Did I ever mention
how much I’m not a fan of shows playing with their timelines? Because I’m not a
fan. I’d really really really like stories to be told in order; alas it never
is
So in one timeline we
have Madison trying to steal an awesome truck by holding Althea at gun point
That’s not a typo -
Madison and Althea met. It wasn’t exactly all that friendly. Madison wants the
SWAT mobile and is willing to threaten murder to get it. Althea is unwilling to
give up the SWATmobile and there’s lots of threats and stubbornness. Althea
tries to jump Madison which doesn’t go well, because, well, Madison.
Madison does learn
about Althea’s little interview tapes and while she can’t steal the SWATmobile,
she can steal them in the hope Althea has run across Nick or Alicia. Althea
manages to catch up with her when she’s all despairing to get her tapes back
and hold Madison at gunpoint
But, in her own way,
Althea is as impossibly good as John is. She has an excellent story of why she
cares so very much about the truth and how as a reporter she once did an
improbable amount of good by simply revealing the truth. She is convinced that
everyone’s story will matter one day and I really like her. Honestly it’s
wonderful to see a character that is this passionate about something other than
survival in a zombie apocalypse, someone who is inherently hopeful
She just wants Madison’s story - which Madison
tells with a fake name. She speaks about wanting to create a place for her
children, somewhere safe: the Stadium. Not just because it has walls but so
they can all live without having to make these brutal choices. She even has a
beautiful story of how kind and caring her kids where when they were children -
and how much she wants them to stay that way.
Althea sends her on
her way - with supplies.
Which convinces
Madison that, yes, people can be good and she wanted to help people. So when
she reunites with Nick et al she creates the Stadium
Yes, she met Althea
after the last season but before creating the Stadium - and it was Althea who
inspired her to become all kinds of good and kind which is the Madison we’ve
come to identify
Now to the present
with Althea, the devil child Charlie, Morgan, an injured John and Naomi all
looking for medical care for John. Naomi insists they need to get the bullet
out
Aaaargh this is a pet
hate of mine. If you are shot you generally don’t need to remove the bullet
(unless it’s pressing against something that you really don’t want it to press
against). And if you’re only option for removing it is amature surgery in the
back of a SWAT wagon without antiseptic or anaesthetic or surgical tools? Leave
the bullet alone. Seriously. Let it be. Call yourself a cyborg. Give it a cute
name. Just refrain from mutilating your body to remove a sterile, inert piece
of metal.
Unfortunately while
Morgan and Naomi are exploring the zombie infested ruins for medicine, Alicia,
Lucinda and Victor arrive. And Alicia has an RPG:
Alicia: BOOM BOOM
Althea: Hah my SWAT
vehicle is like a tank!!!!
Alicia: BOOOOM
Swat vehicle: door
falls off.
Oops. This means we
have another held-at-gun-point moment and a whole lot more fighting back and
forth as Alicia is determined to kill all the things… until she sees Madison’s
code name for her interview tape
TIME OUT WHILE
MADISON WATCHES A VIDEO
No, really, they kind
of stop and Althea puts on her sad understanding eyes as Alicia hears her
mother’s hope for her to live a life without having to kill all the things.
She still decides to
go confront Naomi at gunpoint - but Morgan stands in the way. He’s willing to
die to save a woman he just met
Yes everyone on this
show is impossibly good
Morgan has an epic
speech about his own lessons, how he tried to flee other people but he
inevitably found another group. How he changed and became peaceful - and he
knows Alicia could still be this good, peaceful person. Alicia protests she
isn’t that person any more, but Morgan counters that she is - because if she
wasn’t he’d already be dead, she’d have shot him
She ends up crying
and he hugs her while Naomi goes to heal John. And reveals her real name -
June.
Despite the whole RPG
thing, this has brought everyone together in peaceful harmony and not murdering
each other. All that attempted murdering has been put behind them.
And Alicia finishes
Madison’s heroic story
The gang was stuck in
a car surrounded by zombies but Madison and Vincent charged out and saved them.
The problem is that, without Madison to reassure them, everyone else in the
Stadium lost faith in the walls keeping them safe. They ran in a caravan (which
June managed to escape from -as did Mel and Charlie) and were duly surrounded
and massacred. All the people Madison had brought to the Stadium to live died
surrounded by zombies. Madison and the gang were also trapped - until Madison
uses a flare. Drawing attention to herself, she goes inside the Stadium walls
and traps the zombies inside with her to burn - saving Alicia, Nick, Victor and
Lucinda by drawing the horde with her… but dooming herself.
I’m not entirely sure
how this ended up with everyone hating/blaming June beyond the fact she didn’t
die at the Stadium because I don’t see why anyone would assume she did
something wrong here? I can get Alicia loathing the Vultures - but hating Mel
and June seems… dubious? Unless it’s because June then allied herself with the
very people who destroyed them - but survivors gotta survive.
While this story is
somewhat bleak in many ways, this is really setting up Fear the Walking Dead
to be a relatively hopeful series. We have Morgan, John and Althea who are, in
their own ways, impossibly good with everyone else pretty much inspired by
Madison who is, again, impossibly good. In addition to not being focused on one
character like The Walking Dead, I think this different focus may mean
we’re not going to get a series of “we have to do terrible things to survive”
and more “we’re going to do our utmost to do good things for the future” which
honestly I’d much rather see. If I want to see wall to wall bleakness I’d watch
The 100. Even Madison’s heroic sacrifice is a level of epic above what
you normally get in a dystopia
And it sets everyone
up to be together… because bygones?
