‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘I Lose People…’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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Season four of Fear the Walking Dead has managed to accomplish a great many things storytelling wise, and of the many things it’s checked off of a proverbial list, it’s done a phenomenal job of examining the power of loss and grief and what kind of impact that can have on a human being during a time of crisis. We’ve seen the strength of those two elements bring some of the characters to their knees this season and rob of them hope and this examination has also allowed for us to watch the group bounce back from their pain in harrowing yet inspiring fashion. 
 
Yet, there’s been one element of this painful and powerful experience that the show has yet to explore, the fact that loss and grief can also push a person to lose themselves. Because they can in fact, become so overwhelmed by what’s been taken away from them that they focus only on that pain, and isolate themselves like never before, and when they do encounter people, the fear of being alone once again and losing new friends or old ones, amplifies every single mistake and misstep in life to the point where the person can freeze up when it comes to the idea of moving forward in the slightest. But it would seem the show was saving this last part of its examination until the end of the season, since that’s precisely what last night’s episode of the show, ‘I Lose People…’ focused upon.
 
Of course, there’s really only one particular character that can fit that particular bill and that would be Morgan. Because he is a man that has lost just about everything imaginable. He lost his wife at the beginning of the end, he lost his son soon thereafter and in turn, his mind and despite being nursed by back to solid mental health by Eastman, and for that matter Rick Grimes after Morgan made the trip to Alexandria, Morgan has never quite dealt with his pain or appreciated his situation and it was the resurgence of said pain that forced his hand to abandon the safety and comfort of the Safe Zone and venture west and despite becoming a great leader on his own, and earning the trust of others, we found Morgan struggling once again last night.
 
Because every little mistake he’s ever made weighed heavy in his mind and seeing Jim begin to waste away from a walker bite, once again made him feel as though he was a failure in this new life, that every good deed he would perform would somehow be wiped away by a checkered past and well, this was just heartbreaking to see. Because at this point, if anyone deserves a second chance in life it’s Morgan, but that’s simply something he could not see at this point in time and the only way he felt he could atone for Jim and…everything, was to find a way to save the lives of those he believed he put in a pickle on the roof and with a little help from a legitimate corpse, he was able to make that happen and get them to safety. 

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​Yet, while Morgan struggled with the demons in his mind, the fruits of his labor came to fruition on the outskirts of town. Because Alicia and Charlie were working hard to free John and Strand from their island prison and while they searched for a boat, they ran into Martha who of course did her best to harm them before succumbing to her own injuries, prompting Alicia to make a choice; put the damaged lady down, or do the right thing. Thankfully, she chose the latter and in doing so, she was able to rescue Martha and the truck and John and Strand and just like that, good things were suddenly starting to pour into this episode and the wonder of a little positive storytelling didn’t end with this sudden resolution to what was quite a big problem a few weeks ago.
 
For now that the group was mostly assembled once again, they came to a quick decision, that it would be stupid and unfair to leave Morgan behind and they risked life and limb to return to the hospital to get him off of that roof and well, this genuinely touched Morgan, and this goes back to what I made mention of in that…sometimes we isolate ourselves and freeze when we hurt and Morgan did just that, closing off his mind to the possibility that he had influenced something wonderful and inspired people to be more and the group’s gesture and effort was enough to snap him out of his self-loathing, allowing for him to rejoin his new friends at long last.
 
Yet, what was equally as surprising, was the fact that this reunion even managed to inspire Jim to do something worthwhile, and in act of heroism he sacrificed himself to give the group an escape route and really, a day later, I’m still quite amazed by everything this episode had to offer. Because it was hands down the most uplifting episode of the season since so many characters were dedicated to positive acts and also because the story is doing its best to finally put Morgan’s demons to rest. In fact, Jim said it best, in that, it doesn’t matter how hard Morgan tries to run from his mistakes and his pain, at some point he will have to face it all and perhaps that time is now.
 
The question however, is whether or not that moment of self-inflection will come about within the confines of the van, or in the midst of a crisis and with this being a story about the end of the world, my money is on the latter. Because Martha did escape her temporary prison, and she did make Jim her new traveling walker buddy and she still seems hell bent on making Morgan strong and somehow, that will spell trouble for the group next week. But, before trouble arrives yet again, we can definitely bask in the wonder of a fascinating episode that took us deep into loss and grief and the long road back from PTSD and seeing all of that on display only makes me love this show more, since it is so rare to see a horror series get this intimate with its characters and it makes me sad that the season finale is our next stop, because this year has featured one hell of a cerebral ride. Until next time. 

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