Fear The Walking Dead 203: Ouroboros [recap and poll]

Fear The Walking Dead’s latest episode, number 203, Ouroboros, marks another land based problem for the survivors, though of a different kind than what we saw last week. What did everyone think? Read on to find out, take our poll and leave a comment.

Some might argue that after last week, the castaways on the Abigail might have developed an aversion to venturing onto the land. Apparently it didn’t, but maybe after this week’s episode, they’ll think a little harder about an exit strategy. Or at least, it might be a good idea if they did.

The episode opens with what appears to be the immediate aftermath of the crash of Flight 462. There are passengers in the water, several of whom struggle into a life raft in the midst of the debris. One of the survivors in the boat has been bitten, and he’s quickly knocked overboard.

Alex is trying to help a young survivor, but he’s badly burned and it’s not looking good. One of the men in the raft tries to stab the boy during the night, but Alex stabs the other man instead. The last surviving man in the boat begs Alex to put the boy out of his misery. The boy wakes up and tells her that it’s ok.

It’s dark, and Strand calls on the mysterious satellite phone saying, “We’re coming.” He looks out the window, appearing worried.

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Travis and Madison are both lying in bed awake. Their moment is interrupted by a loud noise from outside. They get up to investigate.

Travis is carrying and reading from a manual and tells Madison, Daniel and Strand that it appears that the engine is overheating. He thinks something is blocking the water intake and they’ll need to get under the boat in order to find out, but it’s still dark. No one wants to sit around waiting to be boarded, so Travis says he’ll go and check it out from under water.

There’s something blocking the intake, alright… it’s a walker… an infected… Whatever you call it, it lunges at Travis, who manages to get away.

Back inside, Travis is now doing some repair work. The blockage is cleared, but it’s going to take all day, more or less to get the boat going. Strand is a little stressed, and pretty much demands that Travis get it done pretty much now. I can only imagine how much fun it would have been to work for him before the end of the world…

Ofelia’s shoulder may be infected, and Daniel is worried. She’s out of antibiotics, but Daniel doesn’t want her to ask Madison for stronger medicine because he wants to keep it in the family, despite her protests.

Alicia comes out onto the deck and points out the luggage from the wreckage of Flight 462 that’s sitting on shore. Daniel volunteers to take Alicia, Nick and Chris to check it out. Before they go, Daniel pulls Madison aside and tells her that Strand’s ultimate destination is Mexico.

Daniel, Alicia, Nick and Chris take the little speedboat ashore and trudge up the hill, seeing the wreckage of the plane crash and a few charred bodies. Daniel tells them to be quick.

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Travis dives back under the boat again and Madison checks on the kids through her binoculars.

Back on land, Chris splits off from the others – despite Daniel’s explicit instructions – apparently determined to prove that even at the end of the world, teenagers don’t make good decisions.

Madison watches for Travis over the side of the boat and sees an explosion of bubbles and then a rush of red water, after which a body floats to the surface. Travis surfaces shortly afterwards, appearing fine.

Nick and Alicia go through suitcases, pulling out articles of clothing. Chris has wandered off and found the main wreckage of the crash, wandering inside the chunk of the main cabin that remains. There’s movement – a walker is stuck strapped in his seat with an oxygen mask on, and Chris walks up to him, taunting him. Suddenly another man just in front of him, who had appeared dead, woke up and said simply, “Help me.”

Madison confronts Strand about whether they’re going to Mexico. He tells her that there’s a house south of Baja California that’s the only place that’s safe. Madison threatens to throw him overboard if he even looks at anyone in her family wrong. Strand tells her that she’s not a killer.

Nick approaches Daniel, who’s going through suitcases looking for drugs – for Ofelia. Nick, who knows about drugs, tells Daniel that he needs “the cillins” (i.e. penicillin, etc)

Chris is sitting in the cabin of the plane. He has discovered that the man who’s begging for help has a bite on his back, and Chris is overwhelmed by what he has to do. He gets a heavy object and beats the man in the head with it, as he has been taught, then collapses afterwards, overwhelmed.

Daniel walks through the sand, calling for Chris. Alicia goes off in search of Daniel and Chris. Nick says he’s following her, but then finds a bag full of drugs of some kind and gets distracted.

On the boat, Travis is working on getting the engine started again. Madison tells him what Strand said about the safe place in Baja. She thinks they should trust him, not that they have another choice. Travis is skeptical.

Daniel sees Chris running over a hill of sand, coming down as fast as he can… or so he thinks. When the figure reaches him, he sees that it’s not Chris. It’s a woman, Alex. She tells him to run, because “they’re coming.” A few seconds later, the ridge of the hill is covered with walkers.

Nick hears a walker and goes down toward the beach in search of the noise. He sees it half buried in the sand at the bottom of a cliff, being clawed by crabs. Then suddenly Nick slips down to the bottom of the same sandy cliff and lands within grabbing distance of the walker, only narrowly managing to avoid being bitten and to stab it in the head. Just then another walker stumbles to the edge of the cliff.

Alicia finds the plane wreckage and Chris, who’s dazed but claims that he’s fine. They hear a gunshot, and start running. Madison hears the shots from the boat as well, and yells that they have to move. Daniel, Alicia, Alex and Chris are running for the beach, with the walkers right behind them. There’s no sign of Nick. They hold them off as best they can, but it’s not going well.

Travis just barely manages to get the boat to start, after dipping his hand into something really disgusting looking.

On shore, we’re facing a replay of the end of the season 1 finale. The walkers have the survivors cornered at the edge of the cliff. Suddenly, Nick’s there. Alicia hadn’t recognized him because his face is completely covered in blood, as is the front of his shirt. He turns around and takes a swing at one of the walkers.

Nick stands right in front of one of the walkers but isn’t attacked. He seems to have figured out that the blood makes him invisible to them. As they pull the small boat out to the water, Alex informs them that they need to make a stop.

They reach the Abigail with an extra life raft in tow and Strand refuses to let additional people aboard. In response, Madison blurts out the plan to go to Mexico. Everyone is skeptical, but Travis backs up her assertion that it’s the best plan. Strand says the new people are a liability. Travis says they can tow them, and Strand storms off.

Alicia, Madison and Travis bring Alex food, water and blankets and set them in her raft. It’s just her and the boy who’s so badly burned. They untie the raft from the back ramp so that it it’s now being towed behind the boat.

Ofelia is on the upper deck and Nick comes up to sit beside her, giving her rosary beads.

Alex tells the boy that this is the worst it’s going to be, that every day it will get better. It’s not clear if she’s talking to him or herself.

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Strand runs down the stairs to the back ramp and cuts the rope without a word, as Madison stands helplessly and watches.

Between the discoveries about the infected that they’ve made alone, and the things that they learn collectively, the group is slowly starting to catch on to what’s going on in the new world order. Of course, it still feels like just the beginning. It will be interesting to see where the boat ends up next week, and if they finally end up in Mexico..