In its first three seasons, Fear the Walking Dead had a relatively small and close-knit cast. Each character was well-developed, with a clear arc. Unfortunately, that didn't last. Fear the Walking Dead's characterization started to go downhill after Season 4. In Season 7, it grew worse than ever, and there's no better example than Wes.
To be perfectly honest, Wes has been pretty useless for most of his run on Fear the Walking Dead. Nothing against actor Colby Hollman, but the writers have hardly utilized his character. Wes had one storyline where his brother Derek was a part of Teddy's group, but that lasted for one episode before Wes killed Derek. That lack of characterization is glaringly obvious in how Season 7 transformed Wes into a villain.
Wes' Character Change Was Executed Poorly
Wes appeared in "Ofelia" as a supporting character in Daniel and Luciana's story, and that was his first real appearance in Season 7. He and Luciana went looking for Daniel, but Arno's group captured them. Then there was a whole mess with Daniel losing his memory and thinking that Arno was holding Ofelia captive. When the dust settled, Arno was dead and Luciana told Daniel that Strand was holding Ofelia hostage. It was a cruel lie, but Luciana deemed it necessary to ensure that Daniel would be useful against Strand.
Apparently, that was too much for Wes. He defected to Strand's tower, and after the recent character deaths, he set himself up as Strand's new "partner." In "The Raft," it was clear he had embraced his new position because he was the one spearheading the search for Baby Mo. As part of that, there were multiple scenes where he really wanted to kill Dwight and Sherry. But that made no sense -- there was no character development to support that assertion -- or much character development for him at all.
Making Wes a villain wasn't a bad idea, but Fear the Walking Dead's writers did it completely wrong. There was zero build-up to his defection, and his willingness to kill Dwight and Sherry felt ridiculous. Maybe he thought the tower would be the best place to live, but he turned into a murderous Benedict Arnold in just a few days. It was a disservice to his character to see how he switched sides with little to no motivation, but that's on par for the course in Fear the Walking Dead.
And seeing how Wes switched sides only meant one thing -- his death in the following episode. The writers wanted to ensure someone relatively important dies while fighting on Strand's side, so they moved Wes over to the villain's side to create that impact. That would make sense, given Fear the Walking Dead's current aim to pile up the bodies on its way to another reboot. The once-small cast has become unwieldy, and narrowing it down helped to make room for Madison Clark's big return. The smaller cast also allowed the series to start focusing on characterization again, with Wes being an example of how that completely went by the wayside.
Tune into Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 with new episodes, airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC. They are available to stream early on AMC+.