What I Watched Today

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

 

Fear the Walking Dead

Al runs from some zombies, and tries to find a working car. She’s trapped on the street, leaps over a car, and locks herself in the nearest building. Zombies scrabble at the door. It’s a parking garage, and she breaks a car window, grabbing a radio out of it. She tries calling Morgan and June, but all she gets is static. She leans against the car for a moment, then says, you have to be sh*tting me, seeing a police van with all kinds of equipment, including a video camera. She gets a police car started, and hauls ass out of there.

Al stops, and here come Martha and zombie Jim. Martha says, he’s strong now. Al asks where everyone else is. Martha took her van, and owes her. Martha says she likes Al; she doesn’t make people weak. She’s watched Al’s energy. So many people need something, but she gave them what it took to get their stories. Al asks where her van is, and Martha says Morgan is looking for her. She wants Al to give him a message. Al says, tell him herself, and Martha lets Jim go. Al shoots Jim in the stomach, and blows another zombie’s head off who’s coming up behind her, but when she turns Martha is there, and knocks Al out with her zombie pole.

Al wakes to June saying her name. Al asks where she is; the woman who’s trying to kill them all. John says they heard her on the radio. When they didn’t find Al in the garage, they thought she must have doubled back to the hospital. Al says she saw Jim. John says, they’re all there; circling the wagons before the push to Virginia. June asks what Martha said, and Al says, the bitch said she liked her, and wanted her to deliver message to Morgan, but she wouldn’t. John says she delivered it anyway. She was used as a carrier pigeon.

On the radio, Martha tells Morgan that she’s disappointed in him. She’s given him chances to be strong, and he didn’t take any of them. Maybe it’s her fault. Maybe she wasn’t strong enough. He’ll see her again, and when he does, she’ll be stronger than ever, and make him strong too.

Sarah asks Momo where the hell in Virginia they’re going, and he says, it’s called Alexandria. There are also a few places around, more or less. Al asks about the king and his pet tiger, and Morgan promises they’ll go there. Victor says they’re going by caravan. Morgan thought they should go to Polar Bear’s truck stop first to get the boxes. Victor suggests hitting the road at dawn.

Outside on night watch, Morgan looks at the message again. John says he’ll take over. He expected to find Morgan walking away, and thought he’d have to jog after him. He knows what Morgan is up to. He’s going to run again. Morgan says, it’s not running. She’s dying. He tried to help, but she didn’t want it. Whatever happened, she thinks killing is the only way. John asks how he’s going to convince her otherwise, and Morgan says he understands her; he used to be her. John says he’ll come, but Morgan says he has to go on his own. He’s giving John directions, just in case. John says he almost got killed once before; why is he doing the same thing again? Morgan says, because he is. John says, she’s not the only one who’s stuck. Morgan says he’ll get there and meet them; hopefully with her. John says if Morgan isn’t back in two days, he’s going to look for him. They’ll be at the truck stop. He tells Morgan, some fish won’t be caught, no matter what you dangle in front of them. His gut tells him to leave them be, and he thinks it applies to Martha too. Morgan still has to try. John knows, and says Morgan might be the fish. Morgan says maybe he is, and starts to walk.

Morgan puts on the radio. He knows she’s listening, and thinks this is the only way she can be strong, but he’s telling here there’s another way. Let him try to show her. Martha responds, saying she knew he’d come looking for her. He asks where she is, and she says, mile marker 54. He’s on his way.

The others go to the truck stop, which is amazingly clean. They make coffee, and I can’t imagine how good it must taste. Charlie brushes her teeth. Victor says they can always go back to the mansion, but Alicia says, there’s nothing there for them anymore. Luci thinks they should find another place to go.

June and John get flirty among the shelves. She says, it’s like shopping at Bill’s. John doesn’t think they’re getting back there anytime soon, or his cabin. She tells him she was scared he’d realize she wasn’t who he thought. He says he knows who she is; it doesn’t matter to him. He knows her, and it doesn’t take a whole day to recognize sunshine. June wants him to know she knows who she is now; he gave that to her. She needed him. They kiss. Does this mean he’s going to die?

Morgan sees zombie Jim in a police car. He looks inside as Jim claws at the window. He lets Jim out, and pikes him in the middle of the forehead. Goodbye, Jim – for the second time. He closes Jim’s eyes, and looks around, seeing Martha lying face down in the grass. He asks if she’s armed, gets his pokey stick ready, and approaches her. He turns her over. She says, not yet, and he says his people can help her. She shoves her into the car, and she repeats, not yet. He says, no time. He’s taking her back. He drives away.

