally did yeah that poor guy and his pigeons though oh that was heartbreaking

[00:29:41] he was a real sweetie man not too smart for having survived this long but no I mean you can look at some of them and think really these ones so what about the endings I mean they just

[00:29:53] went through and did like here's your endings like June oh I'm gonna help Odessa and what go back to where John's go back to John's cabin it's probably fallen into the swamp by now eight

[00:30:05] years later poor at Jenna Elfman she got like three lines and she looked haggard in this final episode like I love Jenna Elfman and I'm not shaming her looks because she's a very beautiful

[00:30:16] woman but she looked done in I was like I think Jenna Elfman needs a holiday like she doesn't need this in her life anymore let's just maybe they just like partied really hard the night before they found that

[00:30:32] I kind of liked strand seeing uh Madison and Alicia yeah off in the distance and just almost a good moment almost a good moment if it had been earned it would have been real nice yeah and then he's like I've got my people here he's got fronk

[00:30:46] so close I hated the German stuff the German stuff was so so gimmicky and stupid why and Lucy speaks German and she says it's it's pretty bad it's just very bad yeah I mean they

[00:31:01] could have tied it into like Daryl Dixon and have some French people or something like at least give it some connection and you know he could have been with uh Jacques or whatever I can see strands

[00:31:12] speaking French before German I don't know and also why are these German people that hotel that they were staying at and like Troy shows up he's like I want to go to Padre it's like you've got

[00:31:21] a resort hotel right here man they've got they've got amazing food and tennis and they've got reused footage from season from from Teddy's uh yeah Teddy's bunker um they do oh my god yeah I mean

[00:31:36] it was like this is way nicer than Padre what did you and how did it how did they survive that long they had like full buffet lunches and like a locus ball yeah they were all like very

[00:31:48] they let anybody join them and they just were fine and then you know it only takes about one minute for our heroes for Madison to show up and the whole thing goes to hell just to fuck it right

[00:32:00] up the moment where I actually felt anything at all watching this was when skidmark and Daniel reunited even though that's really stupid I just like oh I was like it says a lot about the quality

[00:32:13] of this show that I'm like oh that's actually nice like this fucking manky cat that survived eight years of radiation wandering fucking deserts and somehow why did he like end up in Georgia I

[00:32:26] don't know where they are anymore but I'm just like okay they're in the state of Texas Georgia it's one giant state that you can teleport around yeah and Daniel cured his dementia at some point

[00:32:37] several times several times throughout the show he had tea I just want to be clear on that he's cured himself it's very easy to cure dementia very easy I'm glad and radiation poisoning

[00:32:50] no I also liked the scene where where Strand looked in his rear view and saw them I thought that could have been such a nice poignant moment it was just that everything I was just like so

[00:32:58] busy rolling my eyes still that it was hard to like feel good about it yeah it's like you find a Hershey's kiss in a piece of shit you're not gonna eat it yeah yeah you're like oh that would

[00:33:08] have been good in another context yes exactly like tinfoil wrapping I did like that they laid it on very fully with the kind of flashbacks to season one Nick and Alicia with in the very final

[00:33:21] episode I was like yeah you can't make up for it though lads like you can remind us of it but you can't make up for it so it's almost a bad thing to show us because it's like yep that's

[00:33:29] when it was better yeah I mean the only people left watching are um us people who are still fans for whatever reason and people who love to hate it there are some right Eric who's though oh yeah

[00:33:47] I get I get people regularly yelling at me because it's such a good show and I and I should just stop watching it if I don't like it yeah are they called Ian and Andrew yeah yeah they're just a

[00:34:00] bunch of burner accounts for Andrew have you gotten any indication about whether anyone from the show has seen your stuff yes I think a number of them have um I may or may not have heard that

[00:34:15] the uh crew of the show would read my reviews to each other over the walkie-talkies oh laugh and laugh uh over the walkie-talkies yeah they're perfect they're set well you know the set walkie-talkies that makes that actually makes sense to use um yeah uh that that may have

[00:34:32] been a rumor that little birds have told told me um I love yeah no yeah it's um I definitely think you know of course they pulled my screeners at one point I've never had my screeners pulled for

[00:34:43] any show including The Walking Dead or any of its spin-offs but it fear fear pulled my my screeners after season six maybe or season five I don't even remember now um and then there was all these

[00:34:55] like people on the reddit that are like Eric Kane he's like attacking the showrunners and their families and I was like dude I just I just talked shit about the show but um it's if you want to

[00:35:07] make me the great villain uh somebody when I we mentioned we might try to get you on and one of the listeners was like hey he like attacks the families of the people or whatever and I'm like

[00:35:17] what I'm gonna look into this and I looked into it and I'm like no that's not what happened that's just not fucking true it's amazing that people start rumors like that I mean it's not

