'Fear the Walking Dead' Recap: 'El Matadero'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Hope, is a powerful thing. In fact, one might even say it's one of the core driving forces of a human being simply because, it's essential to our survival. After all, when we're having a bad day, it's the hope of a better tomorrow that allows for us to let that kind of day slip away and if our life is in a tough place, it is hope that keeps us going as the promise of a better life and a better future propel us toward those goals with a determination we honestly had no clue we were capable of. 

However, if there is one avenue we prefer to never go down when it comes to hope, it's imagining what life is like without it. What kind of person would we become if there was no chance of a better tomorrow or if the work we put in to make our lives better ...turns out to be all for naught? It's a concept most stories shy away from but not Fear the Walking Dead. Because season three of this series has been a grand experiment in what a lack of hope does to people, and while it has only flirted with the concept, last night's episode, 'El Matadero', dove right into the matter, showing us what life is like without hope, and what happens to people when they are robbed of it, all while throwing in an important notion that has permeated this series from the get go...the dangers that come with holding on to the past. 

If anything, those two concepts worked hand in hand last night, simply because what the Clark family has been looking for ever since the dead began to walk the earth, is a sense of normalcy. They seem to understand that the world they knew is gone, but they want the safety and comfort of it back and that's simply not ever going to return and really, the dangers that come with not letting go of said past was explored in depth by way of Alicia and Nick, who oddly enough found their answer to it by way of two vastly different journeys in this story.  

For Alicia, she simply immersed herself into a dead world for the first time since it ended, and while she fully understands it is a dangerous place now, the sheer brutality and severity of it wasn't at the top of her mind until she truly spent time alone within it and in her dangerous travels she encountered a tough-as-nails stranger who made a point to explain to Alicia that killing and death are now a part of this world whether she likes it or not, and it's time for her to deal with the fact that this is how life is going to be for the foreseeable future, and the best way to move forward in this tough new world, is to forget about yesterday and start thinking about tomorrow...

---

While it seems as though Alicia will eventually figure this out, it looks as though her brother will not. Nick is still a man locked in his past and if anything, hope is what he has needed the most. The idea of a better life, one free from his past and the pain that caused him to use and abuse drugs is what helped him detox, and heck, he put a lot of faith into his mother and her promise to keep him safe and pain free over the past year...to the point where's done some incredibly dark things to help her out and to save lives, but last night..Nick finally reached his breaking point. 

Because once he learned that Ofelia was bitten while trying to save the people of Broke Jaw Ranch, and that in reality, his mother had failed him in her promises...he relapsed and relapsed hard, putting himself and Troy at great risk to simply enjoy a solid high and a good time and it was simply heartbreaking to see Nick fall like this after making so much progress. But there is no hope left in his heart, and rather than spend another waking moment with his mother, he's opted to stay behind at the Trading Post with Troy and see where the void will take him.

However, while it's one thing to see characters suffer with impunity when it comes to stories that are devoid of hope, it's quote another thing to find a way to drag the audience into that kind of pain as well, but this story managed to pull that off by way of Ofelia's exit. After all, we all know what a bite means, and well...to see Ofelia say her goodbyes, and miss out on reuniting with her father was devastating to say the least and it's clear that neither Madison, nor Daniel will ever quite the be the same after this incident and speaking of Madison...it also seems as though she's losing hope as well.

After all, she dedicated so much time and effort to making Broke Jaw Ranch work, and she did some horrible and questionable things to keep the peace there and now...with her family turning their backs upon her, and everything she's worked for falling to pieces before her eyes, we are about to find out just how strong Madison really is...and whether or not she can find hope in a dire situation. Either way, this was an utterly devastating episode. The kind that gives you pause after its ended to clear your mind of all darkness and I get the bad feeling that next week's season three finale will be just as brutal. Until next time.

---