Syfy Insider Exclusive

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

Sign Up For Free to View
SYFY WIRE Fear the Walking Dead

Is the universe trying to tell Fear the Walking Dead something?

By Alyse Wax
FTWD_511_VR_0425_419-RT

While out looking for the person painting trees, Alicia and Strand get a radio call from Wes, the guy who was shot up by Logan's team two episodes ago. He needs help getting his busted motorcycle home to his brother, and he didn't believe that they were "for real." They take him and his bike to a police station where he and his brother are staying, and Wes goes in to find his brother while Alicia and Strand unload the bike.

Gunfire draws their attention, and a dude, bleeding profusely, runs out, carrying a bag. He steals Alicia's truck and mows down the fence on his way out. Alicia and Strand must fight their way through a herd of zombies to get into the station. Along the way, Strand unknowingly fires a gun that shoots tear gas, temporarily blinding him.

FTWD_511_VR_0425_358-RT

It turns out that Wes's brother died years ago. He asked to be taken here in order to shoot this guy for taking something that belongs to him. He won't say what, but whatever it was, the guy took it when he left. Alicia and Strand insist on finding the guy to save his life. The zombies have them locked in pretty tight, so they call Morgan and Al and ask them to intercept. Meanwhile, Alicia decides to put aside her "no killing" policy to try to bust out of the police station. Wes decides to help, and clears a path. Strand still can't see, but he does his best to kill a couple zombies so that Alicia doesn't have to break her no-kill pledge.

Meanwhile, Al and Morgan finish their errand - dropping off the videos in a bank vault so that, just in case, they will always exist - during which Al questions why he came along. He won't say, so they continue on to find the missing, injured thief. Instead, they find Logan and his crew have set up a roadblock. There is a long standoff, with Morgan and Al trying to figure out another route. Morgan tries the "Why do you need the gas? Maybe we can help?" method; Logan doesn't buy it. "What I'm doing is bigger than you," he insists. "It will help people, but not in the way you want." I can't help but wonder if he is in on the plan with Al's overnight girlfriend. Anyway, Logan pokes the bear, by suggesting that helping other people won't make Morgan feel better about his wife and son. Morgan attacks; Al pulls him off. The two leave; there is no reasoning with Logan.

Alicia, Strand, and Wes have had a better time catching up with the thief. They find the bloody car stopped and see him wandering off. Thinking they missed their chance to help him, Wes approaches, only to find he is still alive - he just isn't doing well. The thief and Wes fight with Wes stabbing him. It turns out that what the man stole was Wes' manuscript, and he just wanted to finish it. The dude dies, and Wes puts a knife in his brain. He stomps away, angry that Alicia made him care. He doesn't want his book back. "He died for it; he can keep it."

Al and Morgan bury the dead thief, and Alicia keeps Wes' book. It is dedicated to his brother, and it has the same inscription on all the trees. A peek in the motorcycle's carrier reveals a stash of paint. Wes has been the one painting the trees, likely in honor of his brother, who was likely buried beneath one. Alicia, realizing she isn't going to find what she needs from anyone else, sets about painting a tree of her own. On hers, she writes: "No one's gone until they're gone." Morgan finally admits to Al that the reason he held on to his wife and child so deeply is that he is afraid if he lets go of the bad stuff, he will forget the good stuff, too. But he agrees to talk to Al about them.

FTWD_511_VR_0423_181-RT

Finally, Logan and his team break into the vault and steal the tapes Al just hid in there. He is hoping that someone had loose lips while talking to the camera.

Desire not to kill the dead

I do not understand this insistence on not killing the dead. We dealt with it with Morgan in TWD; now with Alicia in FTWD. Sure, they are having a hard time mentally separating the dead from the living, but if they don't kill the dead, it will only create more dead. (This might be one of those things that, having no emotions, I will never understand.)

The bush zombie

The coolest zombie in a while, this one was a few weeks away from being more bush than zombie. It was tangled in greenery overgrowth, but when the zombie smelled fresh flesh, it would stop at nothing to get it. It pulled and pulled, but the bush was stronger than rotting flesh, and its arm was pulled off. But the bush wasn't done! It had entwined itself into the zombie's body, so as the zombie pulled, half of its body was sheared away. It was a good scene.

FTWD_511_VR_0417_204-RT

They are like a cult

Do you get the feeling that the Caravan Crew is like a cult? They go around, preaching about doing good for others, and often put themselves in danger to accomplish pointless tasks (I refer you to last week's kill-the-one-specific-zombie mission). What really makes it seem cult-like to me is that they keep repeating, over and over, different versions of "we are here to do good things."