In the Fear the Walking Dead recap for the season finale, Travis and Madison race to save Nick before getting out of Los Angeles before things take an even bigger turn for the worse….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
If you wanted zombies, you got them!
One of the best parts of the slow burn that has been Fear the Walking Dead throughout season one is the captivating quality of the story that has developed as a few ‘infected’ people reportedly came back from the dead all the way through the finale on Sunday night where we got our first glimpse of a horde of zombies tumbling through the streets of Los Angeles.
Seeing that many zombies in one place isn’t anything new for fans of The Walking Dead, but witnessing it for the first time on Fear the Walking Dead added a whole new level of panic and dread to the show as we follow a group of survivors woefully underprepared for what they’re about to face, especially compared to the people who Rick Grimes found after wandering out of a hospital after awaking from his coma.
While we can assume that Los Angeles is all but lost, it will be interesting to see where the survivors pick up for season two in 2015 after a harrowing escape where not everybody made it out alive.
Who lived? Who died? And where did they end up?
Let’s recap the season one finale of Fear the Walking Dead titled ‘The Good Man’ and find out:
Time to Go
Corporal Andy is out of information after Daniel flayed his arm to find out what the military was planning after swooping in as rescuers for their neighborhood just a few days ago. It seems the military are going to wipe out anybody who gets in their way that could be infected and they are going to smash and grab anything they can use before bolting out of town.
Rather than wait around and wait for bad things to happen, Travis and Madison round up their troops and get ready to head east out of L.A. First things first, however, they have to go to the medical compound where Nick and Griselda are being held along with Liza, who is an acting nurse at the facility, to rescue them before things get even worse. Daniel knows it’s all about to go to shit after he visited the local sports arena (assuming the Staples Center) and finds out that thousands of undead people have been locked inside and they are scratching, pushing and clawing to get out.
Daniel knows Andy was telling the truth and even if his daughter Ofelia is angry with his methods — not to mention lying to her about their exit from El Salvador all those years ago — he needs to deal with the soldier before everybody leaves town. Daniel is worried that Andy will find his Army buddies and tell them the families are headed for the compound or just betray them all together. Daniel did slice off parts of his arm after all!
Well, Travis is once again the good man (thus the title of the episode) and he doesn’t agree with just murdering Andy now that they have all the information needed out of him. Andy promises to tell Travis — and Travis alone — where to go once they get to the compound in exchange for his freedom. Travis complies and Andy escapes and the families jump into a trio of vehicles all bound for the downtown compound where Nick and Griselda were taken a couple of weeks ago.
Bigger Problems
Rather than charge full speed ahead at the military compound, Daniel has another plan in mind. He casually strolls up to the front of the gate and when the soldiers threaten to shoot him if he comes any closer, he tells them to save their ammo because there’s a bigger problem just around the corner.
It seems Daniel opened the doors to the stadium and lead the zombies like a twisted Pied Piper directly to the front gates of the military compound. The soldiers obviously freak out and start firing their guns immediately, but it gives just the opening Travis and the others need to sneak their cars into an underground garage while they hunt for Nick and Griselda.
Travis, Madison, Daniel and Ofelia head inside while telling Chris and Alicia to stay behind with the car (that never ends well) as they go hunt for their missing family members.
Deep in the bowels of the compound, Dr. Exner is preparing transport for all of the nurses and patients because the situation is clearly critical. Liza accepts the free ride out of town but only on one condition — if her son Chris and ex-husband Travis can go with her. Dr. Exner agrees and it’s time to pack up and get the hell out of here.
Unfortunately once the shooting begins and the mob of zombies storm the camp, when the helicopters arrive for transport it’s clear they aren’t landing anywhere near this mess and they turn the other way in great haste. Dr. Exner knows they are doomed, but Liza isn’t as convinced so she runs the other way to get to the last few trucks leaving the compound to escape before the undead horde completely take over.
Once Liza spots the outside of the camp and sees just how dire things are becoming, she runs back in to release the rest of the prisoners in a last ditch hope to save at least a few people. Little does she know her pseudo family is coming in from the other end of the compound trying to do the same thing.
One Strand of Hope
Back inside as the lights flicker and the sound of gunfire reverberates over the cages holding potentially sick people prisoner, Nick and his new pal Strand (that’s his name!) are ready to make their big escape. Strand believes he’s lost the key when he finds out Nick actually lifted it from him — it seems this junkie is worth keeping around after all!
The two of them weave through the maze of a hospital before finally coming upon a lone walker munching down on a soldier’s leg. Nick panics and he’s ready to run, but Strand tells him not to worry — these things are slow. Apparently, Mr. Strand knows a lot about what’s going on right now.
When Strand approaches the soldier, he sees it the same one who was bilking the well dressed man for all of his expensive jewelry in exchange for a way out of there. Seeing that he’s been turned into a midnight snack, Strand grabs back his cuff links and tells the soldier to keep the watch. The fallen soldier begs Strand to kill him, but he’s got more pressing issues to deal with — namely the zombies that start to pour in from the other doors just in front of them.
