FEAR THE WALKING DEAD, Season 8, Episode 7, ANTON

“Everyone deserves a second chance”. It’s a line repeated several times, and by different characters, in the opening episode of the final run of the (first ever) Walking Dead spin-off Fear the Walking Dead. Mindful of the harsh criticism that the show has attracted in its more recent seasons (most of it fully justified), it’s as if the showrunners are asking the audience to buy into their efforts to set things right before the credits roll for the last time.

One of the key problems confronting the makers of Fear in their endeavour to ‘do better’ is the fact that the creative space that they are working in has been transformed during their show’s mid-season hiatus. New spin-offs Dead City and Daryl Dixon have been relished by Walking Dead fans for their distinctive, fresh takes on life in the world of walkers. The bar has been raised, and expectations of what it’s possible to render on screen have soared. So, how does the opening episode of Fear’s final run measure up?

Things start off pretty promisingly. During Season Seven, Strand had become a ditchwater-dull baddie, strutting around his Tower enclave and killing or exiling anyone foolish enough to challenge his rule. Strand was one-note – repetitive and predictable and devoid of anything recognisable as character development. Here, Strand (sporting a new indie-guitarist haircut) is revealed as having reinvented himself as ‘Anton’. He’s now living with his new husband and adopted son in a thriving community of German tourists who were stranded in the US when the zombie apocalypse struck. This works well because, for the first time in a long time, it’s something that injects a sense of intrigue and mystery into a Fear storyline.

Colman Domingo looks relieved to be able to bring a new spin on Strand’s nature. When his artificial new life is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Madison, Strand’s denial and bluster clashes with Madison’s determination to unmask him to entertaining effect. Their conflict is also used by writers Nazrin Choudhury and Justin Boyd to introduce new lines of conflict with different antagonists that will shape the plots of the five episodes to come.

Strand’s hand is forced when a raiding party arrives at the community on the hunt for the “criminal” Madison, who’s been spirited away by his stepson to avoid capture. Also on her trail is one of PADRE’s own patrols, led by Daniel, determined to retrieve her before she’s intercepted by hostile forces. All the indications are that the defence of the refounded PADRE against its enemies and the rehabilitation of both Strand and Madison will define Fear’s final chapter. Let’s hope the self-examination of both these long-standing characters is not undermined by the same continual flip-flopping that dogged Morgan’s story.

Danay Garcia (who plays Fear’s Luciana) makes her directorial debut with Anton. She does a credible job, given the quality of the source material, rendering the action sequences and zombie encounters with a reasonable amount of verve. Even with her fresh eyes, Fear continues to fumble with one of the genre screen classics: the stand-off. Whether it’s characters hunkered down just out of reach of the grasping hands and teeth of an encroaching zombie horde or armed gangs of human survivors pointing weapons at each other – these moments feel almost devoid of tension or credibility. Some other unwelcome Fear signatures also resurface. Characters continue to do idiotic, inexplicable things – like carrying really bright lanterns whilst trying to evade those chasing them through the woods at night.

As the string of capture-and-escape unfolds, the leader of PADRE’s new enemies is revealed. He’s perhaps not the most obvious individual from the show’s long list of baddies to bring back for one last smackdown, but he does possess some important qualities: unfinished history with Madison and a mean and violent streak.

Much like its two remaining principal characters, Fear the Walking Dead is a show grappling with a desire to reclaim its much-tarnished reputation. Anton is a better episode than pretty much any of those in the first half of its final season, but that’s a pretty low bar to step over. There are no grounds for hyperventilating excitement. But there is evidence here that some of the worst fears about the fate of Fear may go unrealised and that something of value might just be salvageable in what little time remains.

New episodes of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD – SEASON 8 premiere on Mondays on AMC in the UK