Outside of consulting on the makeup, I don't think Nicotero really has any other input on Fear. Definitely not to the same extent he had on the parent show, anyway.
Spoilers Fear the Walking Dead - Season 8 - The Final Season
- Thread starter TREK_GOD_1
- Start date
Well, it would not be the first time the WD's TV franchise lifted ideas from other zombie media, whether Nicotero had anything to do with it or not.
Fear the Walking Dead
Season 8 - episode 2: "Blue Jay”
June: Long separated from her friends, June--an escapee from PADRE--lives alone, her shack near one of the estuaries used by PADRE members. She's posted signs all throughout the region, stating "PADRE IS A LIE TURN BACK" and other warnings against the group (SEE NOTES). Day by day, she prepares her kit with self-loaded tranquilizer darts, which she uses to fire into the bodies of PADRE members passing by, rendering each one unconscious long enough for June to amputate their forefingers--a practice she's undertaken for some time, hence the radio chatter of another attack on PADRE boat teams.
June deposits each finger in a jar, adding them to what looks to be a dozen forefingers. Depression weighing on her, June has resigned herself to living for this gruesome task, until one day, an armed man named Adrian arrives at the shack begging June to help him find his daughter, Hannah. Adrian knows June is behind the signs and as a result, must have some association with PADRE, believing she can help him--and his unseen group--rescue Hannah from the group. June is visibly disturbed by Adrian's photo of his daughter, but warns him against going after the girl, since she--like all others--would be used to hurt anyone who loves them. With her gun drawn on Adrian, June orders him to leave and never come back, ultimately reacting in a callous manner to the pleas of the man. Still, Adrian is not one to give up seeking June's help, so he promises he will return.
Dwight, Sherry and Finch: Later, June packs up her belongings and takes her usual position along the estuary, readying her rifle in anticipation of another PADRE boat. One zooms by, holding three masked people who are quickly shot by June, causing the boat's driver--with his arm connected to the boat--pitch out of the boat face down leading to the man's death by drowning. As June drags the boat to the shore, she has to kill the drowned man before he reanimates, while checking the identities of the others, only to discover they are Dwight and Sherry, but she's caught off-guard by an armed 7-year old boy dressed in PADRE-standard issue orange jumpsuit. The child radios PADRE, reporting June's killing of the boat's driver. June rushes the boy, causing a bullet to hit and deflate the boat. The child winces in pain as Dwight & Sherry wake up--and realize June is the person cutting off fingers.
Dwight & Sherry were headed toward a clinic to see treatment for the boy's assumed appendicitis, but thanks to the boat deflating, the trio cannot make the 20 miles to the clinic, so Dwight blackmails June: either she performs an operation on Finch, or he will tell PADRE all about her. Sherry "sweetens" the deal by promising to find a boat for June to leave the region. June deduces Finch is the couple's child (but Finch does not share this knowledge). June is reluctant to get involved, but she--glancing at Finch--decides to help.
The train clinic: That night, June leads the others to a series of railroad cars at abandoned train museum, which had been converted into a medical clinic--also neglected for years. Boarding the train, June powers up the facility and enlists Dwight and Sherry into prepping a surgical area for the boy. Each takes notice of a killed walker head mounted between two clamps connected to a motorized extension rod...
Sherry discovers a logbook filled with photos of people with walker bites, all in varying degrees of their illness, along with notes detailing responses to some sort of treatment. Sherry's inquiry is met with June's evasive responses, pressing the need to operate, but the couple--noticing the bizarre nature of the logbook--refuse to consent to the surgery until June answers questions. They are all caught off guard by Adrian, who demands answers about the whereabouts of his daughter; Dwight assures the man Hannah can be found, as PADRE has never lost a child. Adrian is distracted by his allies' walkie message, giving Dwight his chance to disarm Adrian, who fires...at the cost of the train's power box being damaged by the wild shot. Dwight considers shooting Adrian, but he backs off as June tells the others back-up power can be accessed--only its in one of the rear cars...filled with walkers.
June is finally forced to admit she once worked at the clinic, which ran experiments on people with walker bites, but it was kept off of the PADRE books by Shrike. Apparently, Shrike theorized that the walker virus could be cured with radiotherapy, but the effects of treatment were slow and painful--worse than the effects from a bite. June claims she did not agree to help, so she ran.
The train's secrets: Dwight and Sherry restore the train's power,then climb to the roof to avoid a horde of walkers. Sherry--likening the false security of PADRE to the Sanctuary--opines that they cannot be a family again, unless they leave PADRE--with Finch, with a plan to spread the word about the community's true purpose. As the couple bond, the roof caves in, dumping them on top of a car full of chained walkers in hospital gowns. Dwight uses the last of his ammo taking down a few walkers, but the duo has to climb on luggage racks...which provide limited security. Dwight radios June, getting her to promise to take care of Finch in the event he--and Sherry--do not make it. June--already overwhelmed by that which was said and not yet revealed--moves to rescue her former friends, while being chided by Adrian for what he perceives as cowardice, or something which made June stop living.
June makes her way through the cars (ordering Adrian to stay behind), where she's reunited with jars of heads, and walkers chained to pipes. June can barely bring herself to look at the creatures, yet she apologizes to a few. She reaches the car with Dwight & Sherry, but struggles with a lock--the movement triggering the walkers enough that they pull pipes from the walls and move toward June. Although she shoots two, she clumsily drops her gun, and is pinned to the floor by the walkers. She is saved by Adrian, who unintentionally guilt-trips June by stating he's only living for Hannah--to show her he's not the man PADRE said he was. Adrian and June break into the last car...with Finch (armed with the boat's paddle) in tow.
As expected, the trio save Dwight & Sherry, who inform Finch that he is their son. Finch--a 1st-rate student of PADRE's brainwashing--disbelieves his parents, but this conversation is cut off by walkers pounding on the door to the next car. June tenses up, as Adrian sees a little girl walker--recognized as Hannah. The anguished man holds a knife to June's neck, accusing her of killing his daughter. June tells the man that Hannah had been bitten in an area which could not be amputated, so using a theory about Alicia (bitten and exposed to radiation, which was thought to have given her some level of resistance), she treated the child with radiotherapy...and it stopped the infection (YEAH, SEE NOTES), but the radiation was too intense for the child, which eventually ended her life. June wanted to put Hannah down, but it was Shrike who wanted Hannah "alive" in order to study her, threatening anyone June cared for as long as her finger was on the trigger. In retaliation, June cut off Shrike's trigger finger and fled the clinic.
Adrian cries that his daughter was all he had to live for--and understands why June did not want to be around anyone else. With that, he enters the car containing his daughter, hugging the child...and allowing her--and the other walkers present--to consume him.
Dwight asks June to come with them, as he considers her part of the family he would not have if not for June--and John--saving him long ago. June is touched by Dwight's offer and agrees. Before June can put Hannah and her father out of their misery, Shrike and her gunmen arrive, taking everyone captive.
Shrike: Shrike goes right into her sales job again, arguing the merits of the radiation treatment's future (as opposed to the all of the deaths its caused up to this point) and how June will return to her research. June coldly refuses, leading a confident Shrike to order one her henchmen to retrieve something--the severed, reanimated head of Adrian. Mounting the head into the clamps (where the other head had been), the device is activated, moving the creature closer to the face of the still-unconscious Finch; Sherry and Dwight fight to break free, screaming their protests, while June stares in horror, still resistant, but begging Shrike to stop the walker. Their collective begging means nothing, as Adrian's head bites into Finch's upper left shoulder. Falling apart, Dwight and Sherry are taken away--not before Dwight promises to kill Shrike, who calmly tells him he will do no such thing.
June has no choice but to give in and experiment on Finch, but before she's taken away, Shrike gets a bit of insurance that June will no longer fire on PADRE members--and a bit of revenge--by cutting off June's forefinger....
Morgan and Madison: The duo are in the back of a PADRE truck, their hands tied. Madison asks Morgan why he believes he cannot be the person Mo needs him to be--or, what's holding him back. Half lost in thought, Morgan answers by speaking about something he should have done long ago--but did not (SEE NOTES). Madiosn tries to encourage him to do whatever he can to fix whatever he's referring to in order to move forward. Suddenly, Madison chokes, collapsing to the bed of the truck; Morgan yells for an oxygen tank for Madison, getting the drivers to stop the vehicle to investigate. As one masked PADRE member tries to revive Madison, the woman--obviously faking the severity of her condition--throws herself into her captors, knocking them to the road while gasping for Morgan to make his break for freedom, which he does, only he has no idea where he's going...
NOTES:
Very brutal episode; not one of the main group's reunions have been pleasant, and just as we're introduced to Dwight and Sherry's ill child, the boy is bitten as part of Shrike's cruel plan to cure the walker plague based on June's theories about radiotherapy. While the logbook was filled with horrific photos of failures--essentially the clinic was a torture chamber--June has achieved the ONE thing both in-universe characters and fans have debated since the end of The Walking Dead's first season (specifically "TS-19"): is there a way to cure or treat the walker virus. This episode is a landmark as that question was answered, giving a sense of hope for all in that world unlike any time before.
