Fear The Walking Dead has failed. It has failed to offer up a compelling fifth season. It has failed to tell an interesting story. It has failed its cast of characters, both new and old, and it has failed the many talented actors who make up the cast.

Most of all, Fear The Walking Dead and its new showrunners and Scott Gimple and the powers-that-be at AMC have failed you, dear readers, the audience. While there are still fans out there who care about this show, many have become increasingly disenchanted over the past two seasons and with good reason. Fear The Walking Dead is a pale shadow of its former self, almost a new show entirely, and barely worth watching.

It has become a treacly, saccharine-sweet TV show. The big “lesson” of Season 5a has been that “we can help people but also need to help ourselves.” This is presented as some kind of big revelation for Morgan and his crew, some profound insight. It’s not. It’s the most basic component of self-care. They tell you to put your oxygen mask on before you assist a child when a plane is crashing for a reason. In a zombie apocalypse, sitting around talking into a radio just to see if someone will reply so that you can help them strikes me as the biggest, most absurd waste of time I can think of.

This whole season would have been so much more interesting if it had been about the residents of Terminus—another group widely advertising the sanctuary and help they would provide to strangers. Of course, they turned out to be cannibals, which is about one thousand times more interesting than Morgan and his lame group of do-gooders who can’t even really do that well.

So what happened? Basically what we all knew would happen. I predicted, last week:

“So we’re left with the obvious conclusion next week. The plane will be fixed. They’ll fly off right as the nuclear plant melts down, which it will do in the most unrealistic way possible. They’ll fly back to the area they were before and probably crash land, but everyone will survive. Then the conflict with the other group at the mill will begin and we’ll be left with some kind of cliffhanger to usher in Season 5B.”

And that, dear readers, is what happened in a nutshell. Yes, details are missing. Daniel shows back up and helps set up lights for a nighttime runway. They don’t crash—Strand is able to land the plane. Why didn’t he stay on it the first time given he’s the only one with flying experience? Who knows? Who cares? Surely not the producers and writers. Surely not the showrunners and AMC executives.

The other twist is that Logan isn’t the leader of these people who took over the mill. He’s basically working for them, trying to find them something and they’re losing their patience with him. So he goes to the good guys, conveniently right after they land, to commission their help. I guess he’s not the big bad for 5b. Actually, it looks like it might be another black lady. Because why not? Martha was such a big hit. No doubt they’ll write a really compelling villain with some backstory and stuff, and she won’t like people who aren’t strong enough and something something something.

Oh, John Dorie proposed to June. I’m still very much on Team Dorie, but June isn’t doing it for me. She’s just a boring character who’s lost all the quirks that made her interesting last season. Now June doesn’t run, she just talks about nothing like everyone else.

Suffice to say, I’m fed up with the direction this show has taken. The actors all deserve better. The show itself deserved better. We deserve better. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

On a bright note, The Walking Dead’s Season 10 trailer looks terrific!