On The Walking Dead, there wasn’t a major separation of characters until Andrea and Michonne were kidnapped by Merle and taken to Woodbury in the third season. There wasn’t another major separation until the fourth season, when Rick expelled Carol from the group for killing Karen and David. On The Walking Dead, the characters wanted to be together; they were motivated to be together. They still are. With the exception of Rick, Carl, and Judith, there are no family bonds keeping the characters in The Walking Dead together: They have created their own family, so much so that even when they are separated, the bond still exists.
The bond that glues the characters together on Fear the Walking Dead, conversely, is thin and tenuous, even among groups of families. It took these characters most of the first season to find each other, but the calamities they have faced together aren’t strengthening their bond as a unit. By the midseason finale of the second season, the group had already splintered: Chris and Travis went one way; Nick went another; a badly burned Daniel roamed; and Alicia, Madison, Ofelia and Victor went yet another way. It wasn’t long, however, before Ofelia turned around and abandoned Victor and the Clarks.
Five episodes into the third season, and they’re already separating again. After Victor abandoned the Clarks and found Daniel, Daniel abandoned Victor, leaving those two on their own. Ofelia is God knows where, all by herself. And Luciana, who we’d just gotten to know, has left the Clarks to go out and face the world on her own. Of the original cast members, only Nick, Alicia, and Madison are still together, and Nick may soon bounce. And the thing is, with the exception of Daniel, the characters are choosing to separate; they’ve been pulled apart. They think they’ll be better off elsewhere, and there’s not a lot of evidence, so far, to suggest otherwise.
This is not a “stronger together” unit. The characters are largely trying to serve their own interest, rather than the interests of the group. It may be why it’s been more difficult to connect with the characters on Fear the Walking Dead; if there’s no bond between the characters, it makes it more difficult to forge one with the audience. On The Walking Dead, there’s a vested interest for both the characters and the audience for everyone to reunite and take on malevolent outside forces together. On Fear the Walking Dead, it’s practically every man and woman for himself, and until all of these characters unite together, it’s going to continue be difficult for the audience to invest in them.
