What I Watched Today
(rambling, random thoughts & annoyingly detailed recaps from real time TV watching)
Fear the Walking Dead
We see Morgan’s town in shambles; a burned out building, doors swinging in the wind, a playground merry-go-round turning. Teddy says Dakota saved Morgan’s life. She thought he was going to give her a fresh start in a place she felt safe, a place to call home, and a family. Did he? Dakota says, no, and we see Morgan walking through the desolation. She says he built a town, and filled it with people, but her sister… Her mom did the same thing, ten times over. She still never felt comfortable in her own skin in any of those places. Teddy says both of them wanted something from her she couldn’t give. They wanted her to be somebody she’s not. He heard her with Alicia. She wants what they all want; someone to love her the way she is. She asks if he thinks she’ll find that person in the new world, but he says she already has. She says, him? and he says, yes. She says he put Alicia in the bunker because he thought he saw something special in her. He says he did. He loves what Alicia will become. There’s something in Alicia that he and Dakota will never be. That’s nothing to feel sorry about. Dakota is so much like him. They’re two very logical conclusions in a world built on a foundation of violence, lies, and self-interest. That’s why they understand each other. He thinks she’ll agree. When he says they’re conclusions, he means they don’t belong in the world the way it is. Things are just about to get started. She asks, what will happen to them? and he says, they’re going to die with everyone else. He knows it’s a lot to take in. She needs to ask herself the question, when they figure it out, does she still want to be a part of it, or does she want to pretend to be someone else just to have the chance to keep on breathing? Does she want to stay as she is in the time they have left? She says she wants be who she is, and he says, good girl. She’s in the right place. The lights come on, and Riley says, it’s the emergency battery. They need diesel to be running before dark. She asks how Riley knows Teddy, and Riley says he was an officer on the boat. Teddy says Riley was a broken man when he found him. Riley found himself like Dakota; found himself without a family to call his own. Riley asks if Teddy has them, and Teddy shows him the keys around his neck. Dakota laughs, and Teddy asks, what’s funny? She says, Virginia had a thing about keys too. Virginia said they’d unlock the future, but she doesn’t think this is what Virginia had in mind. Riley leaves, and she asks, does he know? Does everyone know they’re going to die? Teddy says, everyone here is aware, and she asks how he got them to follow him, knowing they were going to die. He says, it’s easy to get people to follow you. Just offer them something they really want to believe in. It’s just that not a lot of people want to die. I suppose that would be a monkey wrench. We see Morgan put his hat on, and take out a gun. Teddy says, getting them to do that is something else. Morgan looks at his pokey weapon stuck in the ground. Teddy says, it’s something very few people have, and gives Dakota a gun. She asks what it takes, and he says, it’s not that complicated. You just have to be wiling die with them. Morgan looks at Dakota’s note saying he still has things to do. He rides up a hill where Victor and the others meet him. He asks if Victor is ready to do this, and Victor says he’s guessing that’s a rhetorical question. Morgan says, let’s go, and they ride toward the USS Pennsylvania.
Morgan cuts through the submarine hatch, sparks flying. He gets it open, and looks down the stairs. He throws a flare down, and says, it’s a lot further down than he thought. Grace holds a Geiger counter, and says, at 10,000 milligrams, they should start to worry. She should go down first. Morgan says he’s got this, and June says she’s got him covered. He starts to go down the stairs into the sub. Shari radios Luci, asking if they found the naval base. June is worried, but Dwight says, if they fire the missile, the sub is probably the safest place to be. The rest of them are sitting ducks. Morgan asks if they’re ready, and John tells them, fire at anything that moves, dead or alive. Morgan goes down further, and Grace asks what the reading is. He says, 10 milligrams, and goes to the next level. She asks what the reading is now, and he says, still holding at 10. She says, it hasn’t changed? and Morgan says, he thought she said 10… A zombie grabs him, knocking him down, and getting on top of him. He yells, shoot it! and John tells him to move its head. He does, and June gets it with one shot. Morgan says, thank you, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Morgan says, the crew must have all died, and Grace asks what the reading is now. He says, still holding at 10, and she says she’s going in. Cover her. Shari talks to Luci about the naval base.
