Spoilers Fear the Walking Dead - Season 6

Despite this season being the best one in a while, if not ever for this show, ratings have suddenly tanked. 0.94 million this week, down from 1.09 million the week before, and now a 2 week break which might drop things even further. Maybe they really will launch that missile and end the show that way? After all, the season finale is called "The Beginning"...

 

About 1000 years if its nuclear powered and the cooling system works.

 

Since a seventh season is currently being filmed...

 

Could it be the survivors dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear explosion?

 

Survivors? I take it Teddy wants to target the same, general area where the old "holding" and the new, former resort are located (the same range as the heroes' settlement). If that's the case, then I doubt there would be anyone left at ground zero, but I believe that's Teddy's plan, and since he's insane and homicidal, he cannot imagine that he--and his followers--would die, too.

 

He could target a nuclear silo thus creating a nuclear winter.

 

A couple quick thoughts

This episode just made Teddy a much more interesting villain -- he acknowledges that he is a villain, but that his role is to save the "true hero", which would be Alicia. He says that when he left the prison, he saw how most people were like him (evil). Reminds a bit (but not exactly) of Mr. Glass in Unbreakable.

Another suprise for me -- that the corpse was just some random body. Pretty well played.

Creepy but realistic how Teddy is making Dakota his acolyte...but i missed it... why does he call her Sue?

I really don't remember Cole or the others...maybe i zoned out that season...but were they extremely minor? Kinda sad that those guys got themselves killed too in a one-and-done (like Morales in The Walking Dead). True, it helps justify Teddy's cause, but it would be nice if minor characters that disappear could re-appear for a GOOD reason.

It seemed pretty obvious earlier that the key was part of a nuclear deal...and yeah, Teddy is wrong baout its effects... but he's kinda crazy, so i am not holding him to complete logic. What i WOULD like to see is Grace figuring out how to disarm it (being a nuclear engineer and all). Can't belive only 2 episodes left.

And regarding Tobias -- many of us were especially hopeful to see him return because we really didn't like many of the characters, and Tobias seemed better than him. As for @TREK_GOD_1 's thought that he died in the bomibing of Southern California... in the beginning, he had collected survivor supplies, presumably so he could leave. He had heard thigns on the internet, and possibly a place to survive. Certainly, he seems like he SHOULD have died...but a lot of us were hoping he would change like how Carol, meek abused housewife became a badass of the apocalypse. I still have that hope, but the "need" for a good character isn't as needed as it was back then.

 

No, he KNOWS he will die.... that's what he told Alicia...he is to End, so that Alicia can begin.

But being the Charles Manson type of cult leader, his follows for the most part have no idea. So THEY think they will be around, but he has decided who really will and who won't survive (which includes himself).

 

Mind you, I’ve never been on a sub—but I think you have to be in the water to launch. In a Dr. Who episode they were too deep.

You HAVE got to have two people turn the keys at once, because they are farther apart than one person can reach...thus Teddy wanting a willing convert.

Sub reactors need weapons grade fissile materials to build up enough heat for a head of steam.

Now, I think they can be safed in dry dock, but don’t quote me on it. Subs do have back-up generators....the old Fairbanks-Morse 38-1/8 two stroke opposed piston diesel from 1938 that is still in production.

Now this is fiction, so they may have the sub “hot” and have it capable of launching...just using the two keys with no code book is a plot device with one of the two parties having second thoughts being a source of conflict.

One thing to watch out for, Chekhov:

Missileers often each had a sidearm...so one could shoot the other if he went crazy.

 

The thing people always ignore when they get started with this "Bring Back Tobias" routine is that even if he is still alive, he could theoretically be anywhere in the US, if he even ever left California. It really is silly if his journey just conveniently led him to Texas, especially after Morgan, Dwight and Sherry have all taken seemingly random paths that led them to Texas as well.

Basing this off precedents from fiction myself, but I don't think there's any actual need for the sub to be underwater to launch its missiles. It's generally preferred so that surface forces can't target the sub and destroy it while it's launching, but the physical act of launching the missiles can be done above the surface just as easily as underwater.

