Fear the Walking Dead has given us a compelling story this season.  There are two big questions that need to be answered. What happened at the stadium?  Where is Madison (Kim Dickens)?

Poor John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt). He fell in love, lost his love, found his love, then got shot.  Naomi/Laura (Jenna Elfman) joined the vultures after the fall of the stadium.  Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) was so upset that she shot at Naomi, hitting John. 

It’s time to find out what has made Alicia so outraged.  In “Wrong Side of Where You are Now,” Madison does what she can to make the stadium work.  And in the present, Alicia is determined to get her revenge on the Vultures.

RELATED: Recap Last Week’s FEAR THE WALKING DEAD, “Just in Case”

Present

They say you life flashes before your eyes when you die. If that’s the case, then Naomi/Laura is John Dorie’s life. He thinks about their boat ride, playing scrabble and eating together.  Naomi pulls him back asking him to stay with her.  John tells Naomi that he got her note.  Morgan (Lennie James) tells Naomi that he’s John’s friend.  She leaves to get medical supplies from the ambulance in the caravan.  

After Alicia shoots John, a gun fight begins.  The Vultures hide behind their vehicles. Mel (Kevin Zegers) decides the Vultures need to retreat.  He tells Naomi that they have to leave and jumps in the ambulance.  As he drives away, Alicia shoots the ambulance with an grenade launcher on her gun.  Alicia walks towards Naomi saying they took her in and gave her a home.  Naomi hits Alicia and runs back to John. 

Fear the Walking Dead

Luciana (Danay Garcia) and Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) in Fear the Walking Dead, “The Wrong Side of Where You are Now”, Photo by Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Strand (Colman Domingo) and Luciana (Danay Garcia) move in on the Vultures, killing as they go along.  Luciana finds Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) and pulls her gun on her. Charlie apologizes for killing Nick (Frank Dillane).  Another Vulture approaches and Luciana turns to shoot him, giving Charlie an opportunity to escape.  

Naomi tells Morgan that they need to move John or he will die.  She knows of a place, but they need transportation.  Morgan pleads with Al (Maggie Grace) to take them where they need to go. Al is recording everything and doesn’t want to leave.  Morgan says the conflict is over. They need to save a good man from dying.

Alicia approaches Naomi and John with her gun drawn.  Al drives up and draws her truck guns on Alicia.  Alicia backs off so Morgan and Naomi can put John in the truck.  Morgan sees Charlie running to the ambulance to check on Mel. He tells her that Mel is gone and she needs to go with him because its the only way she’s going to live.  Charlie jumps in the truck with Morgan and they leave. Naomi tells Al to go to the stadium.

Charlie asks Morgan why he saved her. He says the killing has to stop at some point.  Morgan tells Naomi that John has been looking for her.  He never gave up on her.  She says when she tries to protect someone, they end up getting hurt.  Al asks Naomi what she did to Alicia, Strand and Luciana.  Charlie says it wasn’t Naomi’s fault, it was hers.

Mel (Kevin Zegers) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) in Fear the Walking Dead, “The Wrong Side of Where You are Now”, Photo by Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Back at the racetrack, Alicia finds a car with keys in it.  They load up and discuss where Al’s truck could be going.  All they know is that Naomi needs medical supplies.  Luciana says the Vultures raided every place from the track to the stadium.  Strand says every place, but one. Alicia sees Mel get out of the ambulance. She goes to look at him and ask how long Naomi was with them.  Mel doesn’t answer. She says it doesn’t matter and kills Mel. 

FLASHBACK

So here’s what happened. After Naomi delivered on the seeds and fertilizer, Nick immediately began replanting everything. He tells Madison that they won’t have any food for months, but she’s not worried.  She says she thought they wouldn’t make it plenty of times, but she keeps going knowing she doesn’t want to be on the outside anymore.  Someone calls her on the radio to tell her that she has a visitor.

Charlie arrives at the stadium asking for Madison’s help.  She takes them to a crash site. Mel is in a bus and he’s knocked out. She tells them that Ennis (Evan Gamble) and Mel were arguing.  Mel swerved to miss a walker and crashed. Ennis left him and Charlie behind.  Naomi checks out Mel and suggests they take him back to the stadium.  Nick and Alicia are suspicious.  Nick reminds Madison that Charlie tricked them.  Madison reminds him that Naomi held her at gunpoint, now they have crops because of her. 

Fear the Walking Dead

Nick (Frank Dillane) in Fear the Walking Dead, “The Wrong Side of Where You are Now”, Photo by Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

They take Mel back to the stadium and chain him to a bed. He wakes up and says he needs to leave.  Naomi tells him that he has a serious injury.  He tells them that Ennis is planning something. Madison says they can handle whatever Ennis brings to them.  He tells her it’s not Ennis that she should be worried about. 

Elsewhere, Ennis loads up walkers into a trailer.  At the stadium, Strand shows everyone one of the Vulture flags. He says they went to the settlement and it was empty. But that wasn’t the only one.  He and Cole (Sebastian Sozzi) visited other settlements and took the flags of all those that were empty of people and walkers. Ennis is bringing all of those walkers to the stadium.  Madison tells everyone to fortify the stadium. 