Morgan hears Grace coming behind him, and she asks if he’s okay. He says he’s fine, and she takes the Geiger counter from him. She says she wants to see if the device is still intact. It’s been reissued twice. He says he knows what she’s trying do, and she says, the same thing as him. He says she wants to make them pay, and she asks if there’s something wrong with that. He says, no, but they haven’t talked about… She says, now is not the time, and calls up to the others that it’s safe. Morgan says he hasn’t pushed it because he understands her pain, but if they don’t talk about it now, they might not get the chance. He has to do what needs to be done to stop this, and he might not make it. She says, we might not make it; she’s coming. He says she’s not coming. She’s got to stay. She’s alive, and got to be here for a reason. He thinks it might be so she can build the future Athena showed her. She says, what about him? He should build a future too, but he says, first, he has to make sure there’s a world left behind to rebuild. The others begin to join them, and June asks if they’re all right. Morgan says, yeah, and June asks him to let her take a look, but he says he’s fine. Grace wants to take more readings, and June tells Morgan to give Grace time. Victor says he’s not sure Teddy’s group are the a-holes they have to worry about right now, and Dwight says, there has to be a crew on that floor. John asks Shari if they know how many stand between them, and where they’re going. Shari radios Luci, asking if she has any idea how many crew members on the boat, but there’s too much interference and she can’t hear. She says, it’s getting worse as they go on, and Grace says she’ll get Lucy. Morgan says, let’s go, and they continue on without Grace, who moves closer to the steps, but still can’t hear Luci.
Grace goes up the ladder, while the others walk through. Grace asks if Luci can hear her, and says they need to know the count of the crew. Luci says, 150, and Grace asks if they heard it. Victor says he wishes they hadn’t. They also hear zombies beyond the next hatch. Morgan bangs on the hatch with his pokey weapon, and John asks if they have any idea what’s beyond the hatch. Victor asks if it’s the only way, and Luci hears, and says, it looks like it. John wonders if they have enough ammo, and Dwight suggests they hold their fire while they’re down there. Victor agrees, and says, Alicia might be in there. If not, they need to find out where she is. Morgan says he’s going in, and tells them to kill anything that slips by him. June says he’s not going in alone, and he says, no one needs to get hurt. She says, neither does he. Victor hands him the note from Dakota, saying he dropped it. Morgan says it wasn’t for Victor to read, but Victor says, just because Dakota saved Morgan’s life doesn’t mean he needs to give it up there. Morgan says, it’s not about that. He was halfway to being one of those things. He knows how to get past them. Victor says, they’ll be behind him. He knows they’ve had their differences, but Alicia called him to take care of Morgan, and that’s what he’s going to do. John says he’s coming too. He gave up his family to put this guy away. He’s not about to let Teddy succeed now. They all want to go, and Dwight says, no use arguing. Realizing he’s outnumbered, Morgan says, let’s open it up.