 

I think in the case of Riley, he is one of the willing-to-die types and thanks to his receiving one of the keys, he knows he will die alongside Teddy. Regarding Alicia, well, Teddy must be an idiot if he thinks she will go out of her way to help / inspire or otherwise support any of his group who happen to survive "because she's good". After all, she did not hesitate to kill someone who used to live with her group at the stadium, so she's not going to be so sympathetic to a pack of loons spewing the "philosophies" of Teddy.

True; one of the better running plot developments which added to the WD's picture of a bleak world is that in the journeys of the heroes, any minor characters encountered along the way are almost certainly dead. We have seen non-hero affiliated individuals or groups never having the means to survive, such as the group in "Vatos", Clara--the crazed woman (with the reanimated head of her husband Eddie) Rick encountered near the prison, Ana (from TWD S4's "Indifference"; eaten by walkers) and her boyfriend Sam (killed by the Terminus butchers in S5's "No Sanctuary"), and others. Tobias being one of an endless number of those hopeless people overwhelmed by the ZA (and human conflict that goes along with it) only adds to the dire view / situation of the entire ZA landscape.

 

Wasn't Dwight following evidence Sherry left behind?

 

The Golf had to surface...and the missile came out the conning tower.

They launch more than one beached? The sun rolls and the next is like firework on the ground.

Boomer crews have a name for the interior missile tubes: “Sherwood Forest”

I wonder if they will depict them like Polaris or the Tridents

 

Teddy likes her precisely because of what you said -- she is trying to help people. BUt if someone betrays that (like Cole and co. did), she will NOT take that crap. And for Teddy's twisted logic, it means the future of humanity is "safe" -- the bad will NOT survive under Alicia's reign. (Ooops - almost calle dher by her title in the 100!).

He tossed her in lockup because he knew she was "so good" she would have to be FORCED to take on this role of protector of the new humanity.

Yeah, in understand... but for EVERY SINGLE PERSON they encounter to then die off afterwards.... it was a joke about Madison, and why so many were getting sick of the series. The hope that MOrgan and John Dorie brought i think revived interest in the series.

And realisitically, there should be MORE survivors from things like the stadium, or the prison escape or the Sanctuary destruction... hopefully they will change like Charlie did, or maybe just life their own life somewhere.

Yeah, but that Sherry just happened to land where the Fear crew was... and where Morgan had landed. All of that just seemed like TOO MUCH coincidence. Add in a TObias, and i understand that. Though i think if TObias, who seemed pretty smart, grew stronger, he might have also learned about gathering intelligence, and I am sure Madison's reputation might have spread. Like the Asian survivor from the webisodes who got promptly dropped in the ocean in season 2. TObias might have done some detective work over the years to find ALicia.... in his case i would hope he would TRULY be grateful.



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Can't believe just a couple of episodes left. If they end the Teddy storyline tonight, i hope we get seeds of the Civil Republic... wondering how Fear will connect in that. ALso no ads for World Beyond, which is weird. Seems like they would want to hype it... especially if we start seeing connections between the 3 series.

 

Actually, he called her Sioux. Thankfully, I had closed captioning turned on.

Why Sioux, because as Teddy tells her, Sioux Falls is his favorite city in the Dakotas.

 

Fear the Walking Dead
Season 6 / Episode 15 - "U.S.S. Pennsylvania"

Teddy / Riley / Dakota: In the opening, Teddy and Dakota sit in the darkened missile control room of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania; he questions the teen about her self-identity, and getting her to finally accepting herself for who she is, rather than what Virginia or Morgan allegedly) wanted her to be. Teddy makes it clear that only Alicia will survive to be a news beginning, and that all others--including Dakota--as part of a "conclusion" (the missile launch) will need to die. Teddy gives her his gun, and also explains how Riley--a former weapons officer of the submarine--had no family and was lost before being found by Teddy.

