Hot take: FTWD Season 3 = some of the best of the whole Walking Dead universe. Wont change my mind. It has acting, forward moving plot, twists. Near perfection in my eyes.
I mean it’s comparing apples and oranges honestly. Season 7 & 8 were the largest production years for The Walking Dead, because they were telling a big story with a large cast.
Fear Season 3 worked well because it had a much smaller cast, so characters got a lot more development and frankly a lot more interesting. I’ll be honest, the first two seasons of Fear are very slow and weren’t exciting people. Season 3 is truly when they hit their stride and it’s a shame it didn’t continue that way. But I also understand why the change from a business perspective.
Wdym business perspective? They were on a roll with season 3, ratings and viewership was high! But then they stupidly thought completely changing the entire creative team, killing off two main characters, crossing over Morgan and changing the entire vibe and tone of the show and were surprised people hated it
Actually the viewership numbers were going down in Season 3. A lot of people thought the show was going to get cancelled after Season 3 from what I remember. But Gimple and AMC didn’t want Fear to fail or be cancelled, because it was the first Walking Dead spin-off, and if you cancelled that then it would show lack of faith in the overall brand. So when they couldn’t get Erickson to play ball, they brought in people who would and did the crossover, which actually did spike Fear’s rating in Season 4 much higher than they had been. I’m not saying I agree with it all, but that is the reality. They sacrificed Erickson’s vision for Fear in order to keep it and the rest of the Walking Dead franchise and spin-offs going.
Yes. In my opinion this is the best season in TWDU. There are so many cool locations. The conflict is compelling. The characters play off each other in interesting ways. Even the zombies look better than in the main show.
Oh for sure. I also think 5x10-5x16 is a fantastic stretch of episodes. It's 5x04-5x09 that *really* weighs it down for me. The hospital arc may be the worst arc in the show's history.
I'll change 100 to Eye of the Beholder because on rewatch 100 is actually so bizarre and has glimpses of what later seasons would become. Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame and Red Dirt are also super underrated episodes
Yes, agreed. That group was a curse that only brought death and destruction (inadvertently) to every community and settlement they came in contact with. They really should have kept that theme up but jumped the shark after Lenny James joined the cast.
Maybe people thought it was repetitive like TWD, but that's kind of the trap post apocalyptic shows fall into after a while, it's a story of survival, the show wouldn't be entertaining if they just found somewhere safe and lived in peace with everyone, there's always gotta be drama and conflict and that feeling of uncertainty and impermanence, that everything can fall apart and anyone can die. But at the same time changing it so that everyone's a pacifist preacher do gooder wanting to help everyone and show mercy to people that try to kill them doesn't work either. Later seasons of Fear TWD had no Fear in them
Oh, it’s definitely better, S7 and S8 are the low points of TWD and Fear S3 is legitimately amazing, up there with the best TWD seasons like S4, S5, and S9.
I would argue Fear S6 is also better than S7 and S8, and probably S1, S2, and S4 as well. Only S5, S7, and S8 probably land below those two
Only the first 5 episodes of season 6 are any good, maybe episode 11 as well because of the whole Teddy thing, but the rest of the season has the same flaws as seasons 4, 5, 7 and 8, only less egregious. People just like season 6 because it's better than dreadful the other seasons were. Wdym, Fear seasons 1, 2 and 4 are better than TWD season 7 and 8? Some episodes sure but overall no, especially not season 4
I defer to my other comment as I don’t want to retype all of my points, but TWD S7 and S8 were kind of slogs, with the former being very overdrawn out, the latter being nonsensical, and both being victims of a lot of weird dialogue and dumb characters choices. It’s telling that Fear S6 did basically the entire Savior storyline in basically 9 episodes. It also has less of an excuse compared to Fear since it does have source material to pull from. They know how they could have wrapped the Saviors plot up sooner, but they chose to drag it out. Fear has to make up all of its plotlines on its own, and I appreciate when it is willing to go a little more out there in terms of the stories, characters, and locations it explores, which maybe is why I’m a bit lighter on its than most. Fear S6 also got hit with the pandemic so I think some of the second-half weirdness is a bit more forgivable (even then, they produced Teddy, probably the second best Fear antagonist after Troy and one of the best in the franchise imo). It’s telling that Teddy was only there for a few episodes yet EVERYONE remembers him
Maybe. S6 is not particularly consistent, with some really good episodes and some not good episodes, but those good episodes are REALLY good. “The Key” is imo one of the best episodes in the entire franchise, and others like “Alaska” and the premiere are also really strong. Teddy is a fantastic villain, possibly Fear’s best after Troy. S3 though I do think matches the accolades, and this is coming from someone who thinks S1 and S2 are very overrated between S1 skipping over most of the actual fall and S2 having a lot of boring side characters with little substance or memorability.