Morgan opens the hatch, and going through a narrow hallway, dispatches several zombies in different ways with his pokey weapon. He checks the reading, and says, it’s clear. The others follow, and John closes the hatch. Dwight asks if he’s locking them in, and John says he doesn’t want any surprises. June asks if there’s any way to dismantle the missile from there, and Victor says, it’s not a good idea since they don’t understand it. Dwight says, do they think some psycho that’s been behind bars for 40 years knows how work this sh*t? and John tells them, don’t underestimate Teddy; he’s a resourceful fella. The hear zombies beyond the next hatch, and Morgan sees an intercom. He picks up the mic, and says, Grace? Grace says she thinks that’s the emergency com. They need power. Morgan says, they have to turn the silo off, and asks, which way to the weapons room? Grace calls Luci, and hears Teddy saying, they got there fast. Morgan asks, who’s this? and Teddy says Morgan knows damn well who it is. He says, Teddy? And Teddy says, bingo. That you, Morgan? John takes the radio and asks if Teddy recognizes his voice. Teddy says, he’s afraid he doesn’t, and John says he’ll give him a hint. The last time Teddy heard it, he was in a courthouse listening to his testimony against him. Teddy looks worried, and breathes heavily. He says, Officer Dorie; is it really him? John says he’s sorry he never paid Teddy a visit, but he has no stomach for death row. Teddy says John couldn’t kill him then, and he won’t now. John begs to differ. He has a bullet to put in Teddy’s head before the day ends. Teddy says he sees the day ending differently. No hard feelings. If John hadn’t put him away, he wouldn’t be sitting where he is now. June tells John not to let Teddy get to him, and John asks, where’s the girl? Teddy asks him to be more specific, and John says, where’s Alicia? Teddy says Alicia is safer than all of them, and John asks what he means. Teddy says what he means is, she’s tucked away someplace they’ll never find her. Morgan says, tell him where she is, and Teddy says, they didn’t think she’d be safe by the boat, did they? Morgan says, Teddy is going to kill his own people? but Teddy says he’s giving them a second chance. Morgan tells Grace to get on the walkie, and tell Luci to get everyone as far away from the sub as possible. She copies, and Teddy says, he and Morgan are like two peas in a pod. He’s leading everyone to their end, and Morgan is doing the same thing. Except Teddy isn’t fooling himself about what he’s doing. Excuse him; he’s got to run. He’s about to turn the power on. June radios Grace and tells her to reach her people; tell them to get somewhere safe. Grace says Charlie told her there’s a naval base nearby, but she’s not sure it will be far enough. Victor says, then they won’t fail. They hear zombies knocking on the other side of the hatch, and Victor asks, where’s Morgan?
Victor moves forward, the others behind him. He whispers for Morgan. A zombie pops out, and he sticks a knife in its head. Shari and Dwight see bunks full of dead undead, and Dwight wonders what happened. They keep moving, and Morgan walks further ahead, alone. A zombie come out behind him, and he stabs it in the eye. He starts to open the next hatch, when another zombie comes out, and he cracks its head open with the ax part of his pokey weapon. He goes in, and starts to close the opening, but Victor stops him, saying, let go. Morgan sees zombies coming behind Victor, and tells him, get in. He closes and locks the hatch, and Morgan says he doesn’t need Victor to be there, but Victor says Morgan’s not supposed to be there by himself. Morgan says he doesn’t want anyone else to die, and Victor says, no one has to die, but Morgan says, they might. Victor asks if this is what Morgan thinks he has to do. Dakota said he had things left to do in her note, but that’s not what she meant. Morgan says he’s been leading them from one dead end to another. He promised them something different, something better. He wants to be sure this time. Victor says Dakota wanted him to kill her mother; that’s what she meant, not this Morgan says he has to make sure. Victor says, people follow him because they want to, not because he owes them something. Morgan says he doesn’t know why Victor is even still there, and Victor says, Alicia asked him a difficult question when they were at the lodge. She asked if he was doing this for them or himself. Morgan says, and? and Victor says he’s doing it for everyone. Morgan’s Geiger counter goes wild, and they hear a zombie. A zombie woman stumbles out, covered with boils, we assume from radioactivity. She keels over, and Morgan says, don’t touch it. The zombie gets up all weird, like Exorcist weird, and reaches out toward them, then collapses.
They use Geiger counter, finding heavy radiation coming from the zombie, and Morgan and Victor carefully go around it to the next hatch. The Geiger counter goes crazy, and Victor says he thinks he knows where the zombie came from. Morgan says, the readings are high, when they hear something. He says, they’re about to get power, and radios Grace. He says they’re at the next door, and it’s off the charts at 40,000. Grace says, the only way they’d get that kind of a reading is if they exposed radioactive material. They have to find another way. If Morgan goes in, it will kill him. He asks how long he’d have, and she says she doesn’t know. Days? She yells for him, and Morgan and Victor look up, seeing zombies toddling along the grating above. One drops down, and Morgan says he’s going inside. Victor sees another ladder, and suggests he go up and kill them, Morgan following. Morgan says Victor isn’t thinking it through, but Victor says he wants to do what’s best for everyone. Morgan asks what that is, and Victor says, to live. Another zombie drops down, and Morgan asks if it’s clear. Victor says, let’s go, and they climb up.
