Fear The Walking Dead Fans Actually Recommend Skipping Entire Seasons
The AMC zombie apocalypse series "The Walking Dead" has become one of the cable channel's most successful series over the course of its 11 seasons. Numerous pause-worthy moments and a deep bench of characters have kept fans invested in the show, which was adapted from a comic book series by Robert Kirkman. The show's success has led to two major spin-offs: "Fear the Walking Dead" and "The Walking Dead: World Beyond." While the latter came to an end after two seasons, the former continues to go strong.
The thought of delving into "Fear the Walking Dead" may seem daunting to fans of "The Walking Dead," though the team behind the latter has reassured viewers that its ending won't affect the spin-off series. However, "Fear the Walking Dead" fans have clear favorites when it comes to recommending what newcomers to the series should see, and in certain cases, they actually recommend skipping entire seasons.
Seasons 4 and 5 have very few defenders
Over on the subreddit r/thewalkingdead, "The Walking Dead" viewer u/FaithlessnessOld8912 wondered if it was worth delving into the spin-off series. Redditor u/michael_memes_ responded positively about most of the show, with the exception of Seasons 4 and 5, believing that those two seasons have some of the worst episodes not just of the franchise but also of TV shows in general.
Redditor u/b0objuice chimed in to agree, saying, "Unfortunately season [sic] 4 and 5 are the worst episodes I've ever seen on TV. I dropped it about halfway into season 5." Viewer u/Lukar115 went into more detail, claiming, "Seasons 4B and 5 are generally considered to be the worst of the show. The show gets better quality-wise beginning with season 6, although it's still inconsistent. But it never hits the same lows as 4B and 5, at least so far."
Other users were more succinct with their dislike, with u/SecondCreek declaring that the show is "unwatchable" after Season 3. Meanwhile, u/Pestoignesto reiterated the consensus on the thread, not only advising that viewers stop watching at the end of Season 3 but also echoing that Season 4 is among the dregs of television as a whole.
Opinions on the two seasons vary across platforms
The critical consensus on "Fear the Walking Dead" seems to diverge from the common opinion. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show's fourth season carries a Tomatometer rating of 80%, placing it higher than the show's first and second seasons, which come in at 76% and 70%, respectively. Season 5, by comparison, lands at 55% on the Tomatometer, marking it rotten, while Season 6 marks the highest rating of the show to date, with a score of 89%.
The audience rating for Season 4 on Rotten Tomatoes, however, is 64%, which is a noticeable drop from Season 3, which garnered a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 79%. Season 5, however, sees the Rotten Tomatoes audience agree with both the critics and Reddit, with the audience score for the season at 43%.
IMDb paints a similar picture, with the show's second-lowest-rated episode coming in Season 5. Episode 15 of the season, titled "Channel 5," garnered only 5/10 from viewers, surpassed only by the Season 7 episode "Amina," which is the series' lowest-rated episode, at 3.9/10. By comparison, three of the show's five highest-rated episodes come from its third season (via IMDb).