Time for another
flashback to try and explain how we all ended up where we did at the end of
season 1
We have Alicia, Nick,
Victor and Luciana - but they’re not alone. Madison is there too with several
others (47), having founded a community in a baseball stadium. Complete with
growing crops, running water, tools - it’s a really nice set up.
Madison is clearly in
charge but equally seems to have a more consultation form of leadership. I get
the idea that people follow her less because she’s In Charge and more because
everyone really respects her.
Victor even touches
on this reflecting that she was willing to save him and take him in despite all
the shit he’s pulled. We also have Cole who may actually be flirting with
Victor (zomg, Fear the Walking Dead has remembered that Victor is gay!)
so expect Cole to die in the very very near future
Nick seems to have
some level of trauma preventing him from leaving the compound - and even has
flashbacks and blackouts when he tries to leave. Lucinda is trying to coax him
out but Madison suggests she back off because she didn’t see what he was like.
Nick is not in a good place and seems to be taking a page out of Rick’s book
and playing farmer. I say again, it’s
still noteworthy which characters get to check out. It’s not all good though since they
have an insect infestation in their crops
They have a new entry
to the camp - Charlie, a child. Madison has taken her in and is trying to coax
her story out of her while making it clear she’s welcome to stay. Nick also
steps into a definite caretaker role (which is unusual but nice to see in a
male character), offering comfort and support
When Madison gets an
idea of where she came from she insists that they go check it out to rescue the
rest of her family. Madison definitely has a hero complex and she goes out even
though it’s outside their range
At the camp (which seem to involve some kind of oil storage thingies) they find evidence of a fire and awfulness (and one of those numbered signs) and a survivor. Said survivor tries to hold them all at gun point in an utter panic but Madison and co are all very kind and gentle and reassuring. And when the woman falls into a large vat full of oil and Walkers, Madison even jumps in in an almost suicidal manner to help save her.
Madison has
definitely got a saviour complex going on here. And she’s positively radiating
goodness, compassion and kindness. Even when they take her back to camp other
people are mildly irritated with the woman, Naomi, but Madison is kind, patient
and inviting her to join their community (which is a good plan since she’s a
nurse)
I’m beginning to see
why Madison isn’t around later. This is The Walking Deadverse and all
people with a shining moral compass die horribly to remind us that this is a
Dark and Terrible world.
To all this happy
shininess time for badness to happen: a convoy of trucks and vans arrives. They
expertly round up all the Walkers, using music, to shuffle them all into a
lorry and attach one of those number signs to it. It’s easy to see the
comparison to how the walkers were rounded into the oil drums.
They then get out of
the trucks and sit on deck chairs and wait until Madison goes out to introduce
herself. She’s not happy with them but the boss man, Mel, claims they didn’t
cause the damage to the camp at the oil tanks - it was an accident caused by a
leak
And this is their MO. At least as far as Mel claims. He doesn’t attack or kill camps, and he’s not threatening Madison, he’s going to wait until their camp falls apart. He knows a lot about them - their failing crops and how many weapons they have - because Charlie is in the camp feeding them information. She runs out to rejoin their group and Lo we have Dark Lesson of the Apocalypse: you can’t even trust children.
But it is interesting
to talk about this group’s methods - they call themselves The Vultures. Ultimately,
unlike The Walking Dead I think this is somewhat earlier after the
apocalypse (I’m not even sure how the timelines mesh here) and we have people
trying to settle down and failing. Maybe because of violent groups but also
simply because they don’t know how to survive without modern technology. Or
even because without modern technology settlements just die. Pre modern
technology, farms, villages, communities could be wiped out by a crop failure,
an insect infestation, a plague, a bad winter, a dry summer. Ultimately a
significant number of these early settlements are going to fail: which will
leave things for people like the Vultures to claim even if they don’t actively
destroy those communities themselves (or maybe just need a push. Like here, just
stopping the group leaving to supplement their supplies is going to push them
closer to the edge)
Even in The
Walking Dead we saw a number of failed settlements: The Hospital, Hershel’s
Farm, The Prison, Woodbury - so many others. Albeit largely from violence
Of course I’m not
sure the Vultures are going to happily wait for them to die. They do suggest
Madison join them which is not happening.
Madison also claims
she used to live like the Vultures but Mel pointedly hits back that just
because they now live behind walls doesn’t mean they don’t also have to do
terribad things -they just haven’t been tested yet
For a reminder of
this go check out Rick and the Alexandrians
The Vultures set up
camp in the car park around the stadium and Luciana tries a guilt trip on
Charlie by giving her a book she went looking for for her at Nick’s request
which… I’m not sure what this achieves? Guilting the kid
As to how it works
out - well flip to the present and we see Victor, Alicia, Nick and Luciana all
alone attacking Morgan, John and Althea’s van because it has a Vultures flag on
it. Nope, this does not end well at all.