They see several zombies, but they’re behind a barrier, so not a threat. They see dead undead on the floor, and one leaning on the open hatch, all victims of radiation. Victor says he told Morgan there was another way. Lights begin to come on, and Morgan says, they must be getting closer to launch. Victor takes off the other way, and Morgan follows. Zombies come out of the hatch behind them, and they close the door. Morgan says, this is a dead end. It’s a bunkroom, and he sees pictures on the wall of Riley and his family. He tells Morgan, this sailor is one of Teddy’s people. He’s the one who attacked them when Grace was in labor. He says, there’s no way out, but Victor says they’ll find a way. Morgan says he had one. Whatever Victor had to prove, he proved it. Tons of zombies are suddenly coming their way, and Victor says, Alicia’s message was meant for Morgan, because he’ll do things Victor won’t. He struggles with Morgan over the pokey weapon, and Victor knocks Morgan down, ending up with only the pokey ax part. He says, Morgan didn’t want anyone to die. He’s going to get his wish. He kicks a zombie away, and jumps into the hatch.
Victor approaches another hatch, the pokey ax in his hand. Dakota appears behind him with a gun, and tells him to drop it, and slide it to her. He does, and he says, she’s with them. Of course. She says, they gave her something no one else could. He tells her not to make the same mistake with him that she did with John, but she says she doesn’t think she is. Don’t think he can change her mind, especially after what he did. He says he doesn’t understand, but she says he doesn’t need to, or his people. She gets on the radio, and says, whoever is out there needs to listen. They need to know why they’re not going to stop this. They saved her to give her a fresh start. June did the first part; the second part is something else. If she lived with them, she’d have to be a different person, and fall into their ways. It would never work Morgan’s way. She asks Victor if he really wants to be the person Morgan wants him to be? That’s why she killed Morgan. Listening on the radio, Grace gasps. Dakota says, Morgan’s way going forward is not how she wants to believe. Victor says, that’s not true, but Dakota says she wants to be the type of person she wants. That’s why killed John. Because of people like him, the world has to end. June told John that it wasn’t too late; the world still has meaning. She’s going to make it have meaning, just not the way he thought. Victor says, Teddy is going to kill everyone; Morgan isn’t. Dakota says, Alicia will still be there. She’s the beginning; they’re endings. When they start again, it won’t be with a-holes like him. She aims her gun at him, but seems uncertain. Victor closes his eyes, and she shoots, but she only gets him in the arm. Morgan comes out of nowhere, and slams her up against the wall, knocking her down with the stick part of the pokey weapon. She’s out, and he checks her pulse. He says Victor claimed it wasn’t on him, but he gave them the key. He did it to save Grace and the baby, and he can’t let it be for nothing. He radios Grace, saying he’s there and he’s all right. She says she’s there, and Morgan tells Victor, this ends now. Victor says, Morgan… but Morgan doesn’t want to hear it. He says they’ll deal with what Victor did later. He’s cost them enough time. Victor hands Morgan the stick part of the pokey weapon, which is now officially a pokey stick.
Teddy asks how it’s looking, and Riley says, two minutes. He stopped something like this once, but they don’t have what it takes. Teddy says he’s glad Riley did that. His family returned to the earth, and now he can too. He’d be lost without Riley. Teddy radios Sue/Dakota, but gets no response, and an alarm sounds. Teddy gets a WTF? look on his face, and tells Riley, hurry.
Morgan takes out a handful of key cards, and tries each one to get into the final hatch. Victor wonders where he got them, and Morgan says he took if off a dead soldier’s body after Victor left him. Victor tries to justify his actions, and Morgan tells him, stop.