RELATED: Catch up on FEAR THE WALKING DEAD Season 4 Here! 

Mel is in the infirmary coughing.  Naomi checks on him and he pulls a knife on her. She hits his ribs so he drops the knife and lays back down. Mel says Charlie told him that she was the new person there. So Naomi knows what can happen to communities like the stadium.  Everyone dies, but it doesn’t have to be like that for her. He keeps warning them, but they won’t listen.  So maybe Naomi will listen.  He says he will help her if she helps him.  He has a feeling that she knows he’s right. 

Naomi goes to find Madison to warn her that they need to leave.  Madison says that’s what the Vultures want. She built the stadium up for Nick and Alicia to have a safe place.  Madison says she thought about walking away and even put together a ‘just in case’ car.  She’s not walking away. Naomi suggests that she reconsider. Madison wants to know what Mel said to her, but Naomi says he didn’t have to say anything.  Naomi has been on the the wrong side of where Madison is now and it’s not worth the risk. 

Fear the Walking Dead

Nick (Frank Dillane), Strand (Colman Domingo), Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), and Naomi (Jenna Elfman) in Fear the Walking Dead, “The Wrong Side of Where You are Now”, Photo by Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Madison releases Mel and says he’s free to go.  She asks why he’s really there, thinking he wants to tear the stadium down from the inside. He tells her that he won’t leave without Charlie, but Madison is confident that Charlie is safer with her.  Mel continues to argue for Charlie.  He says she’s holding onto something that is already gone. Madison pulls a gun on him and Mel leaves.  Everyone gives Madison a disappointed look.

Nick tells Madison that she shouldn’t have let Mel go. She says she’s trying to protect him and his sister.  He says he said he was afraid of who he was outside the gates.  Now he thinks he was really afraid of being away from her.  She showed him the way.  He felt found, like he was finally starting to get it.  He says having a guy kill himself, because they were afraid of him…that’s not what Madison wanted them to find out. 

Alicia and Nick tell Charlie that Mel left.  She doesn’t think he will make it because he’s too hurt. Alicia tells her there’s a radio in the car and they let Charlie call Mel to make sure he’s okay.  When she gets a hold of Mel, he can’t answer her because he’s coughing too much.  Charlie asks Nick and Alicia to help Mel.  They go to the gate and ask Strand to let them out. He agrees but only because Madison never gave up on him. 

Naomi tells Madison that she’s not leaving. Madison apologizes for tearing about Naomi room for the wood.  She says it’s been a long time since her kids look at her like she’s crazy.  Naomi says it would be worse if they didn’t look at her like that.  They need to get ready. Whatever is going to happen will happen soon.

Fear the Walking Dead

Mel (Kevin Zegers), Nick (Frank Dillane), and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) in Fear the Walking Dead, “The Wrong Side of Where You are Now”, Photo by Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Nick and Alicia find Mel’s car and he’s unconscious. They push Mel over and get ready to take him back to the stadium  Alicia radios ahead to tell Naomi to be ready.  Nick hears a car approaching so they turn off the headlights.  They see an ice cream truck drive by and Ennis is driving.  A caravan of large trucks follow the ice cream truck.  They radio the stadium to let them know the Vultures are approaching.  

Strand sounds the alarm and the stadium residents prepare to meet the Vultures. They see a single car approach.  Madison asks Alicia and Nick if that’s their car, but Nick says they are a half mile out.  

Alicia and Nick arrive and see the ice cream truck, but none of the others.  The bigger trucks start to arrive and park behind Nick and Alicia’s car.  The Vultures get out of the trucks, open the back of the trucks and releases the walkers. 

Madison radios Nick and Alicia to get in the stadium.  A woman throws a fire-lit bottle out of her truck and lights up a line of gasoline in front of the stadium.   Madison tells her people to open the gate. She’s going to get her kids.  Luciana and Strand say they are going with her. Alicia radios to Madison, apologizing for going after Mel. She says it was the right thing to do.  The gate opens and Madison sees the fire.

Present

Al arrives at the stadium and asks Naomi if she’s sure the supplies she needs are there.  Naomi says she stocked the infirmary herself and the Vultures didn’t go that deep into the stadium to find them.  Al drives through the gates at the stadium and into a ball park full of burnt walkers.

RELATED: Andrew Lincoln Is Reportedly Leaving The Walking Dead in Season 9

Thoughts

I assumed that the Vultures would do something like that.  But I didn’t know what the numbered flags meant until tonight. I thought they were numbering the communities, but they were counting the walkers in those communities.  It’s kind of a brilliant plan.  Gather up the walkers, count them so you know how many are there and use them for later. 

Morgan is the best kind of human in the apocalypse world.  He knew Alicia would kill Charlie and he saved her.  I think Charlie was very upset when she killed Nick.  Mel and Ennis mean a lot to her, but I think there’s a lot more to their story.  

Alicia is so gone!  We have yet to find out what happened to Madison.  I think a lot of her rage comes from losing Madison and Nick. Is Madison dead?  I don’t think so, but she wasn’t at the racetrack.  Is she still in the stadium somewhere?

The mid-season finale is next week!  The Vultures have been taken care of. All that’s left is for them to show us what happened to Madison.

 

 

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