Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Things Aren’t What They Seem
By Liam O'Leary
3) Sometimes, The Ones Who Try To Befriend You The Most…Aren’t Your Friends.
Dakota. I knew it. I friggin’ KNEW IT.
If you missed this week’s Fear The Walking Dead episode, then ::SPOILER ALERT: Dakota betrayed Alicia to join The Beginners.
To some, this might have come as something of a surprise because, for a good part of this episode, Dakota was telling Alicia how she wanted to help her figure out what Teddy was up to, saying “We” enough to prompt Alicia to angrily tell her “There is no ‘We’!”, yet, Dakota persisted, apparently trying to make up for murdering John by helping Alicia. For a minute, it all looked like Dakota was going to help Alicia…until she didn’t.
Don’t get me wrong: People are capable of great things when they want to, but they’re also capable of being the slimiest snakes in the grass when they want to, too.
A person who’s out to stab you in the back isn’t going to telegraph that they’re going to do it, it’d be nice if they would, it would give you time to prepare, but, then, they wouldn’t last very long, now, would they? No, if a person wants to betray you, they’re going to do whatever they can to make sure you don’t see it coming.
They will make it seem like everything’s normal, like everything’s the way it should be, or that they want to help you, to convince you that they’re not going to do what they want to do…until it’s already happening.
Honestly, it’s tough to sniff out a good swerve, sometimes. You need to rely on your instincts and what information you already have. Look at Alicia, for example: Knowing what Dakota did, she shouldn’t have even drawn attention to her, and just let her get taken away to the bunker by Riley because, the moment she wound up on Teddy’s little road trip, she should have known that Teddy would get to Dakota, or that Dakota would become enamored by his philosophy.
Always be wary of people who, however unreasonable, might hold a grudge or have a reason to pick someone else over you because you never know how seriously something like that might matter to them. You don’t want to find out when you realize they’re standing behind you, holding a gun.