‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Remember What They Took from You’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Eight Premiere of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’. To revisit the Season Seven Finale, click here. This article also contains discussions of suicide, which may be triggering to some individuals. 
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One thing that fans of the AMC series, Fear the Walking Dead, can agree upon… is that the people that thrive in this corner of the TWD Universe… have been through complete and utter hell in the past few years. After all, they have had to contend with a nuclear meltdown, a rogue community of banditos that though they were the heroes of the story. Not to mention, they’ve had to battle a serial killer turned prophetic madman, hellbent on creating a nuclear apocalypse and that led to battling nuclear fallout and each other. And of course, they’ve faced some devastating losses in the past year, all of which are moments and elements that would break everyday people… but not these brave and intrepid and downright hearty heroes.
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For that is… how life goes in The Walking Dead Universe. Because these good people understand that this is a brave new world that will test them in ways, they never thought possible and that’s prompted this franchise to take the characters close to their breaking point, but never push them over it. For they represent the best of us. But it does leave one to wonder… what would it take to finally break them, if you will. Because people do have a breaking point, that red line where they can take no more and will shatter and be compliant or hide away from their pain and the world and after eight long seasons, and more for some… of suffering and struggling and being put through the emotional wringer… we finally came to learn where breaking points lie in the season eight premiere of the show. 

But not before, ‘Remember Everything They Took from You’ explored the inner workings of P.A.D.R.E. For that is where Madison and Morgan ended up after the season seven finale and they of course… found trouble in the opening moments of this tale when Morgan realized that this wasn’t he wanted for baby Mo and that’s when Madison worked to help, he and Mo escape at her own peril, and well, we never saw how that played out. Instead, a massive eight-year time jump allowed for us to finally see what this place looked like and how it functioned and well, it was scary to say the least. Since P.A.D.R.E. was not the sanctuary as advertised to so many. It was nothing more than an orphanage really, where children were taught odd lessons about the world and its ugliness and were tasked with learning how to fight walkers in the most horrifying manner possible. Through full-on combat. Which while safety measures were in place, was horrifying.  

Plus, we also came to learn that P.A.D.R.E. was all about punishment and brutal loyalty tactics. All of which would have a negative impact upon children, since their only lessons in life would be about survival and suffering and fury and anger, making it clear that this was not the right place for children to grow, nor was it the rebirth of civilization as advertised last season and well… with those lessons in hand through a girl named Wren… we came to learn about what happened to some of our heroes and how they have indeed reached their breaking point, courtesy of a reunion with Madison Clark. Who was now locked up in a basement cell and being poked and prodded and generally tortured for her role in the opening moments of this tale, and she was in fact… ready to just expire. To be free of this cell and the desolate nature of her life and she even made an attempt to inflict her own end upon herself.

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But the discovery that young Wren was in fact, Baby Mo all grown up, concerned her and motivated her to escape with Mo. Simply because she had to know what transpired to ruin the effort that was put into getting her away from this place, and thankfully they were able to get out into the world and find Morgan and even Grace and that of course… led to some trademark Fear TWD moments. The kind where walkers were hiding about en masse and causing all kinds of trouble, and where Morgan and Madison had to fight tooth and nail to see another day, and it even included a grand entrance from Grace. One that eventually allowed for everyone to escape the clutches of the living dead and seemingly that moment began to barrel us toward the joyous and hopeful storytelling that we’ve seen in the darkest of hours on this show. Only to be shocked… by sorrow.
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For Grace and Morgan were fine with their little one going back to P.A.D.R.E. and they even radioed Shrike, the de facto general of its forces, to take her ‘home’ and leave a trio of heroes to uncertain fates and well… while Mo learned a few things out there and showed strength and a desire to learn more about her past… what mattered more here… is what some of our heroes have become. For the trio here… were shells of their former selves. The kind that could no longer reconcile the suffering and the darkness and the losses they had suffered. Nor could Morgan and Grace reconcile the possibility of any potential harm coming to their child, and all of those emotions… finally broke them. Broke all of them and that alone, made for a powerful and unsettling story. Simply because… we’ve never seen heroes in this universe, think in such dire and hopeless terms and be at their absolute lowest.

Sure, they’ve had downtrodden moments and even mental health breakdowns. But the collective kept them going, faith in tomorrow lifted them up, as did doing the right thing. But here, this trio was clearly shattered, broken by the weight of so much pain and that’s a brilliant move from a storytelling standpoint. Since it speaks to the beginning of an exploration we’ve never seen in this franchise. Specifically… can these heroes heal at their lowest? And come back to do the right thing in this world and save these kids from what appears to be a militaristic fate, and a dark life full of survival instead of beauty? All of which compels us to finish the journey to see what the answers to those questions will be and of course… to uncover what has happened to the rest of the people we know and love in this dynamic and bold story.
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Because… we don’t know what happened to everyone else. It’s just the three we see here, and there are but brief mentions of the others and that… is equally as powerful and compelling. For we’ve never seen the group THIS scattered to the wind, and their fates could be heartbreaking in nature, since this is the final season of a show that has no qualms doing bold and surprising things with its story, and its characters. But while we wait to see if our heroes can be heroes again and if they all made it off the rafts alive and well, we can revel in the majesty of one brave season premiere. One that took some risks and really took the characters here down a powerful path and set the stage for a powerful season of storytelling. One that will hopefully see broken heroes try desperately to find value in themselves and tomorrow, in a world that has robbed them of every ounce of hope. Until next time.

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