Spoilers Fear the Walking Dead - Season 7

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by TREK_GOD_1, Oct 17, 2021.

  1. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The series that launched on often uninteresting or annoying notes has recently turned into a worthy companion series to The Walking Dead. After the horrifying events of the season 6 finale ("The Beginning"), the fate of the heroes is more uncertain than ever before...

    Fear the Walking Dead
    Season 7 Premiere / Episode 1 - "The Beacon"


    In the aftermath of Teddy's nuclear missile strikes, most of the region surrounding the sub has been turned into a barren wasteland of charred trees, thick, orange dust, ravaged buildings...and of course, more walkers.

    A young man named Will is dressed for the occasion, with his entire body using makeshift protection, while he uses a Geiger counter to scan the food he finds, which is is not much, and most of it is irradiated--including the recently chewed up carcass of an opossum. Will lives in a van with the windows and shell covered in aluminum foil as a poor radiation shield, where he is forced to nibble on what edible food he has, and mark off the days.

    On another trip out for food, he discovers a damaged lighthouse (hence, this episode's title), housing one walker, and a few empty food cans, suggesting the man used up his resources, starved and turned into a walker. Thoroughly depressed, Will returns to his area, passing the opossum for a second time...

    That evening, Will cooks the carcass, and cries out of pure hopelessness, to the point he sees a walker shambling toward him, but he's now willing to let it devour him. Just as the walker is an inch away from biting Will, it is shot down by a group of armed men. Will tries to run, but trips,and knocks himself out.

    He's taken to a familiar high rise, just outside of the blast area, where hes scrubbed down (radiation exposure). Given fresh clothes, Will still sees this as a trap, and fights his way to the floor where Howard stored his artifacts. Speaking of Howard...

    Strand: Strand and Howard still occupy the building Howard called home--only now, they are running a mini-community of other survivors, including a number of armed guards. Will arms himself with a sword, but is disarmed and held at gunpoint by Strand, who now prances around as if he's a military dictator.

    Strand informs Will that the effects of the nuclear explosions were carried elsewhere, allowing the tower to become the only habitable place in the area. He learns Will was once an assistant to a Senator Vasquez, but that information is of no use to Strand, who orders Will out of the building..until Will tosses him a St. Christopher medallion, which Strand instantly assumes belonged to Alicia. Promising to allow Will to stay if he helps him locate Alicia, Will escorts Strand and a few of his guards to the location of his van/home, but are ambushed by armed men Will calls "Stalkers." Strand's men are either shot or attacked by walkers, leaving Strand to hide with Will in the van/home, until Strand goes into cutthroat mode and bails, leaving Will to fend for himself...

    Strand makes his way to the lighthouse and up to the beacon level. He is quite satisfied upon discovering a map marking off the lighthouse, and the Franklin Hotel / bunker, where Alicia was imprisoned by Teddy. Night has fallen, but Strand has no choice but to try to return home, only he's now facing dense fog (SEE NOTES). Out of the fog comes Will, armed and forcing Strand back into the lighthouse. Will analyzes the overconfident Strand, telling him he is no leader, the residents of the "tower" are not truly loyal to him, and above all else...that yes, he knows Alicia, and was testing Strand to see if he was worth saving.

    Obviously up to speed with Alicia's experiences, Will mentions her being locked up as Teddy's missiles destroyed the region, but it appears she escaped the bunker, formed another group--one which banished Will, and he's been trying to get back into Alicia's good graces ever since...by bringing Strand to her. Will has second thoughts about that, as he assumes Strand--based on his coldblooded behavior--is not a man Alicia would recognize. Strand agrees.

    As Will hands Alicia's medallion back to Strand, Strand attacks, but fails to subdue Will, who now feels neither he or Strand is worth reuniting with Alicia. Acting on that belief, he opens the lighthouse doors and stares in disbelief for a moment, then prepares to let a group of walkers in for the inevitable, but Strand pulls Will inside (SEE NOTES), closing the doors. Demanding to know what Will was trying to do, the man regretfully mentions that he knew the walkers...they were once survivors at the bunker which held Alicia....

