What I Watched Today

(rambling, random thoughts & annoyingly detailed recaps from real time TV watching)

 

Fear the Walking Dead

The storm continues to rage. Alicia enters a house, walking cautiously forward. She calls out, asking if anybody is home. A zombie toddles out, and she dispatches it, dragging it out of the way, only to deal with another one. A third zombie comes out, and she does a double stab with a weapon in each hand. She kills one more, and puts the bodies outside in the same formation that’s in a family photo on the mantel. She cleans her pokey-thing-with-the-holes weapon.

Alicia washes herself up. She takes down the family photos, puts them in a basket, and tosses it next to the bodies. She can’t get the front door to stay closed, and looks around in the basement. Water is pouring in. She gets some nails, and boards the door shut. She goes to the kitchen, and finds some cans. While she’s looking around for a can opener, she hears something upstairs. She goes up and looks around. It’s hard to tell whether noises are zombie noises or wind. Both. There’s a zombie hanging around outside. She says whoever’s in there, get the hell out or I’ll kill you. They have one chance. She says she just wanted to be left alone.

She opens a closet. Charlie pops out and takes off. Alicia asks why she’s there. Did she follow her? She says Charlie can’t be there. Alicia throws a bunch of stuff in a bag, pries the boards off the door, and goes for the family’s car. She can’t get the car door open, and pulls so hard she falls back and gets knocked out.

She wakes up indoors, in candlelight. She grabs her weapon, and asks why Charlie brought her back. She sees a bedroom with the door closed. She knows Charlie is in there; why doesn’t she say something? She says, if Charlie isn’t going to talk, then she needs to listen. Alicia’s mom died saving her – saving Nick, saving everyone – because Charlie led Mel to the place they built; because she lied to them. Then she shot Alicia’s brother. Alicia watched him bleed to death. She couldn’t do anything except watch him die, and realize he was going to die. It didn’t happen fast. He was aware and in pain, and knew Charlie did it. He tried to save her, and she killed him. She made him feel like his life didn’t mean anything. She can’t send Charlie out there, but will probably kill her. She doesn’t know if she wants to, but she probably will. On the other side of the door, Charlie takes out a gun. Alicia says she’s trying to believe like her mom; it’s the only thing keeps her mom alive. If she kills Charlie, she won’t let her take it away again. She may be a kid, but she knows what she did, and that makes her garbage; a waste of a person, and worse than the zombies. She hopes Charlie lives to a ripe old age, and has to remember what she did; what she is, and how she can never ever make up for it. Charlie cries.

Alicia tries to nail a shutter from the outside, but the wind is too strong. She uncovers one of the bodies. Question mark over my head.

Charlie has brought the basket of family photos inside. I guess Alicia must have noticed it was missing. She takes them out of the frames, and dries them. I would think it was her family, but she’s not in any pictures. Alicia comes in, and asks why she wouldn’t say anything. Did she know these people? She put the photos out there for a reason. She tells Charlie to come downstairs, and put on her coat. Charlie follows her.

Alicia makes Charlie hold the shutter closed while she nails it. They do the next one. Alicia sees zombies starting to gather, and she says they’re making too much noise. She shoves Charlie inside, and boards the door. She says they’ll try again later.

Zombies clamor at the window. Alicia asks for Charlie’s coat, telling her that she’s trying to do the right thing. Charlie heads upstairs, and Alicia ask for her coat again, startling Charlie when she gets in her face. Alicia takes out the gun, and asks if it’s the same gun. She holds it to Charlie’s head. She told Charlie that she couldn’t be here, and asks if Charlie came to kill her; to get her before she got Charlie. Charlie shakes her head, and Alicia tells her to go. She runs upstairs.

Alicia builds a fire. She tells Charlie that she’s sorry; she’s trying. Upstairs, Charlie goes through the photos. She hears zombies, and pulls the curtain on the deck door aside. She opens the door. Alicia gets the fire going, but hears noises from upstairs. A zombie is hanging from a tree right off the deck. Charlie goes to edge of the deck, and it grabs her, but Alicia pulls her back.

Alicia realizes the gun wasn’t for her; it was for Charlie. Alicia thinks they both know there are no good reasons to keep going. She might have had the right idea, but that doesn’t mean Alicia is letting her do it. Charlie asks why Alicia saved her. Was it because Alicia wanted her to live with what she did? Alicia doesn’t know, but Charlie doesn’t get off the hook. She thinks Alicia saved her because she sees something in her, and forgives her. That’s not true. Alicia can’t help her. Whatever she’s looking for, Charlie isn’t getting it from her. She has to live with what she’s done, just like Alicia has. All that’s waiting for her is to be out on the porch like them. Charlie asks how long Alicia thinks the storm will last? Alicia says, how would she know? She’s from California. So it really doesn’t rain there?

