The Best ‘What Ifs’ Of Fear The Walking Dead

What If Daniel Hadn’t Burned Down The Hacienda?

As I was thinking of other turning points in Fear The Walking Dead, one that kept coming back to me was this one. Initially, it didn’t even occur to me how pivotal this was, but, the more I thought about it, the more important I realized it was.

Think about it: Had Daniel not burnt down the Abigail hacienda, Season Two of Fear would have been very different.

How different? Well, how about an implosion within the Clark family? That different.

You see, regardless of what Daniel does, Madison would still trap Celia in the cellar with the infected. No matter what, Celia dies.

In her absence, Madison would likely assume that Nick would be free of her influence. She would be right…technically. Celia wouldn’t be able to influence Nick, but, that wouldn’t be to say that she wouldn’t already have influenced him.

Sadly for Madison, her actions would have been too little, too late. Even without Celia, Nick would have already started believing that the infected weren’t dead, leading him, inevitably, down the path he would end up walking in the second half of Season Two, perhaps with Sofia now guiding him.

Why Sofia? Well, it seemed like the rest of the staff deferred to her in Celia’s absence and she seemed to fit quite nicely into Celia’s role as guru for Nick when the hacienda fell. I imagine the relationship we saw between the pair as they went their separate ways in “Grotesque” would simply carry over here.

How would Sofia run the hacienda? Probably much in the way Celia did. She certainly seemed to share Celia’s opinion of Strand, who would still get thrown out, by the way.

And this is where the key differences begin to appear.

First of all, if Daniel doesn’t burn the place down, but, still escapes, he would need to get out of there, quickly. It would only have been a matter of time before Jorge would have gotten back up and sounded the alarm that Daniel had escaped.

Daniel would have certainly gone to get Ofelia. I imagine Daniel is skilled enough to have eluded any staff on the way to reach her, but his caution would likely bite into his time. By the time he’d reached her and explained what had happened, the jig might have been up. Daniel and Ofelia would have had to run to get out of dodge. If they were lucky, they’d catch up to Strand.

As for the Clarks, this is where things get hairy.

Assuming Daniel didn’t tell Madison and Alicia what had happened, they would soon find out, as Sofia and the rest of the staff went searching for him.

While I imagine Sofia would hold to Celia’s agreement with Nick, I am equally convinced Madison would side with Daniel, and either attempt to harbor him, or leave with him and Ofelia.

Nick, however, would almost certainly stand pat. It’s likely that, during the chaos, it would be discovered that Celia had been infected.

This might be chalked up to an accident or act of carelessness on Celia’s part, but, I suspect Nick would assume his mother was behind it, just as he assumed she was behind the fire in our timeline.

The crucial differences in the scenario really start here.

In this scenario, Daniel would be with the rest of the group from the outset, coming with them to the Rosarito.

Nick, meanwhile would not go out on his own, and, therefore, would not end up at La Colonia. Instead, he would stay at the hacienda, becoming more incorporated into their strange beliefs about the infected.

On top of this, rather than just assume that the living were destructive in nature, with the belief that Madison did something to Celia, Nick could possibly grow to resent his mother. Over time, this would likely fester.

If they did reunite (Presumably after the infected on the grounds got loose), Nick might be a far different person than the one we know. The reunion would likely be a bitter one, with Nick considering Madison a murderer for “killing” Celia, even though he wouldn’t know (Or, likely, believe) the details surrounding Celia’s death.

Daniel’s destruction of the Abigail hacienda is more important than we realize.

Had it not happened, Daniel might have found the absolution he’s been seeking much quicker than how it actually went on the show. Or perhaps, without that act of destruction, he may have felt that he still hadn’t done right by his wife or his victims, and that guilt may have only gotten worse for him.

Nick, meanwhile, would likely end up the worse for it as well, steered in a different direction by Sofia, and likely resenting his mother more than he already did, with the assumption that his mother murdered the woman who had been giving him guidance.

The second half of Season Two would have likely turned out quite different, with Daniel providing Madison with some much needed wisdom (And a certain amount of intimidation factor) in dealing with the survivors at the Rosarito. Conversely, Nick may have emerged as something of a threat, feeling like he couldn’t trust his mother anymore, and repulsed by the survivors’ behavior towards those he would likely still see as alive.

Next: What If It Was All A Lie?