[00:35:26] that surprising I guess but it's like where do you come up with this stuff like like where do you get this like it's just somebody who says I heard and then there it goes there's the there's

[00:35:36] the new truth like like why would I I don't even know if they have families do they have families I think it might be like robots or aliens or like AI constructs like are those real people

[00:35:50] I don't think have you ever had any um pushback from editorial uh maybe some headline pushback just based on guidelines and stuff I can maybe take it a little too far but no

[00:36:02] no no um no pushback on content or like criticism um I don't think they really should it's like what is this stupid show he's writing about like like they like they don't care um

[00:36:15] good but yeah no um you know I've had over the years you know like I think there was one time when I was pretty harsh on uh one of the actors in The Walking Dead and I heard from his

[00:36:27] uh agent about that and oh he asked me to like tone it down a bit and I went back and read it and I was like damn that was pretty mean so I did like I was like okay I'm gonna like I'm gonna lock

[00:36:36] that back because it's maybe not the actor's fault that he was given such bad material to to work with and um so there's been like there's been times when I've gone back and I'm like okay

[00:36:46] Eric you're getting a little worked up here but um overall I think most for the most part um I think I do stand by my criticism of The Walking Dead universe and this show in particular

[00:36:58] um and you know I I was pretty critical of season one and two also like yeah um because there was a very uneven I felt like it we did started off strong and then it was like why did you do a time

[00:37:09] jump and then yes uh that was the worst it was like the best thing about this show is the show skipped a month so now we get to see the beginning and then they skip and they skipped you know like

[00:37:19] okay that was kind of defeating the point but then season three was so good and I was very optimistic and then you know and you know I I try to give it its credit where it's due and

[00:37:29] and then it's just like I don't know I just wish they would have I think someone at AMC needs to hire like a script coordinator or like quality control somebody to go in and be like okay that's

[00:37:40] a plot hole yeah this doesn't make sense this doesn't fit with this I mean Gimple's supposed to be like in charge of the whole thing they need somebody else other than Gimple.

[00:37:51] Gimple's in his room making up word salad man he doesn't have time for that he's just writing weird press releases that mean nothing. We're not optimistic about the Rick show. Yeah talk about failing upward that's what I worry about with like Shambliss and Goldberg like

[00:38:07] it seems like in this business you can do no wrong you just you know as long as you're not you know caught doing something like abusive you just fail upward and upward and upward and uh

[00:38:20] then again Benioff and Benioff and Weiss kind of disappeared a bit didn't they they got some stuff pulled after the end of Game of Thrones. They're doing a big show on Netflix. Three-body

[00:38:28] problem on Netflix which is a huge sci-fi show. I'm hopeful. Yeah if they can stick to the ending. I feel I have such mixed feelings about those guys. Yeah yeah me too it was all really good

[00:38:41] until it wasn't. Three-body problem is a finished story so that might help. So I don't know if you want to answer this but you mentioned the crew you know the rumor about the walkie talkies reading

[00:38:53] your reviews and laughing do you suspect or have any indication that any of the actors realize what the quality of the show is? I think that every single actor on that show does. I mean

[00:39:05] there's lots of hints. I would say that the vast majority of actors who were killed off before season eight wanted to be you know from both the John Dories you know I'm pretty sure I would

[00:39:19] bet good money that a lot of the actors were like okay. I know because Garrett Dillahunt I don't know if you know this but I saw on his Facebook page someone wrote oh I was just

[00:39:32] devastated when you left the show and he goes really I was ecstatic and then he deleted it. Yeah I think there was rumors little birds tell me there might have been some real clashes behind

[00:39:46] the scenes with some of the actors and the creators and that culminated in that. But and that might have something to do with me losing my screeners. But because I think I did

[00:40:02] maybe poison the well a little bit but I think it was a poison well to begin with so. Yeah. Yeah no I think I mean when they asked Coleman Domingo if he would be interested in

[00:40:11] doing a spin-off he said this very first thing he said after the finale was if the writing's good. And so yeah I think I think that there's a lot of indications that I mean and also in season eight

[00:40:25] don't you just feel like they were phoning it in. Yes. Like just phoning it in every can we get through this even like this effects and stuff just oh yeah zombies standing around in the frozen mud

[00:40:36] not attacking anyone until they're in Georgia in the frozen mud in Georgia. Yeah no I think that I think that there was a lot of dissatisfaction. I mean I've seen videos of like do you remember Tom

[00:40:49] you remember Tom on the on the bridge filming the documentary and everyone's like Tom get back and then he falls to his death filming that documentary. Like there's some like behind the scenes footage

[00:41:00] of all the actors like laughing and joking around and like singing songs and you could I think you just get this feeling like they're all just like this is so dumb but we're just gonna make the best

[00:41:08] of it and I like the steady paycheck you know. I think for a lot of actors even like popular actors having a you know having a show that goes on season after season has got to be