When June mentioned Alicia (the one who was bitten / exposed to radiation and survived longer than she should have), I wondered about another victim of radiation exposure--Charlie. At the end of the previous season, she was supposedly on death's door, so you'd have to assume she died shortly before the group was found by PADRE...or perhaps PADRE--knowing what was coming--killed the girl.
Thanks to PADRE's system (and Sherry working in the nursery to be closer to her child), Dwight & Sherry have not spent much time together--a situation similar to Morgan and Grace.
June posting anti-PADRE warnings, sort of a callback to TWD's season three teases with signs leading people to Terminus.
Morgan's "something he should have taken care of long ago, but didn't" had to be a nod to his failure to kill his reanimated wife, Jenny. As everyone should know by now, Jenny-the-walker bit and killed their son, Duane--leading Morgan to temporarily lose his mind and become an uncompromising killer. Where Morgan's headed is anyone's guess, as one can assume he's traveled some distance from Grace's location.
Next week, June--despite missing a trigger finger--still uses a gun, while Daniel makes his first appearance of the season.
GRADE: A.
Season 8 - episode 2: "Blue Jay”
June: Long separated from her friends, June--an escapee from PADRE--lives alone, her shack near one of the estuaries used by PADRE members. She's posted signs all throughout the region, stating "PADRE IS A LIE TURN BACK" and other warnings against the group (SEE NOTES). Day by day, she prepares her kit with self-loaded tranquilizer darts, which she uses to fire into the bodies of PADRE members passing by, rendering each one unconscious long enough for June to amputate their forefingers--a practice she's undertaken for some time, hence the radio chatter of another attack on PADRE boat teams.
June deposits each finger in a jar, adding them to what looks to be a dozen forefingers. Depression weighing on her, June has resigned herself to living for this gruesome task, until one day, an armed man named Adrian arrives at the shack begging June to help him find his daughter, Hannah. Adrian knows June is behind the signs and as a result, must have some association with PADRE, believing she can help him--and his unseen group--rescue Hannah from the group. June is visibly disturbed by Adrian's photo of his daughter, but warns him against going after the girl, since she--like all others--would be used to hurt anyone who loves them. With her gun drawn on Adrian, June orders him to leave and never come back, ultimately reacting in a callous manner to the pleas of the man. Still, Adrian is not one to give up seeking June's help, so he promises he will return.
Dwight, Sherry and Finch: Later, June packs up her belongings and takes her usual position along the estuary, readying her rifle in anticipation of another PADRE boat. One zooms by, holding three masked people who are quickly shot by June, causing the boat's driver--with his arm connected to the boat--pitch out of the boat face down leading to the man's death by drowning. As June drags the boat to the shore, she has to kill the drowned man before he reanimates, while checking the identities of the others, only to discover they are Dwight and Sherry, but she's caught off-guard by an armed 7-year old boy dressed in PADRE-standard issue orange jumpsuit. The child radios PADRE, reporting June's killing of the boat's driver. June rushes the boy, causing a bullet to hit and deflate the boat. The child winces in pain as Dwight & Sherry wake up--and realize June is the person cutting off fingers.
Dwight & Sherry were headed toward a clinic to see treatment for the boy's assumed appendicitis, but thanks to the boat deflating, the trio cannot make the 20 miles to the clinic, so Dwight blackmails June: either she performs an operation on Finch, or he will tell PADRE all about her. Sherry "sweetens" the deal by promising to find a boat for June to leave the region. June deduces Finch is the couple's child (but Finch does not share this knowledge). June is reluctant to get involved, but she--glancing at Finch--decides to help.
The train clinic: That night, June leads the others to a series of railroad cars at abandoned train museum, which had been converted into a medical clinic--also neglected for years. Boarding the train, June powers up the facility and enlists Dwight and Sherry into prepping a surgical area for the boy. Each takes notice of a killed walker head mounted between two clamps connected to a motorized extension rod...
Sherry discovers a logbook filled with photos of people with walker bites, all in varying degrees of their illness, along with notes detailing responses to some sort of treatment. Sherry's inquiry is met with June's evasive responses, pressing the need to operate, but the couple--noticing the bizarre nature of the logbook--refuse to consent to the surgery until June answers questions. They are all caught off guard by Adrian, who demands answers about the whereabouts of his daughter; Dwight assures the man Hannah can be found, as PADRE has never lost a child. Adrian is distracted by his allies' walkie message, giving Dwight his chance to disarm Adrian, who fires...at the cost of the train's power box being damaged by the wild shot. Dwight considers shooting Adrian, but he backs off as June tells the others back-up power can be accessed--only its in one of the rear cars...filled with walkers.
June is finally forced to admit she once worked at the clinic, which ran experiments on people with walker bites, but it was kept off of the PADRE books by Shrike. Apparently, Shrike theorized that the walker virus could be cured with radiotherapy, but the effects of treatment were slow and painful--worse than the effects from a bite. June claims she did not agree to help, so she ran.
The train's secrets: Dwight and Sherry restore the train's power,then climb to the roof to avoid a horde of walkers. Sherry--likening the false security of PADRE to the Sanctuary--opines that they cannot be a family again, unless they leave PADRE--with Finch, with a plan to spread the word about the community's true purpose. As the couple bond, the roof caves in, dumping them on top of a car full of chained walkers in hospital gowns. Dwight uses the last of his ammo taking down a few walkers, but the duo has to climb on luggage racks...which provide limited security. Dwight radios June, getting her to promise to take care of Finch in the event he--and Sherry--do not make it. June--already overwhelmed by that which was said and not yet revealed--moves to rescue her former friends, while being chided by Adrian for what he perceives as cowardice, or something which made June stop living.
June makes her way through the cars (ordering Adrian to stay behind), where she's reunited with jars of heads, and walkers chained to pipes. June can barely bring herself to look at the creatures, yet she apologizes to a few. She reaches the car with Dwight & Sherry, but struggles with a lock--the movement triggering the walkers enough that they pull pipes from the walls and move toward June. Although she shoots two, she clumsily drops her gun, and is pinned to the floor by the walkers. She is saved by Adrian, who unintentionally guilt-trips June by stating he's only living for Hannah--to show her he's not the man PADRE said he was. Adrian and June break into the last car...with Finch (armed with the boat's paddle) in tow.
As expected, the trio save Dwight & Sherry, who inform Finch that he is their son. Finch--a 1st-rate student of PADRE's brainwashing--disbelieves his parents, but this conversation is cut off by walkers pounding on the door to the next car. June tenses up, as Adrian sees a little girl walker--recognized as Hannah. The anguished man holds a knife to June's neck, accusing her of killing his daughter. June tells the man that Hannah had been bitten in an area which could not be amputated, so using a theory about Alicia (bitten and exposed to radiation, which was thought to have given her some level of resistance), she treated the child with radiotherapy...and it stopped the infection (YEAH, SEE NOTES), but the radiation was too intense for the child, which eventually ended her life. June wanted to put Hannah down, but it was Shrike who wanted Hannah "alive" in order to study her, threatening anyone June cared for as long as her finger was on the trigger. In retaliation, June cut off Shrike's trigger finger and fled the clinic.
Adrian cries that his daughter was all he had to live for--and understands why June did not want to be around anyone else. With that, he enters the car containing his daughter, hugging the child...and allowing her--and the other walkers present--to consume him.
Dwight asks June to come with them, as he considers her part of the family he would not have if not for June--and John--saving him long ago. June is touched by Dwight's offer and agrees. Before June can put Hannah and her father out of their misery, Shrike and her gunmen arrive, taking everyone captive.
Shrike: Shrike goes right into her sales job again, arguing the merits of the radiation treatment's future (as opposed to the all of the deaths its caused up to this point) and how June will return to her research. June coldly refuses, leading a confident Shrike to order one her henchmen to retrieve something--the severed, reanimated head of Adrian. Mounting the head into the clamps (where the other head had been), the device is activated, moving the creature closer to the face of the still-unconscious Finch; Sherry and Dwight fight to break free, screaming their protests, while June stares in horror, still resistant, but begging Shrike to stop the walker. Their collective begging means nothing, as Adrian's head bites into Finch's upper left shoulder. Falling apart, Dwight and Sherry are taken away--not before Dwight promises to kill Shrike, who calmly tells him he will do no such thing.
June has no choice but to give in and experiment on Finch, but before she's taken away, Shrike gets a bit of insurance that June will no longer fire on PADRE members--and a bit of revenge--by cutting off June's forefinger....
Morgan and Madison: The duo are in the back of a PADRE truck, their hands tied. Madison asks Morgan why he believes he cannot be the person Mo needs him to be--or, what's holding him back. Half lost in thought, Morgan answers by speaking about something he should have done long ago--but did not (SEE NOTES). Madiosn tries to encourage him to do whatever he can to fix whatever he's referring to in order to move forward. Suddenly, Madison chokes, collapsing to the bed of the truck; Morgan yells for an oxygen tank for Madison, getting the drivers to stop the vehicle to investigate. As one masked PADRE member tries to revive Madison, the woman--obviously faking the severity of her condition--throws herself into her captors, knocking them to the road while gasping for Morgan to make his break for freedom, which he does, only he has no idea where he's going...