    Strand assumes Alicia must have died too; Will notes no one should have died because they were underground with enough food and water to last a decade. Strand is determined to find out Alicia's fate, and readies his suicidal trip into walker-filled fog. Will did not intend to leave, but helps Strand by powering the lighthouse beacon, so Strand can follow the rotating beams and avoid walkers. Typical of ZA lock, the beacon fails, leading Will to go into the fog after Strand, who returns to save the surrounded Will.

    Will states he helped Strand because he now knows Strand is not looking for Alicia to make a point, but due to his care for her (IOW, who would run out into fog populated by walkers if they didn't?). On horseback, Strand and Will find the ruins of the Franklin hotel; the bunker is still sound, but has been abandoned by its former 128 residents for some time, with no sign of Alicia. Originally, Will, Senator Vasquez and their companions occupied the bunker, until Teddy and his scouts arrived, killed the staff and took the location for themselves. Will survived by hiding, and just happened to be locked into the bunker when the missiles detonated.
    .
    The duo find what was once an emergency broadcast room for the President, now a makeshift "church" with another version of Teddy's tree sculpture centered in the room; and an odd painting of a woman with a familiar ponytail seeking a shadowy male figure on the wall. Strand wonders if Alicia painted it, which Will confirms, along with finding a note addressed to him, with one word: Padre. Padre was a code for some imagined better place to live, which Will was trying to locate so she would not need to. Strand correctly assumes Will loved her (SEE NOTES)

    Using a walker-drawn trailer, the men transport an intact beacon back to Strand's tower, and activate it. Howard believes it can be seen for 15 miles in any direction, and with hope, Alicia might see it. Strand finally reveals he considers Alicia the closest thing he has to family (SEE NOTES), and wants her to know. Will believes that Strand--with help and being a better man through Alicia--can turn the tower into something better; Strand counters, saying others tried building based on love and it failed, and with that, Strand grabs Will and tosses him from of the rooftop.

    Will's crushed, but reanimating body acts as walker food, while the beacon's true purpose was to draw armies of walkers around the property to prevent anyone from attempting to visit. Howard--completely unfeeling about Will's murder--warns Strand that others might come, including Morgan and the rest of that group. Strand is not worried.

    NOTES:

    Good fake-out when Strand pulled Will back int the lighthouse, as i'm sure viewers were expecting Strand to shove Will into the crowd of walkers.

    Strand with a vintage sword...leaving a lighthouse into the nighttime fog...shades of John Carpenter!

    Will loved Alicia, which should lead to a love triangle, as Wes and Alicia seemed sweet on each other.

    Strand seeing Alicia as family is no surprise, as she's been the only other survivor he's cared about post-Madison. That said, one must wonder how frosty their reunion will be if she first runs into Morgan, who will undoubtedly fill her ear with the account of Strand's constant treachery..

    ...about that fake out...well, it really worked, right until the final, and now, after the previous 6 seasons, Strand has become the Big Bad of the series, who sees proving he was "right" is the best revenge against his old companions. Fascinating.

    A bit of a Saviors retread in the sense that Strand's group takes photos of the dead and uses the pictures to cover a wall, and almost act as if they knew the creatures when the were alive.

    Bold start to the season. I see Strand having no redemption arc, and if that's the case, I feel he will go out in a blaze of glory---but take someone with him.

    GRADE: A.
     
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  2. The Habs Fan

    The Habs Fan Commodore Commodore

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    This is an excellent start to the season. It was also awesome seeing Strand in full villain mode and I can’t wait for his showdowns with Alicia and Morgan. The post-nuclear landscape will be an interesting setting for this season.
     
  3. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Antonio Bay walkers :)

    I love THE FOG
     
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  4. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Well, that's certainly an interesting start to the season, and could prove to be a truly unique direction of things now that Strand has apparently become the villain of the season.
     