[00:41:19] a nice security blanket. I suppose especially now with you know post pandemic or yeah Covid it's well streaming and market and streaming yeah. Coleman Domingo is a is a puzzler though because

[00:41:32] he's a high quality. Yeah I would wish. Well a lot of them are. Ruben Blades is like. Because I think um Garrett Dilhunt thought no I can do better than this I need to go off. Oh yeah I mean

[00:41:43] he's done plenty he doesn't he didn't need that show. That's why Kim Dickens is such a puzzle too because it's like they must offer her a big bag of money. They must have. There's no way. Or maybe

[00:41:54] it's a testament to how you know when you start getting older as a woman in Hollywood it gets harder. Sure yeah maybe yeah. Harder to get roles yeah yeah and she's not like you know a huge movie

[00:42:04] star or anything she's done a lot of stuff but um yeah but yeah I mean there just were a lot of quality actors on that show and I think there must have been a lot of dissatisfaction but also just

[00:42:14] like you know and even like uh Alicia Devnim Carey who I just I'm perplexed why she's not a bigger star because she's quite talented and very beautiful and. That show she did recently I guess

[00:42:25] wasn't a big hit Saint something. Yeah yes Saint. I don't know. Saint. So successful. Yeah I think that was it Saint X. I never watched it there's just too many shows. Yes hundreds um

[00:42:39] well we're sort of wrapping up at the end here I want to definitely mention that uh I just want to thank you for putting out those honest reviews because I didn't see anything quite that just

[00:42:52] really really nailed it fearlessly like you did so kudos to you for putting that out there and it was really fun to read too I'd like go right to your review and read it. So thank you.

[00:43:04] Always made my Monday morning I would wake up and be like great what fresh hell has Fear done I'm gonna read what Eric has to say and then I'm gonna debate. She'd read it before she'd watch.

[00:43:12] I would I would probably be like well Eric thinks it's a bad one so it must be really shit. Like well I did in the end my reviews just devolved into live like stream of consciousness

[00:43:23] because I was like why am I putting any work into this they don't work into this. What we're doing right now is usually our podcasts are way more structured on the shows that we like

[00:43:32] but for this I'm like no I'm gonna watch it once take notes not organize them and just you know barf it out. Right which is I think we probably spent more time right now than they

[00:43:41] spent on any single episodic script for the last three years. I once wrote a script Jason do you remember I wrote a script about them failing to write a script I should find it

[00:43:52] great it involved them throwing stuff in a trash can and trying to get Kim Dickens on the phone and she wouldn't come because she was laughing too hard and yeah I actually think that was better

[00:44:01] than some of the stuff. Yeah for sure. Do you guys have anything else that should be said about these final two episodes of Fear the Walking Dead or I don't know good riddance. I mean thank God.

[00:44:15] Thank God. I'm relieved it always felt also just kind of I don't know sad or wrong that Fear the Walking Dead outlived The Walking Dead that fear would still be on after The Walking Dead was over

[00:44:29] so it feels like something's been put right here. I just feel like The Walking Dead will never end at this rate though. No no it's a money machine even though it's yeah. What's next for you Eric

[00:44:41] now that you don't have this fresh hell every week will you keep covering these spin-offs? Oh yeah I mean I have to cover The Ones Who Live. Yeah of course. I mean I just I have The Ones

[00:44:53] Who Live that is do you remember the end of the Walking Dead? So Gimple. So Gimple my god so the end of The Walking Dead has this great scene with Daryl riding off into the sunset there's nice

[00:45:03] emotional music playing he's driving off by himself and it's just I was like damn this is actually a really nice final scene and then then they have to put in that stupid crap with Rick

[00:45:16] and Michonne. Yeah. The ones who lived and all and I'm like this it's just well they went and did it so they can just give us a nice ending. I described it as that he came in and he gimpled all over the

[00:45:29] wall just like gimpling everywhere. He gimpled everywhere. It just because when Gimple first started doing like he does this weird word play and almost puzzle-y kind of storytelling and mysterious like in clear right and mysterious phrasings and it was kind of compelling a lot

[00:45:49] of the time at first but just wore thin really quickly and yeah then um yeah when that happened at the end this contrast between it just made me realize and appreciate Kang even more because

[00:46:01] it just the show got a lot warmer and more I don't know personable or something when she came on. Oh yeah. Yeah so yeah I honestly like the final episode of The Walking Dead Rosita's whole

[00:46:13] death scene I thought was one of the finest moments in the entire show I just I mean it was really sad and emotional and I really liked her as a character I always wanted them to do

[00:46:21] more with her. We had a theater full of listeners here in San Francisco and Lucy came over from Scotland we all watched it together. I want to say like it was a year ago today almost like it was

[00:46:32] pretty close yeah it was it was great it was the finale was just I don't know it hit all the right beats and I never thought I'd be the one saying I wish Rick hadn't shown up but I was like no I

