‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘You’re Still Here’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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At this point, it’s no secret to fans of horror everywhere that zombie stories and social commentary, go together like gravy and mashed potatoes. We just expect to learn something about the human condition or our world when we tune into a scary story involving the living dead these days, and that’s not a bad thing by any means. For the dead are indeed the perfect vehicle to explore our modern society and for proof, look no further than the genesis of this combination; George Romero’s brilliant of the Dead saga. Because George used these shambling monsters to help us understand the power of consumerism in modern America and politics and the post 9/11 world and his work inspired so many other stories to do something similar, including The Walking Dead universe.
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Because time and time again we’ve seen these stories explore why mankind is so quick to embrace the evil within and how trauma and a lack of structure can twist a mind to the point of savagery. But while we’ve ventured to some dark places in these tales, this universe works hard to try and find the best parts of humanity as well, a concept that Fear the Walking Dead has taken under its wing over the course of the past two seasons. But as we reflect upon the many elements of the human condition this incredible franchise has taken the time to explore, you’ll notice that everything we’ve discussed here is grandiose and sweeping in nature, and that makes total sense. Because horror’s job is to be the observer and offering up that outside look at bigger concepts allows for the viewer to ponder upon a concept and pull from it whatever they need.

Which is why I found last night’s episode of Fear to be so surprising in its own right. Because ‘You’re Still Here’ took the opportunity to try and tell a vastly different kind of zombie story, one that offered a more intimate commentary and that was something that quite frankly took me off guard. Because you just don’t see this genre, in essence, offer up advice to its audience and try to examine a concept it works with in bleak and frank fashion, but that’s precisely what happened here. For this particular tale ended up becoming a grand examination of what causes us to lose hope, and what exactly it takes for us to truly pull ourselves out of the darkness, and it accomplished such storytelling feats by plunging Alicia and Strand into one tough conundrum, one that involved a grand reveal of who has been painting the trees with hopeful messages in this particular region.

But before we dive into that particular surprise in question, it’s important to frame up why exactly it mattered so much to Alicia to discover who was behind this particular feat. Because Alicia firmly believed that whomever was behind this inspiring act had an endless well of hope present within their soul, and had figured out how to find beauty in a world filled with death and sorrow and that maybe, if she was able to talk to this person, she could finally find something worthwhile to strive for. And unfortunately for Alicia, the discovery of said artist accomplished none of those things. For the person who was behind all of this, was in fact, someone who had lost hope a long time ago and this discovery is what handled the show’s exploration of how exactly something that powerful can fade from within. 

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For as it turns out, Wes, the man that Alicia and Strand helped in this tale, and who we met a few weeks ago when his bike was shot up by Logan and his cronies, was the man responsible for putting up this art. Because some part of him believed that inspiring others would be a helpful thing to do, since it might motivate others to go on and do good things in the midst of bad times. But seeing and experiencing the cruelty that mankind is of capable of wore him down in ways he never thought possible, and it jaded him and eventually removed the hope from his heart. And the lesson here is that what kills hope is embracing the darkness of the world, of refusing to believe that good can happen in a world where beauty does exist often and it makes Wes’ journey here a grand tragedy, one that Alicia is hoping to not replicate in the slightest.
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Which brings us to the advice in question that this particular tale offered up. Because Alicia’s journey in this tale more or less spoke to how exactly we find hope when it seems that none is available, and how we go on when the odds are seemingly against us, and the only way to make that happen, is to take a moment and realize that the only person who can save us when things are looking that bleak, is ourselves. Because no single person or act can truly inspire us to want to be more or find peace, it takes effort on our own part to do so and I honestly didn’t expect to find that kind of blunt and poignant message in a story that features walking corpses, but here we are. And it works and it is good to see Alicia take that message to heart and a start a genuine road to recovery while she continues to help others with beautiful words and bold actions.

Yet, while this character study was fascinating and unique in its own right, there were some fascinating questions posed in this tale when it comes to Logan and what exactly he and his gang are up to because of one key thing he said. For during a brief standoff with Morgan, our intrepid villain spoke to how he needed the gas for a greater purpose, one that was ‘bigger’ than Morgan and his group’s quest to help others in need and well, that word caught me off guard. Because that’s a word that Al’s girlfriend Isabelle kept using in ‘The End of Everything’, when referring to the mysterious group she worked for, which leaves one to wonder… is Logan somehow in league with this group? Did they promise him all kinds of riches and spoils if he helped to supply them with fuel? Time will tell of course, but something such as that cannot be ignored in a series where little moments matter, and it should be interesting to learn more about his true intentions in the weeks to come.

But in the here and the now, I’m left in awe of this particular tale because this really was refreshing and new and its own right. Because I am hard pressed to think of another horror story that turned out to be this intimate and this philosophical in nature and well, I loved it when all is said and done. Because there’s nothing wrong with challenging the characters and the audience of any particular story with new ideas and concepts, and I’m now wondering if we will be seeing more of this on Fear in future episodes. Because this was hands down the most effective way to push Alicia toward growth and some semblance of happiness, which is a big deal considering how many characters get stuck in the quagmire of the end of the world in this universe. But while it would indeed be fascinating to see these characters challenged in new light, I get the feeling that such matters will need to be more of a season six task since things are indeed heating up with Logan, and but a handful of episodes remain in season five. But in the here and the now this is one that will stick with me for some time, thanks to its refreshing and strong push to change things up in a genre that’s comfortable with its current routine. Until next time.  

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