NOTES:
Very brutal episode; not one of the main group's reunions have been pleasant, and just as we're introduced to Dwight and Sherry's ill child, the boy is bitten as part of Shrike's cruel plan to cure the walker plague based on June's theories about radiotherapy. While the logbook was filled with horrific photos of failures--essentially the clinic was a torture chamber--June has achieved the ONE thing both in-universe characters and fans have debated since the end of The Walking Dead's first season (specifically "TS-19"): is there a way to cure or treat the walker virus. This episode is a landmark as that question was answered, giving a sense of hope for all in that world unlike any time before.
When June mentioned Alicia (the one who was bitten / exposed to radiation and survived longer than she should have), I wondered about another victim of radiation exposure--Charlie. At the end of the previous season, she was supposedly on death's door, so you'd have to assume she died shortly before the group was found by PADRE...or perhaps PADRE--knowing what was coming--killed the girl.
Thanks to PADRE's system (and Sherry working in the nursery to be closer to her child), Dwight & Sherry have not spent much time together--a situation similar to Morgan and Grace.
June posting anti-PADRE warnings, sort of a callback to TWD's season three teases with signs leading people to Terminus.
Morgan's "something he should have taken care of long ago, but didn't" had to be a nod to his failure to kill his reanimated wife, Jenny. As everyone should know by now, Jenny-the-walker bit and killed their son, Duane--leading Morgan to temporarily lose his mind and become an uncompromising killer. Where Morgan's headed is anyone's guess, as one can assume he's traveled some distance from Grace's location.
Next week, June--despite missing a trigger finger--still uses a gun, while Daniel makes his first appearance of the season.
GRADE: A.
Damn, this was a dark episode, with June having been forced to take part in PADRE's experiments on the train, that guy's daughter turning out to be dead amongst those experiments and all the way up to the end when Shrike arranged to have Dwight and Sherry's son bit. This is great entertainment this year, but it sure is dark and bleak.
Fear the Walking Dead
Season 8 - episode 3: "Odessa”
Flashback: 12 years ago, Ben, his sister Sam and their father--an army general named Krennick--are stationed at an island base where numerous containers are labeled with the title, "P.A.D.R.E.". Krennick reminds his children that he will need to leave soon, but before he does, he explains that each container is filled with enough materials to seed new communities. That--he reasons--is how society rebuilds. Ben questions this, noting Atlanta an Los Angeles had been bombed (SEE NOTES). Krennick is confident his unit can be successful, but they must reach out to other communities / trading partners, as they would not survive simply isolating themselves on the island.
Krennick refers to a nearby woodpecker--known for its strength in caring for its offspring--as a model for how humanity will survive. Further, he gives his children bird nicknames based on the similarity of their personalities to specific bird : the Crane for Ben, and Shrike for Sam (small, but brutal when necessary).
Worried about their father, the siblings stow away on Krennick's ship. Once the ship docks, Ben notices his father left his mother's binoculars behind and becomes desperate to give them to his father; Sam vociferously demands Ben stay put, but he pushes her aside, locks her in the bridge, running off. Ben makes his way ashore, wandering through a maze of stacked containers, some smeared with "dead inside". Soon, he hears the snarl of walkers and panics, running in every wrong direction. Eventually, Sam breaks out of the bridge and locates her brother--but cannot do a thing about the walkers. Ben is cornered, but is saved by his father, who guns down the walkers. Helping his children up to the top of a container, Krennick is bitten as the kids watch, as he says "Don't let this die. It's too important"....
Hours later, the siblings see their reanimated father walking in circles along with the other walkers. When they get a walkie call from the island, they quickly reason that the children must be protected--with a lie, rather than tell them the devastating truth involving walkers.
Another train car lab / June: Madison is strapped to an exam table, prepped to be bitten by another walker head held by a motorized clamp. June knows Dwight & Sherry son's infection was stopped by radiotherapy, but she knows nothing else about his condition, while Shrike insists June will continue the experiments--despite June's refusal--once she's motivated by Madison once she's bitten.
Outside--somewhere in the distance--Mo (accompanied by Dove) walk along the tracks; Dove tries to convince Mo to return to PADRE, but Mo can no longer pretend the world that raised her is based in pure altruism. After searching through records, Mo is suspicious of the silence surrounding Dwight & Sherry's son, and the abandonment of the original train car lab. Dove--a PADRE loyalist--cannot buy into Mo's theories, but follows the child as she spots the current train lab, determined to see what's happening inside.
Reaching the guarded train car, Mo sledgehammers the rails, drawing the guard to her location; inside the car, the clamped walker head is close to biting Madison when Mo appears, demanding Shrike stop. Shrike orders guards to take Mo away when June acts--taking Shrike's gun & striking her in the head. June shoots at the guards, allowing Mo to join her as a firefight breaks out. June kills the guards, but all are held at gunpoint by Dove, who is not shy about her hostile feelings for Madison. June & Madison try to convince the girl about Padre's lies, and ask her to help them get to the island in order to find all of Madison's collector files--containing the identity of Dove's parents. Dove does not care to know who her parents were, but agrees to help, despite Shrike admitting she's Padre's daughter & warning the group of terrible consequences should any harm come to her.
Daniel and the Parents: The hostage party are stopped at gunpoint by a rag-tag group of armed survivors, who are--in fact--parents of the children PADRE kidnapped. As explanations go nowhere fast, the group's leader emerges--Daniel--last seen with the escapee rafts sever years earlier. As one would expect, he's surprised to see a living Madison. Daniel info dumps his life since the raft period, including being considered worthless by PADRE and dumped in the swamps (for being old & having no usable skills), and dealing with guilt due to not being able to keep his promise to stay with Luciana or Charlie until the latter passed away (SEE NOTES).
A group of PADRE teens track down Daniel's group, threatening to shoot everyone if they do not release Shrike; despite June, Madison and Dove trying to drill truth into the heads of the PADRE teens, the standoff intensifies, until Madison holds a knife to Shrike's throat....and Mo stands in front of Daniel, daring the teens to shoot. Daniel and his group give enough time to get to a boat, and with Dove's guidance, the group lands on PADRE.
Finch / Shrike: In the PADRE interrogation room, Finch is questioned by Padre about his health in the wake of treatment, while accusing the boy's parents of causing harm to him. This is interrupted by a walkie call from Madison, who--in front of more PADRE guards--calls out the practice of separating kids from their parents when Shrike was allowed to stay with hers. Madison demands Padre pull her collector files, or she will tell the entire island who Shrike really is.
Shrike leads June, Madison, Mo and Dove to the interrogation room, where Madison's collector file box sits. Fed up with Padre's lies, Madison sledgehammers the two-way window to pieces, revealing Ben to be the voice of PADRE. The heroes learn the how and why Krennick's identity "needed" to be maintained, for the sake of the children left on the island by parents who were killed by walkers. The siblings believed in order to honor their father's dying request and bring some "stability" to the orphaned children, they would sell the idea that the parents made the conscious decision to leave them in the hands of P.A.D.R.E.
Shrike needles Madison to open the file, but when Dove sees its contents, she learns her real name is "Odessa", and her mother--Ava Sanderson--died long ago. Sanderson was the woman who feigned her pregnancy in order to infiltrate P.A.D.R.E., but thanks to Madison's promise to retrieve Odessa--and the fact she was hunted by a P.A.D.R.E. search party (S7 / E16 - "Gone”), Sanderson--and other parents--were murdered by the group. A sobbing Dove aims her gun at Madison (missing the big picture of why Sanderson was separated from her in the first place), but she's talked down by Shrike, who then bluff's Madison to tell the entire island about P.A.D.R.E.'s truth--or leave the children in a safe place. Madison has no answer for this and soon, the heroes are taken into custody, with Shrike promising the train car experiments will continue...
The P.A.D.R.E. boat--carrying Shrike, Dove, June, Madison and two guards--returns to the mainland where the train car lab sits, but the group is overtaken by Daniel and the parents. June, Mo and Madison are determined to end P.A.D.R.E.'s reign; undaunted by her current situation, Shrike never lets up with her pro-P.A.D.R.E. sales pitch, but no one...except for Dove...is buying it. With her history, Madison knows the children will not listen to her, so they need Morgan--a real leader they can follow.
Back on the island, Shrike and Crane--expecting the parents will soon arrive in search of their kids-- prepare to pull up stakes, but continue to follow their father's directive by expanding the operation to the mainland. First, they will need to clear out the hundreds of walkers "guarding" the P.A.D.R.E. supply containers, and there's no one better to take on the job than the children they've trained for just such a job...
NOTES:
While Dove is understandably heartbroken to learn her mother died, she cannot wrap her head around the truth of the matter: Padre did lie to her all along, as Ava Sanderson did not abandon the girl. Further, it was the P.A.D.R.E. hunters who killed the parents--on the orders of the siblings, so Madison is not at fault.
Dove has decided to stay with P.A.D.R.E., and one can imagine Shrike will not hit the brakes on manipulating the girl to go into darker territory.
