Fear the Walking Dead - Season 4A Rewrite - Pitch

I love The Walking Dead. It’s obvious and I’m not going into why I love it. But its sister show, Fear the Walking Dead, has gone downhill in quality since Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg took over for Dave Erickson as showrunners. While the first two seasons of the show were pretty okay, season three of Fear was incredible. We got great character development, unique and epic conflicts, tons of fights between the living and the dead and the other living, and one of the best finales in the franchise. But with these new showrunners it has slowly become a boring dumpster fire full of bad writing and endless gimmicks. And yet AMC continues to make more seasons of this once great, now awful show. So I’ve decided to correct things and create my own story for Fear the Walking Dead that’s based more on Dave Erickson’s plans with some elements from the official show.

Title: Fear The Walking Dead – Season 4 Rewrite

What is it? A rewrite of the fourth season of Fear The Walking Dead (with at least season 5 coming in later in the future)

Inspiration:

Last year, during my irritation over Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, I found a video made by a youtuber named Uniquenameosaurus, in which he reworks the whole Star Wars sequel trilogy to make it flow better and give us something really entertaining. He set himself a few rules though in order to challenge himself and make it so that he’s keeping some ideas and plot points from the official movies in his rewrite. That challenge excited me so much that I realized I could do something similar with another property that greatly disappointed me to the point that the stress physically hurt me.

What’s the Point?

The fourth season of the show started off strong with new characters like John Dorie and Althea, but soon the quality of the show’s writing began to go downhill. Then in the fifth season we went from a gradual decrease in quality to a dive-bomb in quality, sending the show’s ratings from a good 80% to bad 50%. It would have gone lower if it wasn’t for the incredible third season, which ended on one of the best finales in the whole Walking Dead franchise, and appearance of Morgan Jones (who honestly has been ruining Fear since he crossed over). The failures of the show during these seasons include horrible logic, over-the-top plot points that aren’t resolved very well (there’s a nuclear reactor in danger of going critical in season 5, but it’s never resolved and just left there), horrendous dialogue, and poor storytelling.

Another reason the show began to decline is that it had a massive jump in time, going from the early days of the zombie apocalypse (before even Rick woke up from his coma) to where the main show was after season 8 ended, over two years in the future. There is so much that is missed with this time jump and I want to know what happened after season 3 ended in such an epic way. So many missed opportunities throw away. Additionally, Morgan Jones becoming the new leading character of the show after leaving the main show has changed the whole story that was originally focused on the Clarks. He turns everyone he meets into copies of him: peaceful, non-violent, and “let’s help others” kind of people. Which is so damn boring! Alicia was turning into a fantastic leader while Strand was learning to use his negotiations and scheming for the benefit of others besides himself. But now both are just, “Let’s follow Morgan because he has a cool stick and talks nice.”

I want to redo seasons four and five (and possibly six) of Fear the Walking Dead because a lot of fans of this show have abandoned it since it treats us now like we’re simple-minded kids. Fear needs a whole rework because there are some great ideas in these newer seasons, but too many bad ones that just tank the quality down. Combined with horrible writing and logic, Fear the Walking Dead is more unbearable for me to watch than the final season of Game of Thrones. It has become so bad that Fear has become the first television show that I’ve quit out of rage. It’s that bad people, yet we’re on season seven and season eight is coming to us in the near future! There are a lot people who are not happy with where the show is going and yet we’re still getting more seasons?! This cannot stand and I will make my stand against horrible writing and give fans of Fear the Walking Dead (especially the first three seasons) a story they deserve!

The full idea:

Let’s start off with what happened at the end of season 3: The new antagonists of the show, The Proctors, began to take over the water dam in Tijuana. While this is happening, Strand tries to get Alicia Clark and her mother, Madison Clark, out of harm’s way. Nick, Madison’s son, gets in a standoff with the Proctors when they threaten Madison and the other two by pickpocketing a detonator for bombs placed on the dam. The standoff lasts for a while until Nick hits the switch and the bombs go off, destroying the dam in an epic explosion and releasing the life-giving water down the Tijuana River. Madison gets separated from Alicia and Strand while the injured Daniel Salazaar, the ruthless former special ops turned barber turned survivor, finds Nick and the two escape the destruction. Madison wakes up on the side of the river with a bunch of people coming down to get the water and she realizes she might have a new life now that she has finally let go of her children.

So here are the rules I’ve set myself for my rewrite of season 4 of Fear the Walking Dead:

1) The story must take place after the dam explosion or shortly after it. The official season 4 completely ignores that plot point and most of everything before that.

2) Some new characters in this season from the official show must be in this rewrite (Ex. John Dorie and Naomi/ June).

3) Nick must die because his actor wanted out in season 4 and so they killed him off.

4) There must be a climatic storm in this season.

Names, places, plot points, etc. are subject to possible changes.

So, let’s begin:

By the way, if I say “walker” instead of “infected” it’s because walker has become such a used word and Morgan damn passed it onto Fear after he joined.

Episode 1 – Heat

We begin where Madison Clark was at the end of last season, with her on the banks of the Tijuana River with people coming down to get water. The girl says hello to Madison while she’s shocked she’s still alive. But the peace is quickly broken when they hear a cry for help and Madison notices walkers (or in this show’s case, the infected) have been drawn to the noise of all these people coming to the water, along with the newly formed river itself. Seeing the threat Madison goes quickly on the offensive, killing a few while keeping these people safe. There are a few casualties, but nothing serious as Madison and a few others finish the last ones off. With that Madison calls everyone to get together and find a safe place to hide. With that comes the opening credits (which I might keep the same as the official seasons since they were interesting and hinted at what might happen).

After the title we return to Madison waking up in the morning, but she is clothed differently, has a few bruises/ bandages on her face, and is now living in a new hotel complex. It’s been around a few months since the dam exploded (approximately seven to eight months). As she leaves her room we see in the background we notice a sign saying, “Hilton Garden Inn Yuma Pivot Point” (or something like that). Yes, we’re going to have another hotel, but since she’s helped make a hotel a safe place in the past Madison knows how to fortify them. Also, going through Google Maps on places where a strong settlement could be made, I found that Yuma, Arizona would be a great option. It’s very agricultural, with a river running through the town, and there’s a ton of military around this city. The only problem is that it can get extremely hot (even for the southern part of the US) and there’s barely any rain. But setting up next to a river would help.

This Yuma community is going to be somewhat like Woodbury in the third season of the main show and the Colonia from Fear season two. A lot of the people that live here are not fighters, they’re people in a rough situation needing a place to live. Look at the Colonia from Fear season two, that place was mostly fully of people needing a home to live in because instead of fighting that gang they run away. For both communities, and this one, there is a lack of fighters and a majority of people not having been tested in the apocalypse. It’s a place where Madison has a chance to rule and take over if she wanted.

Even so the heat is a massive problem for the new community, and we see some people having problems with so much sun and heat. Madison especially has problems since she lived farther north in California before the apocalypse. She wipes a bit of sweat off her forehead as she asks a man if there is anything to report. The man reports that the person who works at the water treatment plant needs a little help, to which Madison acknowledges and says she will check on that later in the day. Before she can start on her checkup of the hotel though that same man says she’ll need to see to those injuries checked on soon. Madison tries to shrug it off, saying her bruises aren’t that bad, but is reminded that the people look up to her since is kind of a leader to these people. So with a sigh we see Madison head to medical.

Here we’re going to meet Naomi, a middle-age woman who is the medic of the community. She’ll be the first character from the official show making an appearance and she’ll keep a majority of her character traits, but with a few additions that I’ll reveal later on. She’s kind of new to the community, only arriving a few weeks ago. Madison is going to ask if she’s still faring well here, to which Naomi says she is, though with a bit of discomfort shown. Madison notices and inquires a little, with Naomi denying it still, but also saying it feels weird being around so many people. In response Madison will reassure her and leaves with her updated bandages. But we’ll get a last camera shot on Naomi as Madison leaves her.

