Fear the Walking Dead season 6 episode 7 recap: Damage from the Inside

Here’s your recap of Fear the Walking Dead mid-season finale, “Damage from the Inside”

Though the Fear the Walking Dead mid-season finale arrived much quicker than planned, ending with episode 607 instead of 608, the episode was full of chills and thrills. Here’s your recap of “Damage from the Inside.”

We start out with a dead deer. It’s being eaten by walkers, of course. A Ginny look-alike shoots them and keeps riding, warning the riders that there could be more. Inside the car, Dakota says that the rangers are slowing them down but Strand points out that they might not make it to the safe house without the rangers. She also points out that the rangers are there to watch over him because Virginia doesn’t fully trust him either.

She wants to know when Strand is going to “do it”, hinting at his plan to leave at the molasses plant, but he won’t say. Dakota says that they could run away, because everything is falling apart. She says Ranger Dorie has been missing for a week. He teases her love for her sister, but Dakota just laughs.

A runaway horse comes running toward them. Strand gets out and calls for Terry but there is no answer. Strand and Samuels take off on horseback to see if a horde is ahead, leaving Dakota behind. They find a tree that has been cut down across the road. Soon the rest of the convoy’s horses come running and when they return they find the convoy dead and Dakota’s car gone. Samuels puts down one of the newly turned rangers, wondering if it was the people who took out Tank Town.

They know they’re in trouble if they don’t find Dakota.

Cue the credits. It’s a much darker opening theme card, with Alicia standing in a dark forest near Buck’s Landing and a horned walker standing nearby.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere are Charlie and Alicia in a little cabin that looks like a lifeguard tower. Strand keeps calling her but she ignores him, instead opting to study a map. Charlie watches her until she finally asks if she will answer it. Alicia says they have been there for six weeks and he hasn’t done anything for them. So they’re going to do nothing for him.

He keeps calling, saying he needs her, so she finally agrees to talk to him. He wants to meet in person. They ride to where Strand and Samuels are, which happens to be where the abandoned truck is. Strand quickly explains that they were ambushed and Dakota is gone. He tells Alicia about Tank Town and thinks the same people may have done this.

Alicia wants to know where Dakota is, and when Strand admits that he lost Virginia’s sister she says he’s screwed. He knows that Dakota looks up to Alicia so she might be able to find her. And if she helps him, it will help him to finally do what he’s been trying to do. She agrees, but begrudgingly.

Later, as they track Dakota, Alicia reveals that she’s not really helping Strand, but she’s trying to figure out who the people are who attacked Tank Town because they might be able to take out the rangers so that they can escape. Three walkers approach and Charlie takes hers out, which earns praise from Alicia. But when the third walker gets close Alicia takes one look at it and falls back. Someone did something to this walker. Its skin is all bloated and blistered. Charlie kills it, and they both look at it in horror. It has some kind of animal skin on it. Charlie says whoever did it was crazy.

They come upon an old hunting lodge, Buck’s Landing, and Alicia tells Charlie to wait outside while she scouts inside to see if Dakota is there.

She gets inside and finds that it’s very quiet and seemingly empty of walkers. It’s also full of hunting trophies. Lots of them.

As she reaches the second floor she hears music, and when she gets closer she finds a man on the first floor who has his own taxidermy studio set up. There’s a walker strapped to the table and he’s trying to outfit him with antlers. Soon the man walks away and comes up behind Alicia with a needle. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt as much as you think,” he tells her.

When Alicia wakes up she’s strapped to the same table as the walker. She uses some antlers to cut away the duct tape to free herself, then she uses those same antlers as a weapon. The doorknob rattles and Dakota walks in, immediately reassuring Alicia that everything is ok.

The man who drugged Alicia comes in after her, telling Alicia that this all must be a misunderstanding. Dakota explains that the man thought Alicia was one of the people who attacked the convoy. Dakota didn’t see anyone when the attack happened, but she fled and found Ed while he was out hunting.

Ed asks Alicia if she was part of Virginia’s colony, then he asks if they play chess.

Later, there is music playing while Ed and Dakota play chess. He says that the last time he was there with his family it rained a lot and they used to pass time in the game room. It wasn’t a bad place to be while the world fell apart. Dakota asks about his family, and he says the same thing happened to his family that happened to a lot of families. Dakota reveals that Virginia killed her parents.

Alicia is ready to leave, but Dakota doesn’t want to leave. Ed says that the people who attacked them are probably nearby. Alicia asks for a fire, then she goes to find a blanket. Charlie finds her and says that she followed Alicia inside, and that Ed boarded everything up once he drugged Alicia. Alicia tells her to remain hidden, then she goes to the taxidermy lab, where Ed finds her. Dakota asks what’s happening and Alicia tells her that Ed locked them in. She reveals that Dakota is Virginia’s sister, so he has no choice. He says that they can leave at dawn, then they walk away.

When they’re alone, Alicia says that the walker Ed had been working on was a ranger, so she thinks Ed killed them. Dakota thought this might be a safe place, but all she knows is that she can’t go back. Alicia asks if Virginia really did kill her parents. She did.