The biggest WTF? moment was Daniel all but confirming Charlie--and possibly Luciana--are dead. I had hoped Luciana would finally receive some character developing attention she's needed for a couple of seasons, but it would appear that's not going to happen. Or, if it does--but in a flashback--its would seem tacked on, only because the series is ending.
Next week: After more than a decade, Morgan returns to his original home in King County and seems to be losing his mind (again) just as living threats close in.
GRADE: B.
Season 8 - episode 3: "Odessa”
Flashback: 12 years ago, Ben, his sister Sam and their father--an army general named Krennick--are stationed at an island base where numerous containers are labeled with the title, "P.A.D.R.E.". Krennick reminds his children that he will need to leave soon, but before he does, he explains that each container is filled with enough materials to seed new communities. That--he reasons--is how society rebuilds. Ben questions this, noting Atlanta an Los Angeles had been bombed (SEE NOTES). Krennick is confident his unit can be successful, but they must reach out to other communities / trading partners, as they would not survive simply isolating themselves on the island.
Krennick refers to a nearby woodpecker--known for its strength in caring for its offspring--as a model for how humanity will survive. Further, he gives his children bird nicknames based on the similarity of their personalities to specific bird : the Crane for Ben, and Shrike for Sam (small, but brutal when necessary).
Worried about their father, the siblings stow away on Krennick's ship. Once the ship docks, Ben notices his father left his mother's binoculars behind and becomes desperate to give them to his father; Sam vociferously demands Ben stay put, but he pushes her aside, locks her in the bridge, running off. Ben makes his way ashore, wandering through a maze of stacked containers, some smeared with "dead inside". Soon, he hears the snarl of walkers and panics, running in every wrong direction. Eventually, Sam breaks out of the bridge and locates her brother--but cannot do a thing about the walkers. Ben is cornered, but is saved by his father, who guns down the walkers. Helping his children up to the top of a container, Krennick is bitten as the kids watch, as he says "Don't let this die. It's too important"....
Hours later, the siblings see their reanimated father walking in circles along with the other walkers. When they get a walkie call from the island, they quickly reason that the children must be protected--with a lie, rather than tell them the devastating truth involving walkers.
Another train car lab / June: Madison is strapped to an exam table, prepped to be bitten by another walker head held by a motorized clamp. June knows Dwight & Sherry son's infection was stopped by radiotherapy, but she knows nothing else about his condition, while Shrike insists June will continue the experiments--despite June's refusal--once she's motivated by Madison once she's bitten.
Outside--somewhere in the distance--Mo (accompanied by Dove) walk along the tracks; Dove tries to convince Mo to return to PADRE, but Mo can no longer pretend the world that raised her is based in pure altruism. After searching through records, Mo is suspicious of the silence surrounding Dwight & Sherry's son, and the abandonment of the original train car lab. Dove--a PADRE loyalist--cannot buy into Mo's theories, but follows the child as she spots the current train lab, determined to see what's happening inside.
Reaching the guarded train car, Mo sledgehammers the rails, drawing the guard to her location; inside the car, the clamped walker head is close to biting Madison when Mo appears, demanding Shrike stop. Shrike orders guards to take Mo away when June acts--taking Shrike's gun & striking her in the head. June shoots at the guards, allowing Mo to join her as a firefight breaks out. June kills the guards, but all are held at gunpoint by Dove, who is not shy about her hostile feelings for Madison. June & Madison try to convince the girl about Padre's lies, and ask her to help them get to the island in order to find all of Madison's collector files--containing the identity of Dove's parents. Dove does not care to know who her parents were, but agrees to help, despite Shrike admitting she's Padre's daughter & warning the group of terrible consequences should any harm come to her.
Daniel and the Parents: The hostage party are stopped at gunpoint by a rag-tag group of armed survivors, who are--in fact--parents of the children PADRE kidnapped. As explanations go nowhere fast, the group's leader emerges--Daniel--last seen with the escapee rafts sever years earlier. As one would expect, he's surprised to see a living Madison. Daniel info dumps his life since the raft period, including being considered worthless by PADRE and dumped in the swamps (for being old & having no usable skills), and dealing with guilt due to not being able to keep his promise to stay with Luciana or Charlie until the latter passed away (SEE NOTES).
A group of PADRE teens track down Daniel's group, threatening to shoot everyone if they do not release Shrike; despite June, Madison and Dove trying to drill truth into the heads of the PADRE teens, the standoff intensifies, until Madison holds a knife to Shrike's throat....and Mo stands in front of Daniel, daring the teens to shoot. Daniel and his group give enough time to get to a boat, and with Dove's guidance, the group lands on PADRE.
Finch / Shrike: In the PADRE interrogation room, Finch is questioned by Padre about his health in the wake of treatment, while accusing the boy's parents of causing harm to him. This is interrupted by a walkie call from Madison, who--in front of more PADRE guards--calls out the practice of separating kids from their parents when Shrike was allowed to stay with hers. Madison demands Padre pull her collector files, or she will tell the entire island who Shrike really is.
Shrike leads June, Madison, Mo and Dove to the interrogation room, where Madison's collector file box sits. Fed up with Padre's lies, Madison sledgehammers the two-way window to pieces, revealing Ben to be the voice of PADRE. The heroes learn the how and why Krennick's identity "needed" to be maintained, for the sake of the children left on the island by parents who were killed by walkers. The siblings believed in order to honor their father's dying request and bring some "stability" to the orphaned children, they would sell the idea that the parents made the conscious decision to leave them in the hands of P.A.D.R.E.
Shrike needles Madison to open the file, but when Dove sees its contents, she learns her real name is "Odessa", and her mother--Ava Sanderson--died long ago. Sanderson was the woman who feigned her pregnancy in order to infiltrate P.A.D.R.E., but thanks to Madison's promise to retrieve Odessa--and the fact she was hunted by a P.A.D.R.E. search party (S7 / E16 - "Gone”), Sanderson--and other parents--were murdered by the group. A sobbing Dove aims her gun at Madison (missing the big picture of why Sanderson was separated from her in the first place), but she's talked down by Shrike, who then bluff's Madison to tell the entire island about P.A.D.R.E.'s truth--or leave the children in a safe place. Madison has no answer for this and soon, the heroes are taken into custody, with Shrike promising the train car experiments will continue...
The P.A.D.R.E. boat--carrying Shrike, Dove, June, Madison and two guards--returns to the mainland where the train car lab sits, but the group is overtaken by Daniel and the parents. June, Mo and Madison are determined to end P.A.D.R.E.'s reign; undaunted by her current situation, Shrike never lets up with her pro-P.A.D.R.E. sales pitch, but no one...except for Dove...is buying it. With her history, Madison knows the children will not listen to her, so they need Morgan--a real leader they can follow.
Back on the island, Shrike and Crane--expecting the parents will soon arrive in search of their kids-- prepare to pull up stakes, but continue to follow their father's directive by expanding the operation to the mainland. First, they will need to clear out the hundreds of walkers "guarding" the P.A.D.R.E. supply containers, and there's no one better to take on the job than the children they've trained for just such a job...
NOTES:
While Dove is understandably heartbroken to learn her mother died, she cannot wrap her head around the truth of the matter: Padre did lie to her all along, as Ava Sanderson did not abandon the girl. Further, it was the P.A.D.R.E. hunters who killed the parents--on the orders of the siblings, so Madison is not at fault.
Dove has decided to stay with P.A.D.R.E., and one can imagine Shrike will not hit the brakes on manipulating the girl to go into darker territory.
The biggest WTF? moment was Daniel all but confirming Charlie--and possibly Luciana--are dead. I had hoped Luciana would finally receive some character developing attention she's needed for a couple of seasons, but it would appear that's not going to happen. Or, if it does--but in a flashback--its would seem tacked on, only because the series is ending.
Next week: After more than a decade, Morgan returns to his original home in King County and seems to be losing his mind (again) just as living threats close in.
GRADE: B.
Well, the storyline sure is moving along this season. Though, ironically, given how much I've complained about other shows dragging some storylines along, it does feel as though this is moving a bit too quickly. Maybe a by-product of this season originally being planned out believing they'd have the usual sixteen episodes and then finding out they'd only have twelve? Still an enjoyable episode, but something about it just felt like I'm missing something.
We're probably going to see Luciana again at some point, Danay Garcia is still listed in the credits. Of course, she was also listed in the credits for the entire third season but was only in the first three episodes or so.
Oh, there's no doubt the truncated season forced showrunners to move the plot forward at a faster pace, along with the possibility of linking it with any of the spin-off series...that's if FTWD's main characters are not bumped off.
...and with this season jumping seven years into the future, the showrunners can get away with the limited use of a character who is so far in the past, that she might have next to no impact on the current arc, and would just be there for a dramatic end.
Then, there's the still-missing Althea....
i have actually been liking this season a bit more than i was expecting.
I had been disappointed in that i thought the PADRE as a place but also a person was going to give us another dictator...i was hoping a bit more creative like a committee....but the brother-sister revelation was a decent alternative.
It definitely made me feel sad that the dad died-- seemed like a good leader. But all the adults dying? Kinda convenient (and dumb on the adults for leaving).
.
.
I think they did a good job "resolving" her storyline.
