4.08: Fear The Walking Dead - No One's Gone

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Althea (Photo by Richard Foregamn Jr/AMC)

Madison fights to preserve the life she worked so hard to build; Morgan tries to do the right thing.

 

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So freaking sad. Scott Gimple apparently wanted some changes and Kim Dickens ended in the list, because the change on the show runners. Although this also seems to be a tradition as one has always gone at mid-season final. What I don't understand is why we lost the stadium as well?

They proved that the walls are strong enough against the masses of dead. In fact that whole detail ended in the tape for the record for the future generation, but somehow they all ended leaving the stadium behind and end up somewhere in Texas with the Zombie Wagon.

Thing is, they know stadium weaknesses and as the most clear and present danger has been deal with Vultures decomposing at the race-track, they should move back in as soon as possible. Back in the medieval times combat proven castle was better than a forth that had never been attacked. You simply cannot get better way to prove things then doing them alive.

Well, we don't know what's going to happen, but one thing is clear, they cannot all be living inside the Zombie Wagon for a long time, or they'll end up killing each other. So, where to go and what to do when everyone you knew are gone and the places are destroyed?

What is the plan and what would you do in their shoes?

This half-season has been the saddest as we lost two of the original cast members for futile reasons. I salute you Nick and Madison as couple of the best characters in the Kirkman's universe.

 

[REBerg]

At long last, we know Madison's fate -- one of the crispy critters in the stadium.
At least she went out in a blaze of glory, literally. The deaths of Nick and Travis, by contrast, were anticlimactic.
I was surprised to learn that leaving the show was not Kim Dickens' idea.

 

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I was surprised to learn that leaving the show was not Kim Dickens' idea.

Yeah. I spoiled myself while I was doing morning research. Here's the piece I saw:

Fear The Walking Dead

leading lady Kim Dickens admits she was “heartbroken” and “devastated” to learn Madison Clark would be killed off in the season 4 mid-season finale.

“It’s so sad, it’s been sad. Madison has been an incredible character to play,” Dickens told Chris Hardwick on live after show Talking Dead.

“I felt like I worked my whole career to get to this point, to get to play her, and it’s been such an honor. And I think she’s just like — she’s this special character that has pushed through perimeters of female leads in a genre piece and she’s complex, she’s flawed, she’s good, she’s bad, she’s a mother, she’s not in her twenties or thirties, it’s unique. And I think it was such an honor to play it.”

Dickens said the decision to kill Madison was handed down by newly minted season 4 showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg and a producer, likely former The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple, who was elevated to chief content officer of the entire Walking Dead brand for AMC ahead of season 4.

“I found out - I spoke to the new showrunners and the producer before going into production this season, and they told me that’s where they saw the story going this season, and I was heartbroken, I was devastated,” Dickens said.

“From there I went into production and we all sort of knew and sort of gave it our best, gave it our heart.”

Of Madison Clark, the longtime de facto leader of a pack that since season 1 included children Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and ally Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), Dickens reiterated the strength of her character.

“For those reasons, I really feel strongly about that,” she said.

“I think when you start, when you inform your show from that place, from that lead, this is a complicated woman with a dark past who has a very strong, good instinct - she’s a mother. I think when you start your story, you inform your story from there, it just turns things on their head a little bit. It spins you out with the stories you can tell. It’s a bummer.”

‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Star Was “Heartbroken” and “Devastated” Over Being Killed Off

 

[REBerg]

This half-season has been the saddest as we lost two of the original cast members for futile reasons. I salute you Nick and Madison as couple of the best characters in the Kirkman's universe.

Madison's demise leaves Alicia an orphan -- as well as sole family survivor and last known member of series premiere. "Known" because apparently fire-proof Daniel may yet make another surprise return. The only other long-term known survivor is Strand, who didn't appear until the fifth episode of the series.
This seems like a series for which you can create a really simple "kill list" -- everyone.

 

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Woo loved this episode, Madison's departure was probably the best death scene in either show. Wasn't expecting her to have previously met Al.

Can we trust Naomi (June, Laura) she doesn't seem to know herself.Then there's Charlie she may only be a kid but very capable of betrayal.

I did like the confrontation between Alicia and Morgan. They need Morgan, Al and John to stop them becoming more savage. Alicia and Luciana are close to becoming a governor or a Negan if someone doesn't pull them back.
Strand I think feels his role in life is too look out for Alicia, in his mind it helps him repay Madison.