As Madison walks out from the med bay, into the hotel lobby, we see the little girl from the start of the season running up to her. Madison is going to say hi, being all sweet to her, and the girl tells her that she wants to do something with her. Reluctantly, but as kindly as possible, Madison declines, saying she has work still to do. At this point the girl’s other caretaker and another leader of the community, Manuel Lopez (this name might change), takes the girl off her hands. If Madison is the muscle/ driving force of the community, Manuel is the one who keeps it all organized. He previously helped run the hotel, not as a higher up, but as someone who stuck around the complex when everything went to hell. It didn’t last long at first, but his home was in danger of being overrun and he moved himself and his family to the hotel since there was food and supplies. When Madison tells Manuel that she’s heading over to the water plant he tells her that he’ll be checking around the complex, making sure things are okay. We’ll get a small quip as well to show they’re pretty friendly with one another. We’ll go then to a commercial break.

Madison gets a few people (around 3 or 4) and they grab a few pistols, but mostly knives, machetes, and other melee tools from their designated weapons locker and head over to the water treatment plant. At the plant we meet a new main/ important character to the show: Farah, an Arabic-American female in her mid or later 20s who was previously an engineer before the apocalypse. She’s not the bravest person, more one to avoid fights than get involved, but he has survived by using her mechanical knowledge. She was discovered scavenging in Yuma and after joining Madison’s new group has helped to keep the water purification plant going, along with setting up some defenses against the infected (like an alarm that draws them to a certain building, so they are lured away or grouped together to be killed). We also never have had an Arabic American before in The Walking Dead universe (other than possibly Siddi).

Farah explains how there she needs some new parts to help keep the plant working. She points out on a map a few stores where said parts can be found, to which Madison acknowledges and heads out with her group to get them. They’re going to go through the city, killing a few infected while making small talk. Eventually they get to a store and they search it, killing a few infected inside, but no parts they need. We’ll do a small fast forward as they reach the next store and it’s a very similar situation as the previous one: Kill infected, no parts. Before they leave one of them comments how the city is starting to run out of supplies, they cannot stay here forever. But then they reach the next store and there are no infected at first. As they’re looking around the store Farah finds a few other parts she could use and packs them up. Just as they find the part though one of them gets ambushed by an infected and gets bit on the hand. That infected is killed quickly and they start to escape only to see a horde after them.

With their injured companion slowing them down they have to fight off some of the infected that come out buildings ahead of them as they made their way back to the hotel. It starts to get dire as the horde starts closing in on them. But then Madison starts to hear some noise in the distance, the sound of motors. In the distance a few motorcycles and a large truck start crossing the bridge over the river. The cycles head towards them and as they get closer we can see the motorcycles have guns on the front of them. Madison and her team get out of the way as the guns light up, killing a bunch of the small horde. After a good number are brought down the cycles rev up and the riders charge forward with melee weapons (probably like a club and maybe a chain for another) to finish the rest. At this point we’re supposed to feel relieved until one of the riders speaks in a taunting manner. It’s the Proctors. Commercial break.

We transition to Madison’s team, the bikers, and the large truck getting to the water purification plant. Madison hands over the parts she and her team collected to Farah, but right after that one of the Proctors pulls her back and orders her to put some of her group’s supplies in the truck, especially the clean water. Madison tells them they got to take care of their bitten friend first, but the Proctors want it now, a few loud yells to signify they’re in charge. They also add on he’s not going to make it anyways, since he looks dead alright. Sadly they are right, as the former member of the hotel is clearly dead. Madison, with a frustrated look on her face, stabs the dead body in the head and lays it on the ground before moving the supplies to the trucks.

Once all those supplies are in one of the Proctors comments on how they had a good haul and that they effect just as much next time. Before they leave though one of the Proctors threatens Madison that if she does anything funny, “She’ll know what happens next.” This cryptic message is to make people wonder what is keeping Madison from rebelling against The Proctors. Madison stays silent, trying not to show any anger while looking serious and not appear worried as the gang drive off with their “tribute”. I know this sounds similar to Negan and how the Saviors took Rick’s supplies, but I want to set up the Proctors as more of gang than a unit that Negan refined his community into. We end the episode with Madison and her remaining team heading back into the hotel, with a front look of Madison trying to stay strong, but a little worry on her face. We’ll find out what’s on her mind in a later episode.

Some might be wondering why the Proctors don’t automatically kill Madison as Proctor John (in the season three finale) wants all the Clarks (and Strand) executed. Well that’s because that was a private meeting and wasn’t announced to all the Proctors. Also, since Proctor John seemed the type of person who could change his decision at the flip of a hat, his choices could be just spur of the moment ones. He’s willing to kill his own doctor if they failed in removing the growth on his spine, which is a crazy decision to make!

Episode 2 - Company

Our second episode starts with Daniel and Nick trekking through the hot Mexicali landscape in the mid-afternoon. In the distance, we’ll see the destroyed dam, Nick’s act of defiance against the Proctors. They both look tired, with Daniel looking a little dead on his feet. Daniel is holding onto his face, covering the gunshot would through his cheek while bleeding onto the sand. As they are fleeing the destroyed dam, Daniel will tell Nick to just let him go, he’s had enough. But Nick is adamant and keeps helping him along. They soon reach some buildings, but Daniel is almost out of strength and Nick has to carry him the rest of the way. When they get inside Nick lays Daniel down on a couch and hurriedly scavenges up a first aid kit. There is not much to work with, so he grabs a few other things like a needle and some thread and tells Daniel he has to fix his wound. Nick has had some medical training, but not very much. But it’s either that or let Daniel die. Daniel, almost reluctantly, agrees and we cut away to an upward angled shot of Nick looking down at Daniel as he begins to stitch up the hole, to which Daniel growls and moans between his teeth at the pain. We cut the title card then at an especially loud whine of pain from Daniel.

It’s now night and Nick is just sitting on a chair, mentally exhausted by his operation on Daniel’s face, while Daniel is lying asleep on the couch with a bandage over his wound. In his current state Nick is thinking over what he did at the dam. Was it madness for him to flip the switch? What happened to his sister and mother? What about the Proctors? Are they after him and Daniel? They must be. And what is he going to do now with Daniel in his current condition? All these and more are flooding his brain and he tries to walk about the room to do something. Then he notices some meds that were left out on a table. In an act of weakness he goes for them and overdoses some in order to just forget everything and relax some. As he is tripping out though he hears a few faint voices. Troy Otto, Proctor John, Alicia, Strand, and his mother. Then a clear voice is heard over it all. It’s Daniel, but as Nick looks at the Daniel on the couch he notices that the noise is not coming from the sleeping figure, whose lips are still.

Suddenly Nick feels a shaking and wakes up to Daniel, a different bandage on him as he shakes him awake. Nick was dreaming of back then all those months ago and tells Daniel about it. He references a bit of his time after the fire at the estate from season 2, how he felt almost dead himself and that he was seeing things for a while. Daniel has lost his wife, his daughter, Lola, and Efraín, so of course he’s so despondent. Both of them right now feel lost with no direction to take themselves, with Nick trying to keep them going so they have something to do while Daniel just follows. As they start to pack up Daniel performs a small prayer in Spanish, hoping for something, anything to help him find rest. They then leave the building and start to walk West, trying to keep in the shade while trying not to make too much noise. They’re staying away from the roads but are not too far from them as they keep moving away from Proctor territory . We’ll see them stop by a town and scavenge a few items while fending off a couple of infected. As stated earlier, I want to convey that they don’t have much of a goal other than survive, that the lack of a destination or goal has mentally drained them.