The real question for me would be... what happened to Wendell and Sarah? Based on what Daniel said, i would assume that Wendell was similarly abandoned, and of course Sarah would stick with him. They really got the short shrift in the Covid/Strand-character-assassination season.
Next weeks episode should be good...
I had been disappointed in that i thought the PADRE as a place but also a person was going to give us another dictator...i was hoping a bit more creative like a committee....but the brother-sister revelation was a decent alternative.
It definitely made me feel sad that the dad died-- seemed like a good leader. But all the adults dying? Kinda convenient (and dumb on the adults for leaving).
Not just the cut to 12 episodes...but also the news that this season would be the last...which i suspect caught the crew by surprise. So not just trying to finish the season early, but also ending character arcs as well
.
I don't see them killing many off (maybe a couple). I highly doubt they would waste Morgan in that fashion.
.
Hopefully that will be the reason to see her...and at least give some kind of resolution.
I think they did a good job "resolving" her storyline.
The real question for me would be... what happened to Wendell and Sarah? Based on what Daniel said, i would assume that Wendell was similarly abandoned, and of course Sarah would stick with him. They really got the short shrift in the Covid/Strand-character-assassination season.
Next weeks episode should be good...
Fear the Walking Dead
Season 8 - episode 4: "King County”
Morgan: At long last, Morgan returns to King County. Finding his old home, great trepidation slowing his walk up the front steps. As he reaches for the doorknob, he hears a wave of indistinct voices--except one...his long-dead son, Duane. Morgan backs away, not knowing if what he heard was real. Running back to the street, the frustrated man kills several walkers, growling, "I CAN do it--I can can kill ALL OF YOU!!"--Morgan criticizing his younger self for procrastinating in not killing Jenny, which would cause the death of his son.
Morgan investigates a P.A.D.R.E. truck on the next block, discovering the driver is Grace, on the trail of Morgan...
Grace / Mo: The couple are shocked to discover Mo stowed away on the truck, learning Morgan's destination by pure deductive reasoning (regarding "King County", "Jenny" and "Duane" written on the walls of Morgan's boathouse and his reaction to it). Mo now recognizes Morgan and Grace as her parents and would like nothing better than the trio to leave for greener pastures, but she wants to aid Daniel and the parents in overtaking P.A.D.R.E. island.
Morgan reluctantly recalls how Duane was killed by his reanimated mother, how he soon blacked out from the horror of it all, and turned into a killer--"clearing" the living as well as the dead. He's returned to King County to kill the reanimated Duane. Feeling the weight of Morgan's sad mission, Grace and Mo volunteer to help Morgan finish his grim business. Morgan insists Grace take Mo to wherever Daniel's group is settled, but this order is rejected.
Dwight / Sherry / Finch / Shrike: Dwight and Sherry--accompanied by two P.A.D.R.E. guards--hunt Morgan down thanks to using their son as a blackmail tool by P.A.D.R.E. (Shrike). The couple accuse Morgan of "selling them out" seven years ago in the P.A.D.R.E. deal, and now demand Morgan tell them what he's looking for in King County. Eventually, Morgan tells his story, but the P.A.D.R.E. guards do not believe him. Morgan is allowed to prove his story by leading them to his old home. A walker in Duane's room turns out to be a random wanderer, but Morgan finds Jenny's corpse and covers it. Dwight loses his patience, believing Morgan is not being honest about his motives; the P.A.D.R.E. guards--on Shrike's orders--threaten to shoot Morgan to death if he does not divulge his "true" reason for going to King County. Morgan is so psychologically shattered that he grabs the barrel of a guard's rifle, telling him to shoot. As Grace screams for Morgan to say anything to save his life, Dwight and Sherry finally have enough and attack the guards, knocking them out.
Shrike knows something has gone wrong when Dwight walkies her and asks to speak to his son. Shrike allows Finch to speak to his parents, which gives Dwight the time to uses a coded call to action, which the child follows by sweeping Shrike with a footstool, sending her to the floor head first, and into dreamland. On Dwight's orders, Finch makes his way to an appointed location where he's reunited with his parents.
Grace: Morgan asks Grace to rescue Mo and leave, feeling she is the child's best shot, but Grace disagrees, explaining that she--as a result of the radiation exposure (in the wake of Teddy's missile strike) is very sick and may not have much longer to live...
Morgan and Mo: Mo walkies Morgan in a panic when burning walkers' mindless clawing sets the house on fire; charged by the restoration of his second family, Morgan calls Mo--telling her to take shelter in the attic until he arrives. Morgan races to the house, shooting every walker in sight, but he's crippled--yet again--by the hallucination of Jenny seen through his rifle's scope. Smoke fills the attic just as Mo hears the sound of chains and familiar snarling; through the smoke emerges a reanimated black boy chained to the wall. The walker sees Mo, and moves toward her, just as the aged attic floor and support beams give way--one pinning Mo's leg as the child walker crawls toward her. Morgan races up to the attic and is stopped cold at the sight of the walker boy--recognized as his son, Duane (SEE NOTES).
Struggling mightily to break free of his recovered memories (of chaining Duane to a wall instead of putting him down), the walker is close to reaching a terrified Mo, but her cries for her father shake him up enough for Morgan to finally shoot Duane.
The following morning, Morgan--with Grace and Mo in attendance--places flowers on the fresh graves of Jenny and Duane, promising to return to visit them. As Morgan and Grace discuss their future (SEE NOTES), Mo finds the singed Jones photo album, happily looking at the pictures when a walker rises from the smouldering rubble and nearly bites Mo, until Morgan and Grace push the creature away. All seems well, until Grace reveals she's received a bite along her waistline.
Rushing into action, Morgan contacts Dwight, begging for immediate transportation to June, in the hope that her radiotherapy treatment will work on Grace. Meeting at a dock, Dwight, Sherry and Finch join Morgan's family, as they commandeer a boat, racing back to P.A.D.R.E....
NOTES:
Lennie James delivered one of the WD franchise's strongest performances in this episode; he perfectly bridged his current difficulties with the past (as seen in The Walking Dead's pilot, "Days Gone Bye"), where Morgan's inability to accept his assumed "failure" to save Duane from Jenny could no longer be contained--he was inching toward his "Clear" mindset again.
A Rick Grimes nod--to the rifle given to him by his long lost friend in TWD's pilot.
Over the decade-plus of the TV Walking Dead universe, walker decomposition rates have varied greatly. There was a decision to "turn up the rot" on most walker make-up jobs in recent seasons, which suggests they will eventually rot away, as seen in some skeletal, though functioning walkers. All of this is to say Duane--after a decade since his death--should have turned to bone and dust by now. Yes, we understand the dramatic power of Morgan's guilt / quest, but there's just no way a chained Duane would still be in the early stages of decomposition after so long.
While not the most celebrated relationships in the TV-Walking Dead universe, Morgan and Grace arguably feels the most natural of all, with its strength built on realistic subtleties, instead of overused story beats seen in one predictable TV or film romance after another.
Mo did not know what a kiss was. The lack of encouraged emotional development at the hands of Shrike and her brother is alarming, as it appears their idea of "saving" families is to separate them, and only allow the children to live a soldier's life, with next to no awareness of basic human expressions of affection. When Mo expressed not liking what she witnessed when Morgan and Grace kissed, Grace kissed Mo on the cheek, without saying a word, letting her know that is a key part of love and being in a family. That said, she was the one to ask if it was okay to address Morgan and Grace as her parents, so Shrike. et al., could not beat that natural instinct out of her.
Once again, similar severity of walker bites have different effects on victims, as Grace was feverish in no time at all, yet Alicia's forearm bite was comparable in terms of damage / contact with a walker's saliva, etc., yet she lingered longer than anyone in franchise history. I'm not certain exposure to radiation after the blast intensified the virus' effect.
Now, the race is on: Morgan is barely coming to terms with the tragedy of his first family, and trying to build with Grace and Mo, now its ripped from his hands with Grace's radiation poisoning and infection. The teaser suggests Morgan--no matter how much he tries--will return to Murder Machine Mode. Truth be told, that version of Morgan set loose on Shrike and her brother would be a joy to see, but the siblings deserve more than a simple revenge killing.
GRADE: A+.
Season 8 - episode 4: "King County”
Morgan: At long last, Morgan returns to King County. Finding his old home, great trepidation slowing his walk up the front steps. As he reaches for the doorknob, he hears a wave of indistinct voices--except one...his long-dead son, Duane. Morgan backs away, not knowing if what he heard was real. Running back to the street, the frustrated man kills several walkers, growling, "I CAN do it--I can can kill ALL OF YOU!!"--Morgan criticizing his younger self for procrastinating in not killing Jenny, which would cause the death of his son.
Morgan investigates a P.A.D.R.E. truck on the next block, discovering the driver is Grace, on the trail of Morgan...
Grace / Mo: The couple are shocked to discover Mo stowed away on the truck, learning Morgan's destination by pure deductive reasoning (regarding "King County", "Jenny" and "Duane" written on the walls of Morgan's boathouse and his reaction to it). Mo now recognizes Morgan and Grace as her parents and would like nothing better than the trio to leave for greener pastures, but she wants to aid Daniel and the parents in overtaking P.A.D.R.E. island.
