'Fear the Walking Dead' Recap: 'MM 54'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

The best stories out there, are the ones that take the time to eventually explain what makes their bad guy, or gal, tick on a fundamental level. Because it’s simply not enough for characters to be evil for the sake of being evil, there has to be a rhyme and a reason for them to delve into the darkness and the audience is always dying to know exactly what those reasons are and at long last, Fear the Walking Dead took the time to explain what has driven the mysterious and filthy woman we met a few episodes ago, to cause all the trouble and heartache and pain that she has brought forth since her introduction.
 
Which made ‘MM 54’ quite the fascinating tale. Because not only did it become a powerful and grand exploration into the power of trauma and what it can do to people when they don’t have a support network surrounding them, this episode also served as a cautionary tale as well, specifically in regard to how said trauma doesn’t always leave us, and that its power can in fact, rear its ugly head at the most inopportune of moments. Forcing us to all constantly the fight the good fight to keep it at bay so that we can continue to be the person we want to be. But before we get too deep into that particular examination, let’s return to the first issue at hand and discuss what kind of trauma turned our mystery woman to the dark side.
 
As it turns out, her harrowing journey is a familiar one. Because like so many before her have done at some point or another, she was forced to escape the hordes of the living dead in quite the hurry, and in doing so, tragedy struck. The man she was with and loved, was critically injured and dying and of course, with panic on everyone’s mind, no one stopped to help dear Martha or her husband and what’s amazing, is that she tried to hold on to hope in this dire moment. Because she was convinced that at some point, someone would come along to get her husband the medical aid he so desperately needed and she merely waited by the side of the road for help that would never come and eventually, she watched her husband die and resurrect and she was forced to put him down and bury him, and that’s when things in her mind changed.
 
Because there was no one there to point out the fact that no amount of help would have mattered for her husband since his injuries were fatal from the get go, and the pain of his loss infected her mind and twisted every single thought to make her believe that she was weak and that it was all her fault that the love of her life died and once those thoughts took root, Martha was never the same and suddenly she was on a mission to make people ‘strong’ and anyone who bothered to help others were doomed to repeat her mistakes for being weak and pathetic and eventually, her quest to make others stronger brought us to the moment when she first spoke to Morgan and the rest as they say, is history.  

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​Now, if parts of Martha’s journey sound slightly familiar, there’s a reason for that. Because in many ways, her moments of madness and her outright fury serve as a parallel to the painful journey that Morgan went upon when he lost his son to the dead and became hell bent on a mission to make everyone ‘clear’. But thanks to a little repayment of kindness from Rick Grimes, Morgan eventually found his way back and well, the contrast of these two stories was not lost upon this episode since Martha even pointed out that Morgan ‘had potential’ and could be one of the strongest people she’s ever known and that mattered because Morgan’s ability to maintain his Zen/progress was put to the test in this episode.
 
Because with their ride in flaming tatters, and the dead attracted to the sounds of chaos, Morgan and his merry band of survivors were forced to head to a hospital to deal with their respective injuries and sadly, that journey only allowed for them to enjoy a temporary breather. For Jim was constantly at Morgan’s throat for putting them in danger and the dead, well they were as relentless as always, forcing Morgan to consistently improvise on the fly to keep everyone safe and eventually, the group was forced to make their way to the roof of the hospital in order to find a shred of peace and safety and sadly, that’s where they made the discovery that Jim had been bitten during their travels and that impacted Morgan in unexpected fashion.
 
After all, he’s been supremely confident for some time now, and comfortable in his own skin and heck, he was even a leader in this tale. But the instant he saw Jim’s bite, and saw the anguish and pain on his face when he realized his fate, old Morgan returned and all the pain and suffering he thought he had escaped came bubbling up to the surface and it was clear at the end of this episode that he was rattled and this is where we were reminded of the fact that trauma sometimes stays with us, since it’s clearly still buried deep in Morgan’s soul, and the question now, is whether or not Morgan can utilize all he’s learned on his journey of self-discovery to overcome said trauma and help a group desperately in need of a win.
 
So that’s where this episode leaves us, with Morgan’s mental stability hanging in the balance, a fair chunk of the group in dire straits and hoping for a win and well, this episode was simply brilliant through and through. Because it spoke to how we are our own harshest critics and it served as a reminder as to how lucky we are in life when we have a support network of friends and family and that how sometimes, the road back from our pain is about as difficult a journey as it gets and well, I simply can’t get over the quality of the writing this year since it’s provided us with one incredible character study after another and at this point, it would seem the real villain of season four of Fear the Walking Dead are the character’s insecurities and I suppose we will discover quickly, as to whether or not they can defeat the monster within. Until next time. 

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