The group is split up and in some new trouble on Fear the Walking Dead. “The Hurt That Will Happen” is just something you have to expect in the apocalypse. Let’s recap where everyone is.
Morgan (Lennie James) led the group to help another group somewhere over a mountain. Their plane crashed in an unknown area. A trio of siblings saved them but was eager to leave them alone. Luciana (Danay Garcia) injured her shoulder. Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is taking out her frustrations on walkers. And Al (Maggie Grace) started chasing a story based on a well-armored walker. Now she is missing. They were also wearing the same symbol as the helicopter that took Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) away on The Walking Dead.
Strand (Colman Domingo) watched a tape called Skidmark to find a way to rescue everyone. When he watched the tape, he found out the man he needs to see is his old pal Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades).
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Old Friends
Strand knows how dangerous Daniel can be. So he made a video to say goodbye to the group, just in case. They are set up somewhere outside of El Paso, TX. Strand takes off by himself after finishing a beer. He comes to a small town and finds Daniel’s location. There are walker traps in front and an orange cat. Strand says hello to the cat and hears someone behind him with a shotgun. Before he even turns around, Strand pleads for Daniel to not shoot him. Daniel says Strand talks too much and tells him to turn around.
The reunion isn’t warm and fuzzy, but Daniel doesn’t look too eager to shoot Strand. He updates Daniel on who’s dead and alive that he would know. He explains that Alicia is in trouble and he needs a plane to help her. Daniel invites strand inside the gate and yells at the cat, Skidmark, to get inside as well. Daniel isn’t exactly buying Strand’s story, because let’s face it…Strand wasn’t the most upstanding citizen when they met. It’s hard for Daniel to believe that Strand is trying to help people. They attempt to contact Alicia on the radio so she can back up Strand’s story.
The Search
Alicia, Morgan, and John (Garret Dillahunt) are searching for Al and gathering any supplies left over at the crash site. Someone was definitely there and took all of their weapons. Morgan and Alicia continue their search for Al. John takes the supplies back to the truck stop and to grab June (Jenna Elfman) for more help.
June is tending to Luciana’s wound and gives her some pain killers. The pain killers are making her a little loopy and she keeps talking about an accordion. John asks June to help him search for Al in the opposite direction as the other two.
Morgan finds a trap with two walkers trying to get a caged bird. He is caught in the trap and almost bitten. Someone in a bio-hazard suit saves him then holds him at gunpoint, asking him to remove his clothes. It’s a woman and she tells him the whole area is contaminated. She threatens to shoot him if he doesn’t comply and takes his stick. Alicia shows up in time to stop her.
Radioactive
The woman’s name is Grace (Karen David), she used to work at a plant nearby. She tells them there are two pressurized water reactors. One melted down the year before and killed a lot of people, including the walker that Morgan was fighting. Grace drives a truck with a shower that can decontaminate Morgan.
Grace is going around, finding the infected walkers and disposing of them properly. They each have a dosimeter around their neck that measures exposure to radiation. Alicia asks if she’s the one who put up the dead roadblocks. Grace isn’t and she realizes that Alicia and Morgan were in the plane crash the day before. She needs to see the crash site to determine if any of the dead are those she’s looking for and to determine if Alicia has also been exposed.
Camp Cackleberry
John radios in. His truck broke down so he and June are going to walk and continue to search. Alicia tells him about the radioactive walkers. John finds a sign to Camp Cackleberry. The kids they met the day before drove a van from Camp Cackleberry. June wants to check it out to see if the kids are there.
June and John find the campgrounds pretty easily. She calls out to the kids by name, but no answer. John thinks they don’t want to be found, but June is sure that they do. They hear something in one of the cabins. When June looks inside, she only sees walkers.
Muddy Dosimeter
At the crash site, Grace uses a radiation detector to check out the dead. Everything is clean so Alicia should be okay. Morgan asks for his stick back. The wood is porous and there’s no way to clean it, so Grace isn’t giving it back. The fence is down and it was the only thing keeping the dead out of the area. She asks them to help her put it back up, but Alicia wants to find Al.
