Fear the Walking Dead
Season 8 premiere - "Remember What They Took From You”
Morgan and Madison: Some unspecified time after being taken prisoner by P.A.D.R.E. henchmen, Morgan finds himself sitting in a dilapidated room with one tow-way window and a mounted speaker; Madison and an armed guard stand nearby. A voice (from the speaker) interrogated Morgan, doubting his interest in joining / understanding the P.A.D.R.E. vision. The voice drops some information designed to elicit a response, such as P.A.D.R.E.'s discovery of the raft Morgan mentioned...only there were not the number of passengers aboard as Morgan claimed. The voice continues, explaining P.A.D.R.E. exists to build a new world different than the one that advocates of the old world destroyed. Obtaining--and driving the emotion from children--is part of the process. The voice asks Morgan to be a "collector".
Another woman (Shrike) enters the room with a walkie emitting the sounds of a child crying; instantly identifying the voice as Baby Mo's, Morgan rises, but is forced back to his seat at gunpoint. Glancing at Madison, he calls the entire situation a set-up, but in an instant, Morgan knocks out the armed guard, while Madison does the same to Shrike. The two try to make their escape...
P.A.D.R.E.: The once-mysterious community is based on an island, where residents are divided by workers wearing masks and padded clothing designed for combat, and others performing menial and hard labor tasks, all dressed in orange, prison-like jumpsuits. Some residents are training to fight a as-yet-unnamed threat, others forge professional-level rifle bullet jackets.
8-year old Mo: A young girl (Mo--Morgan and Grace's daughter aka the PADRE-named "Wren") suits up in protective gear, carrying a staff, while others lead a walker into a caged area--not before removing its teeth. The girl is watched by a teenager named Dove, as a teacher would watch a student. The girl enters the caged area as the walker is shoved in with her; without effort, she uses the staff to trip the walker, who slams to the ground. Mo seems ready to finish off the creature, when she's distracted by flashes of the walker from another time, allowing the walker to push her to the ground and bite into her shoulder pads. Screaming for help, a disappointed Dove kills the creature.
Dove flatly states Mo should not have been brought into P.A.D.R.E., as she's not ready for the community. Mo argues she is, and requests more training in exchange for taking on Dove's chores for a month.
Later, Mo begins her chores, including hauling oxygen tanks; when one of her tanks rolls down a flight of steps, the girl follows, only to discover an underground prison, with one door at the rear of a single hall. The girl hears a voice and she cautiously approaches, opens the food tray door and is grabbed by an aged Madison. The girl breaks free, with Madison calling after her...
P.A.D.R.E.: and Madison: A depressed Madison scrawls calendar marks on the wall, which indicate she's been in the cell for a number of years. She's visited by Shrike and a guard, noticing Madison has not been eating her meals. Shrike takes blood from Madison near a severely infected, cut area of her arm, coldly telling Madison that they have ways of making her eat. In an instant, Madison knocks both to the ground, and the moment she grabs the guard's pistol, she shoves in in her mouth, pulling the trigger...but there's no shot. Shrike wonders if Madison believed they would ever bring a loaded gun into a cell with her. Madison is drugged into unconsciousness...
8-year old Mo: That night, Mo stares at the shoreline of the Mainland, telling Dove she wanted to continue training in order to go the Mainland to help build their future...and feels there's something
"really big is missing" inside of her (SEE NOTES) every time she looks at the location.
Dove admonishes Mo about seeing Madison (named "Lark" by PADRE), info dumping the story of Madison being imprisoned due to her helping some stranger and his baby daughter years ago, also recalling how she took out several guards and the dead with a sledgehammer. The story of a man with a baby daughter and Madison's skills greatly interest Mo...
That evening, Mo returns to the cell, armed with a sledgehammer, asking to be trained how to use it in order to kill "Carrion" (yet another name for walkers); Madison agrees to help--only if she will shut off the oxygen valve to her room, which will kill Madison. Mo reluctantly accepts the offer, and tells the child she's holding incorrectly, and the moment Mo shows the tool to a helpful Madison, the woman grabs it, slamming the cell window--shattering it--so she can use one of the pieces to cut her own throat. Mo breaks in and stops Madison, yelling that she will not get into trouble because of her.