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  5. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Damn, Strand really has gone into full on crazy bad guy mode.
    This was a great start to the season, mainly thanks to a good script by Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss. I've been a big fan of Goldberg and Chambliss going back to Once Upon A Time, and I think they've really done a great job with Fear since they took over in Season 4.
    We also got great performances from Colman Domingo and Gul Halper as Strand and Will. It was interesting to see just what Strand has become since the bombs went off. Definitely looking forward to his first encounters with Morgan and Alicia.
    The fact that they were being so mysterious with The Stalkers, makes me wonder if they're people we're familiar with.
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2021
  6. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm already seeing speculation that Madison is their leader, because of course for some reason people can't go a season without speculating about Madison's return.
     
  7. crookeddy

    crookeddy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Hehe even fear is getting a thread, but still nothing for poor world beyond :-)
     
  8. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    [​IMG]
    She's dead and gone, and people just need to accept it.
    My first theory is that it's Alycia and the survivors from the hotel.
     
  9. Jayson1

    Jayson1 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Of course it isn't Madison. It's actually Madison AND Tobias.
     
  10. Morpheus 02

    Morpheus 02 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    For me, ths was kinda yuck.... it's lke they completely threw out all of Strand's growth.

    Now here's the thing, Colemn DOmingo CAN EASILY play an EXCELLENT villain, as well as as even a hero.

    But it's within this Fear context that bothers me. During the Virginia saga i felt Strand was using his "old way" as merely a method (and the best he is at) to to set himself up, but not for his own success, but for a whole group of people

    It feels like how they changed War of the Worlds between season 1 and 2. The change in character development , as well seemingly setting. (which is different than The Walking Dead, where some of that divide post-Saviors made SOME sense). And also setting/scenario I mean, they were talking CRM in bits.... and they will just ignore the area now? Naaahhh. But then the CRM is the focus of World Beyond and RIck movies. JUst makes my head spin.

    My only rationalization is that they current situation seems to play perfectly for filming during Covid.


    Anyone know how long after the blast itself this is happening? A time jump is great. But the farms and such must've taken months to build up. But WIll's comment about being out there 50 days was the only length of time i heard.
     
  11. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know, feels like a natural outgrowth of the character to me. Strand is someone who has always been a bit shady, and that shadiness was still present even in the more recent years where he seems to be trying to be a force for good. Like in season 4 when we see he was hoarding food and supplies while at the stadium. What good he has done in season 4+ is mostly related to his loyalty to Madison and later Alicia more than a genuine desire to do the right thing on his part. And over the course of the seasons he's been seeing that these alternate methods just don't work, while Strand's own ruthless ways keep being the only thing which produces positive results for him, leading up to know where following his own instincts has led him to surviving a nuclear blast and finding the only refuge in miles that's safe from the fallout. So of course he's going to embrace his dark side to its fullest potential, it's the only thing that makes sense to him and is leaving him better off than everyone else he knows.
     
  12. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Fear the Walking Dead
    Season 7 / Episode 2 - "Six Hours"


    So far, the season has episodes dedicated to the separated members of the core group (no true reunions yet), but not on the same timeline (SEE NOTES), but the one constant is (obviously) how each are surviving the effects of the nuclear missile strikes.

    Morgan, Grace, "Mo" and Rufus: Aboard the submarine, Mo's cries wakes Morgan and Grace; Morgan is understanding, pointing out that the baby is hungry, but Grace is clearly annoyed by the entire situation. Later, a suited up Grace searches a store, and strangely enough, finds a number of cans of powdered baby food empty. Seeing fresh blood smeared on a beam, she calls out, suspecting she's not alone, but is caught off guard by others arriving from outside. Grace falls into a shelf which gives her a hiding place from a man and woman--wrapped up as protection from the radiation--clumsily search for baby food before leaving.

    Grace is cracking under the pressure, screaming out to the couple that she's here and they can take anything they want from her, almost as if she's also asking potential robbers to take her life. Composing herself, she returns to the sub, and butts heads with Morgan about Mo's reluctance to eat solids; Grace believes Mo will eat anything if she's hungry enough, but Morgan--having been a parent before--knows Mo will not eat the food at this stage. Morgan decides to search for baby food and has to talk the all-too eager Grace down from going, as she was outside for nearly six hours--the limit anyone can survive with uninterrupted exposure to the elements.