Behind the hatch, Riley says, on three, and Teddy says he copies. Morgan keeps trying the cards, but none of them are opening the hatch. Teddy puts in the key, and Riley says, one… Morgan prays the next card works, since it’s the last one. Riley says, two… three. Teddy turns the key. Morgan inserts the card, and the hatch opens. Victor and Morgan tell Teddy, stop, but Teddy says, they can’t. Riley says he told them it was inevitable. By the stairs going outside, John tells everyone, hold on. June tells Grace, they have to go, and Grace yells for Morgan. Everything begins to shake, and all is silent for a moment. They watch as a rocket shoots up out of the sub. Watching from the hill, Sarah says, damn, and Daniel says, that’s a big stick. They watch as it continues to go up into the sky.
Morgan grabs Teddy by his jacket, and puts his pokey stick in Teddy’s face, while Victor trains a gun on Riley. Riley moves, and Victor says, don’t. Riley tells Teddy, they only got one off, but Teddy says, it’s enough to get them started. They’ve begun. Victor says, how much, and Riley says, not enough. Victor asks where the missile is going, and Teddy asks if Riley would like to tell them what targets he programmed. Riley says, there are ten warheads on the missile. They’ll see where they land. It will be hard to miss. Victor says, where? and Teddy says, anywhere; everywhere. Maybe toward the water; maybe toward the town Morgan built. He’s been where Morgan is. A long time ago, he thought he was going to change everything, but a prison sentence put an end to it. What he didn’t realize was, it didn’t really end anything. He knows it’s not what Morgan wanted, but don’t look at it as an ending. The world is going to be a better place soon. Morgan just won’t get see it himself. Morgan threatens Teddy with the stick, looks him over, and lets go of Teddy’s jacket. He says, get out of here. Go. He tells Victor to let Riley go. Riley and Teddy can’t believe it, but get out while the getting’s good. Victor tells Morgan, it could been worse. They could have fired more. Morgan says, it could have been none if he’d gotten there sooner, and Victor says he did what he did to save lives, but Morgan says Victor did it for himself. He wanted to tell Alicia what a big hero he was. Leave. Victor sets down the pokey ax, walks to the hatch, and goes through. Morgan looks at the key in the control panel, and looks around. The camera pans out, and we watch through the hatch as he gets smaller.
I don’t mean to be critical, but you’d think Morgan might start checking the controls to see if there’s an off button. On the other hand, Z Nation survived a nuclear bomb, so…
Next time season finale, Morgan and Grace reunite, some welding happens, Teddy says it’s almost time, Riley says, it’s just the beginning, and Victor screams.
👩🏽🏫 I was reading an article in Forbes, where reviewer Erik Kain not only said FWD’s scenario about a nuke being easily launched was unrealistic, but wondered how, after 40 years in the slammer, Teddy would know anything about how to launch it. First of all, I fail to see how a show about a zombie apocalypse should be expected to do anything realistically. And secondly, Dwight asked that question, and John answered it. Teddy is a resourceful guy. Kain also posed the question as to why Morgan would let Teddy and Riley go. I thought Morgan figured they were going to die in the radioactive fallout anyway, and it would be a more gruesome death than him killing them. Even with the pokey stick.
⌚️ About Strand…
What made Victor tick tonight.
https://ew.com/tv/fear-the-walking-dead-uss-pennsylvania-strand-morgan-showrunners-interview/
🎞 Coming Up…
A sneak peak at the finale, and yeah, what about Al?
🪂 Possible Jump…
Speculation on what’s to come.
https://www.cbr.com/fear-the-walking-dead-s6-nuclear-explosion-time-jump/
🍃 Taking My Leave…
Time to call it a weekend. Or whatever you want to call the last two days. Until we meet for soap and Sailing, stay safe, stay unprejudiced, and stay resourceful, but not in the same way Teddy is.
What I Watched - TV With Theresa 