Things get really messy in the mid-season finale of Fear the Walking Dead. In “All I See is Red,” Morgan (Lennie James) struggles with his demons while trying to convince Mo (Zoey Merchant) that there is a better life out there. After Grace’s death last week, Mo saw the truth of what Shrike (Maya Eshet) has been saying all along. She volunteered to clear the shipyard for PADRE and the prefects followed her. Shrike locked Morgan in the train car so he couldn’t interfere.
To start out, Morgan escaped the train car, but it’s not clear how he did it. All we know is that Madison (Kim Dickens) found him killing walkers and he swung his ax at her. She had to knock him out to stop him and hide his ax in the train car. That’s when she saw the writing on the wall … in blood. He cut open Grace’s head to use her blood. But he has not memory of doing it.
Morgan explains that he has these episodes when all he sees is red. He starts killing everything in front of him, dead or alive. He tells Madison to leave him alone, but she won’t do that. She says she was lost once too and he helped her find herself. Now she’s going to stay by his side and help him find Mo.
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The next morning, they get to the shipyard, but Mo and the prefects aren’t there. There are still a lot of walkers though. Morgan has another episode. Daniel (Rubén Blades) and his people are there to help him snap out of it. There’s no sign of Mo at the shipyard and Morgan almost loses it again. According to Daniel, the prefects got to the shipyard and opened the gates. They were overwhelmed by the dead and retreated. The dead followed though, so now Mo is leading the herd into the swamp. Shrike evacuated the island thinking the current would wash the dead ashore, making the island unsafe. She moved everyone to a cargo ship and loaded some of the containers on board.
Morgan reaches out to Mo on the walkie, trying to convince her to come back to him, but she’s not answering. He wants to go into the swamp to find her, but Daniel’s people stop him. They hear from June (Jenna Elfman) that the prefects are surrounded by walkers. Mo is leading everyone to a houseboat to find safety. Madison is worried that Morgan could hurt someone. She offers to go, but doesn’t remember where the houseboat is located. Morgan has to go too since he knows where it is, so Daniel says they will all go to stop Morgan from hurting anyone.
Meanwhile, Shrike and her brother Crane (Daniel Rashid) are looking for coordinates that their dad had for new locations to settle. They can’t find the coordinates in any of the files or the containers. Shrike thinks they could be on her father’s body. She orders the prefects to find her father and get his binoculars. Mo questions why they can’t pick a new place to expand. Shrike says the coordinates were chosen after years of studying for the best geographical, meteorological and topographical locations for survival.
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Morgan hears their conversation and starts to argue about what’s best for Mo. He says he won’t lose his kid to Shrike. Mo says Morgan already lost her. She tells him not to come after her and turns off her radio. This causes Morgan to have another episode. This time, he gets separated from Madison and Daniel. When he wakes up, he’s sinking in mud. His ax is nearby, in an oxygen tank, indicating that he may have hurt Madison. He radios Mo and says he changed his mind. If she sees him, she needs to run away from him. Mo is still in the swamp, looking for Shrike’s father.
At the repeater station, June finds Dwight (Austin Amelio) loading up weapons and plans to go to the swamp to kill Shrike. June tells Dwight to stay with his family. She can’t do anything more for Finch (Gavin Warren). Dwight should spend as much time with Finch as he has left. Sherry (Christine Evangelista) will need him too. Dwight hands over the gun to June and returns to his family.
Morgan shows up at the swamp and has another episode. When he returns to reality, Mo is stabbing him in the shoulder. She says it’s the only way she could stop him from hurting her. Morgan calls for Madison to help Mo and tells the girl to walk away from him. He passes out, forcing Mo to carry him to the houseboat.
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Mo ties his wrist to the wall so he won’t hurt her. Morgan wakes up and sees that they are surrounded by walkers. He asks why she didn’t run away from him. She says she did but he wouldn’t let her go. The only reason she saved him is because she didn’t want to watch him die, like she had to do with Grace. Morgan finds a flare gun, but has to open a window to shoot it. He radios Madison to let her know that the flare was from him. He asks her to come to them quickly and help Mo. Madison says she’s on her way and makes her way to a boat, only to be stopped by Shrike and Crane.
They hold Madison at gunpoint with a few guards behind them. Daniel and his army show up, killing the guards and telling Madison to go. Dove (Jayla Walton) shows up with the prefect army. She knows the parent army won’t shoot them, which is why they will lose. Everyone starts shooting each other, giving Madison an opportunity to leave.