Morgan reluctantly recalls how Duane was killed by his reanimated mother, how he soon blacked out from the horror of it all, and turned into a killer--"clearing" the living as well as the dead. He's returned to King County to kill the reanimated Duane. Feeling the weight of Morgan's sad mission, Grace and Mo volunteer to help Morgan finish his grim business. Morgan insists Grace take Mo to wherever Daniel's group is settled, but this order is rejected.
Dwight / Sherry / Finch / Shrike: Dwight and Sherry--accompanied by two P.A.D.R.E. guards--hunt Morgan down thanks to using their son as a blackmail tool by P.A.D.R.E. (Shrike). The couple accuse Morgan of "selling them out" seven years ago in the P.A.D.R.E. deal, and now demand Morgan tell them what he's looking for in King County. Eventually, Morgan tells his story, but the P.A.D.R.E. guards do not believe him. Morgan is allowed to prove his story by leading them to his old home. A walker in Duane's room turns out to be a random wanderer, but Morgan finds Jenny's corpse and covers it. Dwight loses his patience, believing Morgan is not being honest about his motives; the P.A.D.R.E. guards--on Shrike's orders--threaten to shoot Morgan to death if he does not divulge his "true" reason for going to King County. Morgan is so psychologically shattered that he grabs the barrel of a guard's rifle, telling him to shoot. As Grace screams for Morgan to say anything to save his life, Dwight and Sherry finally have enough and attack the guards, knocking them out.
Shrike knows something has gone wrong when Dwight walkies her and asks to speak to his son. Shrike allows Finch to speak to his parents, which gives Dwight the time to uses a coded call to action, which the child follows by sweeping Shrike with a footstool, sending her to the floor head first, and into dreamland. On Dwight's orders, Finch makes his way to an appointed location where he's reunited with his parents.
Grace: Morgan asks Grace to rescue Mo and leave, feeling she is the child's best shot, but Grace disagrees, explaining that she--as a result of the radiation exposure (in the wake of Teddy's missile strike) is very sick and may not have much longer to live...
Morgan and Mo: Mo walkies Morgan in a panic when burning walkers' mindless clawing sets the house on fire; charged by the restoration of his second family, Morgan calls Mo--telling her to take shelter in the attic until he arrives. Morgan races to the house, shooting every walker in sight, but he's crippled--yet again--by the hallucination of Jenny seen through his rifle's scope. Smoke fills the attic just as Mo hears the sound of chains and familiar snarling; through the smoke emerges a reanimated black boy chained to the wall. The walker sees Mo, and moves toward her, just as the aged attic floor and support beams give way--one pinning Mo's leg as the child walker crawls toward her. Morgan races up to the attic and is stopped cold at the sight of the walker boy--recognized as his son, Duane (SEE NOTES).
Struggling mightily to break free of his recovered memories (of chaining Duane to a wall instead of putting him down), the walker is close to reaching a terrified Mo, but her cries for her father shake him up enough for Morgan to finally shoot Duane.
The following morning, Morgan--with Grace and Mo in attendance--places flowers on the fresh graves of Jenny and Duane, promising to return to visit them. As Morgan and Grace discuss their future (SEE NOTES), Mo finds the singed Jones photo album, happily looking at the pictures when a walker rises from the smouldering rubble and nearly bites Mo, until Morgan and Grace push the creature away. All seems well, until Grace reveals she's received a bite along her waistline.
Rushing into action, Morgan contacts Dwight, begging for immediate transportation to June, in the hope that her radiotherapy treatment will work on Grace. Meeting at a dock, Dwight, Sherry and Finch join Morgan's family, as they commandeer a boat, racing back to P.A.D.R.E....
NOTES:
Lennie James delivered one of the WD franchise's strongest performances in this episode; he perfectly bridged his current difficulties with the past (as seen in The Walking Dead's pilot, "Days Gone Bye"), where Morgan's inability to accept his assumed "failure" to save Duane from Jenny could no longer be contained--he was inching toward his "Clear" mindset again.
A Rick Grimes nod--to the rifle given to him by his long lost friend in TWD's pilot.
Over the decade-plus of the TV Walking Dead universe, walker decomposition rates have varied greatly. There was a decision to "turn up the rot" on most walker make-up jobs in recent seasons, which suggests they will eventually rot away, as seen in some skeletal, though functioning walkers. All of this is to say Duane--after a decade since his death--should have turned to bone and dust by now. Yes, we understand the dramatic power of Morgan's guilt / quest, but there's just no way a chained Duane would still be in the early stages of decomposition after so long.
While not the most celebrated relationships in the TV-Walking Dead universe, Morgan and Grace arguably feels the most natural of all, with its strength built on realistic subtleties, instead of overused story beats seen in one predictable TV or film romance after another.
Mo did not know what a kiss was. The lack of encouraged emotional development at the hands of Shrike and her brother is alarming, as it appears their idea of "saving" families is to separate them, and only allow the children to live a soldier's life, with next to no awareness of basic human expressions of affection. When Mo expressed not liking what she witnessed when Morgan and Grace kissed, Grace kissed Mo on the cheek, without saying a word, letting her know that is a key part of love and being in a family. That said, she was the one to ask if it was okay to address Morgan and Grace as her parents, so Shrike. et al., could not beat that natural instinct out of her.
Once again, similar severity of walker bites have different effects on victims, as Grace was feverish in no time at all, yet Alicia's forearm bite was comparable in terms of damage / contact with a walker's saliva, etc., yet she lingered longer than anyone in franchise history. I'm not certain exposure to radiation after the blast intensified the virus' effect.
Now, the race is on: Morgan is barely coming to terms with the tragedy of his first family, and trying to build with Grace and Mo, now its ripped from his hands with Grace's radiation poisoning and infection. The teaser suggests Morgan--no matter how much he tries--will return to Murder Machine Mode. Truth be told, that version of Morgan set loose on Shrike and her brother would be a joy to see, but the siblings deserve more than a simple revenge killing.
GRADE: A+.
A nice little "full circle" look at Morgan's story arc across the two shows as we revisit where his story essentially began, his pre-apocalyptic home as seen in Walking Dead's pilot episode. This episode was a really good character piece for Morgan as he finally says good-bye to his old family and tries to move forward with his current one.
And damn, I'm not one to typically get surprised or shocked by something in a TV show or movie, but that walker popping up from the burning wreckage and attacking Mo as she was looking through the old photo album actually did make me jump a bit. A really well done scene.
And damn, I'm not one to typically get surprised or shocked by something in a TV show or movie, but that walker popping up from the burning wreckage and attacking Mo as she was looking through the old photo album actually did make me jump a bit. A really well done scene.
You know, Morgan's old neighborhood was not overrun by walkers. In fact, Dwight's party had to shoot flares (twice) in order to attract them to the general area. After a decade, the place seems completely abandoned--not even squatters were detected, so one might believe a small group (one trying to get away from P.A.D.R.E.) would be able to fence off a section of that town and reestablish it for residential living....
So, what's your prognosis for Grace? June saves her in time? She dies and Morgan goes crazy again? (the teaser for E5 has him appearing pretty enraged...) She turns and bites Mo--or Shrike?
I'm definitely expecting Grace to die. Whether she turns and takes someone else with her or Morgan goes pure Clear as a result of her death I'm not going to comment on, I can see that being 50/50. But I am confident Grace will die.
And I am prepared to dine on crow should I be wrong.
I hope she survives; after all of the trauma Morgan has suffered since the beginning of the ZA, he--more than anyone else--deserves a happy ending (as Judith said about Daryl).
Fear the Walking Dead
Season 8 - episode 5: "More Time Than You Know”
The Jones family: Trying to outrun PADRE's boat guards has limited success. The heroes are captured, and placed on a truck back to PADRE. When the PADRE drivers drag Grace out to the ground to kill her (to end the threat of reanimation), Morgan and Dwight kill the drivers. Sherry, Dwight & Finch head out on foot, while Morgan, Grace and Mo take to the swamp, heading inland to Grace's Repeater Station, as she's requested. Grace laments her fate, only wanting to spend time with her family as long as possible--but only at the Repeater Station. Morgan informs her that they are heading to the train car to use its radiotherapy machine to save her life; this change of plans gives Grace of burst of energy--almost wild in her demand to go to the station. Morgan and Mo appear to relent.
The PADRE guards fire flares into the sky to attract walkers to Morgan's general area, leading Morgan to elect to lead the pursuers away, long enough for Mo to get a now unconscious Grace to the station. When Grace comes to, she finds herself on a handcar operated by Mo...heading to the train car. Grace becomes hysterical that her last wish is ignored, just as the two come to a stop mere feet from the train car--blocked by Dove and several PADRE guards. Spewing the same talking points as Shrike, Dove gets nowhere with Mo, the latter effectively arguing that PADRE is nothing more than a sham created by Shrike and Crane because their father died, and guilt trips Dove with the fact that her opposition would lead to Mo losing her mother.