[00:46:42] could have lived without that. It's just so cheap and so messy and just like it's like full of itself. Full of itself and they just should have just released I mean they've just had this tendency

[00:46:53] to rob the story of surprised for so long now also like you know spoiling when somebody's gonna leave the show spoiling when there's good you know like they spoil their own show constant

[00:47:05] whatever anyone like gets mad at me for posting a spoiler I'm like I mean AMC posted it yesterday five times on social media they announced it four months ago guys like I'm not spoiling anything

[00:47:17] but it's like it felt like that too it's like instead of just letting this show end they had to like promote this next show and like yeah and it's it just felt yeah and so yeah I'm not super looking

[00:47:28] forward to the Rick and Michonne show because I feel like they're just yeah I feel like they're gonna screw it up you know it was supposed to be movies for a long time and yeah oh god the three

[00:47:38] movies I'm quite relieved they're not doing that right that was a terrible idea I mean no one needs three movies about one movie maybe would have been a good idea made for tv straight to AMC plus

[00:47:50] apparently um Danai Gurira's writing some of it and I'm hoping that might help that's good she's very talented yeah I don't like them as a couple though I just don't I never said I never

[00:48:02] did a lot of people are mad at me at that I'm constantly called a racist for it but it's not because there's a white man and a black woman it's just because I don't think that The Walking

[00:48:11] Dead can do romantic chemistry to save its life like Dwight and Sherry are like the worst couple in the history of television and they're so bad yeah and even Glenn and Maggie were pretty good

[00:48:25] yeah but they killed they killed him like right oh I forgot what it was getting oh yeah I honestly I know that that's that's the comic and everything but I still think that that

[00:48:36] was when they killed the show yeah they shouldn't have shown it in such graphic detail no they shouldn't have killed him he was one of the only likable characters he really was but honestly good

[00:48:44] for Steven Yeun because he's done such great work oh yeah such great choices yeah he's just he's so so what's your favorite well I thought um uh the road rage one what's that beef yeah such a hard

[00:48:58] word to remember that he blew my mind in that show he was so good and there were some scenes in there where I was just like really emotional watching that and I was like good for him like

[00:49:11] good for him to do something with that talent but I also like his voice work like invincible I think it was called the humans or something like that it was so weird it was interesting

[00:49:24] it had a lot of shots filmed from the other the other room and it had this just really weird staging that made me feel like a horror movie even though it was a family thing it's worth

[00:49:35] okay I'll look that up but also the one minari I guess that was pretty excellent yeah we covered that didn't we yeah um Eric where did you land on dead city I liked dead city actually um I really

[00:49:48] didn't like the first episode and I was just like oh god here we go um but then because I still feel like they're just really mangling like the apocalypse like there's just too many conveniences

[00:50:00] too much electricity do you know let's walk into a bar where there's neon signs it's like no come on let's come on give me give me and then I didn't really like that like really ruthless martial guy

[00:50:11] and um I just thought they did a bad job like kind of establishing his deal but then I you know I just thought Jeffrey Jeffrey Dean Morgan I never I hated Negan at first I thought he was ruining the show

[00:50:21] and then like by the end of The Walking Dead he was one of if not my favorite character and I really liked him in dead city and kind of showing Maggie how like his ruthlessness is actually like

[00:50:35] how he protected people and how he's protecting her and these people and I thought they did a really good job with that um so I liked it yeah well I knew we'd have to land on something that

[00:50:44] we absolutely disagree on but that's okay I think it was I don't think it was great by any means but I just think it's a cop-out to say that Negan was putting on a show the whole time and he really did

[00:50:55] not enjoy like for instance bashing Glenn and Abraham's head in I don't think it was a show I think he actually liked it in dead city to do when he killed when he gutted that guy I think

[00:51:04] he really genuinely enjoyed doing it I think he just was showing her that like hey this is what I do like this is how I work like it feels like I just suspect and I could be wrong but some things

[00:51:15] that JDM has said on Twitter like he said that he thinks Negan never slept with any of his quote wives well that's bullshit come on dude and so I feel like they kind of just want to whitewash

[00:51:25] some of that stuff I think they really mangled the whole Negan Rick like dynamic in a lot of ways that kind of makes it hard to to move on from so yeah I could see that and they did such

[00:51:38] a nice job in that finale of the walking dead with Maggie and Negan I really loved their final scene so that I guess my whole thing with Dead City was like oh that seems so good yeah they already did

[00:51:47] it like we don't need to do it again I agree with that I agree with that yeah I think um I think there was a lot of stupid things in Dead City also I just think I think I had came in with pretty low

[00:51:57] expectations yeah so then I was like all right like there was good stuff pretty entertaining I hated that they brought a kid into it that was stupid they gotta stop doing that shit and they did it Daryl Dixon also it's like guys stop bringing kids into every storyline