The house boat is sinking and walkers are starting to enter. Mo is killing them as quickly as she can but she won’t cut Morgan loose to help her. Morgan calls Madison on the radio and asks how close she is. Madison is on her way, but she’s having trouble breathing. Morgan remembers that Madison left an oxygen tank in the boat. He makes sure it works before giving it to Mo. He instructs her to swim under the walkers and away from the boat. Mo doesn’t want to leave him to die. Morgan says they’ve been in this situation before. When she was a baby, they ended up in the boathouse to get away from the walkers. He started seeing red and killed some of the walkers. When he came to, he was standing over Mo. That’s when he called PADRE and gave Mo to them. He knew he couldn’t protect her and break the cycle. This time he will.
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Mo leaves and Morgan calls Madison to tell her to look for Mo. Shrike hears them on the radio and says Wren (Mo) is coming with them and he will never see her again. Morgan turns around and sees Shrike’s father and the binoculars. He informs her that he has the coordinates. He’s going to bury her father and the coordinates in the swamp. She will never see them again. Morgan sees red and blacks out again.
When Morgan comes to, Madison is standing over him. She said the house boat sank and she dug him out. He asks about Mo, but Madison won’t say where she is. He starts to see red again, getting agitated because he can’t lose Mo. Madison calms him down a little, saying you never really lose people. He disagrees.
Shrike shows up, demanding the coordinates, but Morgan wasn’t able to retrieve them. He starts to see red again and then spots Shrike’s father climbing out of the water. Shrike turns around to face him and drops her gun. She remembers who he was when he was alive and starts crying. Shrike falls to her knees, allowing her father to push her down and bite her. Madison knocks the walker off of Shrike and kills him. She grabs the binoculars and finds the coordinates. Shrike is still alive and keeps saying she’s sorry. Madison says Shrike never lost her father. He was always with her.
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Crane has Daniel and his army on their knees. The prefects surround them with guns drawn. Crane orders the prefects to kill the parent army, but they all hesitate. Daniel says forcing a child to kill for the first time is harder than they think. He knows because he was forced to kill. He wishes someone would have stopped him and warns everyone that they will never be able to live with themselves after their first kill.
Mo, Madison and Morgan show up, separately. Madison and Morgan offer the coordinates to Crane, not asking for anything in return. In fact, Morgan says he’s ready to let Mo go, if that’s what she wants and that ends the conflict. Dove and Crane don’t believe them, trying to convince Mo that Morgan is messing with her head.
Morgan says the only one with a messed up head is him. He doesn’t want to lose Mo, but Madison reminded him that they never really lose anyone; you never lose the people who matter to you the most.. Madison says they saw it with Shrike. When she saw her father, she remembered who he was and what he stood for. And what he intended for PADRE to be. That part of him was still alive in Shrike because the people that are closest to you become a part of you.
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Morgan tells the kids to go to the ship and see where it takes them. And to remember the people they left behind. A day will come when they realize how important those people are. Mo says she doesn’t want to just remember Morgan, she wants to be with him and hugs him. The other kids lower their guns.
Morgan and Madison told June where to find Shrike. June took her to the train car and put her in a bed. Shrike wakes up to a walker in her face. She begs June to help her by giving her a high dose of radiation. June says it’s not up to her. June radios Dwight to let him know she has Shrike. Finch tells his dad not to let her suffer. No one should feel what he’s feeling. Dwight tells June to make it quick and painless. June says that’s more than Shrike deserves. Crane shows up to be with his sister. June allows it, saying he has to kill her when it’s time. Or June will do it. And after he buries her body, he should find another place to live.
Morgan and Mo are leaving the island with Grace’s body. He says everything that happened reminded him of the people he left behind. He’s returning to them to make up for leaving them and to make sure they are okay. They thank Madison and say goodbye.
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Dwight and Sherry bury Finch and then decide to end their relationship. Dwight wants to return home to start over. Madison tells the PADRE survivors that they are going to find their parents and bring them to the island. She wants to make PADRE what it was meant to be.
Morgan buries Grace next to his friend Eastman. He gifts Mo with a bow staff of her own. She practices her moves while Morgan talks to Eastman. He talks about what he’s learned. How people are important and the time he spends with those he loves is important. He asks Eastman to look after Grace.
Morgan tells Mo that they are going to look for his friend, Rick Grimes. He turns on his radio and calls out for Rick. he says he’s coming to look for him. He will turn on the radio every morning at dawn and leave the radio on for a few minutes after. Maybe Rick will actually be listening. Before Morgan leaves he kisses his hand and touches the dirt on Grace’s grave. He remembers all of the friends he lost (during his time on this show.) He stands up and leaves with his daughter.
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In the final scene, we hear Madison on a radio, calling out to anyone who dealt with PADRE. She says they are no longer a threat and gives out the coordinates to find them. Someone, with blond hair, writes the coordinates down. They pick up a map, sunglasses, a hammer and Alicia’s prosthetic arm. They put the items in the bag and leave the room.
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News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
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