Team Two - Luciana / Sarah / Charlie / Rabbi Kessner / Wes / Daniel: Luciana and Company--in addition to providing information on the sub--stand ready to take on any of Teddy's group that are still headed toward the location.

Team One - Morgan / Grace / June / J.D. / Dwight / Sherry / Strand: This group stands near one of the sub's hatches; initially, Morgan wanted to go in alone, but is followed by Grace, who is worried about the levels that should be emitting from the reactor compartment--but are not registering on her Geiger counter. Before the others follow, Morgan tells Grace that the mission might lead to his death and she should not be there--that she should survive to build the dream-future Athena revealed to her. Grace sensed where Morgan's reasoning was going, and refuses to leave--not after what Teddy's group cost her. Despite the danger, she--and the rest of Team One--will share the risk.

Calling back to Luciana for intel on the sub, Team One learns the sub had a crew compliment of 150--which means that number in walkers standing between them and the missile silos. Once again, Morgan wants to enter this area alone, but the others are not having it, Strand in particular, who will not let anything stop him from finding Alicia.

Making their way into the walker-occupied silo (in the hope of deactivating the missiles), Morgan speaks to Grace (waiting outside the room) via one of the sub's emergency comms--a conversation interrupted by Teddy. Despite J.D. promising to put a bullet in Teddy's head, and Morgan demanding to know where Alicia is, Teddy mocks the group, telling them that they were wrong in thinking they would be safe from the missile strike being near the sub, as the target site is the submarine, where both groups will die. Grace to warn Team Two to flee the area to the assumed safety of a nearby Naval base's "basement" discovered by Charlie (some time ago), but the poor signal only sends garbled audio.

Morgan slips away, intending to carry out the mission as a solo act; Strand catches up to him, and the truth comes out: Morgan admits to promising some sort of home for the group over and over again, but it has always failed. This time, he needs to be sure they will have that chance at a life. Strand asks if Dakota's letter (left with Morgan after she saved his life last season) has anything to do with his decision, but he reminds Morgan that Dakota is a sociopath and the letter was her asking him to kill Virginia, nothing more. Morgan turns the Q&A session around, asking Strand why he's even there. Strand recalls Alicia asking him was he there (at Virginia's HQ) for himself, or the others. He assures Morgan that he is in the sub not for himself, but everyone else, keeping his promise to Alicia.

Encountering a boil-covered walker near anther room, and the counter registering at more than 40,000, Grace fears there may be some massive, undeniably lethal level of radiation behind the door. Morgan asks how long would someone survive if they were exposed for a few minutes, to which Grace replies a week. Feeling he has no choice (SEE NOTES), Morgan decides to enter the section, but the counter indicates a higher level is safe. Making their way up to crew quarters (and discovering a photo of Riley), they are cut off by more walkers. Morgan argues that if Strand had something to prove, he just did, but Strand--admitting that he would do things Morgan will not, fights Morgan, stealing his axe (or the head of it) and kicks Morgan into a group of attacking walkers....

Strand moves though the corridors, but is caught off guard by the armed Dakota, who orders him to drop the axe. On the comm system, Dakota rails against the others, explaining how she saved Morgan so he could kill Virginia, how she used June,etc. Unrelenting, she criticizes the group for trying to be what Morgan wanted them to be--living that way--which she concludes is the reason Teddy's doomsday plan is right. Dakota also accuses Strand of killing Morgan--leaving Grace gasping. Dakota blurts out that Alicia is not aboard the sub, and will be the only one left while people like her--and "assholes" like Strand will die. As she pulls the trigger, a flash of wood strikes her arm, the bullet hitting Strand's shoulder. Morgan enters the room, and swiftly knocks Dakota out, and reassures and elated Grace that he's alive and well. A dead serious Morgan tells a speechless Strand that he will deal with his treachery later. Handing Strand the axe, they head toward the missile control room, where Riley is finishing entering the codes for the launch sequence.