    Grace watches her digital clock wind down, as she grows frustrated with her inability to stop Mo from crying. Morgan suggested she responds to singing, but Grace is too traumatized by music associated with her dream of an adult daughter (Athena) to take his advice. Eventually, she plays her tape recorder to Mo, which calms the child down...but depresses Grace.

    Morgan reveals that he's worked on securing a car for travel to anyplace else, as a way of giving Grace some sort of hope. With only five hours and thirty-one minutes left to clear the estimated hundreds of miles devastated by radiation, the group head out. but their Geiger counter indicated they're heading closer to ground zero. Morgan believes they deserve something better after all they've been through, but Grace wants to talk about what they will do once they reach wherever, which does not sound like anything to look forward to.

    When the tape--used to calm Mo--ends up playing Grace's message to her dead child, she panics, yelling at Morgan to stop the tape. As he struggles with the damaged player, he takes his eyes off of the road and crashes in the middle of another abandoned town.

    Needing to fix a tire, Grace volunteers to retrieve tools from a nearby auto shop...and removes her mask, intending to commit suicide, using the excuse that Morgan will be able to get far with a lighter load. As expected, Morgan protests, but gets an earful from Grace, who blames him for not killing them and responding to Mo's cries (SEE: season six's finale), and as a result, they will die--only their suffering will be extended thanks to the relative safety of the sub. She did not want to live...or take care of a baby after losing hers. Suddenly, the couple Grace spotted earlier (Fred & Bea), with their heads wrapped in bloody, oozing rags, run up attempting to steal. The masked woman hears Mo crying and inexplicably claims the child's name is Emma--and belongs to them.

    Fred & Bea force Morgan to change the tire--with the intention of kidnapping Mo and using the car to escape. Grace finds new motivation to help Morgan and Mo live, but still desires death because she cannot be with her dream daughter, Athena. Morgan counters by saying he will never apologize for giving Mo and Grace another day to live.

    Fred and Bea pose clear danger to Mo, as their very presence has set off the Geiger counter; both are erratic, with Bea clutching her head as she's unable to calm Mo, while Fred urges Morgan to finish the repair. Morgan asks about the gooey walkers trying to break into the garage; Bea says they are from the crater (ground zero) and they fall apart if you touch them, warning Morgan to avoid exposure to their flesh.

    Grace reasons with Bea, promising to drive them to safety, which Bea asks if Grace meant the mysterious "padre" (where Alicia was headed). In the confusion, Morgan easily takes Fred's rifle, but the weakened man jumps in the car as Bea crashes through the garage doors, allowing the mutated walkers to shamble in. Morgan--having enough--accuses Grace of not wanting to help Mo, but herself because she's now afraid. Racing outside, Morgan shoots into the car, forcing Bea to stop. As he checks on Mo, Fred grabs the child and runs off, with Grace in pursuit, while Bea makes a feeble attempt to attack Morgan, who tosses her to ground leading to her rags to loosen, exposing a horrific amount of damage from the radiation, including a total loss of her nose tissue and one side of her face just as "melted" as the walkers.

    Ever the hero, Morgan drags Bea to the safety of another building (with Grace, Mo and Feed) where she explains her backstory up to the point of the missile's fallout. Fred & Bea warn the heroes that they will end up suffering the same level of poisoning if they continue to head in the direction marked on their map. Fred comes clean that he and Bea were heading to "padre" where they've been promised it was beyond the fallout zone. Grace suggests they return to the sub; even with no food, at least Mo will be able to survive a bit longer.

    Morgan--in a sad nod to his pre-ZA life with Jenny and Duane--admits he wanted to finally establish a place where he could sit down at a table to eat with the woman he loves and get upset with their child who's too busy reading comic books instead of talking to his parents. Grace says that life may not be possible, but their argument is interrupted by the arrival of a car with blinding floodlights; Grace, Fred and Mo hide in the garage, while Morgan takes cover in his car--rifle aimed at the floodlights. An armored, armed man emerges, and when he ignores Morgan's warning to back off, he is shot three times, falling...but soon getting back on his feet, and driving away.

