Morgan Failed To Learn Rick Grimes Most Important Walking Dead Lesson

In Fear The Walking Dead, Morgan has become like Rick Grimes - capable of both violence and mercy. Season 7, however, proves one crucial difference.

Fear The Walking Dead's Morgan Jones has evolved into a protagonist not unlike Rick Grimes - but sans one all-important rule. Lennie James' journey playing Morgan in The Walking Dead's main show was a roller coaster of violent peaks and pacifist lows. When the character returned in season 3, the death of Duane had turned Morgan into a ruthless killer, but by the time he reached Alexandria in The Walking Dead season 5's finale, Morgan had adopted the virtues of pacifism. Though a brush with the Wolves coaxed out Morgan's brutality once again, slaughtering a few Saviors left a bad taste in his mouth, triggering a second period of monk-like non-violence.

Fear The Walking Dead has finally, thankfully, balanced Morgan's personality. Ever since his feud against Ginny and the Pioneers, Lennie James has portrayed a protagonist who gives enemies every opportunity to resolve disagreements peacefully, but he'll readily switch on the violence and let bullets fly when necessary. Morgan's evolution is very similar to that of Rick Grimes, who recovered from his own bloodlust to find a harmonious balance between rage and mercy over the course of his 9 seasons in The Walking Dead.

Despite their many parallels, Fear The Walking Dead season 7 proves Morgan failed to carry over the most important aspect of Rick Grimes' leadership - that when kids are endangered, you take no risks. In "Six Hours," Morgan whisks Grace and their adopted child, Mo, on a road trip beyond the nuclear fallout zone. They're attacked en route by Fred and Bea, who abduct Mo at gunpoint from under Morgan's nose. Morgan bides his time before seizing Fred's gun and taking control of the situation - so far, so good - but then deviates from the "Rick Grimes Guide to Zombie Apocalypse Survival" by giving Mo's kidnappers the benefit of the doubt. Not only do Morgan and Grace agree to work together with Fred and Bea and offer them refuge back on the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, they make the fatal mistake of leaving Mo unsupervised with Fred. Inevitably, Morgan's choice of babysitter proves ill-advised, and Fred comes seconds away from killing Mo before Grace puts him down.

Rick Grimes would never sleepwalk his family into such avoidable danger. Even during his calmer periods, Rick didn't mess around when it came to his children, famously biting out a man's throat after they threatened to rape Carl. And it was Negan (almost) forcing Rick to cut Carl's arm off that made The Walking Dead's hero finally submit to the Saviors' leader, crumbling submissively at the prospect of hurting his own child. Rick would've given up anything and sacrificed anyone to keep Carl and Judith safe; in fact, the only thing more dangerous than going after the Grimes children in The Walking Dead is jogging through a zombie horde covered in bacon. This was always the trade-off to Rick's reasonable, level-headed leadership - if you went after his kids, all bets were off.

With "Six Hours," Fear The Walking Dead season 7 proves Morgan isn't drawing the same red lines that Rick was renowned for. Fred and Bea tried stealing Morgan's adopted child, and the couple's radiation burns meant they posed a danger to young Mo merely by standing near her. Nevertheless, Morgan chose forgiveness, ignoring the abundance of red flags and trusting these (clearly unwell) strangers with his daughter's safety. Had the town's buildings not been connected by tin cans and string, Grace would never have saved Mo in time, and Morgan would've been haunted by the ramifications of his unwise decision forever.

On one hand, Morgan's faith in Fred and Bea is commendable. Fear The Walking Dead's resident protagonist correctly deduced that the grieving parents were good people suffering an immense loss, and nobly put forward an olive branch rather than a gun barrel. But even if Morgan couldn't justify shooting Mo's abductors as soon as he disarmed Fred, he might've tied the duo up or knocked them out, rather than exchanging friendship bracelets and playing nice. Even weirder, the same episode sees Morgan open fire on a mystery stranger after only a single warning, despite the lone traveler posing no obvious threat. Morgan might've taken a similarly tough stance on Mo's kidnappers. That's what Rick Grimes would've done, at least.