When Fear The Walking Dead was good, Nick, Madison andAlicia Clark were there.
Credit: AMC
You can ruin the surprise return of a beloved character to a TV show by announcing it months ahead of time.
AMC spoiled the surprise by having Dickens show up on The Talking Dead, instead of having Madison Clark show up in a post-credits scene at the end of this weekend's Season 7 midseason finale.
There was a time when I was convinced that Dickens wouldn't come back. I wrote this piece because I was angry with AMC and the clickbait they were using to fool fans into thinking she was coming back. I believed that Dickens would not come back because they would kill her off and the show would spiral downward.
I changed my mind because of new evidence. I predicted back in May that Dickens would return to Fear The Walking Dead. I predicted how AMC would reveal Madison's return.
If Madison comes back, AMC will almost certainly not reveal it in an actual episode. The odds of a Madison return have gone from 1: to 3:1 because they will ruin the return on social media and other marketing efforts. We will see.
I was correct about how AMC would handle the reveal. If you want to watch it, here it is.
They killed her off as quickly as they could, even though I love how they call her the "beating heart" of the show. When he crossed over from The Walking Dead, he was excited to work with Kim, but he never got to. It feels like a lot of missed opportunities.
They claim they always planned on bringing her back, but Dickens says the fans were responsible.
Dickens calls Season 7 an "epic beyond epic" and it really takes the cake. I understand why she says that, but come on.
If there was a Mt. The face of Kim Dickens would be on it. TWDU couldn't be luckier to have Kim Dickens back because of her raw talent, strength and brilliance.
You are lucky to have her. You didn't treat her well enough to justify her return.
Dickens was killed off in the Season 4 finale. People have been speculating for years that she would come back. She led the zombie horde into the stadium to save her children. Madison was never seen walking around.
The show has used this promise many times to tease Madison's return. For instance, there are episodes titled 'Mother' or with descriptions promising the return of long- lost characters. These have all been fakes. We should have known better.
AMC does not have the patience to let this kind of reveal happen. We knew before it happened that Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira were leaving The Walking Dead. It is strange.
There are other strange things to point out.
After just eight episodes, Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg killed off Kim Dickens' show. She was the leader of Fear The Walking Dead for three seasons before being replaced by Morgan. I don't understand why Dickens would return after this betrayal.
It's puzzling why an actor would join a show that is so bad. The show we have now, Fear The Walking Dead, was not the same show when Dave was still showrunning. The characters from before Season 4 are now shadows of their former selves. Alycia Debnam-Carey'sAlicia Clark barely gets screen-time, while Ruben Blades' Daniel, once one of the most brutal killers on the show, is a doddering old. What will this incompetent new management do to Madison?
There are a lot of great actors on this show. Kim Dickens is a Deadwood alumni. She won't have had the chance to work with Dillahunt since they killed off John Dorie. She will have a chance to work with John Dorie. Both Dayton Callie and Ray McKinnon were on Deadwood.
Madison was not my favorite character. I would have liked to see her killed off. I wanted her kids to take her place if that happened. Nick was killed off in Season 4 and despite being the perfect choice to carry on the show,Alicia has taken a back seat to Morgan and the new characters introduced since Season 4.
How will they justify her being alive but never having been with her friends? Everyone runs into everyone in Texas. Walkie-talkies can reach anyone at any time. They would have run into each other over the years. John Dorie didn't see his dad for years and then died just in time for him to show up and run into June, so let's not ask for logic or plausibility.
The show that Madison left behind is not the same show that we have today. The title is the same. There are a few characters who look like their former selves. The zombies rarely kill anyone important.
The conflicts and characters are gone. There is a parade of cartoon villains and ludicrous narratives. The show can't be saved by Dickens. Only AMC can do that with some serious soul-searching and accountability.
The show was renewed for Season 8 by AMC, with the same leadership that is ensuring that it remains one of the worst shows on TV. Some fans are excited to see Madison. I am not. Nick was killed off before the bad writing could turn him into a shade. I don't like the idea of a poorly written Madison.
The zombie deaths of Daniel and Luciana, as well as the slow zombie death of Strand andAlicia, have been a problem for nearly four seasons. Bad writing does the trick.
Follow me on social media. You can support my work by giving to my Patreon account. You can subscribe to my channel here.
