Fear The Walking Dead 201: Monster [recap and poll]

The Walking Dead season may be over, but Fear the Walking Dead is now upon us. How did the premiere of season 2 live up to your expectations? Following the recap below, you can vote to rate the episode and then leave your comments.

At the end of season 1, our group of main characters had made it out of the city, to the beach by Strand’s mansion. They were following his plan of getting to his yacht, the Abigail, that was moored just offshore. It was a good thing they did, too, because things were not going so well on land. (JSS, Tobias…)

Season 2 appears to begin immediately where season 1 left off. It’s night, and fires are already burning not too far away from where Madison stands on the beach looking out at the water. Strand, Nick, Daniel and Ofelia are already making their way from the beach to the Abigail on a small motorboat.

Madison and Travis are on the beach with Alicia and Chris, who’s staring at the body of his mother, Liza. Travis had shot her at the end of season 1 to keep her from turning.

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On the Abigail, they unload the smaller boat and Strand says he’s preparing for “uninvited guests,” seeming to mean people who may want to steal the boat. Strand tells Chris to go back to shore for the others without him.

On the beach, walkers are closing in. Chris refuses to leave his mother. As Travis’ attention is on Chris, a walker comes up behind him, and he gets knocked to the ground. Madison takes it out. They are both nearly overcome with the quickly growing number of walkers on the beach.

Nick races back to the beach in the speed boat as Madison and Travis begin to have to defend themselves against walkers. Nick arrives just in time and they throw their things aboard, along with Liza’s body. Walkers begin stumbling into the water as they finally leave the shore. It’s a narrow escape, but they make it away from the shore.

Once everyone is on the Abigail, they leave land behind, watching fires spread along the land behind them as Los Angeles burns before their eyes. Planes drop explosives and it appears that there’s nothing left that isn’t on fire.

Strand says that the Abigail can make it 3,000 miles and they can survive onboard for “quite some time.”

Travis looks in on Chris, who’s huddled in an interior room, not moving. Suddenly he hears screaming in the distance and they come to the deck to look. There’s a large raft stuffed with people calling to them. Madison wants to stop and help them, but Strand refuses, saying he has fulfilled his mercy quota and tells her to be thankful.

Travis tells Alicia to get the radio and monitor the channels to try to find somewhere to go that’s safe. (Travis, you’re going to regret that decision. Alicia is apparently missing social media more than you think…)

Strand says that they have to stay away from the coast and other people and other boats. He plans to take them south. When Madison insists that he stop the boat to help the people on the raft, he says that the only way he’s stopping the boat is to drop folks off, implying that she can stay on and deal with his decision or she can get off the boat herself.

Travis now understands that it’s not safe to stop, and tries to reason with her. Madison is pissed, since she desperately wanted to help the people on the raft. Alicia is doing as she was told and monitoring the radio, but all she hears are distress calls from many other vessels, making her feel worse and worse for not helping. She hears a Coast Guard broadcast saying there is no assistance to provide, no rescue of any kind.

Strand and Nick sit on the top deck. Nick tells Strand that he should have stopped. Strand is adamant that he wasn’t changing his mind. He doesn’t know what they’ll do if the plan to head for San Diego doesn’t work.

 “If this is the end of the world, it’s already over.”

Madison wants Alicia to get some rest, but Alicia insists that she can’t. She wants to know how Madison knows that San Diego is safe, knowing that she doesn’t.

Travis is worried about what to do about Chris. Madison says there’s nothing to do. They fight about whether they should have saved the people on the raft. Travis sees the logic of why they didn’t stop, but Madison is still angry.

Alicia listens to the radio broadcasts of people asking for help. After some hesitations, she finally begins talking to one of them.

Chris sits with Liza’s body, then finally leaves her to go up on deck, where he finds Daniel fishing. Chris says that he has only fished in a lake before, as a kid. Daniel tells him about the different fish there are to catch in the ocean. They exchange condolences for their lost loved ones, and then Daniel reels in an eel.

Nick asks Ofelia if she wants help changing her bandage. She doesn’t. He gives her advice on how to help with the pain.

Alicia is still talking with the guy on the radio, just chatting. She asks where he is, but he doesn’t want to say.