Alicia finds a radio and uses it to call Virginia, who is home getting her hand bandaged. She’s surprised to hear from Alicia, who reveals that the convoy was hit and the rangers are dead. Strand didn’t want to tell her until they found Dakota, and she wants something. She wants Virginia to let them go once they hand over Dakota. She has a place in mind. She just wants to leave.

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That night, Charlie paces while everyone sleeps. Ed turns on music that’s wired outside the house so that all of his “creations” can come back to him. He’s trying to make it so that Dakota won’t have to leave. He tells the story of how his father was a taxidermist who explained how his work preserves a life in its most perfect state, and that’s why he became one, too. He wanted his family to be happy there at the lodge. Some rangers tracked him and when he got back his wife and daughter died trying to protect the place. Virginia killed them.

He bangs the door to rouse the walkers, saying he created them to protect the place, and he hopes that he can at least help Dakota be safe so that he will have done something right.

The music continues to draw more walkers. Dakota realizes that they’re trapped because of her actions. She was trying to escape from Virginia. Alicia tells the younger girl that she understands that.

Charlie arrives with Alicia’s weapon and radio, and Ed’s keys. She drugged him so he won’t be bothering them for a while. Dakota looks at Charlie in admiration. They’re going to get out and find a place that Virginia won’t find them. They have to get the music off to draw the walkers away.

Later, the walkers are still there. Ed comes out, because Charlie didn’t hit a vein when she injected him. He aims his gun at them and says he was only trying to keep them safe. Dakota says he can come with them, but Ed says she’s one of Virginia’s people. He wants to know why she was calling Virginia on his radio.

Alicia lunges at him and the gun goes off as they hit the ground. They fight, and Charlie knocks the gun away, giving Alicia time to kick him off of her. He falls into a chair made of horns and one impales him. He’s still alive. The gunshot caught the attention of the walkers and now there are more than ever.

Alicia tries to get the horn out but it’s no use. They need to go because the walkers are going to break down the door. Ed tells them to go, and he will distract the walkers while they get out from upstairs. Ed grabs Alicia and admits that he killed his family and it got loose and killed his family. He’d been trying to protect his family and it backfired. He could make them, but he couldn’t control them.

The door breaks down and he tells her to go, so they all get upstairs and try to break a window as the dead pour inside. These are Ed’s creations, and he welcomes them as they eat him alive.

Suddenly though, the dead start pouring outside and Alicia goes down to investigate when Morgan comes in and kills the rest of them. “Hey,” he says, then he kills more. Alicia’s expression is full of shock, and she hugs him warmly. She’s amazed to see him alive after what happened. Charlie is shocked, too, saying that they heard the gunshot and heard his message. He says he had some help and is trying to figure that out.

The next day, after they bury Ed, Dakota asks why Morgan is wearing Emile’s clothing. He says things didn’t go Emile’s way, and Dakota explains to Alicia that Emile was the bounty hunter her sister sent to find people who ran away. Morgan says he won’t be hurting anyone ever again. He tells Alicia he found a safe place, and Al and Dwight are there and he’s been building it up.

Charlie finds Alicia on the porch and asks if she’s ok. Charlie says what happened to Ed wasn’t her fault. She admits that she called Virginia to trade in Dakota. She was going to take Charlie back to the stadium. Charlie realizes that’s why Alicia was training her to kill walkers so that they could clear the stadium. Alicia realizes now she was holding on to something. Charlie tells her she can’t turn Dakota over.

Alicia finds Morgan looking for supplies in the house and asks about the safe place. She wants to bring Dakota with them, but Morgan was thinking it would help them to reunite if they use Dakota. Alicia realizes that Morgan was the one who attacked the convoy and killed the rangers. Morgan says he offered them a choice but they didn’t agree so he killed them. He just wants their family back together.

She asks if he blew up Tank Town, but that wasn’t him. She admits that she was going to trade in Dakota, too, but now she thinks that they might be able to use her. They don’t have to destroy everything to get their people back. Charlie and Dakota come in and hear them fighting. She tells Charlie to take Dakota to the place they talked about. They’re not going with Morgan, who says he can’t let them go. What he’s built was for all of them. He eventually says Dakota is welcome.

Alicia agrees, and they start to move out. Morgan seems happy with the decision.

Strand finds a necklace on one of the dead walkers outside the lodge and calls Samuels for backup. Alicia comes out and finds him there, and he’s very happy to see that they found Dakota. But when Morgan walks out, he knows the game is up. Strand thinks he’s going to take Dakota back to Lawton, but Alicia says no. She and Morgan raise their weapons and Strand draws his gun.

Strand asks if Alicia really wants to do this. “Do you?” Alicia asks. Finally, Strand drops his gun and warns Alicia that he won’t be able to protect her, and that this move will tear everything apart. “I’m just doing what you asked me to do,” she tells him.

Back in Lawton, Virginia meets Strand and asks about Dakota. Strand gives Virginia the news that her sister went with Morgan. Virginia asks which side he’s on. “Yours,” he whispers.

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Virginia asks him to come with her, and she opens a secret gate that leads to a secret door. She reminds him of the day when he’d call her for the “big show” and says this is the day. They go inside. There, he finds a very pregnant Grace, who is confused to see him. Virginia orders her to stand up, and she wants Victor to go back and get every person they took from the Gulch.

Fear the Walking Dead will return in 2021.

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