For four seasons, the best that fans of The Walking Dead could hope for in watching Fear the Walking Dead was the hope of seeing an old-friend crossover, like Lennie James’ Morgan or, later this season, Austin Amelio’s Dwight. Now, however, it appears as though the architect of The Walking Dead universe is working diligently to ensure that all the various properties are weaved together.
That became evident in the fifth season premiere of Fear the Walking Dead when Althea encountered a zombie working for zombie biohazard outfit called CRM, which can be linked directly to The Walking Dead and the eventual Rick Grimes’ movies. It’s likely, too, that Gimple will also connect CRM to the second The Walking Dead spin-off due to begin shooting in Virginia later this month. The three The Walking Dead series and the Rick Grimes movies may connect yet again to The Commonwealth, a suggestion teased in a CB radio conversation in the ninth season finale of The Walking Dead.
Fear the Walking Dead, however, is obviously not going to give us all the answers at once. For now, it’s enough to know that Althea has been tased and abducted by a member of CRM. It will be up to the rest of the Fear the Walking Dead gang to track her down and potentially gain more answers, which will bring us closer to understanding where Rick Grimes now resides.
Meanwhile, the Fear characters now have a more pressing matter with which to contend. Specifically, a new villain named Logan, played by veteran character actor Matt Frewer, who many may know from Orphan Black, Watchmen, or as far back as the 1980s when Frewer played Max Headroom. In the fifth season premiere of Fear, we discover that Morgan, Alicia, Althea, June, Luciana, and John Dorie have all been lured out to a truck stop in the middle of nowhere by Logan. In search of Logan, Althea crashes their small plane, and while everyone survives, the gang draws a zombie audience, in addition to a few new friends: Max, Dylan, Annie, three kids holed up in the area near the crash site. Unfortunately, in the crash, Luciana is badly injured, which requires an emergency evacuation. Alicia and Morgan fend off the zombies until Max and Dylan’s sister, Annie, shows up with a van, and she takes everyone to the designated truck stop to meet Logan.
Logan, however, is nowhere to be found, but Morgan is able to reach him on the CB radio, only to learn that Logan lured Morgan and Co. out of the denim factory where they were stationed in order to take it over himself. It turns out, Logan is the “L” in the “C&L” logo plastered on the side of Mo’s big rig. Recall that the “C,” Clayton, is the man who inspired Morgan and Co. to take over this mission to help as many people as possible by leaving boxes of goods for others to find. Logan does not share Clayton’s charitable streak, so once he lures Morgan and Co. away from the warehouse, he takes it over.
That will likely be the A-storyline for at least the front half of the season, although we can expect a few fun surprises, too. For instance, Strand — in watching an old video of Althea’s — discovers that Daniel is still alive, and he was a subject of one of her interviews (Strand is shocked and maybe a little terrified). We also know that we’ll be seeing Dwight later this season.
In the meantime, the cast seems to have grown considerably, of late, especially with the additions of Max, Dylan, and Annie, plus a new character we will likely be introduced into in next week’s episode, Grace (played by Karen David). Those four, plus Daniel and Dwight, plus holdovers like Wendell, Charlie, and Mo, suggest that the cast it getting a little bloated, which means we’ll probably see at least a few characters killed off this season. There are also rumors that Daniel Sharman — who played Troy Otto in season three — may also reprise his role in some manner.
Ultimately, the big story this season will focus on Logan, but the storyline we’re most concerned with will center on CRM and the answers it may be able to provide to the whereabouts of Rick Grimes and potentially the origins of the zombie outbreak. Meanwhile, next week it looks as though we’ll be officially reintroduced to Daniel, while all the biohazard materials continues to imply that this could have been ground zero for the outbreak.
