The promise land isn’t easy to find on Fear the Walking Dead. In “Padre,” Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) asks for Morgan’s (Lennie James) help to find Padre, but he discovers that things are a bit more complicated.
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There are two stories going on in this episode. We find out what happened to Alicia after Teddy (John Glover) locked her in the Franklin Hotel shelter. And what she’s currently looking for.
BEFORE
Alicia tried her best to get out of the shelter. She looked around for another exit but only found Teddy’s followers. They set up a tree in a conference room and tied a walker to it, just like in Teddy’s underground community. Alicia was able to get away from them for a while and that’s when she met Will (Gus Halper).
Will has been in the shelter since the start of this apocalypse. When Teddy’s people found the place, they killed everyone but Will. He was doing maintenance when it happened and he’s been hiding ever since. Alicia wants to find a way out, but Will is a little scared to go topside. Will tells her to go back to Teddy’s people and play along. He will find a way out for her.
PADRE
After the walker bomb went off, Alicia and her people ran. They left everything behind and regrouped later. Morgan tells her that all of their belongings are exposed and too dangerous to go back for.
Alicia tells Morgan that she needs his help finding Padre. She doesn’t know where it is but Senator Vasquez does. There’s just one problem. Senator Vasquez is a walker. Alicia can’t explain it, but she just needs Morgan to trust her.
Sherry (Christina Evangelista) informs Alicia that there are rangers coming after them. Morgan says it’s Victor’s (Colman Domingo) people. They opened fire on Sherry because she’s wearing the same type of clothes as the people who attacked the Tower. Morgan sends everyone to the submarine, led by Dwight (Austin Amelio). He goes with Alicia and the senator to find Padre.
TAKING CONTROL
Alicia was given Senator Vasquez’s room. She found a folder labeled Padre. She hears someone on the radio say they found Will. Alicia immediately takes charge and tells them not to kill Will. She ordered everyone out to talk to Will. He recognizes the walker tied to the tree as Senator Vasquez.
Here’s what Will knows about Padre. It was set up by the government as a place for them to go in case the world collapsed. It has all of the resources they need. Only the government officials knew the location of the place, but it’s not Padre Island. That would be too obvious. Alicia asks if Will could find it, but he’s not sure. Will decided that if they find a way out, he can’t go with her, but if he stays, Teddy’s people will kill him. Alicia gives him the St. Christopher medallion for assurance and protection.
THE CHASE
As they follow the walker senator, Alicia stumbles. Morgan realizes she is sweating and looking a bit peckish. Alicia says she hasn’t eaten or slept much in the last week. A gunshot flies by Alicia’s shoulder and they have to take cover. Morgan yells to the shooters that they are not the people who attacked the tower. But the rangers are actually after Morgan for trying to kill Victor. Alicia is more worried about the walker senator. She risks her life trying to keep him from being shot in the head. Morgan tries to talk her out of going after the senator, but she won’t listen. He says everyone needs her.
They grab the senator and run into a ledge over a river. Alicia throws the senator in the water. The riders catch up and Victor jumps down. This is the first time he’s seen Alicia since before the bombs went off. She doesn’t say anything to him, she just jumps into the river. Morgan says Victor was right. Alicia doesn’t want to see him and he jumps too.
When they get back to land, Morgan says they need Alicia to lead. He can’t do it anymore. He’s wishing a world into existence that doesn’t want to be. Morgan needs Alicia to help him. They have to find someplace safe for everyone to live. Alicia thinks that place is Padre, but Morgan doesn’t think that Padre exists,
Morgan asks why Alicia is risking her life for a man that’s been dead for a long time. Alicia says he’s still in there. There’s an echo of the man he used to be. There has to be. Morgan used to think that and Duane died because he thought that. Alicia stops the conversation, preparing to leave again. Morgan grabs his ax and threatens to end the senator unless Alicia tells him what’s really going on. Victor and his rangers catch up to them on the river bank, ending the argument and stopping Morgan.
THE BUNKER
Will and Alicia let the senator go and follow him to the pipe system in the bunker. The senator is following rats, but gets distracted by Will and Alicia. Alicia opens up the senator and they cover themselves in walker blood. Will apologizes to the senator for opening him up. Alicia apologizes for forgetting that the dead used to be alive. Will thinks that’s why she met him. To remind her how things used to be.
They continue to follow the rats into a tunnel. Alicia follows the senator first with Will following. While they are in the tunnel, Teddy sets off the bombs from the submarine. The explosion causes the tunnel to cave in, separating Alicia and Will.