 

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I'm confused, the US premier aired 8 days before UK, we've had one episode a week but somehow we've caught up.

 

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I'm confused, the US premier aired 8 days before UK, we've had one episode a week but somehow we've caught up.

Yeah, because US had a week long pause before the last weeks episode.

Can we trust Naomi (June, Laura) she doesn't seem to know herself.Then there's Charlie she may only be a kid but very capable of betrayal.

Charlie is a bigger problem, but not too big of problem since Vultures were wasted. I think Naomi is in love with John so she's not going to do anything to harm that relationship.

 

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New Fear The Walking Dead season 4 showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg have defended their controversial decision to kill off longtime lead Madison Clark (Kim Dickens).

“I’d say that we understand it’s very hard to lose a character who you’ve grown to love over three and a half seasons,” Chambliss told THR.

“But Madison’s sacrifice and what she stood for will very much be part of the fabric of the show. It’s something that every character who heard that story at the end of last night’s episode is going to be really wrestling with and trying to figure out how to carry forward, as we go into the back half of the season.”

Added Goldberg, the decision to kill Madison came as a means of exploring “the thematic idea and emotion” the new showrunners wanted to explore this new season, which was “taking people from hopelessness toward that hope.”

“Madison is the ultimate embodiment of hope. She's someone who is selfless. We see that not only she fights to protect her own family, but also to bring in people from the outside world who can help themselves into the shelter of the stadium. She's heroic in that way,” Goldberg said.

“We've had two timelines this season. Strand, Alicia and Luciana have been on this very dark mission for the first eight episodes. We didn't reveal why until last night's episode, and it's because of who they lost and their reactions to the loss of that hope. It isn't until the midseason finale where they start to rediscover how far they've strayed from what Madison wanted for them, and why she made that sacrifice.”

Madison’s last words were spoken to her left-behind crew over walkie talkie, where Madison admitted she was afraid to lose the stadium because she thought her family needed it to “stay who [they] are right now.”

“But you know it,” Madison said. “No one’s gone until they’re gone.”

“It's about them rediscovering that hope, and how to carry it forward in a world that finds a lot of ways to test people who are hopeful and optimistic,” Goldberg added.


“For them, it's about taking this incredible legacy that Madison left behind. Hope as a theme is something that's very much going to be a part of the DNA of the show going forward.”

Added Chambliss, the journeys of Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Strand (Colman Domingo) and Luciana (Danay Garcia) moving forward will “be about how to reconcile all the dark things they did with the legacy Madison wanted them to carry forward. It's not just those three characters who Madison's death will impact. We'll really see it ripple through all of the characters on the show.”

The showrunners said killing Madison was always the plan from the very beginning.

“We were going to take these characters from a hopeless place to a place of hope. It was shaped around them losing the glue that held them together,” Chambliss said.

“It was about taking away the thing that helped all these characters live a better life in the stadium, and seeing how they would react to it and if they could come back from it. That was part of the whole conceit of the season from the beginning.”

Dickens told EW the producers and showrunners informed her of the plan to kill Madison ahead of production on season 4, but admitted the move left her “shocked and disappointed and heartbroken.”

‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Showrunners Defend Controversial Death

 

[Judderman]

So Alycia was furious with Naomi because she left with the vultures? I thought she must be involved in Madison's death but it seems not. Strand and co going along with it seems too much. There was some good parts to the episode but mixed.

I think with Carl, Nick and Madison we have had more than our fill of key character deaths and upset in the two shows recently. I still hold a small hope that FTWD can recover to a great show in the 2nd half of the season. But I expect 3 will be the peak. At least they can stop with the back and forth in the 2nd half, and hopefully not many cam recording scenes.

Are they going to soon try to start a new community? Or be on the road for a long time? We never saw how the community was built at the stadium.

 

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Are they going to soon try to start a new community? Or be on the road for a long time? We never saw how the community was built at the stadium.

We don't know if they're going to be on the road forever, but at the moment the Zombie Wagon is the only home they have. Is it enough? I don't believe it is. So eventually they are going to have to build another base or reoccupy an old one.

 

[Judderman]

I wonder if Morgan will be the last survivor from TWD season 1. In a different show but still..
Just a few left on the main series.

 

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I wonder if Morgan will be the last survivor from TWD season 1. In a different show but still..
Just a few left on the main series.

It's most likely going to be Daryl. "Fan favourite," as they claim.