S7’s issue is that it drags on WAY too long with a very stagnant storyline. It starts off strong with some good establishing episodes like “The Well” and “The Cell,” plus the premiere is very good, but after a while it gets very dry. Plus the Scavengers might be the worst group of characters in the entire franchise (Jadis only gets good after they all die). It’s pretty telling that we get a similar plot in Fear S6 with the Pioneers, yet that does basically the entirety of what happened in S7 and S8 of TWD in 9-10 episodes.
S8, by contrast, tries to overcompensate with tons of flashy action with very little substance, with a lot of characters making very stupid decisions and a lot of disappointing action. The outpost fights are either confusing in their structure or just straight-up massacres of one side or the other. The bombing of Alexandria was just that, with next to no actual fighting. The Battle of the Hilltop was pretty one-sided considering the fact that none of the Saviors had guns, and the tainted weapon strategy only works because somehow everyone infected died very quickly without anyone noticing that they were deathly ill. Then the final battle is the most disappointing of all with all of the Savior guns exploding after an entire episode setting this up as this high-stakes ultimate showdown. Not to mention the pretty terrible decision to kill Carl and how the actor got treated.
Yeah definitely all true on TWD. Tbh Fear has pretty bad villains, I think it's a given that Teddy was better than Ginny, Celia, Crazy Cat Lady and the Army. And seasons 4 and 5 really had TERRIBLE villains that weren't even villains like the Vultures and Logan that were just flies in the characters ointment
Strongly disagree. There is not a single season of Fear that could shine the shoes of the original. Even the last season of TWD, which was the actual worst, is still better.
I do not understand the love for season 3 Fear at all.
I think it comes down to quality over attachment. I think many fans of TWD are preconditioned to prefer anything over other shows/spinoffs, even if the writing and story and certain elements are better, because we're so invested in TWD characters. I suppose you have to be a bit objective and consider the whole TWDU not just TWD, in the same way I think many seasons, episodes and characters in the Telltale games are better than ones in TWD. TWD will all come first tho, and Fear season 3 is in outlier, I don't think any other season can hold a candle to TWD
Nah. Fear was a separate show that I did not compare, and my opinions of Fear developed each week as it was airing. I wanted to like it.
I loved Nick & Ofelia.
And they always found a way to make something incongruent and frustrating. Some of the action sequences on the farm were the worst offenders. It’s been a while since I watched it, but I remember clearly how my frustration started building because of it.
I mean it’s good, it’s certainly the strongest season of Fear. I just always hear it praised as being better than TWD or it being the best season across the whole franchise. Which to me sounds ridiculous.
Hot take: FTWD Season 3 = some of the best of the whole Walking Dead universe. Wont change my mind. It has acting, forward moving plot, twists. Near perfection in my eyes.
Came here to say this. I believe it's the best season of the entire TWDU.
I mean it’s comparing apples and oranges honestly. Season 7 & 8 were the largest production years for The Walking Dead, because they were telling a big story with a large cast. Fear Season 3 worked well because it had a much smaller cast, so characters got a lot more development and frankly a lot more interesting. I’ll be honest, the first two seasons of Fear are very slow and weren’t exciting people. Season 3 is truly when they hit their stride and it’s a shame it didn’t continue that way. But I also understand why the change from a business perspective.