Alicia heats up a can of something; not pudding. It looks like beans. Why is it always beans? They eat in silence. Charlie asks if Alicia lived near a beach, but Alicia says, no. Charlie says, Alicia told her that she’s from California, and Alicia says, it’s a big state. Charlie asks what it was like, and Alicia says, what does it matter? Charlie says, It doesn’t. Alicia says, Charlie has never been to the beach, has she? Charlie says he was supposed to go to Galveston with her parents. They were going to spend the day on the beach, go to the boardwalk at night, and maybe ride the roller coaster. Then everything changed, and… Alicia says they all missed. Charlie says sometimes when she’s reading, she likes to close her eyes, and see hat she read about. She can’t find any books about Galveston. Alicia says the last time she was at a beach, it was like everywhere else, overrun with the dead. Just another place to run from. She tells Charlie to get some sleep, and Charlie lies on the couch.

Alicia wakes to the sounds of the storm, and looks for Charlie. Zombie dude is still hanging from the tree. Charlie is in the room, messing with the photographs. Alicia tells Charlie that she can’t be in there, and Charlie says she has to arrange the photos because someone might come back. Alicia says everyone who gave a sh*t is dead. Charlie says she doesn’t know that. Charlie knows she’s garbage, and she can’t make up what she’s done, but she’s doing this. Alicia tells her to do what she wants, but she won’t feel better about any of it.

Alicia tries making a fire again. Lightning strikes outside, and the wind is getting stronger. Alicia says she knows what Charlie is trying to do, and trying to believe it, but she can’t. Sometimes when you’re gone, you’re just gone. These people are definitely gone and nothing is going to change that. Charlie asks why she cares. A window blows in, and zombies are blowing all over the place.

They go downstairs, but the basement is flooding fast. The ceiling partially caves in, and they both end up in the water. Alicia tries the cellar door that leads outside, but it’s padlocked. She tries a window, but the panes of glass are too thick. She says they’ll have to wait it out, but they’ll get out. They stand on trunks, as the water rises. Charlie doesn’t want to die. Alicia knows. Charlie says she doesn’t want to be one of them. She saw her parents after they turned. She didn’t think it was real, and they came back – like that. Alicia says she’s sorry. Charlie says she tried to remember what they looked like before, but she can’t. She wishes she had a picture. She asks if Alicia still has the gun. Alicia says she can’t. Charlie cries, saying she can’t end up like them. Alicia’s mom and brother; they’re all gone. Alicia says she’s not doing it. Charlie says she won’t make it, but Alicia says they will. Charlie asks her, please, just do it. Charlie knows she wants to. Alicia holds the gun to Charlie’s forehead. She she thinks of her mother and brother, and the stadium at the end. She starts to cry, and says she can’t, She takes Charlie’s hand.

They hear a sound. The cellar door has miraculously opened enough for them to get out. They scramble outside. Somehow hanging-by-a-limb zombie has fallen and broke the door open. Alicia shoots him in the head.

Alicia buries the family. The storm is over. She tells Charlie that she did it for herself, for Charlie, and for the people who could come back. Charlie gives Alicia her weapon, saying she found it in the house. Alicia tells Charlie to keep it. She asks if Charlie is good at finding things, and Charlie says, yeah. Alicia puts the pictures in a jar, and puts it next to the graves. Charlie says she can see Madison in her, even if Alicia can’t; she’s there. Alicia says she left Morgan alone in the storm. She walked away from him; all of them. Charlie says she’s good at finding things, and smiles. Alicia almost smiles back.

Alicia drives. She tells Charlie to close her eyes. She’s going to take her to the beach. It’s one of her favorite places to go. She’s in a car, and the windows are down. She can feel the air. It’s soft, and smells like salt. That’s how you know you’re close. You can hear the waves. Then you see the beach. You take off your shoes, and feel the sand in between your toes, walking to the water. When you go in, it’s cold at first, but the longer stay in, the more you don’t want to get out. And you float. Charlie imagines looking back at all the people on the beach. Alicia asks if she’s there. Charlie says she’s in the water. It’s really blue. She’s walking back… She can see them. Her mom and dad. She can see them again. Alicia smiles, a little more this time.

They go back to Victor’s house. Alicia calls for Victor and Luci. It’s a mess; I guess from the storm. They look around outside. Charlie calls to Alicia. There’s a bus overturned on the bridge leading away from the house. Charlie says they have to find them and help them. Alicia says they don’t know if they’re alive. She thinks they’re gone. She tells Charlie, things don’t get better. They’re not going to; they’ll only get worse. Hopefully, they’re not around to see how bad they can get. A zombie toddles out from behind the bus. We’re all grateful that it’s no one we know. Alicia takes her pokey weapon from Charlie and kills it.

She tells Charlie to come, and they walk away from the bridge.

Next time, Morgan finds a new place and new people.

🌠 Another One Bites the Dust…