    At that moment, Morgan notices a latched leather bag...roughly child-sized...moving. Morgan demand to know what's in the bag, but he knows. Its the real Emma Bea referred to--a child clearly reanimated. Without hesitation, Morgan shoots the child in front of its distraught mother. Bea rambles about Emma was "not doing well" and would not stop crying, all but saying she (and/or Fred) killed the child to silence her. Inside, Fred removes his rags, and taking leave of his senses, paces and stares at the crying Mo (while Grace shoots walkers). Fearing the worst (from Fred), Morgan warns Grace with the tin can/string system (used by Fred's people) just in time for Grace to kill Fred, who was moments away from smothering Mo. Later, Morgan, Mo and Grace pack up and head back to the sub, with Bea deciding to remain with the corpses of Fred and Emma.

    On the road, Grace & Morgan apologize to each other, as both subjected the other to things they did not want, especially under the current circumstances.

    Returning to the sub, Morgan and Grace are confronted by Howard (Strand's lackey) and his men. Howard hears the couple's names, correctly assumes Morgan is the one Strand warned him about, and offers Grace a place at the Tower (needing her valuable abilities), happily telling Morgan he did not "make the cut." Grace flatly refuses to have anything to do with Strand, but Morgan, thinking of Mo, makes a counter-proposal: take Mo, since any community needs people live in it (and what a child means for that future). Grace refuses and will stay with Morgan and Mo. The over-confident Howard steals food from the sub then leaves.

    Just as all seems hopeless, Mo crawls for the first time, and as the pleased Morgan and Grace watch her, Grace notices a covered portion of the galley's floor, and beneath it, stacks of canned food--enough to last months, including canned milk, a time-honored substitute for formula. Grace wonders who the armored man was....

    Elsewhere in the woods, the armored man returns to a campfire...with Rufus the dog. Next to the fire is the box marked "Morgan Jones" containing the reanimated head of Virginia's failed assassin, Emile LaRoux (Morgan killed and decapitated him in season six's "The End is the Beginning"). The armored man removes his mask, revealing that he's Emile's twin brother Josiah, who is on the hunt for revenge against Morgan, and yes, he will use Rufus to track Morgan's whereabouts...


    NOTES:
    Howard--Strand's self-appointed servant is quite sinister on his own; for a man who appeared timid in the season 6 finale, hes become a full-on cutthroat after being around Strand for such a short time.There has to be a reason why he would turn so quickly....

    Next episode finally has Morgan and Strand renewing their conflict, while Josiah closes in on Morgan.

    Once again, FTWD is an acting tour-de-force, with very raw emotions between Morgan and Grace dumped all on the table, and most of it was an uncomfortable experience to watch, leading one to wonder if the newfound love between Grace and Morgan would last. Thankfully, it seems to be a strong bond, but Josiah and Strand might be one hurdle too many to overcome. A nice turn would be Josiah to come to terms with Morgan and go after Strand...unless Josiah's already working for Strand...

    GRADE: A+.
     
  13. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Fear the Walking Dead
    Season 7 / Episode 3 - "Cindy Hawkins"


    As noted for the E2 review, some of the separated members of the core group are not necessarily on the same timeline, made more apparent with June and John Dorie Sr's chalkboard calendar (SEE NOTES).

    June and Dorie , Sr.:
    Time in Teddy's underground shelter - 25 days. Days until its safe to leave the shelter: 340.

    June and Dorie have fallen into a routine during their time in Teddy's shelter, from getting up to coffee, playing board games and oldies (The Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'" among other songs).

    Time in Teddy's underground shelter - 47 days. Days until its safe to leave the shelter: 318.

