‘Fear the Walking Dead’: Let Morgan Be Happy, You Jerks!

Since Morgan Jones (Lennie James) was introduced on the very first episode of The Walking Dead nearly a decade ago, he’s been conflicted, tortured and sad. We’ve watched him have to kill his own zombie-fied wife, lose his son, go crazy (several times), and be put through the wringer only to finally reach a catharsis of sorts once he headed over to Fear the Walking Dead. So why can’t the darn show let him be happy???

Spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead “210 Words Per Minute” past this point.

It’s particularly hard to take Morgan’s continued sadness after getting a peek at Happy Morgan on this week’s episode of Fear. In the hour, Morgan and Grace (Karen David) head to a well-stocked shopping mall in order to grant a dying man’s wish to see the stars, one last time. In the process, Grace suffers a health scare, they fight some zombies on an escalator, and bond, not un-romantically. Grace — knowing that she either had a fainting spell, or might be dying of radiation poisoning, one of the two — is aiming to live each day as if its her last. And though she doesn’t make any moves on Morgan physically, the often emotionally removed man finds himself growing closer to her.

There are several sweet scenes throughout the episode: Grace revealing she doesn’t know the name for jellybeans, and instead calling them “candy beansies” much to Morgan’s delight; Grace and Morgan riding a carousel in the mall and giggling; Morgan looking at Grace as she smiles at him. Normally, Morgan keeps people at arms length even while he preaches togetherness and trust. His weapon, after all, is a stick, something that is used to push people away. But of note, Grace broke that stick in half a few episodes back, removing the distance between him and her.

It’s lovely, as a fan of the show, to see Morgan smiling after a decade of sadness. Feeling good has been less of a rarity on Fear this season in particular, versus the grim grind of the mothership show. But Morgan still holds onto his past like a shield. Seeing that slip away as he spends time with the vivacious Grace, and it seeping down to the rest of the group, is a joy.

Then there’s the end of the episode, where Grace is eagerly looking forward to sharing road trip snacks with Morgan as they head to a campsite for the night. Morgan pauses, and then informs her as her face crumples that he’s not going with them. He’s going to help out Althea (Maggie Grace), who is on her own path. As Morgan drives away on his own, he sniffles, and a tear runs down his face. It’s… Heartbreaking.

There’s two possible interpretations of what’s going on with Morgan, and why he makes that decision (which aren’t mutually exclusive, mind you). One is that he’s still not over the death of his wife and son, and to find happiness with someone else would be to betray their memory. The other is that even with all his calm assurance to Grace that finding out what’s wrong with her is her decision (she decides not to know), he fears the worst and can’t let his heart be broken again.

Instead, he heads to what’s comfortable, and easy: the fight. Despite everything he’s told the other characters on Fear, particularly Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) about healing their own broken souls, he’s not ready to mend his own. Saving people, fighting the undead, that’s simple. Solving other people’s problems, or at least helping them reach a point where they can solve their own is also easy. Dealing with his own anguish is much, much more difficult.

And listen, I get it. So many characters on this show are reaching their own points of catharsis, or outright happiness like John (Garret Dillahunt) and June (Jenna Elfman), you need somebody to be conflicted and sad, or there’s no real drama. But more than any other one character in the entire Walking Dead franchise, Morgan Jones deserves happiness. It’s been held out of his reach for nine years… It’s time to throw away the staff, let people in, and see Lennie James flash that 100 watt smile on a more consistent basis.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC

Where to stream Fear the Walking Dead