RECAP: Fear The Walking Dead “The Good Man” [Episode 6]

Night time L.A. is as creepy as green sky ATL, only not as dangerous, YET! The Manawa/Clark/Salazar families are planning to clear out and head east, as Andrew (Andy) begins bargaining to help them find Griselda and Liza if they will take him with them. Maddie is upset that her neighbors don’t know about the government’s plans to “humanely” destroy the city and everything in it. Ofelia, who is still reeling from realizing that her father was not a victim in his home country, but a torturer, shows a stunning lack of compassion and does not care to warn the neighbors. They did not come to help them when their loved ones were taken.

At the medical camp, Liza is told by Exner that a request was submitted to have her family transported to the next medical base as the camp is moving out. Do we believe her, #TWDFamily? Andy is warning Travis about Daniel and Maddie and their cruelty. Travis refuses to listen. As the caravan passes through the neighborhood, we see families, sitting peacefully, at dinner tables- talking and laughing, still clueless that the end is near.

As they reach the facility, Daniel distracts the guards. When they tell him to leave the restricted area to avoid being shot, he tells them to save their ammunition, they’ll need it.   Shortly following him are thousands of dead. Did they release the dead from the coliseum for this purpose? F–K them, if they did. Maddie and Daniel make me want to root for the dead. The massive herd is too much for the soldiers. Luckily for  Andy, Travis set  him free, after he told them how to find Liza and Griselda.

Chris and Alicia are left in the garage to get away if the rest of them don’t return. Inside, Strand tries to keep a cagey Nick occupied and does so successfully until the lights go dark and the sounds of gunshots get closer. Strand knows it is time to make a move and brandishes a key that he appears to be saving for just such a moment. Exner realizes that evac won’t rescue them now that the base has been compromised.

Our merry band of bastards don’t seem to be concerned that the base is overrun as they make their move to find their loved ones…because surely the lives of their loved ones are worth the lives they are taking, in order to free their family members. Season 2 needs to begin with an all new cast. This group is tainted. Inside, Exner tells Liza to run, evac won’t save them. They are lost. Still in the garage, Chris and Alicia think they hear the dead. They talk about Travis when Alicia warns that not everyone can be saved. Chris admires that his father tries. Strand, too, refuses to save others as he and Nick pass by pleading crying captives. Strand fears that freeing them will hurt their chances to get away and tells the captives that they are safer, inside. So Wrong. In the garage, Chris and Alicia come under attack. The attackers are actually a small group of soldiers, looking for transportation (and possibly a young woman to take with them). Chris goes down attempting to protect the keys, in order to have transportation for his family when they return. Alicia turns the keys over.

Liza runs into the compound as soldiers load themselves onto the truck. She witnesses a bitten soldier run into the blades of a waiting helicopter, just as the dead fully take down the fences, leading her to run inside as the remaining soldiers and medical staff  do the same. I am still in shock thinking that Daniel, Maddie, and Travis are responsible for this bloodshed.  We can hear the dead inside, too. Strand searches one of the rooms and observes as Melvin and his comrades are being devoured. Typical Strand, he tells Melvin to keep the bartered  wristwatch and Melvin begs to be killed. It’s too late. More dead enter, causing Nick and Strand to flee. Daniel, Maddie, and Travis finally make their way to the room where Nick was held captive, and begin freeing the remaining prisoners. 

Realizing they aren’t there, they keep searching and find Nick and Strand trapped in a hallway, unable to open the door. Nick tells his mother to go, just as Liza shows up in the hall with a key, freeing the two men. As the group attempts to make its way out of the building, there is an ambushed in the kitchen, by the dead they freed. Fitting! Somehow, they all survive. There is more danger as Ofelia demands to see her mother’s remains. Luckily, Liza is able to talk her into realizing that there is nothing left of her mother.

They walk into the morgue, as Exner is putting down the infected. They offer to take her if she helps them get out. She tells them how to escape but refuses to go with them. She clearly feels defeated and obligated to stay. As they press on,  Strand tells them going east to the desert is not a good plan. He has a home on the water with supplies. He’s prepared. This guy is EVERYTHING! I hope he’s leading the group, season 2 – you know, when Maddie, Daniel, and Travis are gone (hint hint writers). As they finally reach the outside of the building using Exner’s escape route, they see nothing but devastation, bodies, piles of ashes. The reality hits Ofelia, as she realizes her mother is probably in the ash pile, somewhere. What? No tears for the dead they helped to create?

The group thinks the danger has passed, though they are minus the SUV. Suddenly, poor disillusioned Andy comes out of nowhere to take revenge on Salazar. Ofelia and Travis try to talk him out of it. He shoots Ofelia, instead, to punish Daniel. Travis topples Andy, beating him nearly to death (yeah, because Travis is the one who has the right to be angry and morally outraged). Andy is left for dead on the garage floor.

Strand leads them through the burning city, walkers moving about everywhere. He tells them to avoid the highways, they’re a crap shoot. We see them pass through the river channels, and sure enough, the highway above is filled with stalled cars and, surely, many dead. He takes them to his home, and this guy IS prepared. His home is fully functional, with generators kicking in to give the house power. His home is palace on the edge the ocean. It is both miles away and a world away from the medical camp. It doesn’t feel real, as if nothing awful has happened. Alone, looking out over the ocean, Maddie apologizes to Nick for letting him be taken but he realizes how foolish the apology is when she had no choice. He also realizes that everyone is now like him, never knowing where they are going, caught up in constant confusion.

Liza is doing what she does best, tending to Ofelia and telling Daniel that she will survive, with care and treatment. Liza is giving Chris a very emotional hug – telling him she loves him. Strand is packing up to leave, telling Nick he plans to stay in constant motion. The “Abigail” Stand has been referring to isn’t  a woman, but his yacht. He wants doesn’t want the group staying at the house (and it’s not like the dinky gate out front would stop walkers or other survivors). Outside, Liza reveals to Maddie that she has been bitten, showing her the bit on her abdomen. She repeats Maddie’s words back to her.. “Don’t make Travis do it, it will break him.” Since she believes that Maddie never liked her much, anyway, she should be happy to help Liza end her life. Of course Travis appears out of nowhere and they have to tell him the truth. He tries to stop Liza with promises of recovery.

She knows what will happen and doesn’t want their son to go through it. Travis and Liza cry together as he promises to protect Chris, taking the gun from Maddie. Chris and Alicia are laughing together as the shot rings out.  We see a broken Travis kneeling at the edge of the ocean and I can say that I am only sad for Liza, and then for Chris, who finds her lifeless body.  Maddie joins Travis to comfort him.

Was their plan worth it?  How many people died, now including Liza and Griselda (who was already dead)? I don’t know how I feel about the ending, I do know how I feel about Daniel, Maddie, and Travis, and I don’t know how the writers will redeem them for me. next season. Can they be redeemed? What do you think? Let us know and we will see you again, next season!

 

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