As it gets late and the sun is mostly set the two notice a fire in the distance. As they get closer to it they see it’s a single man close to worn down truck. Moving closer the stranger calls out, somehow knows somebody is nearby, despite how far Daneil and Nick are. The stranger starts to talk a bit about themselves to the unseen Nick and Daniel, their tone oddly friendly to the hidden intruders. Their name is John Dorie and they don’t see too many people, even before the apocalypse happened, so they’re not the best at talking to people. But this John Dorie also says that he doesn’t want to hurt them and would prefer not to get into any conflict. It’s so weird and out of place for the two visitors that both Nick and Daniel step out and join John at the fire. He offers them both a bit of food and asks about their travels. I’m trying to do this moment just like how John Dorie was introduced in the official show because it’s really damn good and sets up a lot of his character. Both Nick and Daniel introduce themselves and say a little of themselves, but not much. When Nick asks what John is doing out here he says he’s looking for somebody, a woman named Naomi. She’s somebody he met once and fell in love with, but also lost. Daniel notices the revolvers that John has and asks if he’s good at them, to which John replies he would prefer not to talk about them. John then tells them they can stay the night if they’re good people, but that he’s heading out in the morning. All three go to sleep near the truck, but in the middle of the night Nick wakes up to the sound of motorcycles and realizes that the Proctors are about. As we see the lights passing by down the road we cut to a commercial break.

Nick somehow falls back asleep or dozes off because in the morning he sees Daniel and John getting ready to go their separate ways. John Dorie bids both of them a farewell as he heads out west while Daniel stays where he is, saying that there are some supplies that John left behind and he’s not ready yet to leave. We’ll see Nick and Daniel indulge in some of the left supplies, but after a bit of that they’ll begin to pack up and head out. As they start for the road though both Nick open comments that John Dorie doesn’t seem to realize what he’s getting into. Daniel however dismisses this fact, saying that it’s none of their business. Nick argues that Dorie seems like a good person, that maybe they should at least warn him. Unenthusiastically, Daniel will reply that everyone dies in the end.

As they reach the road though both hear some shouting a ways back. Listening carefully they hear a voice they recognize: John Dorie. Nick decides to head over to the disturbance, Daniel following, but berating him that he’s leading them back into trouble. But Nick is steadfast and keeps going with a reluctant Daniel following behind. Peering over a small hill they see John is being confronted by several proctors. They want his guns, his supplies, and his hat. John is trying to politely refuse and go on his way, but these gang members are having none of it. With that Nick begins to sneak around, trying to get behind. While that’s going on some infected begin to make their way to the noise and the Proctors are turning John about, making him first to deal with the infected unless he hands over his stuff.

When Nick and Daniel get into place, both of them begin to sneak up behind the Proctors. Daniel quickly slits one of their throats, trying to keep it quiet. But unfortunately the man kicks a rock in his struggles that hits one of the motorcycles and the other two proctors turn around. One raises their rifle, but Nick shoots them, while the other is rushed at by John Dorie from behind. They both tumble to the ground, rolling about as an infect gets closer and closer. In an act of desperation John rolls over so the Proctor is on top of him and the infect falls to its knees and bites at the attacker’s shoulder. He cries out in pain, giving John the chance to push him and the infected off him. Then Nick and Daniel come in and finish the walker and the Proctor off before dealing with the other walking dead. Commercial break.

Upon return the fight is over John Dorie is up on his feet. He thanks them for their help, with Nick telling Dorie about the Proctors and explaining to him that he’s going to encounter more of them if he goes that way. But Dorie, while acknowledging that, says he must find Naomi. He just knows she’s that way. As he walks off in that direction Nick loudly asks if John will at least take a motorcycle with him. Dorie will respond that he doesn’t know how to ride one and asks if they know how to. Nick groans and begins to follow John, with Daniel behind, swearing in Spanish while wearing an expression that says, “This is not going to go well.” As they walk John Dorie offers them a piece of candy, saying it’ll help them keep their minds off the road. Both Nick and Daniel take one, with Nick comment how he can possibly have candy on him. Dorie will smile back that he always has some on him, before and after the dead came.

Eventually their journey west leads them to a place to camp for the night and Daniel asks him why he didn’t kill them those men when he had the chance. Dorie responds by saying he doesn’t want to kill the living anymore. That concerns his two companions, who look at each other and wonder who this man really is. As they all start to prepare for bed, Daniel watches John Dorie distrustfully before we cut to black.

Episode 3 – Charms

The start of this episode is our last flashback to after the dam explosion. We see Alicia and Strand hurled from the raft and into the raging waters. They try to swim and stay afloat, with difficulties from the new unleashed flood hindering their efforts. But just as they think they’re about to drown they touch ground under the water and get onto the shore. They’re coughing up water and are exhausted from swimming to shore We’ll be focusing on them for a while until we hear people on the hill above them. It’s some of the Proctors and knowing if they’re found they’ll be dead both start to make their way from the dam. With that we hit the opening title.

Before I continue, this part of my rewrite was the harder to start because after rewatching season three I found that Proctor John left our protagonists in an exceedingly difficult spot because how much he hated the Clarks and (to John’s belief) Strand’s betrayal. Finding out this information he decides he is going to kill all the Clarks and Strand, so I was in a bit of a pickle on how Alicia and Strand (at least) would be still alive after the dam was blown up. I was originally planning on both Alicia and Strand stuck with Proctor John with Alicia learning how to be a better leader while Strand is back to being in more debt because of how botched the takeover of the dam was. Proctor John’s viciousness really threw a wrench into my plans though and I had to figure out how to keep all the Clarks and Strand alive while keeping Proctor John as the main villain.

After the intro credits we return to the present-day Alicia and Strand. Both wear clothes that are worn-down and look like they’re been struggling to survive. We get to see this when they break into a food store (fast food, grocery, etc) and find nothing. Strand is going to be exasperated and say that they got to change up their strategy because everywhere is getting picked clean. Alicia is just as down-trodden as Strand and snaps back that it’s kind of Strand’s fault that they’re in this mess. With so little food between them they’re starting to starve and with so little energy they’re first going to be seen as a little argumentative. They’ll kill a few walkers in the building that are drawn to the noise and in that ruckus, they’ll find a few cans of food, just enough to pass for the night.

When it’s dark and they’re eating food both will be silent for a while. Just as Alicia is about to break the silence Strand is going to interject and forgive her for earlier, saying he knows what it’s like to go hungry. Alicia is going to be a little shocked and chuckle, inquiring when Strand was every hungry/ poor. He’ll go into a little backstory of his life before becoming a rich con and it’ll be a sweet moment. But it won’t last forever and there will be silence between them. To break the silence once more Strand suggests they head north for better climate and Alicia, not knowing anything else to do, agrees. As they finish their meal and start to get ready for bed an infected bumps into the door outside, reaching through the broken glass at them. Alicia gets up and goes over to the infected and kills it, but after she pulls her machete out of its head she notices that a few of its fingers are missing, bitten off by another walker when this one was a living person. And that reminds her of someone… And gives her an idea.

On the next day they’re walking about the town they’re in and Strand is asking for confirmation if Alicia’s new plan is actually going to work (she’ll have told Strand off screen the first time). In response she says that this is what she’s heard and they find a couple of infected walking about. Both dispatch the small group easily and Alicia gets down and nods to herself before removing their fingers. In the previous season the character of Diana (Edwina Findley) that Alicia meets when she goes solo after the ranch, tells Alicia that there are people that would eagerly buy the teeth and fingers of the dead because they can be turned into charms.