More walkers show up, but one has a dosimeter. Morgan helps Grace get the gear she needs to take care of the radiated walkers. Alicia prepares to fight them all off. She watches for the one with the dosimeter around its neck, but it falls into a mud pit trying to get to Alicia. She kills all but three. Grace has to use the detector to figure out which one had the dosimeter. One of the walkers reaches Alicia. She holds off killing it until Grace gives her the go ahead. Grace shoots the one she needs and they wrap it in a tarp.
The Ashes
Later that night, Grace tells Alicia that she took an unnecessary risk. She knows Alicia wants to find her friend, but her friend wouldn’t want Alicia to die. She finds the dosimeter and puts it with the rest. That’s when Morgan realizes that Grace knew these walkers personally. She was the operations manager at the plant. She called in all of the workers to help when the meltdown occurred. Grace feels responsible for their deaths, saying she should have evacuated the area but failed to realize it in time.
John calls on the radio and tells them that they found a bunch of the dead with those dosimeters on. Grace says not to touch anything and they are on their way. They find dozens of burnt bones of some of the people who were at the plant. Grace says burning the bodies only releases the radiation into the air. Whoever did that is probably sick. June says they aren’t sick and shows Grace the cabin full of walkers. Morgan offers to help her take care of them, but she says she’s the only one who can do it.
Unnecessary Risk
Luciana finally gets in touch with Strand. He says he found the man with the plan and he knows him. He says Daniel is going to help them. Luciana hears a noise and the radio goes silent. Strand hopes that the small conversation was enough for Daniel to believe that he’s trying to help Alicia.
Luciana goes outside and sees that a wire has snapped on the antenna. At the campsite, June finds a truck with keys and gas and they prepare to leave. Luciana calls in to let them know she talked to Strand. She tells them that he’s getting the plane, but the wind took out a wire on the long-range antenna, so she lost him. June tells her to stay inside and rest. Luciana says she’s fine, but then a small group of walkers shows up and gets inside the gates. She tries to shoot them but she is still weak from her injury. She runs to the garage and barely locks the door when she passes out.
Alicia tells Morgan that Grace was right. She risked her life and she knew it. Killing is the only thing she can do right now. Morgan says he used to be the same way. He says he was lost, then was stuck in a bad place. He didn’t know it until someone told him. So it’s his duty to tell Alicia. He says there is a way out. He says she can’t put a weapon between her and everything that could go wrong. The way out is to open the door to people, possibilities and the hurt that will happen. That’s what he did and his life started again. Alicia’s life can restart too.
Borrowed Time
Grace prepares to leave. She puts the contaminated bodies in a cave near the plant. Morgan and Alicia invite her to join them, but she says they can’t. They know they can help her find the rest, but Grace says it’s too dangerous. Grace says she went back into the plant after the accident. She was exposed to more alpha emitters than most people can handle. Her dosimeter levels are high and she won’t risk anyone else getting exposed. Morgan says they would still like to help and tells her how to reach them on the walkie.
They get back to the truck stop and find an unconscious Luciana. She says the dead were outside. They still are, but only the heads. Someone knows they are there. June says they are getting close to something and someone who doesn’t’ want to be found. John is sure that Strand will come. They will find out who left the heads, find the kids, then go home.
Daniel asks Strand to leave his yard. Strand reminds him that Alicia and their friends need help. Daniel says they do, but not from Strand. He tells Daniel the only reason he wasn’t on the plane the first time was that the runway was filled with walkers. But things still turned out wrong. Alicia is resourceful. Al is a survivor. They will manage. Daniel says he won’t give up the plane because every time Strand tries to help someone, they end up worse off than before.
Daniel shoots off his gun and makes Strand leave. He says if he comes back, the next bullet will be in Strand’s face. Walkers approach Strand. He fights off the first one and takes out his frustration with Daniel on it.
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Thoughts
It should come as no surprise that the cast is still dealing with issues from last season. Alicia’s loss has hit her hard and she should be given time to grieve. It’s a good thing that Morgan is there to help her. I really like the dynamics between Morgan and Alicia. Also it’s a good way for Morgan to stay clear.
I can see that we have put some characters on the wayside already though. I’m hoping it’s only temporary. The showrunners had a good balance of storytelling for each character in season four. However, that being said, the only thing that could possibly get John and June out of a lull is a major break up…or death. And I really don’t want that to happen. Happy endings are few and far between in The Walking Dead universe.
The show is off to a really slow start. Let’s hope things pick up quickly going into episode three.
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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