[00:52:13] it's just annoying Star Wars is doing it and it's like every everywhere I mean The Last of Us I love but yeah just let The Last of Us have it it's giving me a reputation of just being this

[00:52:25] mean lady who hates kids but I'm just like I just don't want to see any more of them on TV I just want to watch adults do stuff if it's gonna be on TV let's have it be like kid stuff you know

[00:52:36] I just watched Hook again and Hook's a great movie it's amazing and it's got kids in it in a way that makes sense and works really well let's do that let's not have kids in The Walking Dead

[00:52:46] Lucy we should cover an episode of Sesame Street I want to hear see how that would go I'm like god kids are so dumb they can't even read yet you don't know that letter L by now this is brought to you by the letter L

[00:53:00] brought you by the letter L losers um no I I love Judas I love Judas I stand by Judas kicks ass She's 25 years old though I think she was 14 yeah she looks like she was 7 but she was like 14 she's just a very small 40 year old lady

[00:53:21] well dude that was so much fun uh I want to before you go just can you let us know where to find your stuff where should people go uh yeah um well I'm on Forbes primarily so um

[00:53:32] Forbes.com slash Eric Cain and you can just google me I'm on Twitter at Eric Cain uh and I'm on YouTube same thing so yeah I yep easy to find sweet we'll put all that in the show notes

[00:53:44] for people yeah Eric's super entertaining I recommend checking all that out thank you Eric yeah thank you guys that was that was super fun thanks for inviting me no worries thank you you

[00:54:07] all right we do have a couple of news items and some feedback and it's actually the next day through the magic of podcasting and now we have Lucy's partner Peter with us hello Peter

[00:54:20] hi Peter glad to have you here hello hello so uh another surprise guest so first item is that Entertainment Weekly had an article about Alicia Debnam Carey coming back for that final scene

[00:54:34] and you know they said how did fear how did the fear team get their former star back on board Kim Dickens said well that was the showrunner's dream and they had no way of knowing because

[00:54:45] Alicia was gone she was on to other things she had run her course with fear and her character so they pitched it to her like we just want you back for the one scene and she goes like well

[00:54:54] lose my number for a little while and then we'll see in what nice it was then that the showrunners Goldberg and Chambliss had to call in the big guns Kim says as it got closer they were like

[00:55:08] Kim and Coleman can you guys call her and so Coleman called her first and honestly she wanted to do it with us because she felt like we did we'd started this thing together and it felt right

[00:55:18] to really finish it for ourselves for the story and certainly for the fans it's just something she really wanted to do she came back and we had the best five days together that we could possibly

[00:55:27] have and it was wild I mean that just really sounds like they're like fuck these guys but let's do it for the fans you know what I mean do you know what good for them I mean yeah oh yeah

[00:55:38] they've got at least two so they're happy I'm happy I'm happy Alicia I was happy to be fair yeah I feel like we didn't get into it so much with Eric but um yeah I was it it felt right

[00:55:49] it felt right yeah I mean uh yeah like he said it's fun to hate this show but there's a connection to it no matter what no matter what it's like yeah all right and then last screen rant dot com

[00:56:02] has an article called future fear the walking dead character stories teased by showrunners after the series finale so I guess they asked Goldberg and Chambliss about the possibility that they do their own spin-off why screen rant why would you even put that in their heads why

[00:56:19] would you do that screen rant and Goldberg says that's really more of a question for Scott Gimple and AMC you've seen the finale so these characters stories are constructed in such a way that they

[00:56:29] live on there's more story to tell they're going their separate ways but they're all carrying the weight of Madison and Alicia's legacy and there's certainly a lot more story to tell there so we'll

[00:56:38] see I guess is the answer but our goal was just to bring fear to a satisfying conclusion and to leave open the possibility of more storytelling should the powers that be decide they want more

[00:56:49] Chambliss said I want to see a Daniel and Skidmark spin-off like Turner and Hooch and Goldberg says oh a prequel series with John Dory at humbug's gulch and how good luck the apocalypse

[00:57:02] before meeting June sure sure Garrett Dillon will come back for that yeah sure ha ha no no no no no no no both of them you know what they're not I will give them that they've picked the two things

[00:57:16] that people might actually want to see but they're yeah as long as it was someone else writing it yes yeah as long as it was like literally anyone if we're even gonna dignify that with a conversation

[00:57:27] I would say if they did a prequel at humbug's gulch I feel like they might have to get it I mean I was gonna say get another actor but no one else could play John Dory so just just don't do it just

[00:57:38] do the creepy and uncanny valley stuff to his face like Henry Cavill's mustache yeah d-age him you monster all right let's get into some feedback Peter okay um short and sweet from

[00:57:54] Jeff Allen here it's the end of an error oh nice job I like it so Elizabeth Schmoopy says at long last our national nightmare is over I love that Elizabeth uh Josie Bowen Echtley says

