Which brings us back to Plutarch and Theseus’s Paradox. This thought experiment asks: If an object—in this case, the Ship of Theseus—has all of its components replaced, does it remain fundamentally the same object? In other words, if over time you replace every plank of a boat until none of the original wood remains, is it really the same boat anymore? The same could be asked of Fear’s fourth-season premiere: If you scoop out everything about the show that made it unique, is it fundamentally the same show?

Now, don’t get me wrong—I love “Story.” And I especially love Morgan anytime Lennie James is onscreen. He may not have been my first choice as the TWD character to make the crossover to Fear, but Gimple and new showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg make it work. All of Gimple’s other creative choices work very, very well, too.

For all intents and purposes, this isn’t so much a premiere as it is a reboot—Fear 2.0 if you will. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you were not a fan of the show in its previous incarnation. On the other hand, if you’ve been troubled by TWD’s last couple of seasons, you may be troubled by Gimple’s influence on Fear. I had those same doubts, but they were quickly dashed.

Yes, the episode’s opening moments feel more like a coda to TWD’s eighth season, especially given that Morgan is very much still surrounded by familiar faces. And yes, Morgan is still a warrior-philosopher, battling both personal demons and zombies. But James is just so damn likable. He makes Morgan someone to believe in and root for. His journey of discovery is our journey, too.

But he’s not the only new character we encounter in “Story.” There’s the lonely gunslinger, John Dorie, played by Deadwood alum Garret Dillahunt. He’s immensely likable from the get-go, a man with a love for popcorn and hard candy. He’s also personable and chatty. You wonder how someone like this might get along with Morgan, who’s given to long silences and tortured introspection—and yet their pairing works very well. Plus, they have more in common than they may first realize. This reveal is one of the episode’s lighter moments and it’s well-earned.