You just don’t know who you can trust anymore on Fear the Walking Dead. In “Mother,” Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) faces ghosts of her past as Teddy (John Glover )tests her to prove his point that the end is indeed the beginning. There’s a lot of things going on in this episode of Fear the Walking Dead. Fasten your seatbelts …
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Last week we learned that John Dorie Sr. (Keith Carradine) put Teddy away for life. He was serving life on death role when the outbreak happened. And this was a good thing for Teddy. Not only was he freed, but he was right about everything. He just had to be patient.
In the present day, Alicia lays in a classroom listening to a recording of Teddy’s message about the current state of the world. Alicia is strong-minded, so nothing is sinking in. She thinks he’s crazy. Regardless, Teddy has plans for Alicia and won’t allow any of his people to kill her.
MOTHER
Teddy prepares to take a trip with Alicia. Riley (Nick Stahl) is super nervous about it and tries to talk Teddy out of taking Alicia with him. But Teddy says she will be critical for their new beginning. Things get interesting when Dakota (Zoe Colletti) shows up and Teddy asks her to tag along. To ease Riley’s mind, he gives Riley “the key” with instructions to go ahead with “the plan” if Teddy doesn’t return.
Dakota rambles her way through an explanation. She says things are bad back at Morgan’s (Lennie James) camp and she set out on her own to find Alicia and help her kill Teddy. Alicia doesn’t want her help though and tells Dakota to stay out of her way. Dakota tells Alicia one useful thing. She overheard Teddy’s people talking about the place they are going. It’s full of supplies, food, water and it has power. They won’t have to go outside for years.
Teddy takes them to a graveyard to retrieve the body of his mother. He even cries when he sees her, saying she was taking way before her time. Teddy intends to make his mother a part of their new beginning. Alicia asks about the key. Teddy says it unlocks the future.
A FAMILIAR FACE
A tire blows and they come to an abrupt stop. Mother’s body flies out of the back and Teddy runs to her. Alicia and Dakota help him put the body back in the truck when walkers emerge from the bushes. Teddy starts to shoot at them, but Alicia stops him because, duh, the noise will attract more. Dakota and Alicia use what’s in the truck to kill the walkers. But someone starts shooting and they all turn to look.
Alicia recognizes the shooter as Cole (Sebastian Sozzi) from the stadium Apparently, when Madison led the walkers into the stadium, Cole and the others were able to escape. Teddy is amused at the mention of Alicia’s mother and sees it as another coincidence.
Teddy calls Riley for help with the truck, but he can’t get a signal. He moves up the road and Dakota goes with him. Alicia and Cole catch up. She lets him know that Nick died, but Luciana (Danay Garcia) and Strand (Colman Domingo) are still alive. Alicia tells Cole that they are going to a new home with a bunch of supplies and resources. Cole asks who Teddy is and Alicia says she’s still trying to figure that out.
Teddy and Dakota return. Cole says he knows how their tire blew out. There’s a group of unsavory types around and they put boards with nails sticking up in the road. He knows where they can get a new tire. Teddy says okay, but he wants Cole’s gun. Cole refuses, so Teddy asks him to give it to Alicia. He needs to know that he can trust Cole, so Cole hands it over.
NEW BEGINNINGS
Dakota and Teddy become fast friends. She finds out that he killed a bunch of people and shares her experience with killing. She says she had no choice and doesn’t feel bad about it. When she tells people that, they look scared. She just assumes it’s the way things are now. Teddy says they are scared because they know she’s right. This makes Dakota smile.
They arrive at a junkyard. Cole whispers to Alicia that they can take Teddy out, but she doesn’t want to kill Teddy until she knows what he’s up to. Plus he has a group who will carry out his orders if he doesn’t return. Cole asks what the orders are, but all Alicia knows is that it’s big. Cole asks her to join them. He’s been looking for a way to pay back Madison for saving their lives. But Alicia can’t leave Teddy right now.
They find a tire that will fit on the truck. Teddy stares at Alicia while they look around the garage. He says she reminds him of his mother and asks if she’s going to join the underground. Alicia says no.
UNSAVORY TYPES
A bunch of people jumps out with guns. They are the unsavory types and Cole is one of them. Alicia asks if they would turn on her after her mom saved their lives. Cole suggests that Madison should have let them die.
Cole tells Alicia what really happened. They escaped as he said because of Madison. They looked for a place to regroup and then wanted to find Alicia, Nick, Luciana, and Strand. Cole says they found a hotel and a group of people who stole their things and left them for dead. Alicia points out that now Cole and his group are doing the same thing to whoever crosses their path.
This is what Teddy was trying to get Alicia to understand. He says it’s because of people like Cole that the world needs to be destroyed. Alicia says they had another way. Cole says they tried living the other way, but it only got people killed. He says they are stronger now, but Alicia says they became the people they were always fighting off. Cole points out that there are always those kinds of people out there to hurt them. Teddy says the only to fix it is to get rid of all of them.
THE TRUTH ABOUT MOTHER
They go back to the truck and fix the tire. Teddy tells Alicia that he knows what she’s thinking. Her mother died for something, so all the people she saved could live meaningful lives. But most of them are dead and the ones that aren’t are living like bottom-feeders. He doesn’t want to see her in pain.
