'Fear the Walking Dead' Recap: 'Los Muertos'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

A word kept coming to mind last night when it came to our intrepid survivors on Fear the Walking Dead; sheltered, and that word rings true because when you boil it all down, that's exactly what our survivors are. They had safety, for the most part, behind a military blockade. They escaped Los Angeles before it was glazed with napalm and they were able to safely avoid the worst parts of the apocalypse at sea.

Granted, they have suffered losses, they have dealt with hardships, but they have never truly been forced to survive...until last night's episode because 'Los Muertos' threw our survivors, minus Travis and Chris, right into the fray of the end of the world, forcing them to deal with a world that has slid into chaos, and teaching us along the way that in reality, many in this splintered group are ill prepared to deal with the challenges ahead, and they are most certainly going to have to adapt, and quickly if they expect to make it to tomorrow.

Case in point, Madison and her group's arrival at the hotel. Sure it seemed at first that the hotel was deserted, but rather than continue the search for supplies as Alicia deemed necessary, Madison simply needed a moment to breathe and she and Strand bonded over tequila and sorrow as the two took inventory on their lives and their current situation, and in this moment we even learned that Madison in essence lied to her kids about what happened to their father when he died, implying he committed suicide on that fateful night, rather than falling asleep behind the wheel and that little drink fest, of course led to disaster.

Because their drinking and expulsion of pain and fury 'woke the dead' and summoned a hailstorm of corpses upon them, leaving them in a precarious situation. But they are not the only ones having trouble dealing with the world and the pressures that come with it, Ofelia is also beginning to crack. During the search for supplies with Alicia she admitted to the fact that everything is getting to her, and the bleak possibility they will not survive is a harsh reality for her and well...perhaps suicide isn't a horrible option after all. Granted Alicia did her best to support the young lady, even going as far as to call her a surrogate sister, but that was not enough since Ofelia flat out disappeared when the dead began to roam the hotel.  

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However, there were a couple of bright spots in this episode survival wise. Alicia is quickly adapting to the new world and was able to keep a level head in every situation she encountered, and her plan to scavenge for supplies was a solid one to say the least. But she isn't alone in finding new ways to stay alive in all of this mess, once more we were privy to Nick's survival skills as he continued to do his best to blend in at the Colonia he is now staying at. 

In fact, his anonymity and newcomer status served him well when he was recruited to help Luciana get the Colonia some supplies, wherein Nick used quick thinking and observations skills to secure more supplies for the tiny community. But while it was impressive to see Nick in action, as it always is, he will most likely be put to the test in new and challenging ways because let's be honest...something isn't quite right about this town. For starters, the sick and dying in this place sacrifice themselves to the dead, in the hopes of appeasing the spirits and that's just the beginning of their disturbing beliefs and practices, all led by the Pharmacist, Alejandro.  

For the man that brings medicine to so many, supposedly survived a bite from a walker and has now become the spiritual leader of this community thanks to this miracle, but something is clearly amiss. The first big concern is that he has everyone in this town firmly believing that this event is a cleansing of the earth and that eventually the dead will return to their graves, leaving his people as the chosen ones to restart the world as it was and the other worry...is that there's a real dark side to the guy. He flat out knows their supplies are limited, and he's even injecting some of his patients with placebos, effectively allowing them to grow ill enough to be fed to the living dead, something he threatened Nick with and perhaps the most disturbing issue of all, his declaration at the end of the episode...that his people would never leave the compound. 

Which means that this episode, raises more questions than it does answers. The biggest one being, did Alejandro actually survive a bite outright? Luciana says she witnessed it happen, but she's also a believer in Alejandro's words, so how much of what she saw is grounded in truth and reality? Plus there's the biggest question of all, what the heck does this man really have planned for the Colonia? It's fine to talk a big game of survival and purpose, but those final words still hang over this episode and one has to wonder if the truth in all of this is that someone cut out the damaged portion of his flesh before the infection could spread, and that he knows the score and everyone in that compound is going to die at his hands. Time will tell of course and it should be interesting to see what comes next for our blended and surrogate family at the hotel and if Nick can survive what could be a suicide cult. Until next time.

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