In the Fear the Walking Dead recap, Travis and Madison discover a survivalist family near the coastline who aren’t exactly what they appear….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
After escaping a burning and bombed out Los Angeles, Travis, Madison and the other survivors quickly find out that there’s no out running this threat and that doesn’t necessarily mean the dead people who keep trying to eat the living.
Within hours of landing on Strand’s $10 million yacht, the group encounters a bullet riddled boat as well as another life raft full of survivors just looking for help. Unfortunately in this new world, offering a helping hand usually backfires so Strand and Travis are both wary to trust anyone while Madison believes the only way to survive is by saving others trying to make it out of this hell forsaken world.
Thanks to Alicia swiping right on some guy she met on a radio, Strand discovers that another boat is moving to intercept them and there’s no way to out run them. So now as we pick up this week, the survivors are attempting flee south while trying to find a way to avoid the pirates who sunk another ship and are seemingly on a collision course with the Abigail.
With that said let’s recap the latest episode of Fear the Walking Dead titled “We All Fall Down”….
George and Melissa
In the aftermath of last week, Nick’s expedition into the capsized boat to wield one positive bit of information. The yacht log that he took from the boat revealed that every major city lining the coast up and down the Pacific ocean had been bombed and destroyed. From Portland to San Diego and everywhere in between, the government attempted to stop the zombie apocalypse by killing as many people in as many major cities as possible.
Strand doesn’t want to believe that San Diego is really gone but he’s got bigger problems right now — like the boat that’s been following them for hours and no matter how many times they change course, the other vessel continues to pursue them.
The only way they can escape is to go to one of the smaller islands off the coast of California and hope that by hiding in a cove with all the instrumentation turned off that the other boat will break course and leave them alone.
Strand finds a remote area he wants to park the Abigail but Travis prefers another side of the island where there’s a Ranger station. Because a Ranger station would have supplies and possibly an even better radio to find out just how bad things have gotten since the bombing began.
When Strand approaches the landing for the Ranger station, Madison spots a light blinking on and off inside the house on the island. It’s a clear sign of life and Madison is determined to find out who is inside. Once the boat parks, Travis is all too eager to introduce himself — unlike the main show, these people still haven’t experience the true evil that lies inside of people just trying to survive so he’s clearly more trusting.
From inside the house we meet George, Melissa and two of their children — Harry and Willa. This is the family that takes care of the Ranger station and lives on the island full time.
Once the pleasantries are dispensed, everyone heads inside to explore this place that looks completely untouched from the horrible things going on in the rest of the world. George is an avid reader and clearly a conspiracy theorist, who saw all this coming because nature eventually strikes back and now humanity is paying for its hubris.
Meanwhile, Melissa quizzes Madison about her job as a guidance counselor while asking all kinds of questions about working with kids and whether or not she was good with younger children. Melissa is fishing for answers and Madison believes it’s a sign that she wants off the island, far away from her survivalist husband.
What’s clear by just a few minutes of interaction with this family is that something is not quite right.
Down Mexico Way
Ever since meeting Strand and landing on his boat, Daniel Salazar has been anything but trusting of his new host. Salazar believes that Strand is hiding something from his group and he’s not completely sold that this supposed philanthropist is really doing all of this out of his own good nature.
So wherever Strand goes, Salazar isn’t far behind.
Eventually when Strand leaves the boat to go on shore briefly, Salazar makes his move and starts looking around the shop. Salazare just doesn’t trust Strand and it doesn’t help matters much when he makes small, but telling grammatical errors like mentioning that everybody is riding on a $10 million yacht but doesn’t say “my” $10 million yacht.
Finally, Daniel gets more information when he opens a hidden lock box in main cabin that reveals a series of maps with specific locations marked on each one. He also finds what looks like a stack of passports as well as a machine gun wrapped up in a case. While all of the maps mark different spots, the one Daniel is most concerned about shows specific routes into Mexico.
Cut away to Strand talking on a phone (I’m assuming it’s a satellite phone that still works?) and he’s having a conversation with someone that he was supposed to meet in San Diego. Now that plan has changed to Mexico and while we don’t know who was on the other end of that phone, it’s clear Strand is in a hurry to get to them. Is this a wife? A child? Or something more sinister?
Jonestown Island
Back on the island, Travis and Madison are still slightly suspicious of this family and things only seem to get weirder from here. Travis has to watch as Chris learns how to kill walkers with a pick axe as part of this family’s routine to stop zombies from getting past a chain linked fence that blocks the beach. Travis is still trying to wrap his head around this new reality — a few months ago Chris was mowing the grass and bitching about curfew. Now he’s standing on a beach with an axe, plunging it into the heads of zombies just to survive.
Meanwhile, Nick does some digging around the house and finds a package full of pills hidden in a globe and he knows these aren’t recreational drugs.
In fact, Nick is convinced these are the pills George intends on giving his entire family so they will all fall asleep together and never wake up again.
Madison is the one who finally discovers what’s been happening on this island although it’s not quite as evil as first expected. It seems Melissa has a tumor and while it’s not going to kill her right away, it will eventually take the life from her and she wants a better life for her children. It’s the final thing she can control so she asks Travis and Madison to take Harry and Willa with them on the boat and take them far away from the island. She knows George would never let them go so she wants to do this in secret so Travis and Madison can take the kids and leave before her husband finds out.
But of course he finds out.
Melissa tries to explain to him why they should let Harry and Willa ago with Travis and Madison but before an argument can ensue something tragic happens. Harry reports that Willa has fallen ill and after everybody goes upstairs to check on her, it seems the little girl found those pills and took one.
Melissa runs to comfort her baby girl and a second later, Willa’s eyes open up again except they are coated in white and she’s got a thirst for human flesh. Madison tries to warn Melissa but a second later, Willa attacks and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. George tells Travis and Madison to take Harry with them while he deals with his wife and baby daughter.
Back on the boat, Strand wants no part of a kid on board — that’s the definition of dead weight he says — but Madison and Travis insist on taking him with them.
That is until Seth — the third child belonging to George and Melissa — shows up with a rifle demanding to turn his little brother over to him. Travis and Madison comply but only after they try to convince Seth that coming with them is the only way they will survive. He refuses to listen and instead goes back onto the dock where his mother comes stumbling out at him, blood tripping from her neck, her teeth stained with the blood from his father.
Strand drives the boat away from the dock as Madison, Travis and the others watch while Seth puts a bullet into his own mother’s head. This is the way of the world now and there’s no escaping it.
Before leaving, Strand notes that the boat that was once following them has now disappeared off his radar so it’s safe to travel again. But where exactly is Strand taking them and how far will they get before Salazar calls him out?
MUSIC
The song featured on this week’s episode that was playing on Alicia’s iPod was “Coxcomb Red” by Songs: Ohia
Tune into Fear the Walking Dead next Sunday night at 9pm ET on AMC to find out! Take a sneak peek at next week’s episode below where we finally meet the survivors from Flight 462
