Now convinced that trying to help others only gets people killed, Madison attempts to set out with Tracy to find Alicia, putting Madison at odds with her friends. Russell reveals that Alicia might still be alive before launching an attack on PADRE with thousands of walkers in retaliation for Troy's death. Tracy shoots Madison and puts down and buries a zombified Troy before later being found by Strand. Strand reveals that although PADRE was destroyed, everyone escaped because Madison, having been protected from the bullet by Alicia's St. Christopher's medallion, had once again seemingly sacrificed herself to destroy the herd the exact same way that she did at the stadium. Renaming the organization MADRE in honor of Madison's sacrifice, the group splits up to use MADRE's supplies to build new communities and honor Madison's ideals of trying to build something better.
June decides to return to John Dorie's cabin with Odessa and to provide medical attention to those in need while Dwight and Sherry set out to find the still missing parents of PADRE's children, intending to rebuild the Sanctuary with them. Daniel and Strand finally make peace before parting ways and Daniel is reunited with his long-lost cat Skidmark. Madison is rescued by Tracy and reunites with a still alive Alicia who reveals that she is not Tracy's mother. Madison and Alicia let Strand know that they had survived, but choose to keep their survival a secret otherwise. Madison decides to return to Los Angeles with Alicia and Tracy to help rebuild their old home.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Alicia was indeed alive all this time and, on top of that, with the cat Skidmark by her side. And, as if that weren't enough, nobody went after her, but instead she returned on her own motorcycle and managed to find the cabin that Tracy had made to take care of a Madison given up for dead by her friends after she once again sacrificed herself for the collective. It's like an entire season of reasonable potential being squeezed into just a few minutes and told through dialogue alone, without even a little flashback sequence to illustrate what happened.
Madison Clark died in the stadium back in the middle of the fourth season. A noble sacrifice. A loss felt deeply. But, as the new showrunners of FTWD needed something bombastic for the final season of the series, the character returned at the end of the previous year. However, in the stumbling style of the showrunners, half of the final season was lost around PADRE and a threat that never really became threatening, with the narrative revolving around the time jump they decided to make. In the second half, things started to get on track, almost as if Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg were recognizing that the original version of Fear the Walking Dead, which ended in the third season, needed a definitive end, which also led them to resurrect Troy from the dead with a revenge plan against Madison and boasting to anyone who would listen that he had killed Alicia.
But killing Madison once wasn't enough. It was necessary to kill her again, this time at the hands of the little Tracy in the most telegraphed sequence of recent years, there in the garage of vintage cars that, I don't know if you noticed, has even a DeLorean with the doors open. Speaking of telegraphing scenes, the dose was double, as Madison's second resurrection came thanks to the saint's medal she placed inside the bullet clip in the pocket of her leather jacket, which of course was exactly where the bullet fired by Tracy ended up. But two deaths were also not enough, and in a few minutes' time, Madison, after easily saving her friends in PADRE (seriously, all it took was a flare and that's it?), "dies exploded again." I don't know if I should be thankful that they stopped at the third death or if I'm disappointed that there wasn't a fourth and maybe even a fifth...
And the most surreal thing is that it's the little Tracy who digs through the rubble of PADRE to find her "grandmother," and then immediately carries Madison's lifeless body to a military-style cabin and administers medications taken from who-knows-where to save her, only for, magically, Alicia to appear alive, come up with a more than flimsy excuse for her being away all these years, and everyone be very happy, even with the final revelation that Tracy was not Madison's granddaughter at all. And there was still time for the showrunners to give that "clever little twist" and arrange endings for the most important characters of the series, leading them on separate paths after words of reconciliation (even in German) and the brilliant idea of the couple Dwight and Sherry to found a new PADRE - now MADRE - there at Negan's former Sanctuary.
In the end, even though the way the ending was done was interesting, with the reiteration of Alicia's legend status and the creation of the legend of Madison herself as savior. It was definitely positive and cute - returning Skidmark to Daniel and leaving that little flower for Strand were cute touches, right? - and, most definitely, seeing Madison alongside Alicia and Tracy, with Nick in the can, even made the audience briefly imagine a spin-off just for them in Los Angeles. But it was just a brief moment. In the end, it wasn't a special or epic or even remotely memorable ending, but it could have been infinitely worse, as has happened several times in FTWD. And just not being an unbearable, senseless, or completely illogical affair already makes me happy. Yes, I know I'm settling for very little, especially in the case of a series that never really proved itself, but right now, considering the eight years following the series, the thing is to savor what we were given.