[00:58:11] I appreciate the small callbacks to things from the earlier seasons but holy shit I'm glad that trainwreck is over the writing is just yikes from Becky Fenner Anderson that was the dumbest finale

[00:58:27] ever I am dumber for having watched glad it's over hope a better job is done with Rick and Sean this is great can we read more horrible feedback Michael Koska says it wasn't good

[00:58:43] and that's it no I'm just kidding it wasn't good but I'm glad it ended the way that it did there were worse options I agree with that hopefully that concludes Andrew Shamless and Ian Goldberg's

[00:58:52] contribution to the walking dead universe amen rage Lisa Edmondson Walker says OMG I'm so glad that's over my eyes may be stuck in the rolled up position for life after that I can't wait for the

[00:59:04] rant wow that was bad I even talked back to the tv a few times in response to some of the dumber lines you must have been talking a lot Lisa from Mona Trowell here I made it through to the end

[00:59:19] but my eyes hurt from all the eye rolling so glad it's over I can't even begin to write a coherent sentence about this finale the highlight of the season was seeing Fort Pulaski and the marshes of

[00:59:30] coastal Georgia anyway really enjoy enjoying the rewatch of the original keep up the good work thanks Mona thanks Mona Steve Barr says I'd like to say thanks for the actors for trying to make

[00:59:42] the best of the drivel they were given the effects creators for always delivering solid zombie makeup and for the location and set people for doing what they could with what was certainly much less

[00:59:52] than they should have had to work with may all of them find shows with much better writers for the rest of their careers at least they got to have fun reading Eric Kane's reviews to each other via

[01:00:03] walkie-talkie amazing the poetic justice of it being on it really tickled me um Jenny Burkhofer says oh thank goodness it's fine thank goodness it's finally over trudging through the last few

[01:00:17] seasons felt like torture but I had to see it through to the end I was never a fan of Madison's return I loved her character previously but bringing her back felt like a lame attempt to

[01:00:26] breathe life into a steaming pile of shit the writing was terrible sometimes she needs oxygen but miraculously she can effortlessly swing around a sledgehammer whenever she needs to sure in earlier seasons I enjoyed the dynamic between Madison Troy but his return and motives

[01:00:43] made no damn sense so he hated Alicia because she saved his wife and gave her hope very thin reasoning if you ask me I honestly hate that they brought Alicia back to the reunion was

[01:00:53] underwhelming like wouldn't you be more shocked and emotional in that situation I kept hoping they were all dead or in a dream I thought Nick might stroll up too but I think that actor has

[01:01:02] a bit more dignity than that I'll tell you one thing I thought was amazing though Skedmark and Daniel's reunion almost made the finale worth watching preach love the cat 10 out of 10 and

[01:01:13] you know at this point if Nick had strolled up even though he was shot in the stomach buried and burned and they had his ashes in a coffee because it's fair I would have been like cool

[01:01:25] yeah makes sense that tracks get it uh coming in from Nathan Eshelman here it's a bittersweet goodbye is it the writing of the Goldberg and Chambliss era can generously be called abysmal

[01:01:40] but I have fond memories of a lot of the cast members some of them across multiple shows now despite the way it all went down I couldn't help but feel a sense of joy during the last 10 minutes

[01:01:51] of the finale looking past how implausible the reunions were it was nice to finally see the characters in a place where they could conceivably have happy endings and move on to bigger and better things I will always have the fondest memories of those first three seasons Troy's shenanigans

[01:02:07] in season three have always been my favorite arc of the show I also have to give honorable mention to Travis's arc he started as a total pacifist but after his son Chris died he totally snapped

[01:02:19] and it was compelling to watch it was all downhill from there but at least we found John Dory in the middle of the wreckage and all you haters can hate but I love Sherry

[01:02:30] yeah I said it but I could come clean in our final moments talking about this show oh Nathan the horses compel you to take that back I actually replied to him because this was a

[01:02:41] Facebook comment and said what about that time she ran the horse to death for no reason and he just responded with that gif of Homer Simpson shrinking into a hedge and I think you know if it wasn't for that you know she didn't always treat

[01:02:57] Dwight the best but she was okay but that really just that's unforgivable other than that she's fine yeah yeah uh Laura Willie Swank thank you Nate that was a great summary of some of the

[01:03:11] higher points in the show uh Laura Willie Swank says I think three was the number of times I said aloud to my TV shut up shut up stop talking erg I've never heard so much awful exposition and

[01:03:25] characters telling other characters this is how they feel and this is why they did what they did the worst offense was strand narrating exposition to Tracy as we are seeing the action happening something stopped the bullet hmm what could it be we didn't talk about that either

[01:03:43] pendant as Madison pulls out the empty magazine and medallion Victor narrates it was the empty magazine and the Saint Christopher medallion thanks for your writers us viewers might not have been smart enough to suss that out without