Strand and Nick run out but there’s not much direction considering the soldier being served up for dinner was the person who was supposed to give them safe transport out of the hospital. Now they are trapped with no guaranteed place to go.
You Had One Job
Back at the SUV, Chris and Alicia are both getting worried as time ticks away and their parents haven’t returned. They jump out of the car to have a look around, but then notice a few shadows bouncing around in the garage bay behind them.
They quickly jump back in the car and attempt to hide, but a broken window reveals both kids and the people who found them are three rogue military soldiers attempting to get away like everybody else. The soldiers offer the kids safe passage with them as long as they turnover the key. Chris refuses and ends up getting knocked out for his trouble and Alicia being the smart one hands over the keys as the soldiers make their escape.
Inside the compound, Travis and Madison find the cages where Nick was supposed to be held but they are informed that he escaped along with his well-dressed friend. Travis and Madison free all of the people held captive before racing to find Nick.
Nick isn’t doing so hot right now because Strand’s ride is now a zombie’s lunch and they aren’t sure which way to turn to get out of there. One wrong turn leaves them at a double door that can only be opened by a key card from somebody who works there and the zombie horde is now inside and they are barreling towards the two men trapped in a hallway with nowhere else to go.
Travis and Madison show up just in time, but they can’t get the doors open either. Only after Liza finally finds her family does she access the key card so Nick and Strand can escape. Nick explains that Strand is the only reason he’s alive right now so he’s officially on the team but now they have bigger issues like finding a route out of the building that won’t run them directly into another pack of hungry zombies.
In the midst of this escape, Daniel and Ofelia corner Liza to find out what happened to Griselda and she has to break the bad news that the infection on her leg was too serious and she died. And then the medical staff put her down so she wouldn’t come back. Ofelia is heartbroken and Daniel isn’t doing much better but they have a lot more to deal with before it’s time to grieve.
Nowhere to Run
Liza and the others finally make it to the basement where they find Dr. Exner alone after she killed every, single patient left in that hospital to ensure they won’t come back. The good doctor tells Liza where she and her people can go to escape but she has to know right now that it won’t end well. There really is no great exit strategy from this building and even if they make it out alive — there’s nowhere to go.
The group hurries past the troubled doctor (who we infer killed herself) and back down into the garage where they find Chris and Alicia minus one SUV. They do find one more thing — Andy has returned and he’s looking for revenge. See this is why you don’t save a guy who has been tortured and he’s just itching to get back at the guy who did it.
Travis pleads with Andy, but he’s not listening. He points his gun and fires but not at Daniel — he shot Ofelia!
Travis finally snaps after realizing that if he had listened to Daniel in the first place, they would be on their way out of town and Ofelia wouldn’t have been shot. Travis tackles Andy and proceeds to beat him within an inch of his life. When they finally hop in the cars and head out of the compound, Andy is laying on the ground bleeding with cuts and bruises all over his face.
Round one definitely goes to Travis.
East vs. West
Following the escape from the compound, Madison is ready to head east to the desert but their new friend Strand has a better idea. How about going west where you can run into his palatial estate on the beach and where Abigail currently resides.
Once they finally make it there it’s clear Strand is a rather wealthy man but more importantly they are all curious who this Abigail person might be. Well it seems Abigail is more of a what than a who after Strand reveals his way to adapt in this world before pointing out his gorgeous yacht sitting out in the middle of the sea. Her name? Abigail, of course.
“The only way to survive a mad world is to embrace the madness”
~ Strand
Meanwhile, Liza has stepped outside near the rocks at the edge of the cliff where Strand’s house sits. Madison joins her there but that’s when she finds out some awful news — Liza got bit back at the compound and she’s going to eventually get an extreme fever before dying and then coming back for all of them. Liza has tried everything available to her, but this infection moves so swiftly, she knows there’s not much time.
Liza only has one solution — to die before the infection takes hold and does it anyways. Madison is struggling with it but then Travis shows up and he’s even more troubled by Liza’s decision to end her life with only one small bite on her back.
Liza says there’s no playing around with this infection because once it’s inside of you, there’s no being saved.
“No matter how you die, you come back. We all come back.”
~ Liza
Finally, Travis takes it upon himself to put the gun to his ex-wife’s head and pull the trigger. A second later the shot rang out and everyone at the house heard it — and then it was revealed that Liza is indeed gone. There wasn’t much of a chance everybody in this core group made it out alive through season one and the biggest casualty is Liza, who was able to tell her son just how much she loved him before asking to have her life ended.
The survivors appear headed towards a houseboat with a mysterious stranger, who may or may not be the best person to get them through this entire ordeal.
SMALL BITES:
Two prominent songs in tonight’s episode included “Kettering” by The Antlers
And “World Undone” by Calexico
Fear the Walking Dead returns with a 15 episode season 2 in 2016!