CAPTURED
Victor is curious about the walker and why Alicia won’t kill it. He pulls out a sword and holds it to the senator’s head. Alicia warns him not to make things worse than they already are. She knows what he built and what it cost him. Victor asks her to help him run the Tower. She’s the only person he can trust, and she asks if he’s sure about that. Alicia says she doesn’t need his tower. Victor asks if she’s looking for Padre. He doesn’t believe it exists, but Alicia won’t settle for what Victor has. He asks if she’s sure and she says yes.
Victor tells his men to kill Morgan and then kill the walker. He’s going to force Alicia to come with him. They take Morgan to the walker, intending for him to be bitten. Alicia gets up and tries to help Morgan. The walker bites Alicia instead! Alicia says she’s fine and tells Victor to leave.
THE TUNNEL
Alicia wakes up alone and sees the senator in the distance. The senator is still going after the rats, so she tried to quietly call for Will. She finally takes a chance and yells for Will. She tells him the senator is with her. Will starts digging faster to get to her.
Alicia puts rocks up on top of each other to block herself from the senator. She thinks she has a good blockade, but the senator easily gets through. She tries to put the rocks backup and the senator bites her arm. Alicia kicks him back and that causes more rocks to fall.
Alicia starts crying, telling Will that the senator bit her. She says it’s over. Will thinks there has to be a way to stop it. The people outside need her to save them. Alicia says there’s nothing to save. The warheads went off and the world outside was destroyed. Will says she needs to survive to rebuild the world. He tries to tell Alicia that he loves her but she stops him.
Alicia says the infection is spreading. She asks Will to promise not to let her hurt anyone. If it looks like she’s going to turn or if she starts to run a fever, Will has to kill her. He promises. Alicia takes her barrel/knife and cuts off her own arm and she passes out.
BROKEN PROMISES
When she wakes up, Will is with her. He tells her the bombs went off and she’s worried about her friends. He says Teddy’s people heard that her friends tried to stop Teddy but Victor got in the way.
Will says Alicia was asleep for a week. She ran a fever but the fever broke. Alicia is concerned that she even had a fever and thinks that she didn’t stop the infection from spreading. Will thinks the fever could be from sepsis, tetanus or an infection from amputating her arm. Alicia is upset that he didn’t kill her like he promised. She could have killed others. Alicia is taking responsibility for these people and can’t let anything threaten their lives, including her. She asked him to do one thing, but he didn’t do it. He can’t help her.
THE HAND
Morgan wants to look at Alicia’s hand, but she sits quietly. Alicia takes off her glove and reveals her decayed hand. She says she’s fine. Morgan has more questions but says she can tell him when she’s ready. Alicia picks up the senator and tries to move on. The senator leads Alicia and Morgan through some high grass. Alicia sees a light and thinks they found Padre. Morgan sees it and knows it’s the Tower. They get closer and the senator mixes in with the other walkers.
Morgan offers to take Alicia back to the sub, but she says no one will be safe. She didn’t amputate her arm in time. The infection is still inside her and her body is fighting it. It’s only a matter of time before she loses. She tried all kinds of antibiotics to help fight it, but nothing works.
Alicia can’t be the person Morgan needs her to be. She doesn’t know how much longer she has left. She thought it was long enough to find Padre, but the longer they look the more chance she has of hiring a lot of people. That’s why she needs Morgan. He realizes she needed to believe that there was still a part of the senator in the walker.
WILL’S FATE
Walkers approach them and Morgan goes out to kill them. Victor rides up to talk to Alicia. He feels bad about her bite, but she says for once it’s not his fault. She shows him her arm, but won’t say what happened. Victor says the walker led her to where she’s supposed to be. He invites her and her people to stay at the Tower. Alicia asks if he will take care of her people, even if she’s not there. He promises. She approaches Victor but sees a stray walker. Alicia walks to the walker and examines it.
In the past, Alicia wakes up and says she knows what she needs to do. Will isn’t there. He left a note apologizing for not keeping his promise. He wanted to remind her of how the world used to work but if he stays he will only remind her of a world that no longer exists. Will says she needs to build something better. He says not to worry about him, maybe one day he will get to see the world she built.
In the present, Alicia sees that the walker is Will. She puts the walker down and approaches Victor again. She asks if he killed Will and if Victor knew that she knew him. Victor admits that he did know and he killed Will to hurt Alicia. He needed her to stay away from the Tower so he could build it like he wanted to. Killing Will did that because Will admitted to being in love with Alicia
Alicia asks Morgan how long they can hold out at the sub. Morgan says about two weeks. Alicia says Victor took something from her and now she’s going to take his tower. Victor will protect it if he must. So, Alicia declares war on Victor.
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Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC. You can also stream new episodes early on AMC+.
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.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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