Madison notices a scar on Mo's wrist, and asks where did the girl get it; Mo says she's had it since she was "very young". Madison gasps in shock, recognizing the girl as Mo, who--thanks to Madison's help seven years ago--was supposed to have escaped P.A.D.R.E. island with her father. Mo is confused by this information, and cannot respond--interrupted by two armed guards demanding Madison surrender. The woman grabs Mo, using her as a shield long enough to shove the girl toward one guard, then sweep the legs of both, as their heads strike the walls. Madison collects the weapons and promises to get Mo off of P.A.D.R.E. island...
The next day, Madison--with a resistant Mo--travel across miles of marshland to a makeshift dock; Mo wants no part of this rescue action, and in her attempt to flee, hits Madison's oxygen tank, damaging part of the mouthpiece, while stealing her walkie--alerting PADRE to her status. Madison recovers, telling the girl it will take weeks for PADRE to find them, so they should move toward the marsh, which prevents walkers from following them. Mo insists on fighting off a group of approaching walkers, but freezes, once again having flashbacks to some nighttime struggle with walkers in a body of water. As Madison kills the walker, A man with a covered face emerges from the brush, warning the two to leave the area. Madison identifies him as Mo's father--and sure enough, Morgan removes his wraps, admitting he is the child's father. He reaches out to Mo, but she slaps his hand away, calling herself Wren. Morgan takes that in for a moment, but accepts it, saying he will send Mo back to PADRE.
Forcing Mo and Madison to the long-abandoned remains of "Pip's Pavilion of Wonder", Morgan walkies the PADRE search team (calling himself "Nightingale") with news of Mo's retrieval. Madison mounts a feeble attack against Morgan for accepting Madison's own claims (that children would be better off with PADRE). The PADRE search team tells Morgan that the colony is only interested getting Mo back--not Madison, as she's become a liability. With that, Morgan knows the implication of PADRE rejecting anyone. Asking Mo to move away, Morgan prepares to shoot Madison, but Mo's gaze distracts him long enough for Madison to trip and disarm him. Demanding Morgan lead them out of the area, Morgan hesitates when looking toward the swamp, as it was the same location where he relinquished custody of Mo seven years ago.
Morgan & Madison: That evening, the trio enter the swamp, heading toward a house boat once used by Morgan; the one benefit of the location is that walkers--not being a strong as the living--often find their feet permanently stuck in the muck. Madison explains that she became a collector only because P.A.D.R.E. lied about having Nick and Alicia--using her children to force Madison to work. It was only thanks to Morgan revealing the true fate of her children that convinced her to help Morgan. The log-suffering man argues that P.A.D.R.E. is better for Mo, as they were out of food, and at the mercy of a posse. Their argument ends as flares light up the sky, which Morgan states is P.A.D.R.E.'s way of drawing more walkers toward escapees--the same tactic used against him seven years ago. The trio continue to plow through the swamp until morning, when they arrive at the house boat. Madison tries to pry more information out of Morgan about his beliefs or what he thinks about P.A.D.R.E., but his answers are not exactly informative. He mentions he has not seen several of his companions who were part of the raft party--Luciana, Daniel and Victor among them.
The curious Mo notices the walls are covered in some sort of gunk partially obscuring names written in large print; a tense Morgan tries to pass it off as graffiti, but the child continues wiping away the gunk until a number of names are revealed--including Jenny and Duane--Morgan's late wife and son (SEE NOTES). Mo notices baby toys and a makeshift crib, and when asking about the items, she's met with resistance from her father.
Mo discovers the tape player with Grace's singing, triggering more memories from the night she was separated from her true family. Nearly hyperventilating, Mo panics, saying the dead will bring the boathouse down...as in the past. Panic turns to anger, as she grabs a gun and tries to shoot Madison (for bringing her to a place that dredged up so many bad memories). Morgan prevents the bullet from hitting Madison, but its noise attracts walkers to the house boat's platform.
Eventually, the walkers converge on the house boat--their collective weight pulling the structure under; Morgan urges the others to make their way to the grounds before they sink, and while father & daughter move through the waters, Madison stays on the boat, making noise to use herself as bait.
