Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 25, 2020

With Fear the Walking Dead's fourth season, the show began to more closely resemble its superior big brother, and it was no surprise, then, to see the show's fortunes improve as well. The subtraction of most of the major characters from the outset and the addition of The Walking Dead's Morgan Jones (Lennie James) both rejuvenated the show (in some circles) and allowed it to escape the shadow of its early series mediocrity. Some might understandably find the more familiar surroundings and styles off-putting, in a way the folks behind the show surrendering on the opportunity to explore the zombie-infested world from a different perspective. With season five, things start strong but struggle to maintain excellence and completely fall off the cliff by season's end even as it plays with so many of the same pieces and principles that made season four the finest yet.

Newcomers are encouraged to start back at the beginning (which wasn't very good) and work their way through subsequent seasons (which improve) until lading here (poor). Every season is available on Blu-ray and linked below:

• Season One
• Season Two
• Season Three
• Season Four

The fans demand chaaaaaange.

Official synopsis: Heading into Season 5 of 'Fear the Walking Dead,' the group's mission is clear: locate survivors and help make what's left of the world a slightly better place. With dogged determination, Morgan Jones leads the group with a philosophy rooted in benevolence, community, and hope. Each character believes that helping others will allow them to make up for the wrongs of their pasts. But trust won't be easily earned. Their mission of helping others will be put to the ultimate test when the members of the group find themselves in uncharted territory, forced to face not just their pasts but also their fears. It is only by facing those fears that the group will discover an entirely new way to live, one that will leave them forever changed.

Season five's poor reception is well deserved. The show starts rather strong with a halfway compelling opening episode, packed with action and the promise that some new characters might bring a jolt of energy and new perspective to the show, but what follows is a painfully meandering, unfocused, contrived season that offers little of dramatic worth and next to zero entertainment value. It takes place in the world of The Walking Dead but it's otherwise almost unrecognizable therein. Sure, walkers moan and mope about and tear into flesh every once in a while, and the heroes go through the process of placing pointy things into their craniums, but the franchise has always been built around the living human, not the dead zombie. It's been a show of growth in survival and demonstrating the best and worst of humanity in a world that is fighting for a semblance of a moral compass. Season five is...something else entirely. What conflict arises feels contrived, and the Pioneers appear towards season's end simply, it seems, in an effort to give the show direction that it can never utilize in any meaningful way.

The season ends with a whimper, a whimper certain to split the fan base. If nothing else, it's a finale that is going to rework how season six works. That can only be a good thing considering season five's lethargy and aimlessness because here, nothing works, not even bringing in one of TWD's newer secondary characters, Dwight (Austin Amelio). But the issues here are not about people, even if the conversation always seems to drift back to Madison. It's about not so much inept writing at the top end but pointless plotting at the foundation. It's not about the performances, which are largely fine, but rather a season that's been neutered of any intrinsic dramatic value. The central altruism is noble, and that has always been a steady, if not sometimes underlying, theme throughout the entire Dead spectrum. The story that it is the living, not the dead, which must be feared most is absent here, and even when that dynamic is introduced in wash-rinse-repeat fashion late in the season run, it comes across as hollow desperation rather than carefully conceived narrative dynamics.

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In classic franchise styling, Fear the Walking Dead's fifth season takes on a gritty, grimy, desaturated, tonally depressed look. Certainly some of the more intensely bright tones -- a fire seen right out of the gate to start the season -- offer some contrast to the pervasive dreariness, but much of the show is bound to earthen beiges and browns and grays. It's consistent and satisfying in its stylized reproduction of a downtrodden, physically and emotionally devastated, world. Skin tones are reflective of that approach while black levels are pleasantly deep and rich in appropriate shadow detail. Texturally, the show holds fast to a pleasantly film-like, grainy-looking appearance. Object sharpness is a high point as even within the show's limiting aesthetics facial and clothing clarity remains high while gore effects -- practical and digital with particular emphasis on zombie wounds and deterioration -- present with enough ooey-gooey clarity to satisfy gorehounds and make the squeamish just a little more uncomfortable. Likewise, environmental detail, both natural and manmade, hold impressive definition both in close-up and at medium distance. Artifacts are few and rarely troublesome. This season looks majestic on Blu-ray.

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack generally plays well, with a few exceptions and limitations. The track is fine in the aggregate, offering a solidly designed sound field that offers oftentimes immersive action effects and various zombie moaning and groaning playing in scattered, but identifiable and true, placement and definition that recreates not only position but distance as well; it's always easy to tell how far away a zombie may be from the listener. While general action, such as gunshots, splattering gore, and the general din of frenzied battles with the walking dead play well for stage stretch and surround interaction, a few action effects lack the dynamic might one might expect to find; the plane crash to start the season, for example, could have benefited from a substantial boost in presence and depth. Driving rain towards the end of episode one has a very flat signature and a front-heavy presence, and examples such as these may be found scattered throughout the season. Music plays with impressive detailing and front-side engagement but doesn't challenge the back channels to output a significant amount of material. Dialogue is clear and center focused. It is always well prioritized above competing elements.

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season contains three commentary tracks scattered throughout the set. A digital copy voucher is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

Disc One:

• Audio Commentary: For "Humbug's Gulch:" Showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg and Actress Jenna Elfman.

Disc Three:

• Audio Commentary: For "210 Words Per Minute:" Showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, Actress Karen David, and Doctor Ron Underwood. For "Ner Tamid:" Showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg and Actress Alexa Nisenson.

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's almost not worth mentioning because in the long run such things mean almost nothing, but the show was so poorly received that it earned a page on Change.org petitioning AMC to can Showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg. Nine months in and the petition hasn't reached its measly 5,000 signature goal, but it's emblematic of the disappointment that's following this season. AMC has renewed for a sixth season, with Chambliss and Goldberg back at the helm. Here's hoping some shelter in place free time has allowed them to more finely hone the content for the season to come. Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season's Blu-ray does deliver rich video and enjoyable audio. Sparse audio commentaries are the only extras, unsurprising given the poor reaction. For serious Dead aficionados only.