Fear the Walking Dead 511 recap: You’re Still Here

Logan’s reach continues to spread while Alicia investigates the messages on the trees in this week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead, “You’re Still Here.”

This week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead begins with a tree. It’s a big tree, and when seen from above the branches spread out like a spider. Alicia is at the base and she’s studying the trunk. The tree’s message is one of hope: “If you’re reading this you are still here.” She wants to know where the person is who wrote the messages in the first place.

A walker approaches and she gives it a look. She’s not worried, per se, but she hesitates. Her hand reaches for her weapon but then she sees that the walker is tied to the fence. When he breaks loose, she grabs her knife and holds it ready as his body falls apart the more he pulls away from the part of him that’s stuck to the fence. Another walker comes from behind her and she ducks back behind the tree, calling for Strand to help.

Her eyes are wide and she’s not comfortable, which is a far cry from the Alicia we knew. When the walker comes at her she holds it off, but she drops her knife. Strand appears and takes care of it, looking at her in concern before moving to kill the other one. Another walker appears and he kills it. He has Alicia’s weapon.

She takes a deep breath and he asks if she’s ok. She apologizes to him, but he won’t accept it. He blames himself for not being closer to her. He kills the other walker that had fallen on the ground while Alicia retrieves her knife.

She looks at the tree and wonders if the universe is trying to send her a message. He pats her arm and walks away, knowing she’ll be following behind him. She catches up and they walk off along the road.

Cue the credits, here we go! This week’s credits feature the same field and a slightly cloudy sky, but there is a message written on the tree in the foreground. In fact, it’s the same message Alicia saw earlier in the episode.

Alicia marks a map while Strand refuels. Their truck is parked on a bridge with a stream underneath. He says they’re low on fuel and need to meet back up with the convoy. She wants to keep looking for the person who is putting the messages on the trees, but he’s not sure it’s a good idea. She’s not sure what it will do for her either. All she knows is how she feels whenever she sees the trees.

Suddenly there’s a voice on the radio. He’s asking if anyone is there. She hurries to grab it, but Strand cautions her against revealing their location. The male voice asks who she is, and she insists he goes first. He knows her name, and Strand realizes he saw the tapes. He takes the radio and the voice asks if this is “Mitch”, but Strand clears up the confusion and asks how they can help.

“The name’s Wes,” the man says. “You owe me a ride.”

Soon we see Wes’ bike and sidecar being loaded into the back of the truck. Alicia looks at the damage and asks what happens. He makes a joke about it, then he admits that some jerks did it because they thought Wes was with Alicia’s group. He thanks her for that. They know it was Logan’s work.

Wes says that Logan is a big fan of theirs, his voice laced with sarcasm. Strand says they need to get out of there. Alicia wants to know why Wes didn’t contact them any sooner, and he admits that he didn’t think they were real. Besides, people who reveal how much stuff they have often don’t keep it long. He was going to push his bike home before he brother thinks he’s turned into an “eater”. Speaking of, a walker approaches while they’re talking and Strand moves to dispatch it quickly.

Wes watches Alicia while Strand works. Alicia tells him to get in the truck.

Morgan and Al watch a walker stuck behind the glass at the bank. She goes for her walkers while he clears away his own group. He takes a swipe at one and misses, and after Al kills it she asks if he’s due for a new stick. “No, I’m good,” he tells her.

Al moves to the vault and dials in the combination. Morgan asks how she knows the combination and she reveals that she interviewed one of the managers. They can hear a walker inside when she opens it. It’s a woman who is wearing a shiny necklace.

Al has her bag full of tapes and starts loading them into the vault, explaining to Morgan that this isn’t “overkill” as he says. It’s “smart” because the vault will last longer than they ever will. And with Logan trashing their truck stops they need as many safe locations as they can manage. She knows there’s a reason he came out to find her and he tries to play it off but doesn’t fool her. She asks if he’s going to make her work for the answers, but he insists there’s nothing to say.

Wes asks how long Alicia has been looking for the person responsible for the painted trees. He asks how it has been going, and she says it’s still ongoing. He asks if they have bigger things to worry about, and Alicia and Strand agree there are plenty of things to be concerned about but for Alicia this is “different.” She needs this. He asks what will happen if she does find her answers.

Alicia admits she wants to know how they put the messages on the trees. “It’s just paint,” Wes tells her. For Alicia, it’s a matter of viewing the world in a different way. He tells her to let him know how her search goes but he doesn’t think it will work out, just like everything else. She apologizes to him for Logan and he shrugs it off because that’s how people are.

A group of walkers devour the carcass of a cow. Strand drives by and they barely notice the car, favoring their meal. The truck pulls up to a house inside a fenced off area. This is where Wes lives. He offers Alicia the walkie back but she says to keep it. Strand says they always need a reminder of why they’re out there. While Wes goes to check on his brother, Alicia offers to unload his bike. She even offers him some gas.

Before the get started she closes the gate so that they are safe. Pretty soon they hear shouting and gunshots, and a man runs from Wes’ house and jumps into the truck even though he gets shot, and he drives off, smashing the fence in his wake. Wes is under attack and Strand jumps in to kill the walker.

