The Door (Fear the Walking Dead)

"The Door" is the eighth episode and mid-season premiere of the sixth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series Fear the Walking Dead. The 77th episode overall, "The Door" was released on the streaming platform AMC+ on April 4, 2021, in the United States,^[1] and aired on television on AMC one week later, on April 11, 2021.^[2] The episode was directed by Michael Satrazemis and written by Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg.

A reunion with an old friend helps pull John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) out of his darkest moment yet. Back at Lawton, Virginia (Colby Minifie) demands answers.

Plot[]

At his cabin, John (Garret Dillahunt) prepares to commit suicide, but he is interrupted by walkers washing up near his cabin. While investigating the perimeter, John finds Morgan (Lennie James) and Dakota (Zoe Colletti), who are hiding from Virginia's rangers and a walker horde they had walled in on the only bridge out of the area. Depressed, John agrees to help them get through the herd, but refuses to join Morgan's new community despite Morgan's constant attempts to convince him otherwise.

Virginia (Colby Minifie) contacts Morgan, revealing that she is holding Grace (Karen David), Daniel (Ruben Blades), Sarah (Mo Collins), June (Jenna Elfman), and Wes (Colby Hollman) hostage to ensure Dakota's safety. Ranger Marcus (Justin Smith) finds the cabin and captures Morgan, forcing John to kill him to save Morgan. By placing doors on the front of an old truck, the three of them drive their way through the herd and eliminate it. Afterwards, Morgan arranges a meeting with Virginia at John's cabin to force him out of hiding from the world. As Morgan leaves, John discovers that Dakota's knife has the same handle as the piece found near the crime scene back at Lawton. Dakota confesses she murdered Cameron and then shoots John to protect her secret. Morgan returns and Dakota points her gun at him. Morgan sees the knife and realizes the truth. Dakota orders Morgan to take her to her community as planned and reveals that she was the one who saved him at Humbug's Gulch after Virginia shot him. Dakota says the only reason she saved him was because she wants him to kill Virginia.

Meanwhile, Dwight (Austin Amelio) brings Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) to the dam community. Morgan radios Dwight and Althea (Maggie Grace) to tell them to prepare for an impending battle against the Pioneers. Alerted by Morgan, June finds John stranded outside his cabin, but he has already died and reanimated. A devastated June puts him down.

Production[]

"The Door" marked the death of John Dorie (played by Garret Dillahunt).

"The Door" features the death of John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) at the hands of Dakota (Zoe Colletti).^[3] John Dorie first appeared as a main character in the fourth season premiere episode, "What's Your Story?".^[4]

In an interview with Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly, Garret Dillahunt revealed his departure from the character and explained:

"I don't remember exactly when, but it's something we'd been talking about since season 5. And then we had a lot of conversations between 5 and 6 about how John would exit. And they came up with this great idea — great, and tragic, and wonderful, and believable in this world for how to get him off the show. And, at the same time, propel the story forward."^[5]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

"The Door" received critical acclaim, though some were mixed on the death of John Dorie. David S.E. Zapanta from Den of Geek! praised the episode and gave a perfect of 5 out of 5 rating and wrote: "'The Door' is careful to balance out the human drama with moments of intense zombie action. The bridge-clearing scene in particular is especially gruesome and violent. All three are committed to getting through that horde, working in tandem to forge ahead, earning every bit of ground along the way."^[6] Emily Hannemann of TV Insider gave the episode a perfect 5 out of 5 rating as well, writing "A fantastic, heartbreaking episode that harkens back to the days where characters died randomly and shockingly."^[7] Paul Dailly of TV Fanatic gave the episode a score of 4 out of 5 stars, writing "Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 8 featured high stakes and many payoffs, even if we did lose one of the best characters on the show."

In his review, Erik Kain of Forbes was upset by John's death and wrote: "The death of John Dorie was a long time coming. I get the feeling that Dillahunt was not entirely happy with Fear and might have wanted to take his talents elsewhere. It’s a shame nonetheless."^[8] Ray Flook of Bleeding Cool gave a positive review of the episode and praised the acting by Dillahunt and Colletti and wrote: "Dillahunt portrays that conflict amazingly, conveying both the nobility and doubt behind the decisions he makes with only a few words–he tells his story as much through his face and body language as anything else. As for Colletti, this is a game-changing episode for the actor personally and professionally [...] and demonstrates a range we hadn't seen from Colletti on the series–and we really, really like it. In less than an hour, Dakota just became one of the more fascinating 'big bads' Fear TWD has seen in some time with so many possibilities storyline-wise."^[9]

Ratings[]

The episode was seen by 1.17 million viewers in the United States on its original air date, above the previous episodes.^[10]

References[]

External links[]

• "The Door" at AMC.com
• "The Door" at IMDb