Fear the Walking Dead season 3 episode 3 recap: ‘TEOTWAWKI’
Fear the Walking Dead continues with season 3 episode 3 ‘TEOTWAWKI.’ Here’s your complete episode recap.
This week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead begins with footage of the United States falling apart. Jeremiah Otto talks about the American Experiment failing. It’s a promotional video from Otto as he talks about his video that helps people survive The End of the World As We Know It, or TEOTWAWKI. In those videos, Otto will teach you everything you need to survive the end. It shows him with his family as they prepare for the end, and his message is that you should plan for a better future.
Madison, Nick and Alicia listen as the people of Broke Jaw Ranch talk about Charlene, who lost her life on the chopper. They blame Madison for being unprepared. Madison gets up to introduce herself and gives a memory of Travis. Jake gets up and talks about mourning, but the people in town want to know about the people who took down the helicopter. Otto intervenes and says they’re in the middle of a war. Troy calls it “payback” and pledges that they will make this right. Jake tries to be the middle man.
As Madison and Alicia get food, someone calls them freeloaders and Alicia snaps at him. One of the friendlier people, Gretchen, asks if Alicia would like to be part of Christ Risen, and though she tries to get out of it, they’re very insistent.
Nick feeds Luciana, who wants to gather supplies and leave the place. Nick is torn because he wants everyone to feel safe and he let the opportunity to kill Otto go. Luciana reminds him that he’s not a killer.
Madison arrives at their house to find Troy there. He liked Madison’s speech. It reminds them all that she’s a victim too. Troy asks what she did in the real world, and when she says she was a guidance counselor he says he never went to high school. He lived on the ranch, and everything he has done has been for that place. Troy says she understands this world, and she understands him. That’s what he picked her, but he didn’t pick Nick. Troy knows that they were separated, and she says that he will learn to live there. Before he leaves, she forces him to make the bed. Surprisingly, he does it for her.
Strand drives along and finds people moving along the border fence. They’re there for water. Strand is there to see Dante and he doesn’t want to wait in line. The man throws Strand to the ground when Dante arrives and says that he looks like shit.
Alicia is practicing her knife work when Madison returns. She and Nick say that they aren’t welcome there, but Madison says they’re warming up to them. Nick thinks they should move on and find their own house, but Madison insists that they aren’t leaving. She says that they brought Nick out of the camp and Travis died doing it. Nick doesn’t think Luciana will be safe there, which means Nick will be forced to make a choice. Alicia storms out.
Jake is worried that he hasn’t been word from the outposts. Madison comes in and says she is hoping for Otto’s reassurance. Troy threatened Nick and she wants people to understand that they’re there with his blessing. Madison says that Troy was killing people back at the camp, and she suggests that maybe people in the ranch should know that. Otto asks Jake to show her the library and the videos he produced. Jake promises her that he will take care of Troy. He brews some coffee while she watches Otto’s videos.
Alicia watches a horse when Nick walks up. She says their father used to take her to the equestrian center. She’s waiting for Gretchen so she can go to Bible study. Nick wants to know if she wants to stay, but Alicia says that life these days is just about different groups. They need to find one. She apologizes for what Madison said, prompting him to ask what happened to her out there.
Jake finds Troy repairing a fence. He tells his brother not to bother them. Jake says that the ranch will find out what happened at the depot and the ranch people won’t like it. When their father dies they need to work together, so Troy agrees, but it doesn’t seem legit. Clearly Jake knows the kind of threat his brother poses, and after the meeting that morning, there seems to be more people in the ranch who agree with Troy than Jake.
Gretchen leads Alicia to an underground bunker. The other members of Christ Risen are there, and they grab alcohol and bongs and start partying. They quote Bible verses in the middle of their partying. Alicia asks where Geoff is, so Gretchen fetches his head. It’s in a bird cage. It’s perhaps the most twisted thing we’ve seen on the show yet. (And reminiscent of the Governor’s daughter) Alicia looks at it, and she starts cracking up.
Madison explores the video library and watches some of the outtakes. Otto is an overbearing and domineering man who mistreats his wife, Tracy, who is clearly a drunk. Troy watches his parents argue and Madison sees a lot of her marriage in there. Otto walks in and says it isn’t his finest moment. She’s barely through the first tape. Jake’s mom was his first wife, and Troy’s mom is the woman in the video. Otto reveals that Troy cared for his drunk mom and she hated him for it.
Strand and Dante talk about Thomas and old business dealings. Dante asks if Thomas made it, and Strand shakes his head. Dante, who has a collection of fine wine glasses, asks if Strand has anything else with him, but Strand has nothing. It looks like that might be a problem for Dante.
Gretchen says Geoff wants to know where she is from. She reveals that she was in LA, and then they want to hear what life was like out there in this madness. She says it changes you. Alicia wants to know about the Ottos. Otto was there before most of them were born. They came to live on the ranch when the world fell apart. Otto created the ranch knowing that the end would come. Troy is the one who killed Geoff. They say they can’t do the stuff Troy does. They want to know what bad stuff she did out there, and she says that she killed a man and it was easy.
Strand tours a dam when they come upon a man who is about to die. Dante explains that he was once in the cartels, and that there is no room for him in his world now. Strand watches as he’s thrown to his death, into a pit of Infected. The men grab Strand and Dante says they weren’t friends before and they aren’t friends now. Strand is there to take from him, and Strand says Dante needs him. Strand tells him they need to sell farther away from their source. Dante wants to know how he can trust Strand given that he has the water people want and Strand will just try to take it. Dante wants to make Strand suffer. He wants him to be powerless so he’s like the people he has stolen from.
Nick watches a house with some happy old folk when Troy pulls up and offers to take him hunting. They’re looking for boar and Troy says he should earn his keep. He offers a knife to Nick, and Nick begrudgingly takes it and gets into the truck. Clearly Troy isn’t listening to his brother.
Madison stands at the fence when Otto approaches and says that Jake went out hunting. It could be a few hours or all night. She says that Alicia has been gone for a while, and Otto says she’s finding her place. He offers her a cigarette and Madison says her kids never had a place. She reveals that Nick is an addict and she had been waiting for a call from the morgue the past five years. Otto says parents do things for their kids and because of their kids. He wants to tell her why he tolerates Troy. They go for a walk.
On the hunt, the boys have dogs and they command them in German. Nick knows this is about to get messy.
Otto reveals the storage area under his house. He says he broke Troy in the old world, but now he has purpose in this one. He wants to build a new world, and he asks if her family is up for it. Absolutely, she says.
Nick watches Troy and then jumps him, holding a gun to his throat. Nick wonders how long it will take for him to turn. 87 minutes, Troy says. Nick says he isn’t a scientist, and he shoots a bullet inches from Troy’s head. Nick takes off running, then he starts laughing. With them both on the ground, Troy says they could be friends now.
Madison visits Luciana and Luciana says she’s doing better. Luciana thanks her for waiting for her to heal before they leave. She’s sorry about losing Travis. Madison says Travis was a better person than she is. Madison says they need to survive at all costs, hinting that they aren’t leaving.
Alicia returns. Jake sees them and asks if they turned water into wine. “Praise Jesus,” Alicia laughs.
Madison watches Otto interact with Jake. Otto announces that they haven’t heard from Outpost Alpha. Troy is taking a group out and he needs volunteers. Madison volunteers, which gains some praise for her. She sits with Troy, who points out that her kids are at the other table. She puts a napkin in his lap and says she knows.
Strand sits in a jail cell. Water is brought to him and he drinks it greedily. He looks back to see Daniel Salazar standing there. “I told you, I’d be your Guardian Angel.”
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Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.