Dwight / Sherry / Finch / Shrike: Now on foot, Dwight, Sherry and Finch evade trigger-happy PADRE guards long enough to take refuge in an abandoned building. Finch cannot keep up the pace with his parents, as he's short of breath and feverish. June (on the walkie) asks Dwight to check Finch's wound, where he discovers it is inflamed--hot to the touch again. A defeated June believes her radiotherapy cure may not work after all. Still, the trio reach Grace's station and upon arrival, the interior makes Grace's urgency to return to the building clear: over the years, she stole as many old world items (i.e., pre-ZA) as possible, to turn the building into a cozy home intended for her family. Grace wanted to spend her last days--or minutes--with Morgan and Mo in their home (SEE NOTES). Meeting up with June and Daniel, June promises to try anything she can to save Finch, but admits the radiotherapy was not the cure for the walker virus (SEE NOTES).
Grace / Mo I: Mo helps Grace aboard the train car, then barricades the exit. Mo desperately pleads with June to do something to help, including begging for a recommended dosage of the radiotherapy, but June--now knowing Grace's fever has intensified--gently tries to tell Mo that its too late. In the forest, Morgan overhears the walkie conversation--and Grace's fading voice--which sends him racing back to the train car. Mo blames herself for taking the detour to the car instead of the carnival park, feeling she's robbed her mother of time to show her whatever was in the station.
Grace / Mo II: Fading by the minute, Grace tells Mo about the life she lived in the past with Morgan, up to the moment the couple almost committed suicide until infant Mo's cries ultimately gave them a new lease on life--and more time with each other. That is what Mo did, adds Grace. Grace, knowing Morgan will not make it the car in time, express how much they love each other, the tragedy of it all breaking both down. Grace convinces Mo to promise to stop her from reanimating, and soon dies, leaving her anguished daughter staring--until she blurts out her inability to honor her mother's last request. As a result, Grace reanimates, instantly looking at Mo as her first meal. Mo tries to remove the barricade, and ends up struggling with walker-Grace, nearly being overwhelmed until Morgan's staff pierces the back of walker-Grace's skull.
There's hardly a word spoken as Morgan closes Grace's eyes (SEE NOTES).
Morgan / Mo / Shrike: Shrike and her team--including Dove--arrive at the train car; Shrike calls Morgan out, and he obliges, asking if he and Mo can give Grace a proper burial. Shrike is only interested in Morgan clearing out the container area--with his battle axe, and continues to argue that PADRE's mission is to prevent anyone from feeling what Morgan and Mo are with Grace. Morgan threatens Shrike with the pointed end of his staff, but he's compelled to stand down as a prisoner. Despite Morgan's orders, Mo emerges from the train car, volunteering to clear out the container area, primarily motivated by not wanting anyone else to suffer from a loss like that of Grace...if she's helped by the other PADRE kids, who--as she reasons--were trained for that kind of task. Dove and the others join Mo as they march off--Mo shutting out Morgan's fearful cries.
Morgan promises to end Shrike's life. Shrike is less than convinced.
NOTES:
Grace dies--but not before making a lasting impression on her family. Just about all WD/TV franchise viewers expect major characters to die in the series' final arc, but Grace's death was exceptionally tragic, as she--like Morgan--had suffered too many tragedies, to the point viewers wanted her to finally win where it counted most. It was not to be, and now Morgan--while taking full responsibility as Mo's father--is still gripped in "Clear" mode, as he yelled out something he said to Rick: "I don't die!"--a belief that he's going to outlive everyone he ever cared for--essentially sentenced to watch whole parts of his life destroyed.
Lennie James and Karen David had no trouble selling how much Morgan and Grace love each other, making their agony over the relationship's unavoidable end that much more heartbreaking.
Add to that, Grace's station was decorated with paintings of moments or locations dear to her, such as the merry-go-round--one of the periods/location tied to her falling for Morgan.
A POV motif for Grace was employed throughout the episode, showing her struggle to see clearly. Her POV as a walker is seen, as Morgan closes her eyes, and in effect, the last chapter about Grace.
The zombie virus cannot be suppressed or eliminated with radiotherapy, so no matter what anyone tries (outside of amputation when applicable), at best, cures are nothing more than a stalling measure. That said, Finch should be the next to go...
Next week: the mid-season finale, where Morgan sees bloody, "Clear"-like writing on walls...but he has no idea how said writing got on the walls...
GRADE: A+.
Season 8 - episode 5: "More Time Than You Know”
The Jones family: Trying to outrun PADRE's boat guards has limited success. The heroes are captured, and placed on a truck back to PADRE. When the PADRE drivers drag Grace out to the ground to kill her (to end the threat of reanimation), Morgan and Dwight kill the drivers. Sherry, Dwight & Finch head out on foot, while Morgan, Grace and Mo take to the swamp, heading inland to Grace's Repeater Station, as she's requested. Grace laments her fate, only wanting to spend time with her family as long as possible--but only at the Repeater Station. Morgan informs her that they are heading to the train car to use its radiotherapy machine to save her life; this change of plans gives Grace of burst of energy--almost wild in her demand to go to the station. Morgan and Mo appear to relent.
The PADRE guards fire flares into the sky to attract walkers to Morgan's general area, leading Morgan to elect to lead the pursuers away, long enough for Mo to get a now unconscious Grace to the station. When Grace comes to, she finds herself on a handcar operated by Mo...heading to the train car. Grace becomes hysterical that her last wish is ignored, just as the two come to a stop mere feet from the train car--blocked by Dove and several PADRE guards. Spewing the same talking points as Shrike, Dove gets nowhere with Mo, the latter effectively arguing that PADRE is nothing more than a sham created by Shrike and Crane because their father died, and guilt trips Dove with the fact that her opposition would lead to Mo losing her mother.
Dwight / Sherry / Finch / Shrike: Now on foot, Dwight, Sherry and Finch evade trigger-happy PADRE guards long enough to take refuge in an abandoned building. Finch cannot keep up the pace with his parents, as he's short of breath and feverish. June (on the walkie) asks Dwight to check Finch's wound, where he discovers it is inflamed--hot to the touch again. A defeated June believes her radiotherapy cure may not work after all. Still, the trio reach Grace's station and upon arrival, the interior makes Grace's urgency to return to the building clear: over the years, she stole as many old world items (i.e., pre-ZA) as possible, to turn the building into a cozy home intended for her family. Grace wanted to spend her last days--or minutes--with Morgan and Mo in their home (SEE NOTES). Meeting up with June and Daniel, June promises to try anything she can to save Finch, but admits the radiotherapy was not the cure for the walker virus (SEE NOTES).
Grace / Mo I: Mo helps Grace aboard the train car, then barricades the exit. Mo desperately pleads with June to do something to help, including begging for a recommended dosage of the radiotherapy, but June--now knowing Grace's fever has intensified--gently tries to tell Mo that its too late. In the forest, Morgan overhears the walkie conversation--and Grace's fading voice--which sends him racing back to the train car. Mo blames herself for taking the detour to the car instead of the carnival park, feeling she's robbed her mother of time to show her whatever was in the station.
Grace / Mo II: Fading by the minute, Grace tells Mo about the life she lived in the past with Morgan, up to the moment the couple almost committed suicide until infant Mo's cries ultimately gave them a new lease on life--and more time with each other. That is what Mo did, adds Grace. Grace, knowing Morgan will not make it the car in time, express how much they love each other, the tragedy of it all breaking both down. Grace convinces Mo to promise to stop her from reanimating, and soon dies, leaving her anguished daughter staring--until she blurts out her inability to honor her mother's last request. As a result, Grace reanimates, instantly looking at Mo as her first meal. Mo tries to remove the barricade, and ends up struggling with walker-Grace, nearly being overwhelmed until Morgan's staff pierces the back of walker-Grace's skull.
There's hardly a word spoken as Morgan closes Grace's eyes (SEE NOTES).
Morgan / Mo / Shrike: Shrike and her team--including Dove--arrive at the train car; Shrike calls Morgan out, and he obliges, asking if he and Mo can give Grace a proper burial. Shrike is only interested in Morgan clearing out the container area--with his battle axe, and continues to argue that PADRE's mission is to prevent anyone from feeling what Morgan and Mo are with Grace. Morgan threatens Shrike with the pointed end of his staff, but he's compelled to stand down as a prisoner. Despite Morgan's orders, Mo emerges from the train car, volunteering to clear out the container area, primarily motivated by not wanting anyone else to suffer from a loss like that of Grace...if she's helped by the other PADRE kids, who--as she reasons--were trained for that kind of task. Dove and the others join Mo as they march off--Mo shutting out Morgan's fearful cries.
Morgan promises to end Shrike's life. Shrike is less than convinced.
NOTES:
Grace dies--but not before making a lasting impression on her family. Just about all WD/TV franchise viewers expect major characters to die in the series' final arc, but Grace's death was exceptionally tragic, as she--like Morgan--had suffered too many tragedies, to the point viewers wanted her to finally win where it counted most. It was not to be, and now Morgan--while taking full responsibility as Mo's father--is still gripped in "Clear" mode, as he yelled out something he said to Rick: "I don't die!"--a belief that he's going to outlive everyone he ever cared for--essentially sentenced to watch whole parts of his life destroyed.
Lennie James and Karen David had no trouble selling how much Morgan and Grace love each other, making their agony over the relationship's unavoidable end that much more heartbreaking.