Teddy says are both after the same thing: for Alicia to fulfill her potential. The more he learns about Alicia, the more confident he is that she’s the person he’s been looking for. She calls him delusional. She’s been trying to figure out for weeks what he’s been up to. Teddy says he will tell her when he’s ready.
Alicia tells Cole and his people to take the truck and everything in it. They can leave and won’t be bothered again. Cole wants to know where Teddy and his company are headed. He liked the sound of a place full of supplies and food. There’s no map in the truck because Teddy has it in his head. Cole points his gun at Teddy and demands to know where it is. Teddy is willing to die to keep it secret though.
LIES ON TOP OF LIES
Cole takes the body of Teddy’s mother out of the truck and points his gun at it. Teddy smiles and watches Cole desecrate the body. Dakota apologizes to Teddy for what’s happening, but Teddy is not upset at all because that’s not his mother. His mother is buried on his family farm in Grapevine.
Alicia can’t believe that he lied to her, but Teddy says he didn’t lie; he showed her the truth. Teddy hoped to find proof that all the people her mother saved were dead. He didn’t expect to find a living one. Cole actually proved his point even more than he hoped.
Cole tells his people to fix the tires so they can take the truck. He apologizes to Alicia and says he knows what Madison did for them. He offers to take Alicia with them again. But again, she can’t. She needs to find out what Teddy is up to. A lot of people will die if she doesn’t. Cole knows she wants to save everyone, including Strand. He points out that Strand is not out there looking for her. Cole asks if Strand would do the same thing for her. That makes her decision easy and she tells Cole to go to hell.
FACE-OFF
Cole lines up Alicia, Dakota, and Teddy to be killed. She tries to talk him out of it, but Cole is only interested in finding out where they were headed. Teddy won’t answer, so they prepare to shoot the. A group of walkers emerges from the bushes again. Cole gets distracted enough for Alicia to rush him and stop him from shooting Teddy.
The walkers attack Cole’s people, despite the guns. Alicia, Dakota, and Teddy fight the walkers off. Cole is the last of his people standing. Alicia stands face to face with Cole, both of them pointing guns at each other. She is also holding a walker in front of her. She pushes the walker toward Cole, forcing him to lower his gun. When he turns back to Alicia, her gun is in his face.
Alicia says her mother died so Cole could have a chance. Teddy starts to say something but Alicia finally tells him to shut up. She says Cole was supposed to make Madison’s death mean something and he threw it all away. Cole starts to say something and Alicia shoots him in the head. Then Alicia turns to Teddy and says he’s wrong. He doesn’t have to destroy everything to make it better, just people like Cole.
DISTURBING BEHAVIOR
They kill all of the walkers. Dakota says it’s not hard to kill someone you know. This is how the world is now. That’s what she tried to explain to John but he didn’t see things that way. And neither does Alicia. She wants to believe in something better. Dakota asks if Alicia’s mom gave her something to believe in. Dakota never had that, but Alicia disagrees. Alicia tried to give Dakota something to believe in. And she threw it away as Cole did.
Teddy is proud of Alicia for letting go of her past. Teddy likes that she’s not afraid to question him. He says Alicia really does remind him of his mother. Alicia asks if his mother thought Teddy was a nutjob too. Teddy says when he was in mortuary school, he kept a journal about why the world needed to end. His mother found his journals and thought he was disturbed. She threatened to have him committed, so he killed her and buried her body in the backyard. When spring came around, the most beautiful morning glories sprouted over her grave. That’s was a sign for Teddy that they needed a new beginning.
Alicia asks how Teddy plans to destroy it all. Teddy says she earned the truth. The key launches a missile from a beached submarine that washed ashore in Galveston. Alicia takes Teddy’s radio. She says Cole isn’t the only person they need to get rid of to make things better.
STOP THE CRAZY
Alicia points her gun at Teddy and Dakota points a gun at Alicia. Dakota says she’s been waiting a long time to make a fresh start. Looks like Teddy won the prize! Alicia isn’t surprised. Teddy tells Dakota not to shoot Alicia. She can’t stop what they’re doing and he wants her alive.
Alicia backs away as Riley and others arrive. She radios Morgan, but Strand answers. She is able to tell Stand to send a message to Morgan. Alicia knows what the key is for. Morgan has to get to a beached sub in Galveston. Riley takes the radio and gun away before she can say any more. He points the gun at Alicia again, but Teddy stops him from killing her.
They take Alicia to the Franklin Hotel. It has a bomb shelter inside. Alicia asks if Teddy’s followers know what he’s going to do. Teddy says they think they are going to live in a well-stocked new home. They take Alicia inside and put her in a cell. Teddy explains that he is the end, so he can’t be the beginning, but Alicia can. She can do what needs to be done without losing sight of hope.
Alicia says her friends will find them and stop them. Teddy continues saying he knows Alicia is going to rebuild the world from inside the cell. He says they are very much alike. He was ahead of his time, living in a world that he was ill-suited for. While he was inside, the world changed into a world that was perfectly suited for him. That’s what’s going to happen with her inside. Teddy wishes her luck and leaves. Alicia shouts at him, saying she won’t make the world like he wants it. And that’s what he’s counting on.
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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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