‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Recap: Chris Goes Dark In ‘Do Not Disturb’

We now know who Victor and Maddie’s dinner guests are.  They were the wedding party and guests at the hotel when the world turned to rot. We see the couple, Jessica and Oscar, in their last happy moments, including dancing an awkward, but sweet, attempt at completing a waltz. The bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stowe, want to leave after the dance, learning that the border is closing as “the sickness” spreads. While dancing the father-daughter dance, papa Stowe has a heart attack on the dance floor. He turns, biting and infecting his daughter.  It’s a new world, with no rules for survival it’s hard to know if it’s wrong or wise of the hotel staff to lock the guests in the ballroom. They do it as Mrs. Stowe begs for help. It’s hard to believe a room full of people wouldn’t have killed Jessica and her father to save themselves.  Speaking of saving oneself, Travis is still limping as he walks with Chris. He allows Chris  to search for supplies, on his own, while he tries to get an abandoned car going.  With no sure way to escape, there is no way I would let Chris out of my sight. Who knows how long it would take him to put them both in jeopardy?

Instead, he puts complete strangers at risk. He is taking supplies while two people lie dead on the floor (of seemingly self-inflicted head shots). Voices are coming from another room from men who are trying to figure out where to go  next.  Chris continues taking their supplies as a small herd enters the open door (open door?????) He kills a walker as one of the men comes from the other  room.  He kills a second walker attacking the stranger, just as two other men run out as well. He runs and leaves the stunned men with a third walker, returning to his father, making it seem as if they have to leave to avoid being eaten. Why is no one from the original cast likable for long? At least one man runs out in time to watch as Travis and Chris pull away. Chris hopes Travis doesn’t see the stranger.  As the evening progresses, Travis decides that it’s time to teach Chris to drive. I have a feeling that Travis will soon be the one watching Chris pull off, leaving him for dead.  We cut away to the hotel where Alicia is counting the number of dead who pass by her door by marking the door to keep track — because the noise of scratching on wood would NEVER draw walker attention.

As the evening continues, we hear Travis tell Chris that someone is working on ending this and that the world will reclaim what was lost. Chris reminds him that not everything can be returned.  They duo runs out of gas and builds a fire.  It makes me think of S1 of TWD when the group was so cautious about building a fire to avoid attracting the dead. They talk about a family camping trip to Big Bear and how Liza, a city girl, suffered through the trip for their sake. They assume that Big Bear must be safer than most places, because it is so isolated. The trip down memory lane makes Chris wonder what they’re doing, what their plan is. Travis wants to find a place high up, like Big Bear, where you can see what’s coming. Chris thinks they can safely cross the border and go back.  Even better there is water at the border. Travis tells him that it could be much worse – pressure from people crossing on both sides and the water leads predators to their prey. I am missing The Abigail, right now. Sure enough, their camp fire draws several men in a car. Chris confesses to Travis his actions from earlier in the day. Travis tries to smooth things over with the three men. Brandon, the leader, is hard to read.  He is either luring Chris in to kill him later, or is seriously impressed by the cold kills, earlier that day. Brandon’s buddies, Derek and “Baby James” are content to let him do the talking.

At the hotel, Alicia is trying to make her way through the halls when she is surrounded.  True to her words to Ofelia, she clings to life any way she can, including jumping into an empty elevator shaft, clinging to the cables.  Climbing an upper floor, she is greeted by Elena, the same hotel manager who locked the wedding guests in the ballroom. Holding an ax to Alicia’s throat, she demands to know where “he” is. “He” is her nephew, Hector, and was with her when she locked the ballroom door.  At the campfire, Chris’ new friends are giving him warm fuzzies while Travis is more cautious.  Learning that the three young men are from San Diego, Travis tells them about the military burning down SD and LA. They compliment Chris for his skill in taking out the “wasted”, dubbing him “killer Chris.” Travis is not thrilled by their encouragement nor with learning that Chris has been keeping count of his kills. Travis declines the offer to join them.  Back to Alicia, she realizes that Elena herded the walkers to the upper floors, putting the “do not disturb” signs on the door. Elena and Hector worked together to trap them.  She thinks that the guests took him to try to get the keys from her.  She and Hector know the place, which is like a maze.  If the guests get the keys, they will either kill them or exile them and she refuses to let them do either.

Travis tries talking Chris into opening his eyes, there is something wrong if the three men have so many supplies, they got it somehow (will we find out they killed the older couple from the opening scene?). Chris is angry, thinking Travis just doesn’t want to stray too far from Madison. Travis is adamant that they only accept a ride to the next town and that’s it.  At the hotel, Alicia and Elena begin herding the walkers  to clear the stairwell.  Elena isn’t convinced that Alicia should be risking her life, but Alicia  speaks  the first loving comment we’ve heard from either of her children, stating  that he mother would risk her life to save hers, because her mother loves her. They make it down to  the ballroom, where Elena recounts that night’s events, stating that the hotel was at capacity – she had to contain the sickness and protect the other guests.  She clearly regrets her actions, and begins crying. She and Hector were waiting for help to arrive, but it never did.  Now the others hate her.  Alicia tells her that they’ve done worse and she promises not to let the group touch her.

While Travis and Brandon are side-eying each other in the back of a pick up, Chris is being regaled by the other two men. Travis is bothered by how easily Brandon embraces his new role as a “god” in the end times.  Chris, impressing the others.  Travis wants to stay at the abandoned farm, given its location far from the road. Chris tells him no, they need people. Travis reminds him that they had people, but Chris reminds him how Maddie and the others now see him.  As the young men chase chickens around a  barn, Travis notices graves and becomes alarmed – all of the buried have the same date of death.  At the hotel Alicia and Elena are trapped by Oscar, Mrs. Stowe, and the remaining hotel guests. The groups hold a restrained Hector, as well. Elena announces that Madison must be gone, but it’s not clear what that means.  Alicia has Elena give the group the keys and then opens a door, setting the dead loose on the guests. In the barn, Travis tells the young men they have to leave, the person who buried the others is still there.  Just then the farmer bursts in and a showdown begins.  Brandon is not willing to walk away from the spoils (he is a god, after all, at least in his head).  Chris sides with Brandon, killing the farmer after the startled farmer shoots Baby James. Last week Maddie said that Nick was always lost to her. This week, Chris is lost to Travis. Elena tries to usher Alicia and Hector to safety through a tunnel under the same bar where Madison and Victor were last seen. Without her keys they are trapped in a hall that ends with a locked door.  Hector tries breaking it down. Maddie and Victor are on the other side, and let them in.  In the barn, Chris reaches for Travis, who gives him the same look that Maddie and Alicia gave him. He turns from his son and watches as the man dies.

Do not disturb? Travis is clearly disturbed by his son’s actions. The writers are too heavy handed with this business. Madison’s kids are brilliant, wonderful, sometimes a little troubled. Travis’ kid is pretty much worthless. Kill the guy and get it over with, already.

So clearly the writers are going to kill Chris off . They are working extra hard at getting the audience to hate him. Bums me out! Tell us what you think in the comments.

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