[01:03:58] the very deliberate hammer you used to drive it home I was disappointed by the gross under utilization of Troy as a character so I was glad to finally get to see him doing something in

[01:04:08] episode 11 but they resurrected a character who had a perfect arc in season 3 just to do him dirty again in a less shocking and more abysmal way as soon as they said they were bringing Troy back I

[01:04:18] knew oh they're gonna fuck him up uh you're gonna gut a man right in front of his daughter Madison I know exactly okay I'm sure she'll quickly forgive you for that spoiler alert she does

[01:04:31] at least Daniel Sharman got to do a zed makeup this time seems appropriate everyone went their separate ways in the end I agree they all are assholes so why would they stick together after 12 years of running in circles they're still still the worst people when they're around each

[01:04:47] other probably otherwise too best part of the whole show was the skid mark cameo here's hoping Goldberg and Shamless are now shuffled off to write shows for the Hallmark channel or maybe those really horrible terrible commercials on YouTube about bowel movements just please keep

[01:05:05] a wide berth from anything Walking Dead related fellas I think they're I heard they're doing the next Avengers movie so it's gonna be great oh that'll be great yeah Marvel that'll learn them

[01:05:15] that'll learn them Lara I feel like Lara jumped off the show so I'm wondering if she forced herself to watch all of it or just tuned in for this season I hope it's the latter no I think

[01:05:24] only because Troy came back did she decide to jump back in Lara blink twice if you're okay amazing uh my favorite and yours Jennifer McGinley says oh is that it finished thank

[01:05:36] fuck I remember when viewers started to drift but still listen to the podcast and I found that odd but eventually it became me I held on as long as I could well beyond the point of it becoming a

[01:05:46] weird sort of self-harm but always tuned into any podcast that you guys did and Jason and Chris talking dead still enjoyed them yeah they were great too they just kept covering fear on their

[01:05:55] main podcasts and I would dip in and listen every once while they were really funny Jason and Chris man we should have them on for rewatch Jason oh yeah yeah we should yeah that'd be nice um

[01:06:06] Jennifer says I love this show that first episode with Nick flying down the streets was so exciting it just feels like they never knew what to do with it or where to go Madison used to have a

[01:06:15] cup in every scene I guess we were to believe that she had her own addictions but didn't go anywhere always felt that Maggie Grace's character with the camera all the time was ridiculous and

[01:06:23] not to mention her armored truck little did I know that this would become one of the more believable parts of the show that fucking duff beer balloon stupid radiation storyline man came a show that nutter who was hell-bent on punishing everyone everyone everywhere because nobody helped

[01:06:39] her husband that house solution somebody went in to find some sort of mad scientist horror movie guy I like that one white appearing not only appearing but actually finding notes in the most random

[01:06:49] places from sherry it was like the writers had a running goat joke going a deer with each other to see how much shite we would swallow I'm trying to think of my best moments and there's actually none

[01:06:58] or I've forgotten anything good that happened the crap has overpowered everything talking dead kind of feel the same it's been hilarious listening to them casting about a show they can't stand

[01:07:08] well done to anyone that saw this through to the bitter end didn't kind of be able at the start of season six never regretted that decision and it's been hammered home by listening to Jason and

[01:07:17] Chris as I discovered that stranders learned German because he happened upon some Germans why who the fuck thought this would add to the show dear oh dear shite right up to the last day

[01:07:27] good fucking riddance amen jennifer amen 10 out of 10 I meant to ask um uh eric if he eric kane if he liked the one dwight and althea episode that we liked I wonder if he liked that I should go back

[01:07:42] and check oh with the um in bam zombies yeah I think that was it yeah that was cool I also like the uh isabella and althea one yeah that's cool right there were a couple decent ones in there

[01:07:56] yeah usually bottle episodes that somebody else had written so finally um megan daily layman sent in a uh steve brown style live steve and I just want to say I think it's fun to have

[01:08:12] steve doing those he's really good at keeping them punchy and succinct but I I have actually turned people down when they've sent them in because I just think if everybody starts sending

[01:08:22] them in it will just get multiple summaries of the show and it might get a little bit tedious so I'm only saying that because I've already turned a few people down and they're like wait I thought

[01:08:31] you said we couldn't do that so um megan's a long-time listener and a friend and also steve didn't send one in for fear so we're gonna go and play this but you know typically um it's better

[01:08:40] if you just like send in comments and stuff so with that said here we go hi jason and lucy it's megan layman I'm watching the uh series finale of fear the walking dead and I just paused it because

[01:08:53] I I'm freaking out because no matter how much I watch there's always an hour left and I've realized that there's some kind of like jedi mind trick the showrunners have played on my dvr it's monday

[01:09:04] morning I should be wrapping this up and working and it will not end no matter how much I watch there's always an hour left and I just wanted to add please god it's been eight years when is it