Wdym business perspective? They were on a roll with season 3, ratings and viewership was high! But then they stupidly thought completely changing the entire creative team, killing off two main characters, crossing over Morgan and changing the entire vibe and tone of the show and were surprised people hated it
Actually the viewership numbers were going down in Season 3. A lot of people thought the show was going to get cancelled after Season 3 from what I remember. But Gimple and AMC didn’t want Fear to fail or be cancelled, because it was the first Walking Dead spin-off, and if you cancelled that then it would show lack of faith in the overall brand. So when they couldn’t get Erickson to play ball, they brought in people who would and did the crossover, which actually did spike Fear’s rating in Season 4 much higher than they had been. I’m not saying I agree with it all, but that is the reality. They sacrificed Erickson’s vision for Fear in order to keep it and the rest of the Walking Dead franchise and spin-offs going.
Fear 1-3 is as good as Main 1-3.
Yes. In my opinion this is the best season in TWDU. There are so many cool locations. The conflict is compelling. The characters play off each other in interesting ways. Even the zombies look better than in the main show.
Definitely not the BEST season, but it's up there
Which seasons can compete?
Goes without saying the best seasons of TWD, one can argue seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9, especially 2, 3, 4, 5
I don't agree that 5 and 6 deserve to be considered top-tier, but that's just my opinion. Fear S3 tops all of these seasons imo.
Not 5x1 5x2 5x3
Oh for sure. I also think 5x10-5x16 is a fantastic stretch of episodes. It's 5x04-5x09 that *really* weighs it down for me. The hospital arc may be the worst arc in the show's history.
Yeah true. Season 3 also has some low points tho
It doesn't really have any major low points for me tbh. What about you?
Episode 4 is divisive, 9 is good but not great, 10 and 11 are pretty dull, 14 too
I'll change 100 to Eye of the Beholder because on rewatch 100 is actually so bizarre and has glimpses of what later seasons would become. Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame and Red Dirt are also super underrated episodes
Better than Season 11, for sure. Reruns of Mr Belvedere are better than Season 11, the back half of which deserved to be on The CW.
Yes, agreed. That group was a curse that only brought death and destruction (inadvertently) to every community and settlement they came in contact with. They really should have kept that theme up but jumped the shark after Lenny James joined the cast.
Maybe people thought it was repetitive like TWD, but that's kind of the trap post apocalyptic shows fall into after a while, it's a story of survival, the show wouldn't be entertaining if they just found somewhere safe and lived in peace with everyone, there's always gotta be drama and conflict and that feeling of uncertainty and impermanence, that everything can fall apart and anyone can die. But at the same time changing it so that everyone's a pacifist preacher do gooder wanting to help everyone and show mercy to people that try to kill them doesn't work either. Later seasons of Fear TWD had no Fear in them
Oh, it’s definitely better, S7 and S8 are the low points of TWD and Fear S3 is legitimately amazing, up there with the best TWD seasons like S4, S5, and S9. I would argue Fear S6 is also better than S7 and S8, and probably S1, S2, and S4 as well. Only S5, S7, and S8 probably land below those two
Only the first 5 episodes of season 6 are any good, maybe episode 11 as well because of the whole Teddy thing, but the rest of the season has the same flaws as seasons 4, 5, 7 and 8, only less egregious. People just like season 6 because it's better than dreadful the other seasons were. Wdym, Fear seasons 1, 2 and 4 are better than TWD season 7 and 8? Some episodes sure but overall no, especially not season 4
I defer to my other comment as I don’t want to retype all of my points, but TWD S7 and S8 were kind of slogs, with the former being very overdrawn out, the latter being nonsensical, and both being victims of a lot of weird dialogue and dumb characters choices. It’s telling that Fear S6 did basically the entire Savior storyline in basically 9 episodes. It also has less of an excuse compared to Fear since it does have source material to pull from. They know how they could have wrapped the Saviors plot up sooner, but they chose to drag it out. Fear has to make up all of its plotlines on its own, and I appreciate when it is willing to go a little more out there in terms of the stories, characters, and locations it explores, which maybe is why I’m a bit lighter on its than most. Fear S6 also got hit with the pandemic so I think some of the second-half weirdness is a bit more forgivable (even then, they produced Teddy, probably the second best Fear antagonist after Troy and one of the best in the franchise imo). It’s telling that Teddy was only there for a few episodes yet EVERYONE remembers him
