All is revealed in this episodes of Fear the Walking Dead. In “USS Pennsylvania,” Morgan (Lennie James) and company race to stop Teddy’s (John Glover) master plan.
In the last episode, Teddy revealed to Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) that he planned to launch nuclear missiles to cleanse the world of bad people. He locked Alicia in a bunker under an abandoned hotel. Teddy says he’s the end, but Alicia is the beginning. And she will create a world worth living in. Alicia was able to get in contact with Victor Strand (Colman Domingo). She asked him to let Morgan know where Teddy will be and what his plans are.
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BE WHO YOU ARE
Teddy and Dakota (Zoe Colletti) have a conversation about Morgan and Virginia. And how Dakota didn’t get the home she wanted…until now. Teddy says they think alike and people disappoint them because Dakota and Teddy can’t live up to their expectations … basically. Once he establishes that they have the same values, he tells Dakota his master plan. Everyone is going to die, except Alicia. Dakota is bothered by the notion so Teddy asks her a simple question. Does she want to live and pretend to be someone she’s not? Or die being the person that she is. Dakota wants to be who she is.
Riley (Nick Stahl) sets up the missiles for launch. He used to be the weapons officer on the USS Pennsylvania. Teddy says when he found Riley, he was a broken man with no family, like Dakota. Dakota smiles when Teddy gives Riley the keys to launch the missiles. Not because she’s excited about the mission, but because Virginia had a thing for keys too. She says they were the keys to the future.
Dakota wonders how Teddy was able to get so many people to follow him. He says all he had to do was give them something to believe in. He hands her a gun and says you also have to be willing to die with them to make them believe.
USS PENNSYLVANIA
Morgan leaves the empty community and pulls his axe out of the ground. He stops at hill overlooking the USS Pennsylvania. The wrap around, a truck and several people pull up behind him. Victor rides up next to Morgan. It looks like they are ready for a fight.
They have to weld the hatch to the submarine open. Sherry (Christine Evangelista), Dwight (Austin Amelio), Victor, June (Jenna Elfman), John Sr. (Keith Carradine) and Grace (Karen David) all prepare to go into the sub with Morgan. Grace has an instrument that will measure the radiation levels. If the levels get too high, they will all die. Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) and Sarah (Mo Collins) left to find schematics to the submarine at a nearby naval base. If the missiles are launched, Dwight thinks the safest place to be is near the sub.
Morgan climbs down into the submarine and Grace asks for a reading of radiation levels several times. The walker jumps on top of Morgan and they fight, making it difficult for June and John Sr. to get a clear shot. Morgan moves the walker to the side and June shoots. Grace asks for another reading and the levels are good. Sarah radios the group and says the maps they found are ruined.
INTO THE UNKNOWN
Everyone follows Morgan, starting with Grace. She’s very worried about the radiation levels. Morgan tries to talk to her about why she’s there. He thinks she’s there to get revenge for the death of her baby. Grace doesn’t want to talk about it, so Morgan asks her to stay behind. He says Grace should build the future that Athena showed her in her dreams.
Sherry checks with Luciana (Danay Garcia) about how many crew members were on the sub. There’s interference. Grace takes the radio and says she will stay behind to communicate with Luciana. The others keep going. There were 150 crew members on board … most of them are walkers now.
As the group treks through the submarine, they hear multiple walkers. They find out the next room is a direct path to the weapons, but it’s also filled with walkers. They decide to hold off on shooting in the sub. Plus Alicia may be in there somewhere. And if she’s not, they need anyone alive to find her.
Morgan prepares to go in the room alone, and everyone decides to go with him. Morgan takes care of the walkers in the next room easily then tells the others to follow him. They discuss if they can disarm the missiles from that room, but nothing is happening as long as the power’s out. They hear more walkers and the radiation levels are rising.
TEDDY’S PLAN
Grace finds the emergency radio that doesn’t need power. She radios Morgan. They are in the silo hall and need to know where to go next to get to the missiles. While they wait, Teddy messages them. John Sr. gets on the radio to talk to him. Once Teddy recognizes John’s voice, he gets a little excited. John asks where Alicia is and Teddy says she saver than all of them. And she’s tucked away where no one will find her.
Morgan asks where the missiles will hit. Teddy is amused that they thought they would be safe near the sub, indicating that he plans to kill his own people. Morgan radios Grace to tell Luciana to get everyone away from the boat as quickly as possible. Teddy thinks the fact that Morgan brought his people too, makes them more alike than they thought. Teddy’s people are almost at the power grid, so he bids them farewell.
June takes the comm and asks Grace if their people were able to get away. Luciana said they can go to the naval base, where there’s a basement, but it may not be enough to protect them. The walkers are getting louder and someone is knocking on the walls. Everyone realises that Morgan disappeared.