Once they get close to the Bazaar Strand gets a little hesitant about going in, commenting on how he’ll be recognized. This pauses the two for a bit before Alicia pulls out a knife and looks directly at Strand, stating she has an idea. It takes a few moments for Strand to realize what’s going on, but when he does he gives a, “Ah shit,” reaction. In the next scene we see Alicia and Strand with a sloppily shaved face (or as best can be shaved with what the two have) approach the Bazaar with their bags of goods. As they get to the entrance both start showing a bit of nervousness since they’re going into Proctor territory. Alicia has never been to the Bazaar and hopefully Strand’s shaved face will hide his identity. When they reach the entrance the teller (who will now have an official name of Lenora based on what the actress has personally named her) and surrender their weapons Lenora asks for what they have to bargain to get into the Bazaar. Alicia tries to offer some gear that they have, but the teller laughs and tells them their offer is a joke. Strand though comes to the rescue and offers one of his personal pieces of jewelry (this might change) and that gives them a day the Bazaar. As they walk into the bazaar we cut to a commercial break.

This means they’re on the clock to sell their zombie teeth and fingers before the end of the day. With that they start to navigate the market to try and find a worthy buyer. It seems Strand’s shave and Alicia’s first time in the Bazaar works and guards see them as normal customers. It takes them a while to find themselves in the proper district of the market for their wares, but eventually they get there and meet the main proprietor, Eduardo Perez. Strand is going to use his bargaining skills to get as good a deal as they can. Eduardo comments that they could have gotten more if they were fresher and maybe next time he can offer them something better. What they have though is enough and a deal is made.

With the result of their trade the two obtain some food in the bazaar and eat. One of them, probably Alicia, will comment on how good the food is while they’re searching for Eduardo. While they’re eating though somebody passes by the two and tries to pickpocket Alicia. This fails when Strand grabs the thief’s wrist and gets stabbed. Alicia chases after the perpetrator and quickly knocks them down and the two get into a fight. This draws in some guards who subdue Alicia and the thief, dragging them off with Strand trying to explain things to get Alicia free. This doesn’t work though and Alicia is dragged off, but not before she tells Strand to keep going. Yes, I’m having Alicia captured once more, but this will be the last time because I do not want her developing into the continually captured woman/ damsel in distress trope.

With Alicia in the Proctors hands (and hopefully with her true identity a secret) Strand leaves the Bazaar with his newly obtained supplies. As he’s making his way to his and Alicia’s temporary abode he’s suddenly accosted by a group of people. They’re much filthier than him and at first Strand tries his usual friendly banter to dissuade them from robbing him. This is when we meet the leader of this group: Melvin. I’m keeping the Vultures from the official season 4, but they’re going to be different in this version. First, they’re going to be called “El Buitre” which is the Spanish name for vultures. Also instead of just being a bunch of lame squatters they’re going to be a group of bandits and scavengers that are somewhat of a pest for the Bazaar because they keep finding ways to get in past security. They’ll be kind of like “Garbage People” from seasons seven and eight in The Walking Dead, expect more “south-western” and being less secretive. For Strand they are dangerous people to make deals with.

Strand is pinned in a corner as Melvin and his gang surround him and they want his supplies and they want his life for dooming one of their own to the Proctors. Strand immediately gets it that the one trying to rob Alicia was one of these gang members. But Strand offers another option: They help him out and they’ll get some of the supplies he trades for, imperiously telling Melvin that they got what they sold in just a day with two people, and that with more people about he can earn more. One of Melvin’s cohorts will remark that this guy has the tongue of a snake and that they shouldn’t trust him, but Strand, desperate to save his life, gives them his all that he got from the Bazaar. This is enough to convince Melvin of the deal and Strand who, with relief on his face, shakes hands with Melvin. With that we cut to a break.

Our last scene of the episode has Alicia in a jail cell. She’s not scared, but she’s not feeling very hopeful on her chances. A guard walks up to her cell and pushes her a tray of food, mostly scraps. Alicia eats it up while the guard calls her a pig in Spanish. A pretty pig, but still a pig. That causes Alicia to stop and glare at her, to which the guard responds that she’ll need that anger when she’s on the fence tomorrow. There is a sudden commotion though and another guard out of frame calls for a hand with “this one.” The first guard walks off but returns with the other guard and both are dragging the thief from before. They are clearly dead, and they’re being dragged out to be disposed of. Alicia’s worried face is the last shot of the episode before we go to black.

Episode 4 – Regrets

This episode will probably be a slightly longer episode than usual since I’m packing a lot of story into this one. There is going to be a lot of emotion in this episode.

With the threat from the Proctors possibly attacking the hotel, Madison, Manuel, and other members of the community are trying to formulate a plan for more supplies. There are a few members though that give different ideas, from leaving the hotel and the Proctors behind to fighting them. Arguments begin to break out, but Manuel quiets it down by saying whatever the case a discussion between the leaders will need to be done before anything else. After this meeting ends though Madison tells Manuel his public announcement isn’t going to last long, they need to decide something fast. Manuel will respond that this leadership thing is something he’s still learning since before everything went to hell he wasn’t anybody important. He’ll add on that maybe Madison should lead since she seems stronger and more capable than him, but Madison denies it, saying she wouldn’t be a good choice. Manuel gives her an odd look before walking out of shot, with the camera zooming in and focusing on Madison’s face before we hit the intro.

After this intro finishes, we cut to Nick, Daniel, and John Dorie are making their way east, the former two following John. As they reach the top of a hill they reach a gas station where some infected are eating some freshly dead people. All three sneak up on the group and kill them before going into the gas station store. There’s not much in there, but there are some supplies worth taking. At a certain point Nick is going to be near the freezer section and when he opens one of the doors an infected will fall on top of him in one of those “Oh shit!” moments that the TWD is full of. No damage is done and Nick will kill the infected by smashing its head in with the freezer door.

John Dorie finds that the people who were killed there also had some car keys on them, so he takes them before going to the car. Daniel will complain once more about John wanting to find his woman, proclaiming she’s probably dead or gone. John will ignore him, but Daniel is becomes very suspicious of him as they all get in the car with John. I don’t want the Nick or Daniel to go along for the ride because purely altruistic reasons since they’re heading back into Proctor territory, but I do want them interested in John Dorie enough to keep them in his journey to find Naomi.

We return to Madison, walking in the shadow of the hotel and looking at the river. She’s silent for a while, watching the river flow and just staring at it. I believe that Madison would be thinking of the dam and being washed away from everyone she cared for. We then see Farah come in on her right and inquiring how Madison is. Madison doesn’t say much, just… thinking. She starts to walk away, Farah following her, making small talk like commenting on wishing to go for a swim. Madison smiles and has a few reminiscences about summer pool parties when she was younger and her kids were young. A little surprised, Farah inquires about Madison’s children, but Maddy’s mention of Nick and Alicia dowers her spirits.

Farah disrupts this though by showing Madison a note she found during the last run: A letter with information on a cache of supplies at a local in the local casino. Madison takes out her walkie talkie and informs Manuel of the information, asking if it’s worth investigating. Manuel says that the only local one had survivors held up in there, but it was attacked by the dead. It hasn’t been investigated yet due to that attack, but Manuel says he can’t spare anyone since the last run attracted the infected and he needs people to stay at the hotel. Madison though, knowing they need supplies, says it might be worth checking out. Just to prepare herself though Madison uses her walkie talkie to call the guard on lookout, who uses binoculars to check on the hotel. He cannot identify any infected on the outside, so it appears at least safe outside. Farah, listening in, asks to come along as well since the note also mentioned a safe.

They head out to the casino, and it appears very deserted when they reach the entrance, apart from two walkers outside. Madison kills them all while Farah follow behind, a little squeamish at seem the blood and guts. Once they walk inside they see there is power still, which Farah explains probably is stored in a generator and solar panels. As they explore the building they look at everything about, seeing some dead bodies about, but nothing recent or in numerous numbers. Madison will make a comment to herself on Strand would love it here. Checking the note Farah hypothesizes where supplies are located. They first go to the office though to check for a key, as Farah believes there most likely will be security of some sorts, whether it be a simple lock or a safe door, guarding the supplies.

