Recap
As the episode opens, we find the remnants of what is left of a downed airplane (Flight 462), along with a few survivors, one of them a woman named Alex (previously named Charlie in the miniseries) and a young kid named Jake. Quickly, however, the numbers dwindle, as a man is thrown overboard due to a bite on his leg, a man is stabbed for being too proactive in killing someone before they turn, and Jake, who is severely burned and is in a lot of pain. Alex is told that she needs to consider what is best for Jake, as she is trying furiously to keep him alive, but at the end of the scene, Jake tells Alex that it’s okay, giving her the approval to give him peace. Alex struggles with this, as she is not ready to let him go.
Back at the Abigail, we find the deceptive Strand frantically trying to connect to a number using the satellite phone, and we see the relief on his face when he is able to contact the mysterious voice on the other end of the last episode, telling them that they are on their way. Suddenly, during the middle of sexy-time between Travis and Madison, the boat suddenly starts to make an odd noise, and they soon find out that there may be an issue with the water intake valve, and that someone should go check it…under the boat. Amidst some arguing between Strand and Madison, Travis volunteers to be the one to go, seeing as they need to keep moving since they still don’t know what is following them out in the open water. Once decked in scuba gear, Travis takes the plunge into the dark depths, locating the valve’s issue: a zombie’s arm is stuck in it! Surprise! And not just any zombie, it’s the remaining member of Jake and Alex’s survival raft. Once back on the boat, Travis relays the bad news to Strand: he’ll need all day to repair the filtration system on the boat.
In her room, Ofelia is tending to her gunshot wound as her father walks in. She tells him that she’s out of antibiotics and that she’s feeling a bit warm. Ofelia tells Daniel that she can ask Madison, but Daniel stops her by telling her that this is a family matter, they’ll figure it out on their own. Ofelia makes the case that the people on the boat are friends to them, and will help them, but Daniel reminds her that if Madison had to choose between her or her own daughter, she’d choose her daughter in a heartbeat. On the deck, Alicia finds her mom to show her all the luggage that scatter the shore of a nearby coast. Nick and Chris quickly jump to Alicia’s request to go ashore and look for supplies, stating that Alicia has been scouting the area for some time and hasn’t seen a zombie. Madison refuses to let them go, not wanting to put them in danger. Alicia responds, “Stop putting us at the kid’s table!” It doesn’t seem to look good for the expedition until Daniel steps up to volunteer to go with them. While getting prepped to leave in the dinghy, Daniel has a quiet conversation with Madison about their duplicitous captain and what Daniel had found in his search for information: the maps that have them heading to Mexico.
Once the dinghy hits the shore, the team finds bodies littered all over the beach. Daniel quickly tells them to stay where he can see them and to work quickly finding the things they need. While searching, Chris decides to wander off, finding a piece of the fuselage still intact, and housing a few zombies. Chris, in his arrogance, taunts the zombies, and strikes one of them in the head with a slab of the hull, but to his surprise, finds that one of the passengers on the plane is still alive! Unfortunately, as Chris helps him out of his seat, he finds that the man has a broken spine, his bone protruding from his back. The man begs Chris to take his life, putting him out of his misery. Chris hesitates, offering the man some water, but after continuing to beg, Chris finally agrees. Taking the piece of metal he used earlier to kill the zombie, he lifts it to the man’s head, and with a thoughtful nod from the stranger, Chris swings in several times killing him.
While the team continues their search on land, Madison decides to have a talk on the boat with Strand and asks about Mexico. Strand confesses to Madison that there is a town in Baja California called Rosarito, where he says that among the hills stand a compound of sorts with food stores, gardens, a water filtration system, and high guarded walls. After some going back and forth about trust, Madison and Strand leave the conversation at an understanding: it’s going to take all of them to get them there. As she walks out, however, she does leave Strand with one small word of warning: “You even look wrong at anyone in my family, I will throw you overboard”. Madison goes, later, down to where Travis is working to tell him about the conversation she had with Strand, stating that they need to trust Strand. Travis, already weary of trusting Strand, begins to lament about how it feels like she trusts Strand more than him. Tensions begin to build under the surface as Travis tells her that if they don’t have a choice, then it’s not trust.
