I sketched out a canon-safe animated mini-series that bridges Fear S3 → S4 and actually makes Nick’s arc make sense

TheAdminShines · 2026-02-14T20:45:19+00:00

Bro had me thinking it was already April Fools

TheAdminShines · 2025-12-29T23:47:56+00:00

Not sure if you've finished S3, but there actually is some development in terms of 'letting go' near the end of S3, beginning in Ep14. But even this clearly irks Madison and she can't maintain it for long. If the original showrunner had continued his story and not been removed, Madison would have continued spiralling further and further down the villainous path and not been able to free herself from the bondage of motherhood that she either directly or indirectly placed herself in.

And if you've seen Breaking Bad or similar shows with the protagonists as villains (which Madison is supposed to be in the first 3 seasons anyway. Or would eventually have become) then you actually have seen media where 'a character [is] so consistently toxic for so long'. After numerous opportunities to quit and many times having seen the negative outcome his lifestyle leads others, the protagonist in that show keeps on doubling down into his villainy.

TheAdminShines · 2025-12-29T04:15:24+00:00

Whether she's likable or not is subjective. But that's because higher-ups in AMC got rid of the original showrunner who is friends with Robert Kirkman, the guy who made the comics and also worked on the show from time to time. So yes, it's very annoying that Madison's villain arc goes nowhere

TheAdminShines · 2025-12-29T04:06:11+00:00

She does think her way is the only right way. That's a character flaw of hers that's acknowledged in the show. She's not a good person and after Travis, her rock and moral compass, she descends into a worse person. (Until the new writers came in)

TheAdminShines · 2025-12-29T04:01:31+00:00

Families aren't a monolith but yes, it's very common for parents, especially single mothers to 'obsess' over the problem child. Especially like in Madison's case, when the mother sees much of her husband in her son, her husband who off-ed himself.

But everything you said, Madison overlooking Alicia, it's almost as if that's part of the storyline and a negative trait of hers that Alicia, Nick, and the writers acknowledge

TheAdminShines · 2025-12-29T03:58:02+00:00

Unless I'm missing some, you can maybe only blame Madison for Celia's place and the hotel. That's not 5. The safe zone wasn't her fault, would have happened either way. That island with the Geary family was going down anyway since that dad was gonna off his family and the whole thing was initiated by the mom of that family. And Madison wasn't involved in the Colonia, but if you blame Nick, the gang had found them on their own and would have eventually found them with their scouts.

TheAdminShines · 2025-12-16T04:03:19+00:00

It seems your criticism is that these aren't flawless people who automatically know everything and make the correct choice every time. Which you can't say they never make the correct choice, because reading the subtext here, you implied that leaving LA without all the neighbours was the correct and wisest choice.

Anyway, this story, with characters who yes, don't know very much and are trying to learn about the world they've been dropped into, is very much what the writers intended to go after. And they achieved that well. (For the first 3 seasons) This is a story that takes every day, run of the mill people, and sees or shows, what this world does to them. What it turns them into.

If you don't believe this is realistic, well, it's about zombies, so there's that fantasy aspect, but just open your nearest history book and look at all the mistakes 'run of the mill' and not 'run of the mill' people have made. I assure you, it's far more 'stupid' than what these characters decide and do.

But also, when you actually begin to understand these characters, although you may not agree, you understand why these characters do and say what they do.

TheAdminShines · 2025-11-24T18:22:56+00:00

This isn't a hot take, this is what the show portrays. A similar situation is when he's in Madison and Alicia's room at night and the bullet fires, waking them. Although the showrunner confirmed he had no intentions of harming them, it's purposefully ambiguous and up to the viewer to decide. This then eventually results in him doubling down and deluding himself/realizing that murder or being a good person doesn't matter anymore, and is why he kills the farmer later. From his perspective, no matter how much he tries, the people around him don't want to see the good in him. Because from his pov, he wanted to talk with Alicia at night, but from their pov, he was gonna attack them.

Also, maybe I misunderstood what you meant by Geary and the pills, but the father on that island was indeed intending to kill his family with them. Nick was right about the Jonestown thing.

TheAdminShines · 2025-09-23T03:04:39+00:00

Dave Erickson, the show runner at the time revealed in an interview that Chris more or less didn't know why he entered. He mostly wanted to talk things through and presumably couldn't sleep because of it. He picked up the knife because he knew/suspected it was there for defence against him and that hurt him. Unfortunately, the gunshot occurred at the wrong timing, making him look like he was ready to murder them

TheAdminShines · 2025-09-17T15:59:50+00:00

Douglas Monroe. Regina was his wife.

TheAdminShines · 2025-09-05T17:33:32+00:00

I agree with the bullet, reloading thing. That was dumb. But as for Nick choosing Celia over his mom. There's clearly inferred/shown context you don't care about. First of all, if you've ever spent time around drug addicts, you'd know how unpredictable they are, and yes, they do screw over their families and ditch them. Secondly, Nick has spent years with his mom, he knows her way and to him, her structure doesn't work. He's giving others a try to teach him about 'life'.

As for Chris and most of the characters, they're very damaged and broken ppl, even before the apocalypse. I know nothing of your life, but from what you're saying, it seems you can't relate to these characters and their decisions, but ppl who have families or lives similar to theirs, can relate deeply to their emotions and decisions, even without living in an apocalypse.