As Madison keeps guard, Farah talks a little about how she wishes she was more like Madison: Strong willed, a fighter, and seems to keep things together for others. Madison tries to shrug it off/ deny it in an attempt to push away the topic. In the past we’ve seen the Clark family, especially Madison, fuck things up for almost every other group they’ve encountered, from the stadium to the people on the island to the ranch. Farah, spying that Madison is uncomfortable with her past, tries to cheer her up by saying they’re going to make it, that people of the community seem to think Madison has turned things for the better since they’re finding more supplies, are better fighters, and are working harder than before. But Farah also admits that she came later on after Madison helped take charge. At this point Farah finds the key to the supplies.

Suddenly there is a noise and both women are on alert. Madison tells Farah to stay back while she investigates. As she stalks like a predator towards the source of the noise Madison pulls out her knife. It’s very quiet as she reaches the corner and Madison prepares to make her attack. We get a little prolonging of the attack to raise the tension. As Madison gets ready though something hits her in the face, knocking her out to the ground before getting another blow to the head. That second blow cuts the screen to black/ a break.

Returning to Nick, Daniel, and John Dorie, the car begins to stall and smoke in the front. Disappointed, John parks the car and looks over the engine to see that it’s busted. John starts to resume his journey west when Daniel tells him that this won’t end well. It’s already hot and it’s a long ways from until he finds water or any place safe. Better to honestly just go back to at least the gas station. John Dorie keeps walking though as Nick goes after him, trying to simmer things down as the tension begins to rise. As he puts a hand on John’s shoulder though Nick gets pushed off. Daniel draws this gun as this and John looks at the both of them with frustration and anger, before seeing what he did to Nick and calming down a bit. Just a bit though as he tells them off that Naomi was the person that kept him going and that even if she was dead he needed to say goodbye to her. John goes on to ask whether Nick and Daneil ever felt that way. At this point, all three of them have lost somebody (whether it’s them dying or them leaving) in some way and never got to say goodbye to the people they loved.

But then Nick notices something: Motorcycles coming towards them. From just over the hill they were going to ride up several Proctors on cycles, along with a truck, come down and view the three stranded survivors. All of them are armed and it is too late to hide. One of the Proctors tells them to drop their weapons and not to make any funny moves. Just after they lay down their arms the same Proctor notices Nick and Daniel and smirks at his find. Nick, Daniel, and John are disarmed, tied up, and marched onto the truck, with the leader of this small band declaring that Proctor John was hoping to find Nick.

Back to Madison now, who is tied up in a chair and gagged. Looking around, she can’t find anybody else in the room and tries to break her restraints. As she rattle the chair there noise from behind her as somebody tells her to keep quiet. From behind Madison a man walks up, somebody who looks really ratty and looks to be fallen on hard times. This mysterious man jeers at her, taunting her that she was trying to take all his food. Madison tries to speak through her gag that she thought nobody lived in the casino anymore, but the stranger calls her out as a liar, that everyone wanted what he had. His friends, his family, everyone. Looking about Madison notices a few items in the room: A photo of the captor before the apocalypse (wearing clothes that make him to be a former employee of the casino), a ring on the man’s finger, a backpack with the name “Jason” on it, and… Oh shit, walker heads! Madison and the audience quickly realize that some time ago this man’s wife and son died and the loss has broken his mind.

This pause to inspect her environment is ended as the man pulls a knife on her, rambling on how it’s everyone for themselves. Madison, to placate the situation, tells the man he can let her go and that’ll be it, they won’t bother him anymore. This seems to enrage the man further, cutting a little into Madison’s neck with his knife. The rambling continues and there are hints that this man wanted to stay in the casino, it was safe and “they” didn’t realize it. But then “they” (which is probably his family) took some supplies and tried to break away. But they were caught by the man and accidentally beaten to death, even the son. Madison also hears mutters on how, “I was doing what was best for you,” which causes Madison to realize this could have been her if things were different.

The insane monologue is cut when there’s a noise from down below. Both Madison and the former casino employee freeze and the employee leaves the room, closing and locking it behind him to investigate the disturbance. Not long after he leaves there’s a few clicks at the door, a long pause, then a louder click as the door opens up. It’s Farah! She starts to undo Madison’s bindings, whispering how she saw Madison get taken and she didn’t know what to do at first. She had to distract the person though after he took Madison into the office and threw a glass off the balcony. But a few seconds after Farah explains this Madison yells through her gag and Farah, looking behind her, is just in time from missing the downward swing of the knife.

Farah is now in a fight for her life as she dodges the slashes of the casino guy. Not being a very good fighter, she mostly dodges and pushes things like a chair at the guy to slow him down. The fight continues for a bit in the office until the runs out and the attacker chases her onto the second floor, where she grabs a piece of loose metal tube that was part of the railing and holds it out in front of her in an attempt to threaten him. The noise draws in a few walkers on the ground floor and they amass beneath the two combatants. Meanwhile in the office Madison is working as hard as she can to finish breaking free from her bonds. Outside the room the maniac is yelling how everyone takes over and over again while Farah tries to dodge and deflect the blows rained down on her. After a particularly loud scream of rage from the man Madison breaks free and starts to run to Farah. As she gets on the same pathway as the other two the man turns around. He starts to raise his knife and run at Madison when Farah swings the metal pipe and it his him in the head.

Stunned, he falls onto the balcony rails and loose bolts below them begin to lose against the weight. He is bleeding from the head, but like a wild animal he looks up at Farah and starts to lunge at her. Farah screams and swings again, hitting him again in the head. This blow though hits him harder against the rail and he flips over. Failing to grasp the rail in his dazed state, the attack falls to the ground floor on his back, breaking bones on impact and screaming at the pain. A few seconds later the walkers below begin to descend and devour the man. Farah, horrified by what she’s done, drops the metal rod and falls backwards, hands to her mouth and tears in her eyes. Madison looks at the man being devoured and Farah, shocked at the whole situation. She has killed her share of people, but this was Farah’s first time. And… she was so gentle with others…

After that we cut to black, then to Nick, Daniel, and Dorie in the truck at night/ near night. There is a bit of silence at first before Nick asks the truck driver why he is still alive and not gunned down as soon as they saw him. The driver responds that Proctor John would prefer to have Nick alive, that he has something special planned for him. Nick jokes that Proctor John likes to change his mind a lot, which earns him a hard hit to the face from the passenger’s rifle butt. John Dorie calls out that Nick is just a kid, don’t be so rough on him. The passenger growls and spits out the window, explaining that this “kid” has caused Proctor John a lot of trouble. Him and his mom. She should probably be killed as well, but PJ hasn’t given any orders yet on what to do with her. The passenger continues on, talking directly to Nick that him threatening the Proctors at the dam has gotten a few other folks around the South thinking that they don’t need the Proctors anymore. Trouble has been brewing all over now and Nick is going to need to be made an example of. He ends with telling the prisoners to keep their mouths shut or else they’ll be given the same fate.

All three sit silently in the back, with Nick and Daniel still taking in that Madison is still alive. Daniel eventually comments that it doesn’t sound that surprising that Madison is still alive, that woman is hard to get rid of. Nick doesn’t show it, but he’s a little uneasy at that comment, seeing how Madison has kept causing destruction wherever she and the rest of the Clarks have gone. In the meanwhile we see Nick is trying to inconspicuously loosen his bindings. To hide his feelings he muses that this most likely means that Alicia and Strand have made it out as well. The mention of Strand brings a look of anger to Daniel’s face, expressing himself by swearing in Spanish by calling Strand something very nasty (I don’t know much Spanish, so I’d need some help with this). Daniel then continues by asking Nick if he’d want to go find her and Alicia, to which Nick replies that he should probably do so or else she’ll burn down everything to find him. Nick will then go on to talk about one of his past drug experiences and how Madison bailed him out.