    The shelter is subject to ceiling cracks, threatening a cave-in, but the duo simply repair what they can. Seeing a hole in one of the walls, Dorie and June break into a hidden area, which was one of Teddy's embalming rooms. Dorie reminisces about how Teddy's 22 of 23 victims were all found except one--Cindy Hawkins--who was never found. Dorie promised her mother that he would bring her home, which is what he was attempting at the time he tracked Teddy down. Dorie regrets not finding the woman and believes this room may hold the clue to locating her; June argues that it no longer matters with Teddy dead,

    Time in Teddy's underground shelter - 25 days. Days until its safe to leave the shelter:

    Dorie's gun hand is beginning to shake, but he conceals this from June. Hearing a voice and knocking on the shelter door, Dorie dons one of the makeshift radiation suits and climbs to the surface. Their ruck has been flipped and melted, but he discovers and mocks the skeletal remains of Teddy. He sees a walker on the ground, reaching around, but unable to stand. When Dorie discovers a familiar knife by its side, it confirms that the walker is Dakota (SEE NOTES). Dorie kills the creature with the knife, but his attention is caught by the form of a woman calling out for help from the haze; Dorie recognizes her as Cindy Hawkins, but she vanishes--a hallucination. Suddenly, he spins to see the woman playing on his guilt, but his mind clears to see that she is a walker close to biting him, when she is shot by June. The duo see three armed figures watching them, sending June and Dorie scrambling for safety in the shelter.

    June frantically checks Dore to see if he was bitten--he was not, but his shoulder was slightly scratched (SEE NOTES). It turns out that Dorie's hallucinations and shaking hands were caused by his going cold turkey without alcohol for a few days (in other words, he's suffering from the D.T.s). June gets him to admit that he was drinking "half a bottle of anything" when he was above ground (traveling in his camper). Violent knocking from above (caused by the armed figures) threatens the integrity of one of the ceiling vents; one of them men calls their radio, demanding that they open the door.

    Ignoring the men, June repairs the ceiling while Dorie hallucinates again, hearing the strains of "California Dreamin'" coming from the embalming room, where he sees a living Cindy Hawkins strapped to the table, squirming from the pain of being embalmed. John asks what he has to do to get her to leave him alone, to which she replies, "find me"--the one thing he failed to do in his hunt for Teddy.

    June finds him and argues that his guilt is leading to his erratic behavior (on top of the D.T.s); if they left the shelter, they would be dead in days--assuming they would get past the armed people still trying to break into the shelter. To bring an end to part of Dorie's issues, June seals up the embalming room, while Dorie suffers...

    Time in Teddy's underground shelter - 71 days. Days until its safe to leave the shelter: 294.

    Dorie imagines Hawkins talking to him again, leading him to break into the embalming room, despite June's warning that his actions could bring the ceiling down on them. June sticks his arm with a sedative-loaded syringe, but part of the ceiling collapses, knocking June out before she could fully inject Dorie. Once again, he imagines Hawkins talking, who convinces him that contrary to June's warnings about the surface, if the three would-be threats are surviving, then conditions may not be "that bad." Hawkins recalls where Teddy abducted her and/or discarded her body-- a location Dorie sees on a map. As June comes to, the three men outside still pound on the door.

    Dorie aids June (who has one leg pinned down by a beam), but he's Hell-bent on finding Hawkins' corpse. The vision of Hawkins prods Dorie to question June's every word, including the calendar, which she admits she created from a guess...but it was more about her not wanting to leave the shelter. The outside world is filled with unknowns, but in the shelter, its familiar (giving her a sense of control / normalcy). Dorie says she can stay if she wants to, but he's going to give Hawkins peace, ignoring that she was killed some 40 years ago. Suiting up, Dorie promises to come back to free June after he's "freed" Hawkins.June pleads, telling him if the men do not kill him, walkers will. Dorie replies:

    "We're already livin' six feet underground. I'm not sure I see what the difference is."

    On the surface, Dorie spots the three men breaking into a section of the shelter, but the hallucination of Hawkins continues to demand he locates her; Dorie argues that June is real--alive, and engages in a shootout with the men, killing two, but one makes his way into the shelter, calling out to the still pinned down June.

    The Hawkins vision chides Dorie as he imagines seeing a number of Teddy's embalmed victims walking toward him. Hawkins says he's suffering for failing to stop Teddy, and soon June will be another dead body underground. Clearing his mind, the victims become walkers, which he kills with the knife he removes from walker-Dakota's skull. In the shelter, June grabs a broken beam as a weapon, waiting for the man to find her.

