Why Emile's Bounty Hunting Skills Confuse Fear The Walking Dead Fans
When season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead premiered, fans were in for a very special episode. The Morgan Jones (Lennie James) focused hour was gritty, grueling, and satisfying (even though not everyone is a big Morgan fan these days). It also introduced a menacing new villain into the series... only to kill him off by the episode's end. But, nonetheless, for the time that he was on the show, Emile (Demetrius Grosse) had fans shook.
Emile is an axe-wielding bounty hunter whose skill at tracking down and killing his prey is matched only by his determination. In the premiere, titled "The End Is the Beginning," this contract killer had his sights set on Morgan, and Emile came very close to adding Morgan's severed head to his collection. What makes Emile such an effective and unnerving villain is the relentless way he pursues his victims. Because his desire to kill is a monetary one, he becomes an intimidating and seemingly unstoppable force.
While fans of The Walking Dead franchise got a thrill out of Emile's dogged pursuit, a few did have some questions about the specific tactics that he used to track Morgan down. In our age of smartphones and social media stalking, it can be easy to forget that finding a specific person somewhere in the United States without modern technology is no easy feat. While the show clearly establishes that Emile has the skills to do that, a few specific logic holes had fans asking questions.
Fans questioned some of Emile's tracking methods...
In "The End is the Beginning," Emile gets tasked with tracking down and killing Morgan. With the help of his trusty dog and a sketch of Morgan's face, Emile is able to locate him. The bounty hunter's pursuit made for a tense and compelling hour of TV, but as multiple fans pointed out on Reddit, some of his methods didn't quite add up.
In a discussion thread about the episode, user TweeKINGKev called into question how Emile's dog was able to track down Morgan by his scent, when neither Emile nor his dog have ever met the man in person. They pointed out, "He gets the call on the radio and a name and probably a description, but nothing else as far as I can remember. Then he just gets something to pick up the scent for his dog and that's it, shows up out of no where." User chamomilesmile agreed, writing, "The blood hound having a scent to follow bugged me too, like the dog can't magically know what Morgan smelled like. Wish they threw even something semi acknowledging that..."
Morgan's scent wasn't the only plot hole that fans noticed. User christhebeat had a question about the wanted sketch Emile was showing people: "Also how did he draw a picture of Morgan having never met him."
Some users pointed out possible solutions for those problems, but for TweeKINGKev, it comes down to not enough details being offered up by the show: "Yeah I feel like something was edited out that should have been in there." Emile's tracking methods, though, weren't the only issue viewers had with the way the show handled the character. One of the biggest is the fact that they're only getting one episode with the character.
...but they were also sad to see the newest Walking Dead character get killed off so quickly
Although Emile has a fearsome reputation as a successful bounty hunter, in the end, he's no match for Morgan, even though the latter is badly wounded. Emile is killed off in the very episode that he was introduced, making him a fascinating antagonist with an incredibly short lifespan on the show. This didn't sit well with some fans. Despite their qualms about how the show explained his methods, many loved the character himself and wanted to see more. In the same episode discussion thread, user Blackout9815 expressed disappointment that Emile was dispatched so quickly, and added, "I was like super excited for that charachter cause we have never seen a bounty hunter in the universe before...So it would have been cool to see Morgan for like half a season getting stalked by this guy and then kills him. User dpaquin agreed, stating, "[H]e looked to be built up as a Badass only to have a half dead Morgan defeat him so easily."
In a separate discussion thread, Giza_Butler also noted on what they saw as a missed opportunity, "The opening scene introducing him was brilliant, he was the best villain Fear has had in a long time. But I guess in the end they basically just used him for yet another Morgan personality switch."
It looks like even though they questioned his almost supernatural hunting skills, fans wanted to see more of this ruthless bounty hunter. And who knows. Even though he was decapitated on screen, there's always the chance that they'll find some crazy way to bring him back.