Fear the Walking Dead season 6 episode 4 recap: The Key

Here’s your recap of Fear the Walking Dead season 6 episode 4, “The Key”

This week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead begins as sunlight pours in through a window. John Dorie gets out of bed and gets to work writing a letter to June, telling her about how how he has been thinking about his father lately. He brushes his teeth and notices blood in the sink, and when he puts his trademark candy in his coffee the sweetness aggravates his toothache.

He’s thinking about family because his own family wasn’t around long enough, he says, and his new family with June was interrupted before it could even get started.

He puts the letter in his laundry bag, grabs his hat and steps outside into Lawton, a smile on his face. He’s got a key on, and everyone seems to know him. Virginia nods at him in greeting. He’s a member of the community.

He checks out his weapon from the storage locker, then he prepares to take over on watch at the gate. Later, he drops off his laundry and gives his guns back. He says in his letter that his father told him that people deserve a world where they know “which way is up” and that’s why he was a cop, and why he became one, too.

Virginia’s plan to make him an officer again came with challenges, but this time it was different. His life with Virginia isn’t what he imagined. People are giving up some freedom to live there but it might be worth it. 246 days have gone by without losing someone, which is how long he’s been there. (He gets his laundry back and finds a letter from June in it)

John likes knowing that he has been playing a role in keeping the community safe. He’s hoping she can join him again some day in Lawton.

When John shows up for his shift he notes that Cameron wasn’t there. He missed his shift. He goes around the building to find that Cameron is being eaten by walkers who have approached the barbed wire fence. John puts him down and shakes his head at the loss.

Cue the credits, here we go. Tonight’s title card features John Dorie standing in the distance, with graves on one side and barbed wire on the other.

Morgan walks into a storage locker with his battle axe and goes to a box of barber supplies. Inside is a note: “Found his in the vehicle they took her in at the Gulch – good luck. D.S.” Looks like Morgan is using Daniel’s help to find Grace. Inside the box is Grace’s sweatshirt, which Morgan takes to the truck, where Rufus is rising shotgun. Morgan offers it to the dog, who gets a good sniff. Morgan asks how this works, whether he’ll bark when he picks up the trail. He looks in the rearview mirror and wonders whether Grace will recognize him. He drives away, revealing that the locker is a fireworks stand.

Virginia interrupts as John works to secure the scene. She thinks Cameron died because he was drunk, but John wants to investigate. She likes how serious he is about his job. In the distance, John spots Janis watching them.

John continues his investigation once everyone leaves, noting that there is a diamond earring on the ground where Cameron was found.

When he leaves the scene, Strand is pulling up in a truck. He gives John a hug after John sees his shiny new key. Strand says he was on his way to an intersettlement council meeting, suggesting that there is a governance structure between the communities. When John tells him about Cameron’s death, Strand’s face changes. John doesn’t think it was an accident, and Strand offers his help if needed.

The next day John finds Janis doing laundry. She doesn’t have any letters for John today, but John is there to talk about Cameron. He can’t figure out how or why it happened, and he asks her about the earring. She says she’s never seen it before, and she wonders what’s going on. He tells her he isn’t sure, telling her to be careful.

John goes back to meet with Virginia despite her saying that the case was closed. He thinks Cameron might have been pushed into the fence, and he shows her the earring. Virginia tells him that in the first place she lived “when the puzzle went to pieces” punished a man who killed his friend by putting him outside the walls tied to a stake. She doesn’t want people to live in fear, but John reminds her that it would be false safety to not investigate further to protect people. She only asks to keep it quiet.

Rabbi Jacob Kessner presides over Cameron’s funeral in Lawton’s cemetery. John looks around at the people gathered there, looking at Virginia and Dakota while Kessner talks about the concept of charity, a higher calling to do what it right and just. He says Cameron did that, and his life is a reminder of that, and Virginia gives John a look. She tosses dirt on his grave and walks away.

John stops to talk with Dakota, giving her a candy while his teeth get sorted out. She used to travel with Cameron when they went out. Virginia says Dakota has been having a hard time with his death.

They’re interrupted when there’s a commotion in the road and they go to find Janis being arrested for trying to sneak out. Virginia goes through her bag and finds the same earring that John showed her. “How about that?” she says.

Janis ends up in a prison cell. John says she lied to him about everything. He shows her hs sketchbook and asks if the picture of a woman in his bed was her. Janis says Ginny had it out for her since she and Tom tried to run, and John promises ot get to the bottom of it. She thinks Virginia planted it in her bag. She admits she and Cameron were together and didn’t want Virginia to separate them. They’d had a plan to run away, but now that he’s gone she doesn’t want to be there without him. (Janis is the woman in the jail cell from the trailer)

John gets called away to see Virginia, but he promises to get to the bottom of things.

In Virginia’s office, she tells John their strawberries are doing well this season and she thinks it means they are on track. He can’t eat the jelly and she tells him to have it checked out. She says if it wasn’t for him, they never would have caught the murderer. He wants to do some more investigating, but Virginia thinks he’s trying to protect his “carrier pigeon.” She knows about the letters because Cameron was the one who made sure Virginia got to read each one. John looks stricken, but Virginia says his letter reveal that he believes in Lawton’s mission and she likes that. She’s proud of him, and she thinks his father would be proud, too.