    The man finds June, aims his gun, but is shot dead by Dorie. The fallen beam that pinned June down breaks into the side of another wall, where the corpse of Cindy Hawkins was placed. Apparently, Teddy made the spot a makeshift grave when Dorie was too close to finding him. Placing Hawkins' necklace on the corpse, Dorie and June realize its a matter of time before the shelter ceiling gives out. Suiting up, the duo attempt to leave Teddy's shelter, but a cave in traps them inside...

    Two beds in a room of a high rise are occupied by June and Dorie--both wearing matching t-shirts and sweatpants. June says they were rescued days earlier after someone picked up on their radio transmissions. That someone was Strand, who waltzes into the room, offering alcohol to Dorie, which the man refuses. Strand suggests they can help each other uncover who the armed, masked men are, but Dorie refuses after what Strand did to Morgan on the sub. Strand casually implies that Morgan does not matter, as he's "out there."

    Dorie is eager to leave, but the horde of walkers surrounding the Tower change his mind.

    Morgan and Strand: Back at the shelter, Morgan radios June and Dorie, while trying to dig into the packed opening. Instead, he is called by Strand, who informs him that June and Dorie are now with him. Strand plays revisionist history (when Morgan implies he's the reason Teddy was able to launch the missiles) and insults Morgan, calling him a failure. He--on the other hand--will do what Morgan could not: rebuild the world, and help their mutual friends. Morgan actually supports Strand on that one point, saying he should rebuild the world, but if he learns he's not doing what he promised (or harms anyone he cares about), he will do to Strand what Victor tried to do to Morgan on the sub, only Morgan promises he will not miss.

    Strand signs off saying, "Bring it"

    NOTES: The season 6 finale featured the graphic death of Dakota being fried in place as she was hit with the blast from one of the detonated missiles; the EFX made it appear as if she was going to dissolve into particles, but it turns out walker-Dakota survived, but was unable to stand.

    Dorie Sr's shoulder was scratched; in TWD's history of people being injured by walkers, only to turn, I'm not sure a scratch ever led to death / reanimation. Usually, the victim needs to receive a more invasive level of wound that leads to direct transfer of germs into the bloodstream (e.g., T-Dog's shoulder bite from TWD/S3/E4 - "Killer Within").

    We now have a sense of how much time has passed since the missile launch, which supports how Strand and Howard managed to collect so many people and build up the Tower in that time. For now, three of the parties (Morgan / June / Strand) are all on the same timeline. The others...

    Next episode: Things go south for the survivors rescued by Althea, including Sarah's fight with Josiah LaRoux. ...and yes, there's more Strand.

    As always, Fear the Walking Dead delivers another wonderful character study, and is successfully cranking up the tension from every angle.

    GRADE: A+.
     
  14. FreezeC77

    FreezeC77 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Don't forget Travis :whistle:
     
  15. Jayson1

    Jayson1 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Turns out when he jumped out of the helicopter he landed in a river where the water broke his fall. He got out and tended to his wounds and it just took time for him to travel to where the show is now set.
     
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  16. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 24, 2006
    Location:
    Escaped from Delta Vega
    Yeah, as if being mortally wounded by gunfire and jumping from a helicopter was just something he could brush off. Why some viewers want miraculous returns for clearly dead characters is beyond reason.
     
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  17. Jayson1

    Jayson1 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2017
    He was just making a joke.
     
  18. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 24, 2006
    Location:
    Escaped from Delta Vega
    I know, but the "Madison/Tobias/Travis returning" thing is real in WD fandom to this day, and its just bizarre.
     
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  19. FreezeC77

    FreezeC77 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2002
    For real. That's why I mentioned Travis. He was definitely the beginning of the craziness since he was the first to go. Mortally wounded and falling out of Helicopter a couple hundred feet.... but damn so many people kept talking like "WELL WE NEVER SAW THE BODY!" lol.
     
  20. crookeddy

    crookeddy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2006
    All these A+s for this weak show are making me feel like we are living in an alternate universe... This show is practically Z-Nation to me now...

    Also, they've always split up the cast, but this season is so fragmented it feels like those bonus episodes of the parent show, before they learned how to safely film in large groups during the pandemic.