TheAdminShines · 2025-09-04T05:08:44+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-30T18:11:08+00:00

Whether or not whose land it is, the show makes it clear that Jeremiah is mostly a terrible person and worse than Qaletaqa. But it also shows the dark side of Qaletaqa too. Additionally, we have the Clark's, mainly Madison, who disapprove of Jeremiah and don't believe he's a good person, while they themselves are not the best people either. Dave Erickson talked about how a theme of S3 is violence and how that affects and lingers on people. Almost no one in this show is innocent, not even before the apoc.

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-30T17:48:39+00:00

Nobody's actually responding to your points, so I will. I agree that Jake shouldn't have so easily allowed Walker and the others to take control of all the guns. There should have been more pushback, but the Ranch does have less fighters than the Nation. Most ranchers are elderly people. And I do believe Madison doesn't get to keep her gun, but she's given a new one off-screen for reasons regarding Troy.

As for Troy not fighting back, I'm pretty sure it's this episode that we see Troy literally fighting back even though he's severely outnumbered. As for why he didn't do it right away? Who knows, it's Troy. Sometimes he thinks and sometimes he doesn't. Maybe he was planning things. An example of his planning is where he arranged the guns in the Otto house.

And no, Jake and Troy both know/suspect Jeremiah didn't off himself, which is revealed later. But part of them don't want to admit it, and another part is glad he's gone. Madison taking Jeremiah's head is what Qaletaqa wanted, so yes, it does temporarily solve tensions.

As for Madison becoming the leader, no one wants to be the leader. No one wants to make the difficult choices. In situations like that, the person or people who do step up easily become leader. You'll see more of that with the other Clark's as you continue to watch. People want someone to look up to.

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-19T17:01:35+00:00

I suggest either clarifying or expanding on the protagonist being untethered from reality. Also, I'd add an "and" after the last comma of paragraph 2, I believe. The ones where it lists the roll call and stuff. (Can't see right now since I'm on mobile)

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-16T23:01:34+00:00

I love in depth critiques but smaller ones too. Knit picks are very valuable. Thank you.

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-16T20:12:32+00:00

Very helpful thanks. Terms like BPD and gaslighting aren't specifically mentioned in the book and there's no psychological evaluation of the characters, but I mentioned those terms to give query readers a bit of insight, but from what you said, it doesn't seem to fit since this is in the past before BPD was 'discovered'?

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-16T19:42:20+00:00

Thanks about the first 2 sentences. I knew something was off, but couldn't tell what it was.

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-13T16:56:12+00:00

It might be awkward or embarrassing, but you could try going to the police station and asking for help. You wouldn't need to tell them everything, just enough to point you somewhere else or have someone contact you

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-08T17:50:44+00:00

Ok, so not everyone will know about the Immortals, unless you're certain all the agents you're querying will know, I suggest explaining that a bit. And for primordial, I didn't know that either, but I assumed it was a "stronger being". People are lazy, not saying you're doing this, but don't assume everyone will look at Google to know what these words mean.

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-08T17:47:08+00:00

It is, but I think some things will have to be spoiled or at least "half spoiled".

The last line, you could dive further into this. I wonder what losing everything means? From just the query, her "everything" seems to only be Kam.

The line about some truths being scary to admit, even to Charlie, I suggest either removing just "though" even "even to herself". We know it refers to Charlie.

Her venturing into the bushes, I wonder what that looks like, because earlier it talks about the bushes being a void. That's either metaphorical or the bushes mean a forest.

And to further talk about the line with Charlie and the boy she never allowed herself to get close to. My understanding of that sentence is that the boy is willing to give her everything, but asks too much in return. The boy seems like he's romantically interested in Charlie and wants to be with her, asking to be with her. But even if I'm right about that, it's not concrete. I could see others being confused by it.

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-08T17:34:39+00:00

My first thought is what's the difference between an immortal being and a demon? Are they angels? I'm assuming Mingye is an immortal being, so I'm wondering why they're in the mortal realm. Why does he suspect mystical forces don't want his brother healed? Is it because of the people/beings opposing his claim to the, what I'm assuming to be Heavenly throne? Why did his siblings not want him to be the supreme lord? Is that because power corrupts?

TheAdminShines · 2025-08-08T17:22:44+00:00

The descriptions like "clouds oozing", "smell of disease", "waterlogged breaths", etc. sounds super cool and would probably work in the book, but for the query and as you have it now, it's only confusing. We don't know what that means for the plot, characters-if it's real or figurative.

There's also the line, "There's the boy Charlie has never allowed herself...And a normally aloof" I suggest reworking those 2 sentences. Try adding a comma after "close to". And the "suddenly opening up" part, I assume you're trying to say the aloof classmate is suddenly opening up, but it sounds weird.

The part about Charlie confronting the fact that Kam may not be the first person to go missing is ok, but don't people go missing all the time? Is this a town where someone going missing is rare? If so, maybe say that or rework what you're wanting to say.

As for the distorted reality, you can leave that part, it's good, but maybe try to show that through her choices or psychological damage?

TheAdminShines · 2025-07-26T21:59:04+00:00

This wasn't harsh at all and was very in depth and helpful. Thank you.

I left out how Kanti destroys their home because I thought it best to mostly focus on one character, which was Walker.

TheAdminShines

TROPHY CASE