June decides to return to John Dorie's cabin with Odessa and to provide medical attention to those in need while Dwight and Sherry set out to find the still missing parents of PADRE's children, intending to rebuild the Sanctuary with them. Daniel and Strand finally make peace before parting ways and Daniel is reunited with his long-lost cat Skidmark. Madison is rescued by Tracy and reunites with a still alive Alicia who reveals that she is not Tracy's mother. Madison and Alicia let Strand know that they had survived, but choose to keep their survival a secret otherwise. Madison decides to return to Los Angeles with Alicia and Tracy to help rebuild their old home.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Alicia was indeed alive all this time and, on top of that, with the cat Skidmark by her side. And, as if that weren't enough, nobody went after her, but instead she returned on her own motorcycle and managed to find the cabin that Tracy had made to take care of a Madison given up for dead by her friends after she once again sacrificed herself for the collective. It's like an entire season of reasonable potential being squeezed into just a few minutes and told through dialogue alone, without even a little flashback sequence to illustrate what happened.
Madison Clark died in the stadium back in the middle of the fourth season. A noble sacrifice. A loss felt deeply. But, as the new showrunners of FTWD needed something bombastic for the final season of the series, the character returned at the end of the previous year. However, in the stumbling style of the showrunners, half of the final season was lost around PADRE and a threat that never really became threatening, with the narrative revolving around the time jump they decided to make. In the second half, things started to get on track, almost as if Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg were recognizing that the original version of Fear the Walking Dead, which ended in the third season, needed a definitive end, which also led them to resurrect Troy from the dead with a revenge plan against Madison and boasting to anyone who would listen that he had killed Alicia.
But killing Madison once wasn't enough. It was necessary to kill her again, this time at the hands of the little Tracy in the most telegraphed sequence of recent years, there in the garage of vintage cars that, I don't know if you noticed, has even a DeLorean with the doors open. Speaking of telegraphing scenes, the dose was double, as Madison's second resurrection came thanks to the saint's medal she placed inside the bullet clip in the pocket of her leather jacket, which of course was exactly where the bullet fired by Tracy ended up. But two deaths were also not enough, and in a few minutes' time, Madison, after easily saving her friends in PADRE (seriously, all it took was a flare and that's it?), "dies exploded again." I don't know if I should be thankful that they stopped at the third death or if I'm disappointed that there wasn't a fourth and maybe even a fifth...
And the most surreal thing is that it's the little Tracy who digs through the rubble of PADRE to find her "grandmother," and then immediately carries Madison's lifeless body to a military-style cabin and administers medications taken from who-knows-where to save her, only for, magically, Alicia to appear alive, come up with a more than flimsy excuse for her being away all these years, and everyone be very happy, even with the final revelation that Tracy was not Madison's granddaughter at all. And there was still time for the showrunners to give that "clever little twist" and arrange endings for the most important characters of the series, leading them on separate paths after words of reconciliation (even in German) and the brilliant idea of the couple Dwight and Sherry to found a new PADRE - now MADRE - there at Negan's former Sanctuary.
In the end, even though the way the ending was done was interesting, with the reiteration of Alicia's legend status and the creation of the legend of Madison herself as savior. It was definitely positive and cute - returning Skidmark to Daniel and leaving that little flower for Strand were cute touches, right? - and, most definitely, seeing Madison alongside Alicia and Tracy, with Nick in the can, even made the audience briefly imagine a spin-off just for them in Los Angeles. But it was just a brief moment. In the end, it wasn't a special or epic or even remotely memorable ending, but it could have been infinitely worse, as has happened several times in FTWD. And just not being an unbearable, senseless, or completely illogical affair already makes me happy. Yes, I know I'm settling for very little, especially in the case of a series that never really proved itself, but right now, considering the eight years following the series, the thing is to savor what we were given.