Fear the Walking Dead 407: Four to Fear and More to Fear For
By Jamie Brewer
The latest episode of Fear the Walking Dead revealed how the stadium fell, but there are still many unanswered questions. Did anyone else survive? And of course, where is Madison?
Madison’s leadership in the stadium’s final hours ignored the desperate warnings of all of those around her, including her family. On the surface, it would certainly appear that Madison made a number of questionable calls that led to the loss of everything at the stadium. And while there’s been a steadily growing consensus that she’s dead, we still don’t know anything for sure.
What we do know, is that of the few people left in play, they are all either very dangerous or in great danger. Here are this week’s “Four to Fear” and “More to Fear For”:
Four to Fear
Luciana
Luciana has been quietly following Alicia’s lead in the hunt for the Vultures. She has spoken up a few times along the way, most notably during the interviews conducted by Althea, where she too revealed her unease with Madison’s previous leadership. She also voiced regret that she and Nick didn’t escape together for a new beginning on their own. Instead, she had the grim task of plunging a knife into Nick’s head to keep him from reanimating.
Like Alicia, Luciana set aside her grief for Nick and doubled down on her resolve to chase down the Vultures. After the firefight at the Vultures’s rendezvous point, Luciana came face-to-face with Charlie and seemed ready to shoot her. The encounter was interrupted and Charlie escaped but either way, Luciana seems pretty serious about getting even.
Strand
The dual-timeline narrative on Fear the Walking Dead has been particularly revealing when it comes to Victor Strand. In the past, Strand had always been classic “Strand”: a consistent self-centered survivor on a “last man standing” trajectory. In the present, however, Strand is on a reckless mission to eradicate the Vultures with no “Plan B” to save himself. We know that things ended very badly at the stadium and for Strand, that meant losing everything – again.
Madison’s friendship through the worst of times helped him to accept who he was as a survivor and to move beyond his past. Strand has started all over before, but this time it’s different because he’s different. Now, he wants to finish things.
Alicia
Alicia continues to be one of the biggest threats on Fear the Walking Dead. After torching Mel’s van, she coldly finished him off with a jagged piece of metal. Alicia is not out there to survive. Alicia is dedicated to the task of hunting down the rest of those responsible for the events at the stadium and killing them. John Dorie took an unnecessary bullet to save Naomi and Alicia would have finished them both off if Althea and her gun-mobile hadn’t intervened.
Alicia doesn’t seem to have a plan beyond chasing down the Vultures and exacting a hasty revenge. Unless there’s a stronghold of survivors that we don’t know about, her plan also sounds a like a one-way ticket. That’s bad news for her, but more so for anyone else in her path.
Charlie
Charlie has a lot to do with why things are the way they are on Fear the Walking Dead right now. It was her act of espionage that gave Mel and the Vultures the intelligence they needed to size up Madison’s forces. She would later convince Madison to bring Mel to the stadium for medical treatment and that also led to a predictably bad outcome. The challenge with Charlie is she’s a child who you want to see protected, but she’s also the catalyst for a lot of death.
In the present timeline, Charlie also just shot and killed Nick. Now she’s sitting in the front seat of Althea’s armored truck, safe from danger (a.k.a. Alicia). Morgan’s intentions to move forward and forgive are noble, but bringing Charlie along for the ride puts them all at risk.
More to Fear For
Naomi
Naomi has some sort of connection to the Vultures, but she doesn’t appear to be on any side other than her own. Fortunately for John, he’s all she is concerned about at the moment. Morgan also explained to her that John had been devoted to finding her for a year and never gave up. Those of us hoping for that reunion though will still have to hold our collective breaths. Naomi knows exactly where to take John to save his life, but it’s not a great option.
The infirmary back at the stadium has everything Naomi needs to treat his wound. Unfortunately, the stadium is completely overrun by charred walkers. It’s also worth noting that despite hitting John, Alicia’s bullet was meant for Naomi and it’s likely their paths will cross again soon.
John
John’s survival in the past had a lot to do with the fact that he stayed away from people. He lived in seclusion in a protected cabin until setting out to find Naomi after she left him. Even on the road, he managed to survive just fine thanks to an absence of human contact. Unfortunately, his present journey brought him to the flashpoint of someone else’s fight, and now he’s been shot.
Fortunately, he was shot just feet away from an emergency room nurse with access to an infirmary stocked with life-saving supplies. Time is running out for though, as John bleeds out in the back of the truck. This season hasn’t shown a lot of mercy to the injured and the group will still need to fight their way to those supplies if they’re to save him.
Everyone Else at the Stadium
In “The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now”, we finally got to see the stadium in the present timeline and the sight was not encouraging. In the past, Ennis had unleashed his army of flammable walkers in what appeared to be the stadium’s last stand. The final images we were shown from the past were of Madison unwisely opening the gates in an attempt to let Nick and Alicia back in. Blocking their path was a wall of fire and a small horde of walkers.
In the present, when Althea and her passengers arrived at the stadium, they were greeted by the scorched remains of the walkers who infiltrated the gates, spreading fire, death and destruction. There were no signs of survivors and the evidence suggests that everyone other than Alicia, Strand and Luciana has died. We don’t know for sure, but there seems to be little hope left back at the Diamond.
Next: Undead Walking is looking for new writers
Find out what happens on the midseason finale of Fear the Walking Dead on AMC, Sunday, June 10th at 9 PM EDT!