Daniel is mopping the deck. Travis comes out and asks him about Chris, since they’d been talking, but Daniel says that they were fishing, not talking. Daniel tells him that one day Chris will understand that what he did for his mother was an act of mercy.

Madison’s sitting on the deck and swears she hears music in the distance. She looks out through her binoculars at the water, then comes inside and hears a strange noise. She goes up the stairs and doesn’t find Strand at the controls of the boat.

Continuing outside to the upper deck, she finds him, and says she heard music out on the water. He doesn’t believe her. She tells him that they won’t throw him overboard if he goes to sleep. He says that the water is 44 meters deep there, which is “deep enough.” She says they should take care of “her,” meaning Liza.

Alicia asks the guy on the radio where they’re going and if they have water. He likes the thought of going to Hawaii, but their boat probably can’t make it that far.

Daniel and Madison are talking on the deck. He says “If this is the end of the world, it’s already over.” He calls Strand “Ahab,” and says that he doesn’t trust him. Madison seems to want to, but she’s cautious.

The guy on the radio says he’s with his brother and sister-in-law. Everyone else is dead.

Everyone gathers on the deck and Travis says a few words about Liza. Chris tips the board she’s on less than gently, pushing her into the water. He’s still angry, and storms off.

Travis follows Chris inside and confronts him. Chris insists that he could have “fixed it.” He’s pissed at Travis for shooting Liza. Travis gives up trying to reason with him, knowing that he’s not going to get through to him.

Madison consoles Travis about the failed talk with Chris.

Alicia rushes back to the radio. Her friend Jack says they’re taking on water. She says they can come and get him. He asks where they are in relation to the smoke plume that she can see out the window.

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Alicia tells the others about Jack. Strand comes in and Alicia tells him that she wants to rescue three people. Strand is pissed that she told him anything about them. Strand explains the rules of the boat: 1) It’s my boat. 2) It’s my boat. 3) It’s my boat. Something tells me that Strand wasn’t very good at sharing his toys when he was a kid…

Strand is back at the controls and Nick is sitting in the cabin behind him. He asks Strand how he can contribute. Strand tells him that he’s fearless, but Nick says that his not being afraid of the times he’d almost died was just part of being an addict. He tells Strand not to call him Nicholas because his father had called him that.

Madison goes to talk to Chris. She tells him it’s ok to be angry and tells the story of the first time she hit her father. She encourages him to come and eat with them, and says that there’s nothing she can do to make things better. If Travis hadn’t done it, she tells him, she would have. He doesn’t reply.

The group sets the table for dinner. Chris comes into the room slowly, staying at the back, then walks outside onto the deck and down to the back platform. Inside, they hear a splash and run outside. Nick gets to the back platform first and dives in after Chris without hesitation.

Nick grabs onto Chris and tugs him up. Chris says he wanted to swim, though he hadn’t appeared to be swimming. Nick dives under the water to take a little swim, as long as he’s there.

Alicia tells Jack they can’t come and get them because it’s too dangerous. He says ok, he’ll see her soon. His voice has changed, and suddenly sounds hard.

Strand is at the controls. He sees something that makes him concentrate intently on the screen.

Nick is underwater looking up. There’s a walker floating there, face down, reaching for him.

Suddenly everyone on the boat sees wreckage of a boat and lots of walkers in the water. They yell to the boys to get out of the water. They pull Chris out just in time, as a walker tries to grab him from behind, but Nick has gone back under the water, having said that he heard someone. He comes up inside the wreckage of the boat, which isn’t completely submerged, listening.

Travis jumps into the water to go after Nick. Under the boat wreckage, Nick is suddenly grabbed by a walker, but narrowly manages to free himself. Hearing Travis calling him, he dives back under water and swims out. He has brought a Yacht Log, wrapped in plastic, with him.

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On the bridge, Strand sees something and curses. He comes down and says they’re leaving, and that someone’s coming. It could be the ones who were responsible for the wreckage. There’s a boat coming quickly toward them.

The boys are finally back on the boat and Maddie yells to Strand that they’re clear. She says that whoever did that (pointing at the wreckage) is coming back.

I think maybe after this week, someone will take the radio away from Alicia… or at least, I hope so.

What did you, the readers, think of this first episode of season 2? Vote and leave us a comment, because we love to hear what’s on your minds!