In the season 2 midseason premiere, we got to catch up with Nick and see the hard journey that he was traversing through, but one thing was missing: the rest of the group. Strand, Madison, Ofelia, and Alicia were absent from the episode, but they made their return in “Los Muertos,” and while they seem to be having things relatively easy in comparison to Nick, the tide quickly changes and they are faced with more danger than perhaps they have ever faced before.
“Los Muertos” begins with Madison desperately searching for the rest of her family. It has been two days since they had been forced to leave the villa, and they have been wandering around Mexico in the truck attempting to find Nick, Travis, and Chris. She is content to keep looking, but Alicia has a level head and realizes that Nick doesn’t want to be found and so they shouldn’t waste their time looking for him. When they head back to the Abigail, though, it is gone, having been set adrift in the sea by the army, and with no other plans, they leave a note in the sand with driftwood telling the others where to find them and head to a hotel that they had passed by.
The hotel appears to be empty, but the entrance doors are blocked with furniture which means that somebody had been inside to lock it down, but even when Strand rings the bell at the front desk, nobody comes. Their walk through the hotel leads them first to a reception hall, complete with photos of the assumed ill-fated couple and a wedding cake, and they end up at the hotel bar. While Alicia wants to go and check the rooms for supplies, Madison doesn’t want to let her daughter out of her sight. Strand assures Madison that Alicia can take care of herself, after all, she’s been doing it for half of her life.
As Ofelia and Alicia take off to explore the hotel and hopefully score some much-needed supplies, Strand and Madison decide to partake in some day drinking (because that’s a smart thing to do during a zombie apocalypse). The conversation turns from humorous to somber as the alcohol sets in, Madison realizing that the likelihood of ever seeing Nick again is slim to none. Nick was born lost, just like his father, who died in a car accident. But while Madison had told the kids that he had fallen asleep at the wheel, he really hadn’t. She has always tried to protect them, but now she can’t, and so she offers up a cheer to motherhood and then tosses her glass. There’s some more glass throwing and some bad piano playing on Strand’s part, and all of the noise only serves to attract the nearby infected, which quickly surround the two and trap them in the bar.
Meanwhile, Alicia and Ofelia are a few floors up, searching each room that isn’t marked with a “Do Not Disturb” sign, which they have come to realize means that there are infected in the room. After discovering an infected hanging in the shower, Alicia wonders why he had killed himself. Ofelia suggests that maybe he was tired of surviving, a statement that Alicia doesn’t believe because she believes that you have to keep pushing on no matter what. Alicia can’t give up hope, but like her father who was always one step behind hope, Ofelia can.
There is still hot water in the rooms, and Alicia is lucky enough to take a shower. After days on the road, it probably feels good, human. She gets out and changes into the clothes she has found, but when she calls out for Ofelia, she is nowhere to be found. To make matters worse, the infected are falling from their balconies, being drawn to the sound that Madison and Strand are making in the hotel’s bar, and Alicia ends up being trapped in the room because there are suddenly infected in the hallway.
Back at the community that he was taken to, Nick is finding that things aren’t always what they seem. First appearances aren’t always true. It’s a nice community, but there is a dark side. Infected are being kept, which he later discovers are other community members who have passed, and sacrifices are made to these infected to keep them alive and keep them protecting the community. A little girl’s father is sacrificed.
After being scouted for a mission with Luciana, who chooses Nick because nobody will miss him, he learns that those who are close to death sacrifice themselves to the dead and join the wall. According to Luciana, “Every so often the ocean washes red, the coasts fill with foam and trash, the sand becomes like poison and it burns the water and the land, washing it clean. This is no different. The dead, they’re returning, and when they go, this world will be as new.” It’s the community’s way of thinking and it is something that Nick has been looking for. But the biggest revelation that Luciana makes is that the pharmacist in the community was bitten and survived, something that Nick doesn’t believe.
Luciana takes Nick to a sort of warehouse that is being held down by a gang. One wrong look and you’re dead. She trades drugs for supplies, and they take a cart and do some shopping. They are only taking what they need and nothing else, but this doesn’t stop Nick from attempting to sneak a snack out. He is caught as they leave and his hands are threatened to be cut off with a machete. Nick is observant and he has realized that the gang leader’s sister is in need of oxy, and they if they don’t let Nick go, the community won’t do business with them anymore and the gang leader will wish that his sister were dead because it would be better than the withdrawals. He also demands a second cart of supplies, to which the gang leader relents and agrees.
When they reach the community and the supplies are delivered, Nick goes to the little girl whose father had been killed that morning. The treat that he had risked his life to sneak out was for her, a form of comfort because not everything can be about death. Later, Alejandro, the pharmacist, tells Nick that he injects his patients with saline solution instead of real medicine because he would prefer they not fear. What they are going through is a test and when it is over, only the faithful will remain. As he bends down to retrieve something, the collar of his shirt pulls back and reveals a huge scar on his shoulder. Are Luciana’s claims true?
One step behind hope. Ofelia says that her father was always one step behind hope, and it is becoming apparent that each of these characters is also one step behind hope. The only exception to this rule is Alicia, who seems to be struggling to refuse the idea that they may not survive, and is rather holding onto the idea that they will keep surviving no matter what happens. The community that Nick has found himself in, however, seems to be steps in front of hope. They are thriving in this world and are not fearing it.
Bullets:
- There has been a lot of speculation that the Grimes family from TWD and the Clark family from Fear TWD are somehow related, and more evidence was added to that claim. Madison revealed that she is from Alabama, a state that neighbors the Grimes’s home state of Georgia.
- Alicia has the potential to become Rick 2.0. She is already showing amazing leadership capabilities.
- Speaking of Alicia, she is now completely alone and stuck in a room. How will she get out of this?! She’s going to have to face this alone.
- Was that guy bit? Did he have a bite mark, but somehow survive? If so, this is a massive game changer not only for Fear TWD, but also TWD.
- The church-like service at the end of the episode seemed kind of cultish, but it’s interesting to see this different aspect…a different viewpoint of what’s going on. This community isn’t viewing the apocalypse as something bad, but rather as a rebirth.
Don’t miss an all-new episode of Fear The Walking Dead Sunday at 9 EST on AMC.