Morgan and Mo are close to the marsh grounds when Mo's foot becomes trapped in the muck, forcing Morgan to fight off walkers, free the girl and try to aid Madison, but he's barely able to accomplish one of those tasks. Sitting in the boat's doorway, Madison--barely able to breathe--is resigned to her chosen fate, as walkers are able to touch her. Mo has more flashbacks to Morgan asking a P.A.D.R.E. member if she will be safe, then breaks out of it to beg Morgan to help Madison.
Madison is seconds from being bitten, when bullets tear through the heads of her zombie attackers, followed by a boat racing into the scene. It is Grace, and there's no missing the fact she's a far darker person than at any point seen before....though she admits to being Mo's mother.
Back on the dock, and in the company of Morgan and Grace, Mo now realizes the truth of her life: that Morgan--despite the lies of P.A.D.R.E.--did what was best for Mo, and she clearly recalls listening to her mother's signing 7 years prior. She has a change of heart, asking everyone--including Madison--to escape, and/or consider freeing the other kids Madison once collected. Grace echoes Morgan's request for Mo to forget her parents and accept her life at P.A.D.R.E. The child feels betrayed by her parents, but insists that they should be together. In his frustration, Morgan blurts out that Isaac and Rachel were her long-dead biological parents, but he promised to take care of her...which is what he's still doing by sending her back to PADRE.
The PADRE search parties arrive, led by Shrike; despite earlier walkie chatter saying Madison was no longer wanted by the community, she's taken prisoner again, while Mo half-heartedly boards another boat--she and her parents exchanging painful stares. After Morgan and Grace watch their daughter taken away again, they learn PADRE is not finished digging the knife in: because Mo knows Morgan is her father, the community cannot risk another meeting between the two, so Morgan has been stripped of his collector job and is taken prisoner.
Back at the community, Mo is interviewed by PADRE himself, who gives Mo a second chance to prove her trustworthiness (SEE NOTES). Returning to the training cage with Dove, Mo no longer fears killing walkers--only this time, she uses a sledgehammer to do the job, similar to her one-time rescuer.
NOTES:
So begins the final season of Fear the Walking Dead:
- It has been eight years since the season 7 finale.
- PADRE is both the name of the community and the name of its leader--one who Madison attempted to kill seven years ago, an act which--along with helping Morgan escape--led to her imprisonment.
- Morgan says Daniel, Luciana and Strand were missing from the raft escapee group and have not been seen since that time. Madison appeared bothered to learn about Strand's disappearance, but that concern might fade if Strand is still playing in villain mode. Morgan did not mention the others, but the teaser clearly shows June, Dwight and Sherry have survived, but its unclear if their scenes are in the "future", or 7 years in the past.
- Morgan says he only collected children of parents who were dead, or voluntarily gave up custody of their kids. Obviously, this was Morgan applying a psychological balm to the thought of separating children from their parents. His adding that he has no idea how PADRE (the man) thinks is another way of saying he was never on the "inside" with the group, no matter how long he's served the community.
Morgan writing names of Jenny and Duane on the walls of house boat (and I believe the line, "They should be here" is scrawled o the wall) sparked notions that he was returning to his state of mind as seen in TWD's S3 episode, "Clear", but its certainly foreshadowing to Morgan's return to King County at some point in the season.
The fact Morgan was thinking about his first family over the course of seven years, and the temperature with Grace suggests they are no longer a couple, and merely cordial to each other. One of the teasers show Grace accompanying Morgan back to King County, so it could be a hint that they resolve issues, or pick up where they left off.
Actress Zoey Merchant makes her debut as 7-year old Mo; as required by the story, she's been a fairly brainwashed child, so she's hostile and trying to earn a place in the defense of the community. Her icy personality did melt (to a degree) in the company of Morgan, so one might suspect her pledge to work for P.A.D.R.E. is not exactly an honest one, and yes, she is not trusted by the PTB.
The one issue I had with this episode was the Plot-Convenient way Mo peeled back the layers of her past (and Morgan's) life at the boat house; a child's natural curiosity is one thing, but taking the time to wipe gunk from the wall (during a tense situation) to reveal the names of Morgan's late family, and zeroing in on the meaning of the crib (in a personal sense) was the writer(s) firing a rocket-powered grappling hook from Mo to the arc of the season, drawing them together at a clip to get things rolling in the premiere, that should have taken a couple of episodes. Then again, this final season only has 11 episodes left, so I can give a pass to the pace at which Mo's realization of her past unfolded.
GRADE: A.
