Fear the Walking Dead 804 King County, what happened to Morgan? recap

Fear the Walking Dead excited the fandom by having Morgan Jones (Lennie James) travel back to King County, Georgia, in its most recent episode of season season 8. Viewers were anxious to see what Morgan would find in the location where he met Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in the pilot episode of The Walking Dead. 

This article contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead season 8, episode 4, “King County.” 

The episode opens with Morgan arriving in King County on foot. This is a strange mode of transport, as it is still unclear how far he had to travel to get to this location as it has yet to be revealed precisely where PADRE is located. In season 7, he was in Louisiana when he and Madison (Kim Dickens) traveled on the small boat to the larger one that would take them to PADRE. And Grace (Karen David) traveled by truck and was soon after followed by Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry (Christine Evangelista), who rode on horseback. Incredibly, their horses could keep such a pace. But I digress.

Morgan heads to a house that is run down and overgrown, that isn’t familiar to viewers, and walker growls are heard within. He apologizes, stating, “Sorry it took me so long.” Viewers then realize he is talking to the reanimated version of his son Duane (Adrian Kali Turner). As he goes for the door, he hears his son’s voice in his head. This is obviously the house where he was forced to put Jenny down after she attacked Duane.

He kills several walkers to prove he can do it, then says, “Duane, I can’t do it. I don’t know why I can’t do it.”

This is when Grace arrives because she received what she thought was a coded message from Morgan telling her to come. It turns out Mo (Zoey Merchant) sent the message and stowed away in Grace’s truck. He then shares the story with them of what happened when Duane was attacked and bitten by his mother’s walker.

Fear the Walking Dead – King County

Soon after, the Calvary arrives in the form of Dwight and Sherry, only they aren’t there to save Morgan but to return him to PADRE. He tells them he has something to do first.

Events slowly unfold regarding what Morgan endured after Duane turned. Even Morgan, whose mental state was quite unhinged by the time Rick caught up with him, doesn’t remember much about what happened. There is evidence of his graffiti on the walls of the house he and Duane lived in.

When Morgan finally gets the courage to kill Duane’s undead form, he realizes it isn’t his son’s walker in that house. Then viewers must endure the sight of Jenny’s (Keisha Tillis) rotted corpse covered in blood as Morgan covers her up while the others look on. He frantically calls for Duane, telling them he waited too long to put his son to rest. It appears he is reverting to his unstable self.

When Mo is in trouble, Morgan resets and turns into the protective father he needs to be to rescue her. That is when viewers see that Mo isn’t alone in the attic. Duane’s walker form is chained to the wall in the attic. When Morgan arrives, he sees the graffiti and the word Duane and doesn’t remember that he brought him there. Through flashbacks of his son, as he was when he was alive, he shoots the undead form to save his daughter Mo, who is very much alive.

Then he can bury his son and wife side by side, finally putting them to rest.

But Morgan’s challenges aren’t over yet. Before the episode closes, Grace, who earlier informed him that her radiation exposure has caught up to her and she is sick, gets bitten by a walker.

James did an amazing job in this episode. He pulled at the heartstrings of the fans as they experienced his heartache right along with him.

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