Tara and Althea: Keeping secrets in the TWD universe

Fear the Walking Dead’s Althea has something in common with our dearly departed Tara from The Walking Dead: They both have had big secrets to keep.

In Fear the Walking Dead “The End of Everything” Althea had a close encounter with a member of the Helicopter Community. Isabelle, the soldier, told Althea that she can’t tell anyone about what she learned and Al pledged to keep the secret, much as Tara pledged to protect the secrets of Oceanside when she first met the community back in season 7. Al’s about to learn that keeping secrets in the apocalypse can be a huge challenge with lasting repercussions.

What Al learned, though limited and cryptic by necessity, could change the trajectory for the Fear the Walking Dead survivors moving forward, much the same as the information Rick learned at the CDC changed the game for his group. When Rick finally revealed the information to the group, that everyone has the virus in them already, there was a great deal of consternation that he didn’t say something sooner.

If Al continues to keep the secret and the information somehow becomes useful later on, it could damage her relationship with the rest of the group because she kept such a big secret from everyone. Then again, she might get a free pass if the information somehow saves the day.