Daniel somewhat smiles at this, commenting that despite how short of a time he’s spent with the Clarks he knows how dedicated a parent Madison is. He’ll continue on that he and Madison have some similarities, that they’d do anything for their families. But unlike Madison he has nobody left. He never got to say goodbye to or bury his wife and his daughter died just before he could see her again. Yet it seems somebody or something wants him alive still because he just seems to keep living. “I should have died back home. I should have died beside my wife. I should have died in that fire on the estate. I should have died on my knees before that lightning came. I should be dead. So why am I still alive?” John Dorie chimes in at this point, saying he is alive because there are people that he loves and who love him. Something inside Daniel snaps then and he starts to yell at Dorie, calling him an idiot for just hoping he’ll find what he wants and that his Naomi is probably dead and he’s chasing a stupid dream. The overwhelming anger in Daniel causes him to lunge at Dorie, kicking him ferociously as Dorie tries to defend himself.

The commotion causes the driver to yell and signal the other Proctors to stop. Enough is enough to them and they slow down while Nick tries to break up the fight. Once the vehicle stops the Proctors come out and properly break it up before throwing Daniel to the ground. They start to kick Daniel while he’s laying down and Nick is yelling at them to stop. He gets a punch in the face. John is recovering a bit from the blows he’s received, but also joins Nick in telling them to stop. At this the Proctors not kicking Daniel raise their guns and Daniel, not really beaten up, lays on the ground crying, whimpering, and quickly laughing. The leader of this small group of Proctors leans down and asks Daniel if he wants to die and Daniel, tears in his eyes and, laughing a little louder, cries out that yes, he does want to die. He’s had enough.

One of the Proctors asks what they should do with Daniel, that Proctor John wants him in some way. Another one answers it doesn’t matter as he raises a machete to decapitate Daniel. Proctor John did say he was especially dangerous, possibly too dangerous to keep alive. Nick tries to fight his restraints and John Dorie is looking horrified and conflicted as he wanted the execution unfold. But as it seems Daniel is about to meet his fate there are several gunshots in rapid succession and some of the Proctors are dead and others are injured. The one with the machete had several fingers shot off and he screams in pain. Looking over, Daniel sees that John Dorie had to pulled out his revolver from the guard next to him and unloaded the entire cylinder. After a few seconds of shock Daniel gets his head back on and disarms and kills the Proctor that held him while Nick, free of his bonds, takes care of the remaining proctors. One of them however gets on his motorcycle and starts speeding away. Daniel starts shooting at the fleeing man, but it’s too dark to see and the in the distance they hear the undead are coming their way. John is kneeling before one of the dead Proctors before getting up and following the other two to one of the abandoned trucks. Nick hops into the driver’s seat with the looted key and starts up the engine, unlocking the doors for Daniel and John Dorie. He then beings driving down the road the escaping Proctor has taken.

We return to Madison and Farah finishing loading supplies into their own truck. They’re mostly silent, Farah too distraught to say much while Madison is having a hard time trying to come up with things to say. This silent is going to continue all through the drive back to the hotel, while they’re unloading supplies. Eventually the two split up, with Madison conversing with Manuel, who is angry at her going off on her own with just one other person, but also a little thankful she came back with some supplies. The conversation will continue some with Madison telling Manuel about there was a bit of trouble and how Farah killed the crazy guy, which shocks Manuel. Madison comments that Farah shouldn’t have had to do it, but she did it to save her and eventually she was going to have to kill somebody. It’s just the world they live in now. She leaves the Manuel after a while of more talking and she walks about the hotel some.

During her walk though Madison hears the soft noise of crying. Upon investigation she discovers it’s Farah in a small room. The Arabic woman is sobbing her heart out, crying into her knees as she pulls herself tight into a fetal position. Upon hearing Madison’s footsteps she looks up, notices Madison, then turns away, demanding she be left alone. Madison ignores this and stays in the room, trying to console Farah. We’re going to have them go back and forth for a while about Farah’s actions at the casino and Madison trying to help her get through her first killing of a human. Eventually Farah will make a comment on how Madison could know about doing bad things after what she’s done for the hotel.

Madison is quiet at first, then sits down next to Farah. She tells her Arabic friend that she used to be a horrible person. She killed people during these end times, yes, but she also did bad things before. It only took her until recently that she realized how awful she was and what could come if she kept being that bad person. Here I want to fully show that Madison’s dream in the season three finale was a warning that tells her what she’ll become if she kept being who she was in the previous seasons. She’ll go really in depth about her actions in the previous seasons and before the show began, which will shock Farah, who thought Madison was a pretty good person. As she wraps up though Madison will tell Farah that she doesn’t want to be that previous person anymore and she’ll be there for Farah to make sure she doesn’t become a bad person herself. Farah will offer a small, teary smile a little and thank Madison for her help. They’ll then hug close, with Madison patting Farah’s back. We cut to black/ a break.

For the last time this episode we return to Nick, Daniel, and John Dorie, the first of which still driving the truck. There is silent for a bit until Daniel angrily mutters at John Dorie that he didn’t have to save him. John is silent for a moment, replying that he knew that. Daniel bursts forth with anger once more, demanding an answer as to why John still did it. Sudden bellow startles Nick, causing the truck to swerve a bit before he regains control, then he reprimands Daniel. Dorie, shaken at first, puts on a stern expression and tells Daniel that before he met Naomi he had not had anybody to talk to in a long time. When she left he hadn’t had a friendly conversation or interaction with anybody in an even longer time. That is until he met Daniel and Nick. And Nick was hesitant on Dorie’s chances to finding Naomi while Daniel was openly critical.

Dorie then reveals that at that moment where Daniel started pounding on him in the truck and telling him Naomi was dead that he felt like it was time to give up. But then he saw something that changed his mind. With that he pulls out the revolver that he plucked from the Proctor before saving Daniel. The old veteran seems nonplussed, saying it’s the same one he had before. But Dorie continues that it’s not before pulling out an identical revolver. He goes on to explain that he had shown Naomi how to use one before she disappeared, in which she took that revolver with her. That must mean she has to be alive. Shaking his head, Daniel rebukes Dorie’s idea, saying that they probably killed her. Dorie, still unable to go down from his high, says that even if that’s the case he going to find her and say goodbye one last time if he does.

Trying to control his frustration, Daniel still calls out Dorie for saving him. Dorie has a proper answer this time though, saying that even if they are dead they wouldn’t want him to give up. He’s going to die eventually, but would his wife and daughter be happy to know he just gave up like he is now. He is alive because deep down he knows that’s what they’d want. Once more Daniel feels about ready to explode with anger, but Dorie’s words seem to affect him more than he realized because he can’t seem to do it. Dissolving into a mood of anger and hopelessness he begins to question what he is going to do then. Nick comes in here and says they’ll help him through it. “You and I don’t know yet, but we’ll find something.” Daniel is silent at this, but a hint of an appreciation appears on his face. Dorie puts a gentle hand on his shoulder and smiles at him, assuring Daniel he’ll help him too.

In the last scene of this episode, it’s full night now and Madison is sitting about near the wall. Farah joins her, having mostly calmed down from her breakdown, but the events earlier in the day and Madison’s confessions have changed her in some way. Sitting next to Madison she thanks her for her words and the two chat about times before the end of the world. Farah talks about how her family used to run a grocery store and some of the memories there while Madison reminiscences about her time as a teacher and Nick and Alicia. Then Farah ponders if the world will ever return to “normal.” Madison breaks that dream immediately, saying that what has happened now will stay with them for years to come. Farah becomes a little despondent, but Madison continues by saying they can still make this world something worth living for. That does bring a small smile to Farah’s face and she wonders about having something like a friendly grocery store like before.