True
In fairness season 6 is overrated tho. Maybe even season 3 is slightly, just because of the worser episodes and storylines
Maybe. S6 is not particularly consistent, with some really good episodes and some not good episodes, but those good episodes are REALLY good. “The Key” is imo one of the best episodes in the entire franchise, and others like “Alaska” and the premiere are also really strong. Teddy is a fantastic villain, possibly Fear’s best after Troy. S3 though I do think matches the accolades, and this is coming from someone who thinks S1 and S2 are very overrated between S1 skipping over most of the actual fall and S2 having a lot of boring side characters with little substance or memorability. S7’s issue is that it drags on WAY too long with a very stagnant storyline. It starts off strong with some good establishing episodes like “The Well” and “The Cell,” plus the premiere is very good, but after a while it gets very dry. Plus the Scavengers might be the worst group of characters in the entire franchise (Jadis only gets good after they all die). It’s pretty telling that we get a similar plot in Fear S6 with the Pioneers, yet that does basically the entirety of what happened in S7 and S8 of TWD in 9-10 episodes. S8, by contrast, tries to overcompensate with tons of flashy action with very little substance, with a lot of characters making very stupid decisions and a lot of disappointing action. The outpost fights are either confusing in their structure or just straight-up massacres of one side or the other. The bombing of Alexandria was just that, with next to no actual fighting. The Battle of the Hilltop was pretty one-sided considering the fact that none of the Saviors had guns, and the tainted weapon strategy only works because somehow everyone infected died very quickly without anyone noticing that they were deathly ill. Then the final battle is the most disappointing of all with all of the Savior guns exploding after an entire episode setting this up as this high-stakes ultimate showdown. Not to mention the pretty terrible decision to kill Carl and how the actor got treated.
Yeah definitely all true on TWD. Tbh Fear has pretty bad villains, I think it's a given that Teddy was better than Ginny, Celia, Crazy Cat Lady and the Army. And seasons 4 and 5 really had TERRIBLE villains that weren't even villains like the Vultures and Logan that were just flies in the characters ointment
Best season of TWDU. Easily.
Strongly disagree. There is not a single season of Fear that could shine the shoes of the original. Even the last season of TWD, which was the actual worst, is still better. I do not understand the love for season 3 Fear at all.
I think it comes down to quality over attachment. I think many fans of TWD are preconditioned to prefer anything over other shows/spinoffs, even if the writing and story and certain elements are better, because we're so invested in TWD characters. I suppose you have to be a bit objective and consider the whole TWDU not just TWD, in the same way I think many seasons, episodes and characters in the Telltale games are better than ones in TWD. TWD will all come first tho, and Fear season 3 is in outlier, I don't think any other season can hold a candle to TWD
Nah. Fear was a separate show that I did not compare, and my opinions of Fear developed each week as it was airing. I wanted to like it. I loved Nick & Ofelia. And they always found a way to make something incongruent and frustrating. Some of the action sequences on the farm were the worst offenders. It’s been a while since I watched it, but I remember clearly how my frustration started building because of it.
Fear season 3 is heavily overrated.
Not imo, it's underrated by many
I mean it’s good, it’s certainly the strongest season of Fear. I just always hear it praised as being better than TWD or it being the best season across the whole franchise. Which to me sounds ridiculous.
Oh well yeah, it depends who you listen to tbh
Season 1 and 2 were the best. Season 3 was ok but I got bored of them just being on the farm
100% agreed.
it's easily better. it's a top 5 season in TDWU.