"210 Words Per Minute" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of the

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

'' Fear the Walking Dead'', which aired on

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on August 18, 2019. The episode was written by

Andrew Chambliss Andrew Chambliss is an American television writer and producer. He is well known for working on series such as ''Dollhouse'', ''The Vampire Diaries'', and was an executive producer on ''Once Upon a Time''. He is currently the executive produce ...

and

Ian Goldberg Ian Avrum Goldberg (born March 31, 1973) is a cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is best known for breaking Netscape's implementation of SSL (with David Wagner), and for his role as chief scientist of Radialpoint (formerly Zero Knowledge Syste ...

and directed by

Ron Underwood Ronald Brian Underwood (born November 6, 1953) is an American film and television director, known for directing such films as ''Tremors (1990 film), Tremors'' (1990), ''City Slickers'' (1991), ''Heart and Souls'' (1993),'' and Mighty Joe Young ...

Plot

Morgan, Dwight, and Grace receive a call from Chuck, a man who works at a nearby mall. Chuck was bitten by a walker and wants them to kill him before he turns. At the mall, Grace begins to feel ill from the effects of radiation sickness and passes out. Dwight leaves to get medical supplies and vows to return with the caravan the next morning. Alone at the mall, Morgan and Grace share details about their past lives and they are both attracted to one another. They find an Urgent Care center, but when they try to enter, a security alarm goes off, attracting walkers. When Dwight returns with the caravan, he is kidnapped by Rollie, a member of Logan's crew. Rollie taunts Dwight over Sherry, but Dwight quickly takes the lead. Instead of killing him, Dwight decides to free Rollie, but orders him to leave the area and never return. After fighting the walkers, Morgan and Grace find Chuck on the roof, where he dies in peace. Grace decides not to use the urgent care center because she doesn't want to worry about how long she has left. The next morning, Morgan and Grace bury Chuck when the caravan arrives. Morgan decides to help Althea on a separate supply run, leaving Grace behind without admitting his true feelings for her.

Reception

"210 Words Per Minute" received mixed reviews. It currently holds a 50% positive rating with an average score of 6.67/10 out of 12 on the review aggregator

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. The critics' consensus reads: "'210 Words Per Minute' refreshingly introduces romance to Lennie James' Morgan, but lethargic pacing and confused character motivations rots this installment's better qualities." Liam Mathews of

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

praised the performance of

Lennie James Lennie Michael James (born 11 October 1965) is a British actor, screenwriter, and playwright. His work includes playing Morgan Jones in the television series, '' The Walking Dead'' and in its spin-off, '' Fear the Walking Dead'', and starring ...

and wrote: "The tearful final scene between Morgan and Grace was well played. Lennie James is one of the best actors on either show in the franchise, and when he's given good material, he nails it." Nick Romano of

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

was negative about the episode and wrote: "The merry-go-round at the finish of '210 Words Per Minute' is the physical manifestation of what Fear the Walking Dead has become: a tedious round-about that never ends and always circles back to where it began."

Rating

The episode was seen by 1.37 million viewers in the United States on its original air date, below the previous episodes.

References

External links

"210 Words Per Minute"
at AMC.com * {{portal bar, Television, United States 2019 American television episodes Fear the Walking Dead episodes Television episodes directed by Ron Underwood