Fear the Walking Dead season 7 ep. 9 a major let down but there’s hope

Fear the Walking Dead’s season 7 midseason premiere episode “Follow Me” was quite a letdown for fans. After the midseason finale that featured Alicia declaring war on Strand, fans were ready to see this showdown begin. Instead, viewers saw an Alicia-focused episode that featured her fever dreams, a new friend, and an old enemy, but there is also the promise of a renewed Alicia.

The episode begins with Alicia in a dream, following a walker that talks to her, saying “Follow Me” and “PADRE.” She is being followed by, who it is later revealed to be, members of the bunker who were killed, while Alicia followed a walker she believed was leading her to the haven of PADRE.

Alicia was bitten by a walker and amputated her arm while in the bunker. Since then, she has been battling constant fevers that have induced the strange dreams that she believes are signs of what she is to do next. She thinks that she didn’t cut the arm off fast enough, and the virus is slowly making its way through her system, where she will eventually become a walker. It actually might have something to do with the fact that she took the arm off in a sewer drain full of contaminants.

Fear the Walking Dead – Follow Me

This episode sees Arno and some of his Stalkers still hunting Alicia down. This is after she asked them to join them in fighting Strand for the Tower. They decline.

An explanation is finally given as to why he is hellbent on killing her. During the time that Alicia was following the reanimated version of Senator Vasquez, many of the bunker residents were killed. Arno blames Alicia for their deaths because she expected a walker to take them to PADRE. This is such a dumb thing for someone as seasoned in the apocalypse as Alicia to believe. Since she fears that the virus will eventually turn her, she hopes that the Senator will lead them to PADRE, proving there is something left of the person they once were after reanimation.

Alicia meets a man named Paul (Warren Snipe), who finds her unconscious in a barn and brings her back to his home. Paul is a deaf man who lost his hearing and wife during Teddy’s nuclear blast. She talks him into joining her and her group’s take over of the Tower. After an altercation with Arno, she tells him of her failures as a leader and that he shouldn’t come with her.

As the pair bond over their losses and demons that haunt them, he convinces her that she still has the potential to do what she is called to do and that the deaths aren’t her fault. He tells her she needs to listen to the voice because it isn’t someone else telling her what to do but her inner voice guiding her.

In the end, Paul sacrifices himself to save Alicia in a beautiful death scene. Sadly, we always meet these new characters, and they die in the same episode, but if they are going to do out, this is the way to do it.

It appears that her plan to use the bunker radio to call out to others and become PADRE, a haven for others, will be how Madison (Kim Dickens) will make her return to her daughter.

With her confidence renewed, will Alicia become the leader viewers need to see and lead the war against Strand?

This episode isn’t what viewers expected after Alicia declares war at the end of the previous one. Still, perhaps it is the character building of Alicia that was needed to see something greater yet to come.

What is going to happen with that crater full of walkers? Creator Ian Goldberg has said this dangerous breed of walkers is going to play heavily in the story going forward.

And, who is the little girl in the gas mask?

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