Best thing to Happen to the Walking Dead...

   Me and my wife finally got around to watching the season finale of The Walking Dead the other night. Along with that we watched the season premiere of Fear the Walking Dead. As of lately, past few seasons to be more exact, my interest in the franchise has grown limp. With storylines falling flat or not moving AT ALL!! The premiere of FtWD just changed all that with the intro of what should be a lasting gem of a character. John Dorie, like the fish as he says but an "ie" rather than a "y". From the instant I heard his voice I knew the writers had made a great choice by casting Garrett Dillahunt to play the role of the offbeat sharpshooter with a sweet tooth and a story, yet to be fully revealed except for his love is wandering the wasteland with a matching antique pistol. 

 

Within moments you love the character. Walking Dead has introduced and gotten rid of, a long list of likable characters but none of them had the unknowing comedic flavor like Dorie... just realized that John Dorie is an actual fish not just an animated one... well, it works either way. His style is great! You think he is just some country bumpkin with a sad tale to tell but he is much more. In his first few minutes on screen he pops a walker in the head from a sizable distance with his antique pistol afterward introducing himself to Morgan, who you can tell is just as surprised by what just happened. He offers Morgan a safe haven, mind you it's the bed of his truck with option of the cab, for the night. I assumed nothing fowl would come from Dorie and I was pleased to see I was right. Too many new characters is the series came into the series with a plot to derail and we are then put on a path to try and understand what they are doing or we watch as they painfully try to redeem themselves for some sort of wrongdoing that, let's face it, nobody care about. 

 

I'm looking at you Gabriel. 

 

Dillahunt seems to always play the role of the loyal, somewhat dopey, lovable character. The exact idea behind his character is shown during the shootout with the... ehh, I'll call them bandits. A brief capture scenario takes place but it quickly shifted in the new trios favor and Dorie gets his pistol and Morgan gets his stick and the battle commences. Dorie runs around, what seems like, aimlessly, but in fact hatches a plan, I think, it's tough to tell if he is just being dopey and things are happening in his favor or if he actually knew what he was doing all along. Shooting in the air to distract the walkers and picking off bandits all the while fumbling ariund the scene. I forgot to mention that when Morgan ran off in the dead of night from the granted safe haven of Dorris truck, he reappeared when Morgan needed him, like a sad puppy who just wanted a friend.

It was glorious! It's about time we get the light hearted side of the plot! 

 

Ever since Raising Hope I was a fan of Dillahunt and then in Burn Notice and onto the Mindy Project, all characters pretty much embodying what Dillahunt brings to the scene. The demeanor that he brings to the story will not, hopefully, be overshadowed with a slow moving plot point that derails more than it progresses. 

 

I can not wait to see how he steps on toes, either on purpose or mistakingly as we watch him deal with the now manic group from SoCal that got us all hooked on Fear the Walking Dead. 

 

Well done! My faith has been restored!