[01:09:13] gonna end I'll check back in later okay funniest part of dialogue so far victor and daniel arguing they're doing victor's fan the two best actors in the show arguing over who bought the cooler boat with the paycheck for this mess

[01:09:35] now that's a deep cut I'm sorry I let you in my barber shop I'm sorry I let you in my home I'm sorry I let you onto my boat this is great that was a perfect little scene with the three ogs

[01:09:46] I'm glad they did that that was just a nice little nod to the people who have hung in there from the beginning there's still almost an hour left madison's in no shape for a fight if she goes

[01:09:55] to the island but she's been wandering around for weeks killing everyone with a sledgehammer almost dying intermittently but then taking one puff of her oxygen basket she's fine it's like the eternal vape madison suddenly got the southern accent back while he was talking about

[01:10:15] daddy drank and hit mama I watched that happen for a long time my name's gump forest gump holy crap tracy just shot madison okay I did not see that coming as much as I didn't see coming

[01:10:30] her killing troy the way she did every little girl shoots on this can't end like this there's still 45 minutes left in the tv it's never gonna end zombie troy I'm here for it oh tracy found her

[01:10:43] zombie dad that kid needs free therapy for a thousand lifetimes but he's gonna eat her he's gonna eat her oh no good girl she's smarter than a few others we've seen I can't dig a grave I get

[01:10:54] winded just planting my garden in the spring oh they're gonna explain it because they didn't have the budget to show it that holo magazine and a little trinket piece of jewelry was not gonna

[01:11:06] stop that bullet also if the bullet didn't even impact her body why did she pass out think she was dead okay trailer for the rick and michonne series probably the best part of this whole

[01:11:18] seven hour episode and there are still 30 minutes left in the episode oh madison's still not dead but those damn blue flowers grow everywhere apparently all those adults couldn't find madison but this 10 year old did and also troy quote trained all his kids in field medicine

[01:11:37] not all the kids in the group or even all the people in the group all his kids where are these kids why haven't we seen them I think this is madison's death dream because alicia looks like

[01:11:48] she has two hands although it was hard to tell if one was like a wooden hand or something I don't think this is real wait she has skid mark oh come on that cat would be 25 years old by now

[01:12:04] where the hell are sarah and wendell I thought the sanctuary literally fell in on itself why how are they gonna rebuild it AI definitely wrote this finale daniel speaks german too well the nazis did hide in south america after the war

[01:12:21] okay like he wouldn't run to see madison alicia and tracy and just instead of just watching them in the rearview mirror I guess that's a pretty um heavy-handed metaphor there I mean it's

[01:12:35] disappointing that all of these people are going their separate ways um but I guess that leaves enough loose ends for any of them to pop up in any of the other spin-offs if they feel like doing

[01:12:47] that and also maybe it's for the best to break up the brain trust of fear the walking dead oh madison's going back to LA to find tobias okay at least they're ending on a good song

[01:13:02] it's me better butterfleeting I denied that leaves only me to blame because mama tried I think they've broken megan go ahead on the song oh god that show sucked if any do you think we will see any of these characters in another show that were on fear

[01:13:31] morgan yeah I think morgan's heading for something what about dwight I can imagine it but I don't know I feel like I guess there's not a main show anymore really is there I mean where

[01:13:43] would he fit would it be recognition I do I did read a think piece that in Daryl Dixon we hear carol say came back uh one of the reviewers is pretty certain that that is um Dwight came back

[01:13:58] which would explain why she's not like yay only if they have some mini series or concluding episode where they bring people back might we see Dwight but I would say morgan is the safest bet and otherwise I wouldn't bet on anybody else yeah I think it's just

[01:14:19] yeah it's just done it should be like stick a fork in it it should stay done all right that is our show episode 552 thanks so much for listening everyone

[01:14:34] but uh that was really fun right it was so fun thank you so much for getting one of the few bright spots in the fury of the walking dead situation which is eric keen who I've always

[01:14:44] been a big fan of so that was amazing really fun yeah it was as good as I hoped it would be great to have him on hopefully he'll come on for something else sometime yeah that'd be great

[01:14:54] and speaking of something else next episode we will be covering the walking dead season one episode five wildfire if you want to write in or leave us a voice message about it you can

[01:15:03] find all our contact information at podcastica.com and while you're there please check out our other podcasts if you're a fan of fear the walking dead maybe you'd love our podcast about smacking yourself in the face repeatedly there's also one about gouging your own eyes out that you

[01:15:17] might enjoy you might enjoy that it's around it's along the same lines just kidding uh baby check out strange indeed's coverage of fall of the house of usher i'm not continuing the joke about you know no that's actually genuinely good showing good coverage yeah yeah actually yeah

[01:15:33] i'm doing that thing where i think i sound sarcastic but i'm actually being genuine so i'm gonna like recenter and say it's actually good it's good okay period yeah all right that is our thanks for listening don't get bit eric kane