The Althea Tapes: Earl and CJ – How strangers become family

The latest edition of the Althea Tapes offer the story of two strangers who came together to form a little family in the apocalypse.

While the Fear the Walking Dead mid-season premiere is still over a week away, AMC has been busy rolling out new entries of the Althea Tapes. The Althea Tapes feature stories of the people that Althea met during her travels, and in exchange for food or transportation they gave the former reporter their stories. The latest story features two people who came together to form a little family in light of the death and destruction around them.

CJ and Earl are an unlikely duo. They met during the hurricane when she saved his life. She’s young, he’s older. They came from different backgrounds. But when the dead started walking around, they were drawn together in order to survive and now they’re closer than ever. They’re their own little family, and they will protect each other fiercely.

With a smile on her face, CJ calls Earl her “rock” but he clearly looks to her for support, too. After Earl taught her to fish, she took to the skill with gusto and now she’s the one catching the big fish. What’s more is that as she talked about catching the fish, Earl looked on like a proud father. They may have been from different worlds before, but now they’re inseparable.

The Althea Tapes have been a great way to expand the Fear the Walking Dead universe with short and compelling vignettes about the people Althea met on her journey. Fans know that Al likes new people, but now that fans have a chance to see their stories it’s clear that she has seen a lot over the years.

There have been several editions of the Althea Tapes published so far, but seeing Earl and CJ and hearing their story is bittersweet. On the one hand it’s great to hear their story, but on the other hand it’s impossible to watch the video without wondering where they are now. Are they alive? Are they safe? What happened to them?

Hopefully fans will learn more about these stories in the second half of season 5, which will feature a great deal of Althea’s footage to help guide the team forward.

Fear the Walking Dead returns on August 11 at 9pm on AMC.