As Nick finds plenty of antibiotics in a doctor’s bag, he hears a growling, and not being one to take precautions, ends up going to investigate it, only to find himself at the bottom of a drop, face to face with a zombie. He makes quick work of it, utilizing the pocket knife he had found in one of the bags, but as he breathes a sigh of relief, he hears another growl in the distant, one that has just fallen right on top of him in the small gorge. As Daniel continues to look for Chris, he notices a small-framed figure running down a large dune in the distance. He suddenly realizes that it isn’t Chris, and as Alex comes near, she yells “They’re coming”, with a horde of zombies following right behind. Alicia soon finds Chris near the part of the fuselage, asking him if he’s alright from the sight of blood on his shirt. He says to not worry, that it wasn’t his, and they make their way back to the group. Once together, the overwhelming number of zombies swarm the beach, leaving the group cornered on a cliff. Alicia and Chris take up arms with whatever they can find to swing while Daniel expertly fires head-shots from his pistol. Daniel’s clip is soon gone, however, and finds himself at the chomping end of a zombie, but not before Alex finds a unique use of a stake by driving it into the skull of one of them. Pressed back to the edge, the team is surely doomed, Alicia frantically asking where Nick was, and right on cue, we see a blood-covered Nick appear among the ranks of the dead, swinging something he found and hitting zombies left and right. As they make their escape, plus one, Alicia throws her arms around Nick, grateful that he’s alright. Making their way into the dinghy, Alex says they need to make a pit-stop before they get to the boat.
As Madison and Strand look on with binoculars, Strand is not happy to see more people coming aboard. Once the dinghy is back at the boat and everyone is asked about what had happened on the beach, Strand immediately utters the word “No”, not having to go into the previous conversation about taking on others in previous episodes. Alicia is quick to respond that they need help, but Strand says that they don’t have room and that they can’t take them where they’re going. Madison then tells the group about the trip to Mexico, and the compound they’re going to. As everyone’s suspicions begin to be voiced, Travis takes a step forward, defending the reasons why the plan hadn’t been mentioned before, surprising Madison. Strand steps in and says that the added people will be a “liability”. Everyone explodes with anger, even Alex has if they’re really debating this, to which Travis puts his foot down and says that they’ll tow them to San Diego; they’ll give them food and water, but that they’ll have to stay in the raft. Silently, everyone agrees. Strand makes his way back to the bridge and starts the boat forward, looking concerned and worried, pacing back and forth. Alex, in the raft that’s being towed by the boat, holds Jake in her arms and comforts him, saying some sort of mantra over and over: “This is the worst. It’ll never hurt worse than right now. And every day, it’ll be getting a little better. This is the worst it’s going to be.” As Madison looks on at the raft not too far behind, suddenly she hears footsteps, as she sees Strand barreling down the steps towards her. She asks him what he’s doing, but before she can stop him, he goes down to where the raft is tied off, and cuts the cord with a cleaver, walking off without a word.
Review
This week’s episode gave a great story, but I’m think I’m more impressed with the performance of the series’ standout actor so far, Frank Dillane, who plays Nick. Each time we see him on-screen, it just seems to really highlight his abilities as an actor, and his range of playing both sides of the spectrum, from junkie to the redeemer of his own life. He continuously gives a stellar performance each week, giving fans a true hero that could have been one truly out of the world of Robert Kirkman.
The story of the episode was a bit flimsy, as not so much on the part of the search for supplies, but on Madison, who had been established as a momma bear type who looks out for her own, bending her own morals and logic by just agreeing with Strand, ultimately, on his plan about going to Mexico, without a second thought. Yes, we had a quick flare of the teeth with the “overboard” threat, but other than that, she spends the rest of the episode trying to join in on the plan, and make them okay with it. Even all the way to the end when Strand goes and cuts the rope that is towing the remaining survivors’ raft, she just watches him and doesn’t try to stop him! I understand the idea of not having any other option to survive anywhere else but the boat, but when did it become a dictatorship? It’s only three episodes in, and this man has created the most quick and dramatic rise to power I’ve ever seen in TV!
Ultimately, the story worked out in the end, as the primary focus was the search-for-supplies-gone-bad scenario, and that flowed well for me. I’m interested in see how Chris will continue to evolve (or devolve?) as he is constantly being exposed to finding ways to lessen the fear of taking a life. Each episode, we’ve seen his descent into this pit of his go deeper and deeper, and this week, we see him take a human life, which has a huge effect on him, yet when he is found by Alicia, shrugs off the whole experience as nothing. Overall, I’m continuing to enjoy the progression of the story, and how the world is slowly becoming that of which we are already familiar with in The Walking Dead.
What did you think of the show? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Fear the Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 10/9p.m on AMC.