Fear the Walking Dead 412 recap: Weak

This week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead takes us on a journey with Al and June as we learn more about Al’s past. Here’s your recap of “Weak.”

Tonight’s episode begins with June watching John giving his story to Al. She smiles when he says he knows he’ll find her. She leaves the truck and goes outside. It’s a mess. Everything is in ruin after the storm. You can hear walkers. She checks the radio signal. Silence. She says she never should have left John at the bus. She watched his tape and says she knows he believed he’d find her. But June isn’t so confident right now. She thinks John knows who she is and when things are bad she runs. Things aren’t going well. This is the kind of time where she would leave. How did he keep up hope.

Al walks up with some cans. There’s no diesel so they can’t recharge the batteries. The van is stuck at the crossroads and they’re stuck inside, waiting. Days pass. There’s no sign of anyone. They’re out of water and they are going to have to leave the van.

The radio cracks.

It’s Morgan, but they don’t know that because it’s too full of static.

Credits: The scenery is torn apart, the storm is gone, and the SWAT truck sits in the distance as two figures walk away.

There’s a walker stuck to the grill of the semi. Sarah pulls over and says it was a clean hit. Wendell doesn’t agree. (She calls them “skin munchers”) She asks Wendell about a memory of their dad hitting a seagull. Wendell still gives her a half point. Morgan is at mile marker 27 going west and he’s on his way.

June wants to head to higher ground to get a better signal. Al sees that she killed the camera’s battery watching John’s tape. Al isn’t feeling well. She has low blood sugar and Nurse June suggests she gets some fresh air. She wants Al to go with her.

Jim doesn’t think they’ll ever make it to Virginia if they keep leaving messages like this. Outside, Morgan tells Sarah that someone left him messages once, too. It didn’t work but he did it anyway.

June still can’t get the signal. Al is falling apart because it has been a while since she has gone so long without eating. There’s a truck up ahead with a walker inside and June kills it, then they drive off along the road to find higher ground. She apologizes for using the battery on Al’s camera. Al understands because it’s like she’s talking to him when he’s not there. June asks if Al has ever had someone, and Al has been working so hard since before the world fell apart that she never had time. June tries the radio again.

The mysterious woman hears the radio and tells Purvis the Walker that he was weak.

Morgan leaves another box and then hears June’s message. Morgan wants to go to higher ground so he leaves everyone behind as he walks off to find the signal.

June repeats the message, and Al throws up. As June checks her over, Al’s SWAT van drives past them. Al goes off in pursuit but blows a tire. June says she needs medicine, and it’s all in the van. Al needs to get it back.

Morgan walks along the road. There’s a woman going through one of the boxes. He says that what’s written on the box is the truth and she can have what she needs. He knows how tough it is. The boxes helped him before. She looks at him, holding a beer. She doesn’t need his help. She’s not weak. He plans to continue on his way and leave her. She watches him go, and she agrees that things are tough and he should be careful. Fair warning, right? He keeps walking.

The woman fills the bottled waters with something now that she’s on her own.

Al is asleep in the truck but June wants her to keep talking. She asks about the van. Al doesn’t want to share the story, but June persists. They hear the guns being fired in the distance and Al insists that June leave to go get it on foot. She begs her to go. June relents and gives her the radio. Al gives her some encouraging words.

June follows a road until she finds an overturned bus. There are walkers inside, and on the other side is the SWAT van, empty. June scouts the area. The bus has some very old walkers in it. Before she can do anything, a man walks up behind her and puts a gun to her head. She tries to tell him she needs medicine but he won’t have it.

The man forces June to her knees while she tells him he doesn’t have to do this. He asks about her friend, knowing that the medicine was meant for someone else. She tells him that she has been where he is now, and it doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe they can help each other. But he is protecting people he cares about and it all stops after that. If he relents he’ll be the first one out if things go bad. She tackles him and the gun goes off, so June tries to get the tire fixed.

They fight, and June kicks the man in the groin and gets his guns away. She tries to start the van but it’s dead. He had been looking for diesel in the bus but it wasn’t. Later, she has him inside the van and she demands to know where the supplies are. The medicine is gone. She tells him to go, and she reminds him that she gave him a choice.

Once he’s outside, she locks the van and hunts for the meds. She finds a radio and calls Al to ask where the medicine is. Al can hardly walk and she falls over. A walker hears her and Al struggles to fight it off. June calls and says she can’t find the medicine. Al misses the walker’s head but manages to kill it by dropping the car onto it. She takes the radio and tells June that there was never any medicine, she just wanted the van back.

Al thanks June for going after the van. There actually was some medicine on the bus, but June reminds her that she could have died. The way Al sees it, the van is the only thing that will keep them alive. June almost killed a man trying to get the van back, but Al reminds her that she didn’t. She asks why the van is so important to her. If the truth matters, she wants it. Al confesses that those tapes are the only thing left of the people she once knew. Look at how much Madison’s story helped Alicia. The stories are her stories, they’re the people she knew and loved and she won’t let them be forgotten. This resonates with June.

Morgan climbs a water tower. The man is set on high ground. He radios where he is and this time they get the message but can’t respond because the battery is dead. They knew where he is and he is 50 miles away. June says they can make it, but Al won’t leave the van. She’s going to go back to the van. But as June drives away Al fires her gun. She has decided to go with her.

Morgan is on the road when Wendell comes up and says he doesn’t think they’re coming. Morgan admits he may be right. Later that night they get into the truck and Jim hands Morgan a beer. That’s when Sarah spots headlights.

June and Al get out and see Morgan. He’s glad to see her. She asks about John, and he admits they’re still looking. Al likes the new people because that’s her thing. Sarah gets a box and June asks if they’re the ones leaving the boxes. He says they’re trying to get the truck back. They’re helping. June borrows the radio and tells the person on the other end that they’re at mile marker 27 and she is sorry for pushing him out. Quinn calls back and says he found some diesel and jokes about Al leaving the van behind. He introduces himself and she offers to let him join up with them, as the guy who helped.

Morgan asks Al if she’s ok and she says she was sick. She likes his new ride though. He tells her she’s still welcome to join the group. She says she’s the kind of person who stays with people once she stays. He likes that. And then she asks about the person the truck belongs to. He tells her what he knows and she really wishes she had her camera.

Quinn radios her and asks if she was joking about mile marker 27. When he looks closely he sees that it has been altered. The woman unleashes her pet walker on him and she takes the radio with a smile on her face.

Later, the woman lets Purvis go, saying he can keep on trucking. She pushes him outside. Inside, she starts writing new messages on Quinn’s face. “You aren’t going to be weak anymore,” she tells him as he wakes up a new walker.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.