Add to that, Grace's station was decorated with paintings of moments or locations dear to her, such as the merry-go-round--one of the periods/location tied to her falling for Morgan.
A POV motif for Grace was employed throughout the episode, showing her struggle to see clearly. Her POV as a walker is seen, as Morgan closes her eyes, and in effect, the last chapter about Grace.
The zombie virus cannot be suppressed or eliminated with radiotherapy, so no matter what anyone tries (outside of amputation when applicable), at best, cures are nothing more than a stalling measure. That said, Finch should be the next to go...
Next week: the mid-season finale, where Morgan sees bloody, "Clear"-like writing on walls...but he has no idea how said writing got on the walls...
GRADE: A+.
Damn. I called that one.
Pretty good episode which balanced some good action scenes (I especially liked the boat chase at the beginning) with some genuine emotions with Grace's death and her good-bye moments with Morgan and Mo.
Some random thoughts:
-The bedroom at Grace's repeater station sure looked cozy. Like, that's the kind of room I'd be comfortable in.
-When is Strand going to show up? We know he's going to, Colman Domingo is still listed in the credits and he's even a producer on this season, so he's obviously very much involved. At this point, I'm guessing the most organic way to bring him in with the show's storylines being what they are is to have him show up for the cliffhanger scene in next week's midseason finale to set up for the role he'll play in the second half of the season and the show's end.
Pretty good episode which balanced some good action scenes (I especially liked the boat chase at the beginning) with some genuine emotions with Grace's death and her good-bye moments with Morgan and Mo.
Some random thoughts:
-The bedroom at Grace's repeater station sure looked cozy. Like, that's the kind of room I'd be comfortable in.
-When is Strand going to show up? We know he's going to, Colman Domingo is still listed in the credits and he's even a producer on this season, so he's obviously very much involved. At this point, I'm guessing the most organic way to bring him in with the show's storylines being what they are is to have him show up for the cliffhanger scene in next week's midseason finale to set up for the role he'll play in the second half of the season and the show's end.
I want to comment on these past 2 great episodes but super busy.
I DID want to post quickly on this article about all the characters NOT seen so far this season... thiugh 1 i feel like her story is done.
https://screenrant.com/fear-walking-dead-season-8-missing-characters-strand-luciana/
I DID want to post quickly on this article about all the characters NOT seen so far this season... thiugh 1 i feel like her story is done.
https://screenrant.com/fear-walking-dead-season-8-missing-characters-strand-luciana/
Yep. Right up the point where June had been contacted, I thought Grace might receive a last-second treatment to save her life, but she didn't make it, which makes me wonder who is next on the chopping block (meaning characters in present-day time, not referenced, such as Charlie).
Good guess. I doubt Strand was killed seven (in-universe) years earlier, and considering his deposed dictator status, a good number of the survivors would want to take pieces out of him, something the showrunners would put on full display.
Wow, I actually completely forgot about Rabbi Jacob to the point that when I saw him on that list I actually asked "Who?" Which is ironic, since I've seen the actor in quite a bit of other things the past year.
The showrunners could throw viewers for a loop by having Jacob survive, but I'm getting the feeling we will see the sort of "Big + minor" character housecleaning seen in TWD's series finale, with Jacob, Wendell and Sarah on the chopping block.
Sorry, for another brief response (and super late).
I feel sometimes @trek_god sometimes canbe "too generous" with ratings (like at Black Lightning), with too many A+ ratings, but i have to agree with these 2.
After King COunty, i was afraid that this would be like the Flash 4 part finale. Part 1 over there was excellent, and real bookend to Barry and Eobard's relationship. But then the next 3 were just terrible, and not using the time to "end" arcs/say goodbye (which they did to Joe, though it was really weird how they still used Joe afterward).
King County defintely gave Morgan resolution to his introduction....
Also, not mentioned but i thought Sherry and Dwight made excellent antagonists-who-aren't-bad-guys, in creating tension for Morgan.... but they also showed how they were giving Morgan as much respect as they were allowed. Also, it also showed how Dwight was playing the long game with Finch, and how it paid off.
Grace's episode:i think we all agree none of us wanted Grace to die, but at least i feel it was kinda necessary...at least when they decided to bite her. They also did this with Glenn -- an earlier "fakeout" of death (in his case, the dumpster...and then i thought he was safe after Abraham, so his death hit hard for me). So i was hoping she would make it, but also made sense why not.
This particular death hit hard because, as I have turned 50, really seeing a lot of parallels with her situation and people my age, and getting older. She spent a lot of time setting up things that she never got to see, as well as feeling like she missed a lot of years . Karen David did a great job conveying that sense of regret that many have felt as they face death/old age.
The makers of Fear really screwed her character during the Covid season-- the expert on radiation had near zero advice/impact in a situation where she was the true expert. But at least she ended in an "appropriate" way.
Again, Mo is clearly a 12 year old in her thinking/acting but again i can look over that to accept the drama of her trying to fight hard to be hopeful, but being disappointed despite her hopes.
Also, Morgan also has a code from last episode, though it felt like he almost too quickly ended Walker Grace . (But has now grown as a survivor of the Apocalypse).
I still think FInch will make it... Juen noted how she was trying to be careful... i think it mght work out.
if it doesn't, i think Dwight & SHerry will kill Shrike, not Morgan.
I am completely baffled at the absence of Strand, despite Colman Domingo being a producer. I wonder if he will be the antagonist for the final 6 epsiodes?
I am shocked, yet not, about Madison not being featured much, nor even seeing Strand or Daniel yet. Looking at the viewer ratings... Madison's return at the end of season 7 did nothing to raise the excitement. I suspect that when the producers saw that, they reduced Madison's involvement.
And speaking of ratings...Fear has been averaging 0.5, even lower than last season's 0.7 ...soooo far below the first episode of 10.13... Fear is going to fade away...
I don't think these characters will be mentioned at all.... they will simply be forgotten. Only 7 episodes left, and just 1 with a final fate , and 1 with a solid arc ending . Dwight & SHerry seem to have some closure in some way. We have several others that need a mention, let alone an "ending". I wonder if Madison will re-unite with Alicia in a surprise. Otherwise it is like John Dorey & His dad just missing each other, which would be sad.
I feel sometimes @trek_god sometimes canbe "too generous" with ratings (like at Black Lightning), with too many A+ ratings, but i have to agree with these 2.
After King COunty, i was afraid that this would be like the Flash 4 part finale. Part 1 over there was excellent, and real bookend to Barry and Eobard's relationship. But then the next 3 were just terrible, and not using the time to "end" arcs/say goodbye (which they did to Joe, though it was really weird how they still used Joe afterward).
King County defintely gave Morgan resolution to his introduction....
Also, not mentioned but i thought Sherry and Dwight made excellent antagonists-who-aren't-bad-guys, in creating tension for Morgan.... but they also showed how they were giving Morgan as much respect as they were allowed. Also, it also showed how Dwight was playing the long game with Finch, and how it paid off.
Grace's episode:i think we all agree none of us wanted Grace to die, but at least i feel it was kinda necessary...at least when they decided to bite her. They also did this with Glenn -- an earlier "fakeout" of death (in his case, the dumpster...and then i thought he was safe after Abraham, so his death hit hard for me). So i was hoping she would make it, but also made sense why not.
This particular death hit hard because, as I have turned 50, really seeing a lot of parallels with her situation and people my age, and getting older. She spent a lot of time setting up things that she never got to see, as well as feeling like she missed a lot of years . Karen David did a great job conveying that sense of regret that many have felt as they face death/old age.
The makers of Fear really screwed her character during the Covid season-- the expert on radiation had near zero advice/impact in a situation where she was the true expert. But at least she ended in an "appropriate" way.
Again, Mo is clearly a 12 year old in her thinking/acting but again i can look over that to accept the drama of her trying to fight hard to be hopeful, but being disappointed despite her hopes.
Also, Morgan also has a code from last episode, though it felt like he almost too quickly ended Walker Grace . (But has now grown as a survivor of the Apocalypse).
I still think FInch will make it... Juen noted how she was trying to be careful... i think it mght work out.
if it doesn't, i think Dwight & SHerry will kill Shrike, not Morgan.
I am completely baffled at the absence of Strand, despite Colman Domingo being a producer. I wonder if he will be the antagonist for the final 6 epsiodes?
I am shocked, yet not, about Madison not being featured much, nor even seeing Strand or Daniel yet. Looking at the viewer ratings... Madison's return at the end of season 7 did nothing to raise the excitement. I suspect that when the producers saw that, they reduced Madison's involvement.
And speaking of ratings...Fear has been averaging 0.5, even lower than last season's 0.7 ...soooo far below the first episode of 10.13... Fear is going to fade away...
I don't think these characters will be mentioned at all.... they will simply be forgotten. Only 7 episodes left, and just 1 with a final fate , and 1 with a solid arc ending . Dwight & SHerry seem to have some closure in some way. We have several others that need a mention, let alone an "ending". I wonder if Madison will re-unite with Alicia in a surprise. Otherwise it is like John Dorey & His dad just missing each other, which would be sad.
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