Teddy becomes suspicious when he radios Dakota and hears nothing, leading him to push Riley to finish his task. Outside of the room, the ever-resourceful Morgan swipes one key card (obtained them from the walkers Strand pushed him into) after another, in the hope that one will open the door. As Teddy and Riley use their keys to launch the missiles, Morgan and Strand race into the room--Morgan threatening to shove his part of the axe through the wild-eyed Teddy's mouth, while Strand holds Riley at gunpoint.

With the missiles readying to launch, the rumble alarms the others, sending them racing to escape the sub, but its too late: Riley manages to launch one missile, with Team Two--reserved to their fate--sadly watching in the distance. Inside, Teddy blabs on about endings and beginnings, but Morgan--feeling he's lost it all--allows them to leave. Morgan blames Strand--if he had not been betrayed, he would have reached the control room earlier; Strand claims he did that to save lives, but Morgan cuts him off, accusing him of only doing it for himself, so he could pretend to be the big hero to Alicia.

Morgan orders Strand from the room. Looking at the turned key, Morgan stands in silence...

NOTES:
Morgan wanted to risk his life entering the irradiated section of the sub, but what was he prepared to do, since he did not what was behind that door, and he's no technician, so he would not be able to stop the missile launch from any section of the sub.

Fantastic episode that kept viewers guessing from one scene to the next--especially the scene where Morgan was kicked into the walkers by Strand.

Next week: the season 6 finale. The previews run off a rapid clip of some of the heroes on the road, Morgan and Grace embracing in the control room, Daniel either reading or etching a series of numbers or letters in what looks to be the interior of the SWAT van, and Teddy with a revived Dakota watching the skies from hill overlooking a valley....

GRADE: A.

 

Solid episode. They kept the tension built up through out with the impending launch of the missiles and finally we get one missile launched spelling doom anyway. We also got a bit of fun in this being a zombie story set on a submarine and all that entails. Strand once again tries to be ruthless leaving Morgan amongst a herd of sailor walkers, though unfortunately of Strand Morgan survived and is pissed, which I'm sure is leading to consequences for Strand in the finale.

So, I see they get around the fact that launching a missile is a bit more complicated than simply turning two keys by establishing that Riley was the weapons officer on this particular sub before the apocalypse, therefore he knows all the necessary steps and procedures that go into launching a sub. A bit convenient, but whatever, it works well enough for plot expediency.

 

Yeah, that was a nice to way to quickly explain how they knew how to shoot off the missile.
Strand leaving Morgan to the zombies was pretty shocking, but not totally out of character.
Definitely looks like Dakota is all in with Teddy, which honestly, feels like a better place to take the character than another redemption arc.
Who's Lucy?
Definitely did not expect them to actually shoot off any of the missiles. I'm curious if they'll end up coming up with some kind of last minute save or actually have the warheads go off. If they do go off, I'm assuming that'll mean next season's story arc will be the aftermath.

 

How Morgan will deal with Strand is a mystery. Its one thing to be self-serving, but the showrunners have failed to have any character demand to know why he has a habit of trying to use others to save himself--what is he living for? He's not guided by faith (noting a conversation he had with Madison where he criticized God, which she rejected), and has no real allies, other than Alicia, the latter still not knowing if she can trust him this far into the ZA.

Agreed--she's a sociopath, with her open selling of nihilism to Alicia and now her attempt to murder Strand. This is not The Walking Dead's Lizzie (a child's mind unable to cope with death and the idea that Walkers were not truly dead with no personality), or even Lydia (Alpha's daughter) who was forced to live and buy into a death cult. Dakota was taken care of in as "normal" a structure as possible, and did not pick up her beliefs from Virginia. That said, I still see the show pushing some miraculous change in her, or have Charlie make some emotional plea for Dakota to change, which would be anticlimactic for Dakota.

The nickname for Luciana.

 

This isn't the kind of show where the heroes rush in to save the day just in the nick of time so it was obvious that a nuke would be launched. The only question is "now what"?