She futilely kicks at the door, and says he wasn’t supposed to see her like this. He has a pill bottle, and tells her to take them; it will clear up her infection. He asks, what was that place? What happened back there? What did she lose? He tells her, it’s a long trip; talking might help. John calls on the radio. Morgan says he found her, and he’s bringing her back. Martha asks where he’s taking her, and he says, Mississippi. He loses the signal with John.

John says he never should have let Morgan go. Sarah says if Morgan’s got ears, he can hear them, but his signal won’t get there until he’s closer. Al messes with the van engine, saying, smiley, rode the engine without coolant. She puts some in the van. Two zombies approach, and she tries to get out the weapon strapped to her leg, but she gets shaky, and keels over. Alicia shoots them. June and Victor run to Al, and Alicia says, get her inside. They’re going to have more company.

Martha sighs, and tells Morgan, her husband… Morgan asks his name, and she says, Hank. Morgan asks, what happened to him? Martha tells him back when everything was starting, they were trying to get out of the city. She was driving. Someone was weaving in and out of traffic, trying to get ahead; get theirs. and they clipped the car. Her hank needed her help, and she didn’t know what to do. She went out to the road to flag someone down, but no one stopped; no one pulled over to help. Morgan says it wasn’t her fault, but Martha says, he needed her to be strong, and she wanted to be. Morgan says he knows what she thinks, but it’s not true. She’s stuck. June radios, telling Morgan, Al got sick. They thought she had what she had before, but it’s not just her; it’s all of them. I’m thinking it’s the coffee. June says, something’s not right. She tells him get back. He loses her, but says he’s on his way back. He tells Martha to hang on. She wants him to pull over, and he says he can’t. She says she’ll take the medicine, but when he opens the partition to give it to her, she grabs his arm, and the car runs into the side of a mountain.

Morgan keeps slipping in and out of consciousness. Martha says she told him that she was going to make him strong. She writes on his face. He comes to, and sees a metal pipe has been driven into his leg. He says it doesn’t have to end this way for them. She laughs. On his forehead, it says, I lose people – I lose myself. She says it does for her. She made sure he couldn’t help them. Now kill her, or she kills him. He says he doesn’t kill. I’d start right about now if I was him. He says he has to get to them. She says he’ll never make it, but he says he has to try; not for them, for him. He’s scared if they die, he’ll become what he used to be. That’s why he left. He hears them on the radio, and Martha asks why he came to find her. He says she was on her own, and needed help. He knew she wouldn’t take it. He’s been where she is. She says he’s still there. Whatever is getting worse, always will be, unless he tries to be strong. Let her make him strong.

Everyone at the truck stop looks like they have food poisoning. June says they have to keep hydrated, and realizes the caps on the water aren’t sealed. They used the water to make the coffee, and had also been drinking it. She tells them, all the seals have been broken. Someone poisoned them. Al says, she did.

June radios that Martha put something in the water. Martha admits it’s true. She did it the last time she was there. She didn’t know him, but it was like saying that’s what you get for helping. He asks what it is, and she says, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing they can do. He asks again what it is, and she tells him, antifreeze. Morgan gets the radio, and tells the others. Martha says they can’t hear him. He can’t help them. They are going to die, and there’s nothing he can do. He slams her down, and squeezes her throat. She says, now he’s strong. Morgan thinks of them, all dead, and squeezes tighter. He sees himself in the cars side mirror, and lets go. He says he won’t. She says, they’re going to die, and there’s nothing he can do. He says, yes, there is, and pulls the rod out of his leg. Martha says he’s going to be strong; they both will. He drags her up, and handcuffs her to the car, and she wails. He says he won’t kill her, but he’s not letting her kill after she’s turned. She yells, it’s not supposed to be this way. He starts walking, leaving her cuffed to the car.

Morgan walks through the woods. He asks if anyone can hear him on the radio.

Alicia rubs Charlie’s head. Everyone is looking pretty bad.

Morgan hotwires a car. A pretty nice car, for being out in the middle of nowhere after a hurricane.

Al sets up her video camera. She fast forwards through the videos and smiles a little, a tear trickling down her cheek.

The nice car doesn’t work very well, and Morgan starts walking again. He falls, but tries to pull himself back up.

Al laughs over a video of a father with his child, and cries some more. Morgan radios again.

