Fear The Walking Dead brought its revamped fourth season to a close with the death of Martha (Tonya Pinkins), the Filthy Woman, who emerged as the big bad over the back half of the season.
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The villain, who became fixated on Morgan (Lennie James) because of his overwhelming desire to help — something Martha believes makes survivors “weak” — lured Morgan away from his friends after the pack agreed to return home with Morgan to Alexandria, Virginia.
After making a quick detour to rescue a missing Althea (Maggie Grace), Morgan set off on his own to save Martha, who had sustained a nasty wound after taking a shot fired by Wendell (Daryl Mitchell).
Morgan’s new gunslinger best friend John (Garret Dillahunt) attempted to convince him to let her be, but Morgan felt compelled to help her — and bring the rescued Martha along to Alexandria.
“She thinks the only way to be strong is to die and turn. She’s stuck. Whatever happened to her, she thinks killing is the only way,” Morgan told John.
When pressed on his stubborn compulsion about helping the deranged Martha, Morgan admitted he’s fueled to help “because I understand her. I used to be her.”
A crazed Morgan found himself unable to curb an overwhelming bloodlust after witnessing his zombified wife tear into his son Duane (Adrian Kali Turner), only able to be pulled out of his state of madness through the teachings of cheesemaker Eastman (John Carroll Lynch) in a Season Six episode of The Walking Dead.
Having found himself “unstuck” with the help of allies like Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Morgan turned an eye towards saving Martha’s soul — a benevolence Martha took advantage of when convincing Morgan she would accept his help, only to attack him and force his speeding police car off the road.
Emerging from the crash with a wounded leg, Morgan found himself in a psychological and moral battle with an undeterred Martha, who was dead set on making Morgan “strong.” Revealing a bite from a reanimated Jim, Martha presented Morgan an ultimatum: “You either kill me, or I kill you.”
Always the pacifist, Morgan told her he refuses to kill, forcing her hand further: “You kill me and become what you used to be, or you let me make you strong.”
After learning Martha poisoned his trapped friends at the Flip-Flop Truck Stop by way of water tainted with anti-freeze, Morgan handcuffed a belligerent Martha to the car.
“I’m not going to kill you,” he said, “but I’m not going to let you kill anybody after you’ve turned.”
Later, having just-barely saved his friends by delivering a truck full of the cure — ethanol, by way of alcohol lovingly brewed by the late Jim (Aaron Stanford) — Morgan returned for Martha, only to find a bloody scene as her detached arm dangled from the police car.
Further down the road, Morgan saw a reanimated Martha wandering aimlessly, ultimately putting her down with the sharp end of his stick.
Fear The Walking Dead has been renewed for a fifth season and returns in 2019 on AMC.
