With any series in The Walking Dead universe, we’ve been taught to expect death at every turn.
But saying goodbye to the best characters doesn’t get any easier.
Going into Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 5, Grace would inevitably succumb to the zombie infection spreading through her body, but Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 has explored the possibility of using radiation to slow down the inevitable.
There was always that glimmer of hope Grace would somehow pull through because she’s beaten the odds at every turn, and look at Finch. He’s been thriving since Shrike got him bitten.
Grace’s final journey was filled with emotion because, regardless of how we feel about the show’s quality, she’s been one of the best-written characters since her introduction on Fear the Walking Dead Season 5.
Karen David brought Grace to life to perfection, and it’s a real shame we won’t have Grace or Karen in these final episodes as the series wraps up for good.
If you watch Fear the Walking Dead online, you know Grace wasn’t dealt the best hand in life. She was holding on to guilt because of her actions in the past.
June: Go for June.
Morgan: It’s Grace. She’s bit on the side. We can’t amputate. What you did for Finch, you think it’ll work for Grace?
June: Maybe.
Morgan: We’ll take maybe.
June: Morgan, to do it, we need the equipment that PADRE has.
Somewhere along the way, she carved out a relationship with Morgan, but the misery was always around the corner despite their best efforts to be happy.
Grace served as a great moral compass for several reasons, but her death will have a stratospheric impact on the rest of Fear the Walking Dead Season 8.
The sad part of Grace’s death is how we witnessed Mo try to defy the odds and save the woman who became her mother when she needed her the most.
Mo was struggling because she didn’t know what she was doing and was taking orders from June, who was also trying to save Finch’s life.
It’s tragic how this played out, and while I would have preferred Grace stayed alive, her arc came full circle in those moments as her time in this world came to a close.
Grace knew her life was ending, but even in those painful final moments, she was more concerned with helping to soothe Mo.
I appreciated how Grace’s dialogue harkened back to the journey she’s been on throughout her time on the series, including when she and Morgan were ready to end their lives while on the submarine.
Shrike: Why do you think I put it on wheels in the first place? To keep people like you from messing with it.
Morgan: What the hell do you want?
Shrike: To help. To save Grace’s life.
Morgan: Then tell these assholes to stop shooting at us.
Shrike: Not before you hear me out.
Morgan: I don’t have time for this.
Shrike: No, Grace doesn’t have time for this. So listen carefully… I’ll tell you where the train car is. My people will escort you there. I’ll even allow Blue Jay to administer the treatment. Grace will get the care she needs.
Morgan: And what exactly do you get?
Shrike: I paid a little trip to King County. I saw what you did outside your house. I saw how many walkers you killed single-handedly. Well, except for the one who bit Grace.
Morgan: What do you want?!
Shrike: There’s a shipyard, one that is very important to our future.
Morgan: And that has what to do with me?
Shrike: There are thousands of Carrion inside, and I need them all cleared.
Mo’s presence in both of their lives saved them in their time of need, so I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that the pair looked at the time they had beyond the nuclear apocalypse as a gift that wouldn’t have been possible without hearing Mo cry for help.
Morgan’s battle to get to the train to have the chance to say goodbye to Grace was another difficult watch, and I won’t forgive the show in a hurry for throwing these unnecessary obstacles in their way.
Knowing Grace had been working on this place that had some semblance of a home from before the world fell highlighted Grace envisioned a future with her, Morgan, and Mo living as a family.
They got robbed, and it’s hard not to think Grace’s demise was used to push Morgan and Mo onto a path of revenge against Shrike and the rest of PADRE.
How else can Morgan bounce back after the most traumatic time of his life?
Morgan had only just recovered from having to put Duane’s zombie down after all those years roaming around in the apocalypse on Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 4.
Morgan: God, she’s losing so much blood.
Dwight: We can’t waste any more time…
Mo: I need another dressing…
Sherry: We shouldn’t even be on this truck… There’s more of us than them.
Knowing he had to put Grace down to save Mo must have been one of the most challenging things he’s had to do.
Morgan has been around since The Walking Dead Season 1 Episode 1, and much like Grace, he’s had a rough go at life. Now, he knows he needs to save himself to save Mo, and frankly, the creatives could have delivered some genuinely riveting stuff for Lennie James to work with here.
Instead, the shoddy writing that has plagued the series since Fear the Walking Dead returned left me with little hope that the midseason finale will be able to bounce back.
At this stage, Shrike needs to go. She’s one of the dumbest villains in franchise history. She likes people to think she’s cutthroat, but had she had competent soldiers and a cutthroat nature, these people wouldn’t keep slipping through the cracks.
If locking Morgan inside a train cart and sending flares to send walkers his way is supposed to be deadly, then Shrike can’t be playing this game with a full deck of cards.
There have been so many moments where the show could show her power, but she’s like a scared kid who got drunk on power and doesn’t know what to do with it.
It’s a shame that PADRE was such a pivotal storyline on Fear the Walking Dead Season 7, only to learn that it’s a group of kids making immature decisions.
One of the most significant flaws with Fear the Walking Dead in recent years has been its inability to follow through on promises, and “More Time Than You Know” left me questioning where things could possibly go next.
Morgan, who knows how to fight, trying to open a train cart door while acting like he’s about to die and not knowing he could save himself by smashing a window, pretty much sums up my thoughts about the show.
That final scene will go down as one of the franchise’s most illogical. It’s a shame AMC didn’t get new leadership after Fear the Walking Dead Season 5.
These showrunners are not in touch with the audience, and this is not the show I fell in love with all those years ago.
Daniel: We’re armed and ready, Morgan. But we need assurances from that woman that we’re not walking into a trap.
Shrike: I assure you the Carrion are real, and I want them dead. The contents of these containers, they’re valuable to me.
What are your thoughts on Grace’s last stand? Are you surprised about her fate?
How will this shape Morgan and Mo’s arcs for the rest of the season?
Hit the comments.
Catch new episodes of Fear the Walking Dead on Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.