Before Madison can reply Farah stops midway through her talk and points at something beyond the. There is somebody out there. Madison picks up her weapons and sneak up on it, telling Farah to go to the guards for backup. Madison sneaks up and hits the mysterious figure as it skulls about the wall. Before she strikes another blow she looks down notices who it is. It’s Strand! Before Madison hit him Strand was already hurt, but that blow seems to have knocked out much of his strength and he softly mutters her name before falling unconscious. That ends the episode.

I must add here that I’m not planning on bringing back Walker or Lucianna. I believe both characters think they have more important things in their lives than the Clarks (especially Walker) and so I’m letting season 3 be the end of their character journeys. I feel bad still because I love Michael Greyeyes, he’s a really good actor and I loved his performance as Qaletaqa Walker, who was very willing to do awful things to protect his people, yet could still be viewed as a good guy. Lucianna didn’t have much of a character to her though, even before the horrendous seasons when Morgan Jones crossed over, so I’m thinking she’d probably have more of an adventure down in Mexico than in Mexi-Cali with our protagonists.

Episode 5 –Lizard People

We begin the episode with Alicia going through a montage of her in her cell, eating breakfast, on the fence fighting walkers, eating a meager dinner, and sleeping. This goes on for a few cycles, with her looking more ragged and torn up with each one. This is going to keep going for a while until one night she’s thrown into her cell, completely drained. Laying down with barely any energy she’s going to hear some commotion and see a bearded man thrown into the cell opposite of her. One of the guards that throws the old man in is grumbling on how this lunatic keeps getting out of his cell and why they should keep bringing them back. The other guard reprimands the other, saying Proctor John wants this one for something big. As the two walk off Alicia crawls to the bars of her cage to peer through and see the person on the other side. As we zoom in on the dark cage we hear some chuckling, followed by some insane laughter, in which we switch the camera back to Alicia’s face, which is full of apprehension. Then we hit the title sequence.

When we return it’s the beginning of dawn and Alicia is laying in bed, asleep but we can clearly see she’s wishing for a more comfortable rest. Suddenly there is noise from the cell across from her and we hear the newly captured man mumbling about the government covering it all up. This awakens Alicia, who groans at being awaken far too early and telling whoever is making the noise to quiet down. This does the opposite though as the man hits the bars of his cell and amplifies his ramblings, fully awakening Alicia and the other prisoners. One of these other inmates calls out, telling this man named “Brian” to shut up, none of what he is saying is real. He’s just a cracked up nutcase.

The man is named Brian Jacklin and we find out he’s kind of a conspiracy nut. Like he’s nuttier than squirrel poo and believes in aliens poisoning our yogurt and that cats are really aliens want to take over the planet and other weird conspiracies. Despite being looney though he’s very capable of surviving on his own and seems to know a few things that might be useful for our main group. I wanted to create a crazy, old hermit character, somebody who is insane, but somehow becomes an asset to the team later on. In terms of character think a slightly more sane version of Old Man McGucket from Gravity Falls.

As the delusions continue Brian tries to convince the other inmates his suspicions are real, they got to believe him. Eventually one of the inmates throws something like a loose rock at Brian and backs up, adding threats that they’ll be brainwashed in no time with that attitude. Alicia, bored out of her mind, tries to ignore Brian’s fears on about how this virus was a part of a secret government plot made by lizard people. At first Alicia is about to dismiss this as well and try to get some extra sleep when Brian adds that that was the reason the army bases nearby were gearing up for all this, that they knew the people were going to get this mystery flu that turned them all into puppets. This perks up Alicia’s interest and she tries to question Brian for me. Brian, happy to finally have somebody listen to him, explains more that the nearby army base had started to gather up guns and all sorts of things, but some of them must not have been fully integrated in the plan because that base became infected with the dead.

Before any more is said the door to the cells is kicked open and one of the guards stomps in, hitting the walls with a club to wake everyone up, much to the dismay of all the prisoners. These people are taken are given scraps of food and are told to eat up because in a short time (15 to 30 minutes) they’re going back on the fence. As they are walking past Alicia overhears one of the guards saying that Brian will also be on the fence because the dead are more of a problem than usual and they can’t figure out why. The other guard says that Proctor John won’t be happy, but doesn’t try to dissuade the decision as we have seen Alicia getting more and more tired through the montage at the start of the episode. As Alicia begins to eat her paltry meal she watches Brian, trying to judge whether this man is coocoo or not. Even though she has no way of getting out, Brian seems to be able to. She could possibly use him as an ally, or at least as a ways out. And hearing about the possible origins of the virus, even from a raving lunatic, is somewhat interesting. It at the least keeps her mind from going mad with boredom.

After quickly finishing her small breakfast Alicia begins to scratch at the walls of her cell, hoping to herself that Strand will get her out of this hellhole. This isn’t enough to occupy her mind though so she looks around to see if any guards are about. Seeing none she goes to the bars of her cages and quietly calls out to Brian. It takes a few attempts, but Brian goes to the edge of his cell to look at Alicia. She then asks Brian how he gets out, to which Brian doesn’t say anything, merely glaring at her. Alicia keeps trying for a while until Brian calls her out, demanding to know how he can trust her. She might be “one of them.” When she asks who she could possibly be, Brian mutters, “You ain’t fooling me, lizard lady.” Alicia is about to shout in anger at this crazy old man when the guards return and start ushering the prisoners out onto the fence. Brian and Alicia are chained right next to each other as they’re escorted out, with Brian jittery around Alicia and Alicia frustrated by Brian’s insanity. We cut to black then (and a commercial break).

We return to see the prisoners outside and being chained from each other to the fence. Alicia is chained next to Brian and once everyone is chained up the guards give them the usual orders: Don’t try to run or they’ll get shot, do your job and you’ll keep getting fed, no messing with the others, and no complaining. It’s a set of rules Alicia has had to hear for a while and she’s memorized it by heart, much to her annoyance. Once they’re left alone all the prisoners stand their, waiting for the dead to come. It doesn’t take long until a few start going for the walls and the prisoners have to fight them off. Alicia, with her broken machine gun barrel (yeah I’m bringing that crappy piece of junk from the main show to this, but it won’t remain her signature weapon I promise) kills a few of the infected while Brian, with long hammer, kills a couple of his own. That is until one of the undead gets too close and tries to grapple with Brian. Thankfully Alicia dispatches the creature off before it can do any harm to Brian. Instead of receiving a word of thanks though Brian looks at her suspiciously before resuming his killing.

When there are lulls in the undead Alicia looks over her chains, but knows she doesn’t have the skill to break free. She also notices Brian doing the same thing with his chains, but while he too isn’t able to free himself it is clear to Alicia that he has better knowledge of breaking free than she does. We’ll be seeing them and the other prisoners defending the wall of the bazaar in tiny time skips until it’s mid afternoon, to which somebody comes in and replaces the people on the wall with a new batch of prisoners. As they’re put into their cells Alicia is going to stare at Brian for a bit until Brian notices and tries to hide himself with the thin blanket on his bed. Too tired from the day’s manual labor, Alicia lays down on her bed and tries to get a bit of rest. There is a chance she might be put back on the night shift as well. As Alicia achingly squirms on her poor excuse of a bed she scratches another mark on her wall, indicating another day she’s been imprisoned.

Later on, the prisoners start getting delivered their evening meals. As Alicia receives her food though she notices that Brian is not given any food. Instead, two guards pull him out of his cell as he fights to break free. Thrashing in their grips, Brian has a look of defiance and fear on his face as he’s dragged out of shot. Alicia goes to the bars of her cell and sees the trio walk through an open door that’s slammed loudly, blocking the three from view. They aren’t taken far from there though because Alicia begins to near grunts and cries of pain. Brian is being tortured and Alicia can hear him sobbing out and saying things like, “I ain’t saying nothing, you filthy lizard people!” It keeps going on, with screams of pain and yells of anger from the guards and Alicia keeps hearing all this and insane laughter from Brian. As this continues to escalate, we zoom in on Alicia’s face until we cut to black.

