Fear the Walking Dead somehow managed to turn its villains, the Pioneers, into the good guys in its latest episode, thereby proving that season 5 hasn’t actually had any villains at all. Throughout Fear the Walking Dead season 5, the core group now led by Morgan has faced and overcome a number of obstacles, including fighting irradiated zombies and flying a once-crashed plane over a mountain range. But perhaps their biggest barrier has been trying to win a PR campaign.
Althea’s penchant for recording everything - even at the worst possible times - became a plot device for Fear the Walking Dead, allowing the group to spread their voice and purpose throughout the region. But then, in the end, they came across another group of people, the Pioneers (or Settlers), who wanted the same thing. Sure, the Pioneers are villainous in certain ways, but they actually are all about helping people - just the right people. And as Virginia told the group, they’re not just trying to help people; they’re doing it.
In Fear the Walking Dead season 5, episode 15, “Channel 5”, Morgan’s group travels to a place they believe they could call home, a Humbug’s Gulch location. Of course, they run into a horde of walkers on the way there, courtesy of the Pioneers, but Virginia told them to use channel 5 on the radio if they needed any help. And when they discovered the place they were traveling to was overrun with walkers, they used that channel to ask for help, thus proving that the Pioneers aren’t truly villains.
Villains like the Saviors and the Whisperers on the mainline Walking Dead series are true villains in the purest sense of the word. They kill needlessly and frequently, among many other things. But then there are the Pioneers, who are trying to rebuild the world and they have been quite successful so far; it’s just that they have a difference in opinion with whom they want to be included in that world. Of course, they attempted to kill Tom for failing to take care of Paradise Ridge, which somewhat puts them in line with the Saviors and Whisperers, though they aren’t on the same level of those groups… yet. And when they killed Logan, viewers should remember that they technically saved Morgan’s group from potential death.
By having Morgan and his group ask the Pioneers for help, they are proving that Virginia and her people are true villains. In the world of The Walking Dead, nothing is black-and-white anyway. Practically everyone - on both shows - have done terrible things that could earn them the badge of being a villain in someone else’s book. Whether or not the Pioneers devolve further into villainy remains to be seen, but for now, Fear the Walking Dead’s writers have chosen, purposefully or not, to make Virginia’s group into the good guys - at least in some form.
Next: Fear The Walking Dead Copies A Storyline From TWD