The zombies are getting more restless at the truck stop. Al says she’s not letting that bitch beat her. She radios Morgan, saying if he’s out there, tell Martha she’s coming for her. He can hear Al, but she can’t hear him. He pulls himself up. I say, Morgan, you got this, and SHE HEARS HIM. Al copies, and he tells her its antifreeze. June says the antidote is ethanol. Sarah says all they have to do is get to it; it’s in the truck. Al laughs, and John asks, what are they waiting for? Al tells Morgan that they’ll be okay. Get his ass back there. He says he’s on his way.

Al unlocks the door. John asks if everybody is ready. June bangs on a window to get the zombies traveling in that direction. John gets his gun out, and says, now! For being sick people, they come out guns blazing, and pokey things stabbing. Sarah falls, Alicia helps her out, and they squeak by. Victor gets to the truck first, and tries to get the dispenser open, but the valve is stuck. June keeps banging, but the zombies get closer. Al gets the top of the van opened, where the arsenal is, and blasts the crowd. This is great, but she also shot at the dispenser, and it all pours out.

Morgan asks how it’s going. June says, they lost what was in the truck, but he says there has to be more. June says, no one is in any shape to get it, but he says they have to find a way. John doesn’t think it’s going to happen. Morgan says he can’t lose any of them. He can’t go back to what he was. He almost did. John says, but he didn’t, and Morgan says he will; he’s not strong enough. John says Morgan is the strongest person he knows. He’s still going to be him, whether they’re here or not. People out there need him. Morgan loses the signal, and tosses the radio. A few zombies come his way, and he gets savage on them.

Al makes a video, saying, whoever finds these, keep them safe. Make sure they survive; make sure they matter. Sarah asks, what’s the final count? How many meat puppets did they take out? Wen says, not enough. Victor says, just when he stopped trying to drink himself to death, he succeeds.  Alicia and Charlie say something about second chances, but I think the boom person stepped out of the room. The zombies suddenly start moving away, and we hear…

Morgan, who limps in. John says he came back, and Morgan says he told him that he would. He says, ethanol is just a fancy word for alcohol, right? He made a stop along the way. He runs outside, and we see the Augie’s Ale truck, and gives everyone a beer. Sarah says, that’s twice Jim saved them. Here’s to you, a–hole. Victor tells Alicia that he thought he didn’t have anyone to share a drink with anymore, and they both drink. John tells Charlie, it’s a onetime deal, and not to get poisoned again until she’s twenty-one. Luci says she gets it, and toasts to the heavens. I presume to Nick.

Morgan sees himself in the bathroom mirror, and washes the words off of his face. I guess it wasn’t indelible ink.

He goes back to the car, and sees Martha’s arm hanging from the cuff. The rest of her is toddling down the road. Morgan comes up behind her, and taps his stick. She turns around, and he pikes her in the head with another forehead bullseye. Being the kind dude he is, he buries her.

Wen asks if they can get going, but Morgan says they’re not going there; at least he’s not. He says, that woman. She was the way she was because no one stopped to help when she needed it. There’s more like her out there. Everyone looks sad, and he asks if they still have Polar Bear’s journals.

The group walks down a hill, and Morgan says, Polar Bear tried to set up a system that lasts. The supplies, the fuel, the trucks even, all came from here. We see a big building with a waterfall in front of it. He says, it used to be a denim factory. Before, Polar Bear made deliveries there, and after, he set up shop there because it’s out of the way. Sarah says. I don’t need new dungarees, Momo. He says, no one is being forced to stay. Luci tells Sarah that she wants to make up for what she did to Clayton; here’s where she starts. Alicia says, it can’t be just about the boxes. She wants to do what her mom did. Build this into something more. Victor asks where they find these people? They’re in short supply. Al says she has interviews with people all over, and some aren’t doing so hot. They can start with them.

Thy group comes back with a caravan. John thinks they can be found there; it’s a good place to start. Sarah says, let’s boogie, and they load their weapons. Morgan says they’re ready; let’s go. They pull into the factory lot.

Morgan takes the radio, and says he doesn’t know if anyone is out there or listening, but if they are, hang in there. We’re coming for you.

This was the finale, so next time, The Walking Dead. Negan says, a new world is being built. Not a future monument to the dead. They’re not safe from the world. They’re just getting it ready for him.

💀 On Talking Dead, we found out that Gerret Dillahunt’s (John) grandfather was the one who said, it doesn’t take a whole day to recognize sunshine. Gerret asked that the original line be changed to that. Sweet! They also called the zombies that Morgan took out on his way back to the truck stop, the Whack-A-Momo Walkers, which I thought was pretty funny. And an audience member got to go home with Martha’s arm. That show gives the best swag.

🌾 Heard online: Vegan zombie wants grains.          

🙀 How Are We Back Here Again?

😀 But The Good News Is…