John walks outside and Dakota asks if he was really a cop. SHe wants to know if he killed anyone, and he did but didn’t mean to. She tells him that he’s doing the right thing but Virginia is trying to protect someone. Virginia tells her to go back inside and she gives John a look before walking away.

That night, John is in bed trying to sleep. He goes out to Cameron’s grave and starts digging. Once he reaches the body he looks at his neck, but two walkers fall into the grave before he can get far. He kills them with the shovel, then he goes back to work. He finds a shard of something sharp embedded in Cameron’s hand.

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The next day he drags Strand out to the cemetery and reveals that Cameron was killed before he made it to the fence. He shows Strand the piece of a knife that had been in Cameron’s hands and says he was using the knife to fight off the attacker, and that Janis would never have a chance to get a knife because the weapons are all locked up. He wonders if Strand has access to the armory because he’s on the council.

They go to the council and the blade in #38 is missing. It had a bone handle and the page where it was checked out is missing. He wants to go find the knife, but Strand wants to know what his plan is. He doesn’t think John should get involved in doing something that could put him at risk. Once he goes down the path there is no going back, Strand warns.

John goes to see Janis and tells her that Virginia is protecting someone. Maybe Marcus or Hill. He tells her to sit tight, but she says to sit tight. Virginia walks in with Strand, who covers for him by saying he got his message. They have come for her confession. She admits to killing Cameron, and to lying to John about it all. Strand gives him a look. She says she pushed him into the fence and let the walkers kill him.

Virginia thanks her for her confession, but she needs people to feel safe. Virginia gives him time to say goodbye as Strand walks away. John wants to know why she’s making it easy for Virginia, but Janis says she doesn’t have anything left. She tells John about some gas and a dirtbike they had been hiding and tells him to go find June. She also says that Lawton spoils everything sooner or later.

Janis doesn’t have anything else there, so she’s ready to go.

John studies a map and looks at where Janis says the bike was stashed. There’s a knock and Rabbi Kessner comes in and thinks John needs some company. He takes a swig of John’s booze and tells him that Janis is set to die at dawn. He just met with her.

John says he always followed the rules because they made sense, but now he doesn’t know. Kessner sees the gas and thinks he’s running away, but he isn’t going to do it. Instead, he’s going to get Janis out. He tells Kessner about a case his dad worked where women were disappearing and their bodies were showing up miles away. When they found him in the desert he was leading a cult. They all knew he was guilty but they couldn’t pin anything on him. His father found one of the women’s purses in his closet. He planted the purse. Kessner says he knew the man was guilty, and John says he broke the rules to that things would be right. His father’s friends were happy that the guy was locked up, but it changed how they saw him after that and didn’t know if they could trust him.

His parents’ marriage fell apart and his father left and started drinking. It cost him a lot.

Kessner knows that this will cost him a lot. John trusts that Virginia won’t hurt June because she’s a nurse. But he knows he’ll never see June again. He knows his father did the right thing because he saved lives. Kessner says they will find another way. John doesn’t see any alternatives. He gives Kessner a letter to give to June so she knows what happened and why he did it. They hug.

Kessner says he may see her again. “Let’s hope so,” John replies.

John prepares his bag of supplies, checking the map one last time. He has June’s letters, too. When he goes to the jail cell he finds it empty, and when he goes to the gates he hears music playing. There’s a radio blasting, and what’s left of Janis is being eaten by walkers. He shoots one of them, then another and another. Half of Janis is in one place and the other half is dragging itself away. He kills her and then shoots the radio.

The next day John finishes burying Janis next to Cameron. When he goes back into town he has his gun and Kessner sees him. Kessner comes out of his house and says that the execution was moved up. John asks if he told Virginia about his plans, and then Strand comes out and Kessner says he told Strand. Strand knows John better than he thinks. John hits him with the butt of his gun, then Strand charges at him. They fight. John says that Strand killed Janis. Strand says that Janis was always going to take the fall and he was trying to protect John. John walks away, saying that Lawton destroys everything.

Virginia addresses her people with John at her side. She says that they are working to find peace and safety in their towns, in their franchise. She says Cameron’s murder was a test, and goodness has prevailed. She praises a decent man’s pursuit of the truth. She calls John a hero in their hour of need. She gives him a new key, calling him Ranger Dorie. He looks haunted as he meets Dakota’s gaze.

The next morning he wakes up and rolls over in bed. There’s a knock at the door and he opens it. It’s June. She hugs him. Virginia says she transferred her into Lawton. He welcomes her inside, but he looks shellshocked. He looks in the mirror and grabs some pliers to pull his tooth out. He looks at himself in the mirror but doesn’t like what he sees.

Morgan continues down the road. Rufus goes to sleep on the floor. Suddenly they get hit by another vehicle. Morgan looks up to see who hit him, telling Rufus to stay. He goes ot the other car and a man gets out. It’s the man from the submarine. He asks where Emile is. They don’t know who Virginia is, but they want the key that Emile was supposed to get for him. Morgan kills the man’s friend and the key dangles from around his neck. Morgan kills the man before the man can kill him. He looks at the key and asks what the hell it unlocks.

And that’s it for this week’s all new episode of Fear the Walking Dead. We’ve talked in the past about how season 6 could be big for John Dorie, and after “The Key” he definitely has some thinking to do.

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