Wes has all kinds of ammo because his house is an old police station. They fire a tear gas canister by mistake into a walker and Strand risks everything to get Alicia and Wes to safety. Once inside, Alicia rinses his eyes out but he can barely see. Alicia cares for him while Wes grabs supplies. She wants to know who the man was, and it turns out he asked them to go there because he wanted to kill the man who stole from him. He has no brother.

Unfortunately, they’re surrounded by walkers. Alicia asks Wes how many people he has killed, and really hasn’t killed anyone. But he’s going to find out if the man he shot died. Alicia radios Morgan and Al and tells them that the man who stole the truck needs their help and he doesn’t have a lot of time.

Alicia gives the news to Strand and says he was probably right about not being out there. She says she doesn’t want to kill the dead, but she wants to help. She needs to find a way to find a way to do that. He says the universe will give her a sign.

Al and Morgan drive along after the man in the truck and they come upon a C&L truck blocking the road. Logan is there.

Logan says he can’t move the truck because they’re out of gas. They heard about the man in need on the radio. Logan says that if they want to help they need to tell him about the oil fields. And he’s willing to wait. Sadly, the man doesn’t have much time. And Logan is willing to wait.

Al and Morgan look for an alternate route, but there isn’t one. Morgan grabs his stick and says he doesn’t have time for this. Morgan wants to know why Logan needs the gas. He offers to help him. Logan says he came up with the catchphrase on the boxes and he used to believe in it. He is doing something bigger than they can even imagine, and that’s why he needs it. He uses the dying man to barter for it. Morgan points out that they wouldn’t be able to travel without the gas and that would put them at risk, but this doesn’t matter to Logan, who says that nothing Morgan does to help people will help his wife and son.

Morgan launches at Logan and Al has to pull him away. Logan tells him he never should have put his business on TV if he feels that way.

Back at the police station Wes searches the building. Alicia asks what it was, guessing that it must be important. He knows she wants to know what it was so that she can give him a lesson, but he doesn’t need it. The guy was a jerk, plain and simple. Alicia tries to tell him about losing her brother, and he is defensive, but then Wes says his brother died in the beginning on a trip to get some condensed milk. The motorcycle was his. He shot the guy because that’s the new way of the world.

Al call through on the radio and tells her about the roadblock, which Wes says proves his point about the new world order. Alicia isn’t willing to accept it so she goes and finds a gun and some ammo.

She and Strand stand at the door and Alicia grabs her weapon. Strand still can’t see, and she tells him she can get one of the police cars going. He asks if she’s sure, and she says that this is what it will take. Before she can get out, Wes says he will clear them for her.

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Wes heads through the gym to the exit. Once outside, he starts shooting the walkers one by one. He accidentally shoots one of the doors to the building, cracking it, so that when one of the walkers touches it the glass breaks. Alicia grabs the keys and she goes to greet the walker. She hasn’t killed one of the dead since the plane, and she flashes back to when she had the plane propeller. Strand jumps in and kills the walker even though he can barely see. More walkers are coming and Wes comes back to get them.

Morgan and Al drive along another road and she’s talking through an alternate route. She apologizes for putting the part about his family in the documentary, but Morgan says he knew about it. The whole point was to help people trust them, which means he had to reveal who he is. Al disagrees, saying that what they lost doesn’t define them.

Alicia calls through on the radio, saying that they found the truck and he’s already gone. Morgan and Al head to them.

Wes watches the dead man walk down the road with a bag still around his shoulders. Alicia says she’s sorry, but Wes isn’t. He’s getting his stuff back. Wes walks to the man and says “hey” to get the walker’s attention. The man isn’t dead, rather he tosses the bag at Wes and then attacks him. Wes grabs a knife and stabs the man, then he asks where his manuscript is. The man just wanted to finish it, saying it’s good stuff. Then he dies.

Alicia can’t believe he killed him for stealing his book. Wes stabs the man in the head and says he never should have radioed them. At the end of the day, he says, “people are people, and they will keep you wanting more.” Wes walks away, leaving the book. The guy died for it.

Alicia can’t believe what she’s hearing.

Later, Al and Morgan bury the man while Alicia looks at the manuscript. She thinks he wrote it for his brother. At the end of the book she realizes that the quote from the trees is in the book. Wes painted the trees. In fact, there is paint in the trunk of his car. Strand apologizes that she didn’t find what she was hoping for, but she sees a bird and smiles, saying she doesn’t need anyone to figure out out for her.

Next we see Alicia painting a tree, and then we see Wes coming upon one of the ones he painted. Strand says her tree is beautiful as she paints a bird on it in honor of her mother. A walker approaches and Strand moves to kill it, but she’s got it. She takes a deep breath, and she tells him she’s good. She continues painting her tree. “No one’s gone until they’re gone.”

Morgan smiles at the message. Al asks if he’s ready to leave and he tells her she was right and wrong. He’s not running from anything, and he’s not a ghost. It’s all connected, the good stuff too. He sees signs of how they used to be, and when he tries to put it behind him he thinks he might lose some of it. Al reassures him that he doesn’t have to lose any of it if he shares his story. He agrees.

Later we see the vault shaking violently. The door blows off and Logan walks in, signaling to his crew that they’re in the vault. They find the tapes, and Logan tells his people that he knew about the vault because this is bigger than they think. He orders his people to start watching the tapes to see if someone might have slipped up and revealed something.

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