REASONS
Victor goes looking for Morgan. Morgan is actually opening another door and fighting off any walkers that approach. He finds Morgan and stops him from closing the door behind him. Two walkers approach so Morgan has to let Victor follow him. Victor confronts Morgan about running away. Morgan wants to do this mission alone. He says he’s been leading everyone from one dead end to another. Along the way he promised it would lead to something different and better. He just wants to be sure this time.
Victor says people follow him because they want to, not because he owes them something. Morgan asks why Victor is still there. He’s there because of Alicia. She asked him if he does anything for everyone or for himself. He’s doing this for everyone and he needs Alicia to know that.
The radiation levels go up. A walker enters the room they are in, but it’s not a crew member. It’s one of Teddy’s people and she was killed by radiation poisoning. The levels are dangerously high behind the next door. They hear the power come on. Morgan radios Grace and tells her about the rising levels. The device is reading over 40,000 outside of the room. If Morgan goes in that room, he will die in a matter of days.
REASONS
Morgan decides to go into the next room, kill whatever’s in there and keep going. Victor watches the the walkers upstairs walk to a ladder and fall in. He suggests they go that way instead. Morgan says it will take too much time, but Victor reminds him of what he tells others who are making mistakes. Live. Morgan agrees to go Victor’s way.
They find a bunch of walkers behind a barricade. Other crew members tried to escape and ended up being shot in the head. A door is open to the next room, but Morgan can hear Teddy’s people moving around. Walkers emerge from the room so Morgan and Victor go another way. They come to a dead end. They find the crew members’ quarters and Morgan sees a picture of Riley. He realizes Riley is the person who knew about the sub and knows how to launch the missiles.
The walkers break the barricade, so now Morgan and Victor are trapped. Victor admits that Alicia asked for Morgan because he will do things that Victor won’t. Victor grabs the axe and fights Morgan. He is able to pin Morgan to the ground and break off the axe part of the weapon. He says Morgan didn’t want any of them to die, so he will get his wish. Victor kicks Morgan and pushes him into a group of walkers. And then Victor runs to the next door, killing only one walker on the path. He hears Morgan yells for him as he runs away.
TRUE COLORS
Victor finds the control room of the USS Pennsylvania where Dakota is waiting for him. She holds him at gunpoint saying Teddy gave her something they couldn’t. She knows what he did to Morgan. Dakota gets on the comm and tells everyone to listen. She says she saved Morgan so she could get a fresh start. June helped with the first part by killing Virginia. If she lived with them, she’d have to be a different person. Morgan’s way will never work because no one believes it. No one wants to be the person Morgan wants them to be. She tells everyone that Victor killed Morgan.
Dakota says it’s because of people like Victor that the world needs to end. John told her that it wasn’t too late. The world still had to have meaning and she is going to make it mean something. Victor asks Dakota to stop because Teddy is going to kill everyone. Dakota informs him that Alicia will live, because she is a beginning. When the world starts again, it won’t be with people like Victor.
Victor prepares to die when Morgan jumps in and deflects the bullet. He knocks Dakota down and she grabs the axe. She turns to swing at Morgan and he hits her in the head with his bow, knocking her out. FINALLY! Morgan reveals that he gave Teddy the key. He did it to save Grace and her baby. But he can’t let it be for nothing. Morgan radios Grace to let her know that he’s fine. Victor tries to explain what he was doing, but Morgan says they will talk about it later. He’s already cost them enough time. Morgan hands the axe to Victor. They will finish this together.
BLAST OFF
Riley makes the final preparations to launch. Teddy calls for Dakota, but there’s no answer. A red light goes off and Teddy knows that someone is trying to get in. Morgan is on the other side of the door, using the crew’s key cards to open the door. Teddy and Riley each take a key. Morgan finally gets the door to open as Teddy and Riley turn the keys. Teddy pulls the trigger when Morgan and Victor enter. Victor holds Riley at gunpoint and Morgan heads for Teddy. But it’s too late. The first missile is launched.
Dwight, Sherry, June and John Sr. climb up out of the submarine. Grace won’t leave Morgan though. Sarah, Daniel (Rubén Blades), Charlie, Luciana, Jacob (Peter Jacobson), Rollie (Cory Hart), Wes (Colby Hollman) and Rachel (Brigitte Kali Canales) are still on the hill and watch the missile fly into the air. Riley tries to reach for the other trigger and Victor stops him. Victor asks how much time they have and where the missile is going. Riley says there are 10 warheads on that missile and they will see where it lands. They don’t have any time to save anyone.
Teddy says he was going to change everything and a prison sentence put and end to that. But it didn’t really end everything. This isn’t want Morgan wanted. He tells Morgan not to look at it as ane ending. The world will be a better place. Morgan just won’t get to see it. Morgan and Victor tell Teddy and Riley to leave. Things could have been worse. Morgan says it would have ended better if Victor hadn’t slowed him down. Victor says he did what he did to save lives. Morgan thinks he did what he did so he could tell Alicia what a big hero he is. Morgan tells Victor to go, leaving him alone in the control 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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