The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead, Season 7, Episode 12, "Sonny Boy," which aired Sunday, May 8, on AMC.
As an apocalyptic show with radioactive zombies, Fear the Walking Dead is no stranger to deaths; the problem is that they usually don't matter. The series has made a habit of introducing useless, one-off characters and killing them off in the same episode. That, in turn, allows the main cast to come out of difficult situations unscathed. The trend has gone past a casual bit of plot armor into something fans actively dislike. For goodness' sake, a nuclear bomb went off, and none of the protagonists died…
There have been a few significant deaths over the last season and a half. Teddy (who was proven right in Dead in the Water), Dakota and Ginny all died, but none of their endings had a real emotional impact on the series. That means the last time FTWD floored its audience with a character death was when Dakota killed John Dorie in Season 6, Episode 8, "The Door." However, "Sonny Boy" might have come close to that emotional trauma because it killed off two important players in the same episode.
Season 7A promised a war between Alicia and Strand, but Season 7B has yet to make that happen. The midseason premiere was a failure, and the only major development afterward was that Daniel vowed to destroy Strand. The first real challenge to Strand's dominion came in "Sonny Boy." In the past, John Dorie Sr. made it clear that he disagreed with how Strand runs his tower -- and he finally made a move. He planted a radio in Howard's room and framed the Strand devotee as a traitor. Meanwhile, June stole Baby Mo and tried to smuggle her out to Morgan.
Unfortunately, both of those schemes fell apart. Strand told John to throw Howard off of the roof, but John admitted that he planted the radio, and Strand loved that he was willing to be so conniving. (But he still had John throw Howard off of the roof.) The other half of the plot collapsed when John found June trying to smuggle Baby Mo out. He wouldn't let her leave because he wanted to return Mo to Strand, thereby getting into Strand's good graces.
But when John realized that Strand never actually committed to anyone -- he was willing to cast Howard aside and John himself was never actually in the inner circle -- he made his move. He knocked Strand unconscious and, using a hodge-podge suit of armor, took Baby Mo out through the sea of walkers. Unfortunately, he was bitten along the way, and after giving Mo to Morgan, he sacrificed himself so that the two of them could escape. Both Howard and John's deaths were impactful... but also, still somewhat stupid.
Howard's death disproved the theories that he would be the ultimate villain of Seasons 7 and 8, but there was no logical reason for Strand to get rid of him knowing that he wasn't a traitor. John's death, on the other hand, ensured that Strand couldn't use Mo as leverage against Morgan. Smuggling her out was also his way of atoning for leaving his son all those years ago. However, throwing himself at a sea of walkers made no sense. Morgan could have gotten away just fine, so shooting himself (or something similar) would have been much less painful than being eaten alive. Regardless, Howard and John's deaths definitely came as two surprises for FTWD fans, and will hopefully spur on the still-looming war for the tower.
To see how Howard and John Dorie Sr.'s deaths impact the series, tune into Fear the Walking Dead Season 7. New episodes air Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and are available to stream early on AMC+.