Time has passed and it’s now full night. Alicia is almost about to fall asleep when she hears a door open. Turning on her cot she sees Brian, batter with nasty bruises over his body, being thrown carelessly into his cell. Looking through the bars she sees Brian having a bit of difficulty getting up into his own bed. The pitiful sight is enough for her to walk up to the bars of her own cage and inquire on Brian’s health. Brian however is still defiant and tells Alicia, the lizard lady, to go away. Enough is enough to Alicia though and Alicia tries to explain that she isn’t a lizard person or whatever Brian believes. She’s human and doesn’t want to hurt him. Brian snaps back, demanding proof of her humanity. The question stumbles Alicia at first. How can she prove she’s human to a man who’s clearly cracked? Only one thing comes to her mind in her tired state. Grabbing a damaged part of her cell bars she cuts the palm of one of her hands and shows it to Brian.

Brian looks shocked at Alicia’s attempt to prove her humanity and purity, now looking at her with more curiosity than suspicion. Trying to stay true and strong, Alicia refuses to acknowledge the cut, but that doesn’t last too long and she cringes in pain and holds her wrist. Wrapping a piece of cloth (probably torn from her shirt) over the wound, she winces as the cut bleeds and slightly soaks the makeshift bandage. This sign of weakness seems to fully prove to Brian that Alicia has a chance of being trusted though and he acknowledges this. He also adds that she must be human or else her blood would have been blue and would have bubbled if it hit the ground. Alicia, grimacing in pain, chuckles at that remark, tightening the self-made bandage around her hand. Brian adds on that now isn’t the time to talk, it’s late and there are others who might be listening. Nodding, just wanting to go to bed now, Alicia heads to her bunk, feeling exhausted by today and the fact she’ll be doing the exact same thing in short period of time. We see her lay down in bed and try to rest as best as she can.

Lingering on the same camera shot and look at Alicia’s face we cut to morning and the loud wakeup of the guards. The pain of her wound troubled her all night and gave her restless dreams, leaving Alicia in a drained state. She eats her food in a slight daze until one of the guards hits their club against her cage bars, startling her into full wakefulness. The guard comments that Alicia won’t have to worry much longer about working the fence. Proctor John is on his way back and hearing that she’s been locked up neatly in her cage he’ll want a few words with her. The memories of Proctor John threatening Alicia, her family, and Strand returns to her mind and her face pales a little at what Proctor John has planned for her. As the cell door finishes opening with a clang, we keep the same camera shot of the back of Alicia’s head and switch to the hot outside next to the fence.

The guards have just finished their instructions to the debtors and are leaving, telling them they’ll be back to collect them in a few hours. Just before the guards leave and close the door we hear the sound of the first group of infected coming. There were already a couple of infected already on the scene, but this is the first group they face this day. The people on the wall are going to fight them off for a while, but we’ll see that this time a few of them are going to be bitten/ overrun. Alicia and Brian will have a hard time as well, but Alicia will have worse off because she discovers that the wound she inflicted upon herself last night is causing her grip on her weapon to be weaker. The pain so harsh and with nothing to properly treat it the twinges of discomfort throw her off frequently. Eventually though a swing and hit will hurt so bad that she loses her grip on her weapon and is soon pinned down by an infected.

Fighting off this one is difficult because she can’t hold it as firmly with her injury. It is trying to either bite the wrist/ arm that has the bleeding hand or her shoulder, eager to taste the already leaking blood. As the infected is about to bite her there is a loud crunch and the infect on top of her is knocked off by Brian’s hammer, hitting the infected’s head like he was golfing. As Brian offers her a hand, Alicia gets up she notices that Brian had been having her back while she was down because there are a lot of dead infected lying around her that she clearly hadn’t killed. A little shocked, Alicia stares for a moment before immediately coming to her senses, thanking Brian as she brains an infected in the head. After a few more hits we cut away to black.

Our last scene this episode starts with Alicia, Brian, and the remaining members of the chain killing their final walkers as the next group for the wall are brought out and switched. Everyone looks a messy, Alicia and Brian just covered in blood and guts. A few of newly dead chain members are cut off and dumped onto sidewalk. As Alicia walks in the door she hears a guard outside call out to move the bodies. After the door closes we hear one of proctors escorting them back to their cells mutter on how things are getting worse, hoping that Proctor John gets here soon because if it keeps going on as it is the infected will soon overrun the bazaar. Or at least they’ll have to actually guard the place and use their guns instead of using these tramps and thieves. This last comment will causes Alicia to glare at the back their head.

Marched into their cells, they are all soon fed their usual meals and Alicia and Brian sit opposite from one another, eating their meals. Eventually Alicia thanks Brian for saving her life, causing Brian to smile is semi-broken smile and reply, “No need to thank me, got to keep us human safe.” Alicia will smile in return at this and then whisper as best as she can him if he has a plan to break out. Brian shushes her before replying as quietly as he can, “We wait.” We look at Alicia for a few seconds, long enough for her to puzzle it out before realize that the time is not yet come. Knowing that forcing the issue might bring more harm than good Alicia nods and continues to eat. Yet as she does she looks at the doors the guards use and knows that she is on time limit right now. She doesn’t know when it ends, but soon Proctor John will be back at the bazaar and when he’s back there will be nothing to save her from his wrath.

Episode 6 – Deals

We’ll begin this episode with Strand sitting at a table, holding a hot mug of (probably) coffee. He has bruise on his forehead, and it seems he’s had time to wake up after being knocked out. As he takes a sip, we hear Manual and Madison arguing from a ways away (probably behind a door). Switching to their perspective we see Manuel arguing that they can’t take in anybody more, there isn’t enough resources. Madison, on the other hand, disagrees by saying that she knows Strand and that he has been resourceful in the past. Her argument though is pretty weak and Manuel interjects by stating that everyone else will agree with him if Strand has nothing to offer up and since he had nothing important on him, that’ll probably happen. Besides, after Madison’s last time two times outside the walls, there isn’t much left to scavenge. Knowing this to be true, Madison concedes, but does ask for a bit of time with Strand to find out some information. Manuel agrees, saying she has one day before he has to go. Once he leaves Madison turns around, opens the door to Strand’s room, walk in before closing the door behind her. When the door closes shut we cut to the intro and begin the episode.

Our first shot after that is a close up of Strand’s upper body as he takes another sip of his beverage before looking up and commenting on Madison not changing much since last time. Somewhat ignoring that poke at her, Madison starts off her interrogation by asking the obvious question: Where is Alicia? Strand tells her that she is safe. When Madison comments that she isn’t with him Strand corrects himself, adding that last time he saw her she was alive, but she needs to be rescued. Before Madison can reply Strand holds up a hand to stop her and continues by telling her about her plan to go back to El Bazar and make money so they can survive. There isn’t much to scavenge, adding on that that’s something Madison clearly knows. Madison, frustrated that Strand left Alicia behind, snaps back that since he’s been so observant that he knows what will happen if he has nothing to offer. This does dissipate Strand’s good humor of seeing Madison alive again and he continues by saying he might have something to offer. Grunting and rubbing the bump on his head as Strand asks Madison for another beverage. He needs to be fully awake to make any further deals.

Madison goes to refill his mug. As she refills it Strand asks if she’d seen Nick or Daniel at all. The mention of her other child desponds Madison, reply that she hadn’t before returning with his drink, as well as one for herself. Strand assures her that Nick is tough and is probably still alive, but doesn’t mention Daniel at all. Madison knows that Strand shot Daniel, as he told her himself before trying to get her and Nick off the dam before Proctor John found them. They leave it at that though, both in conflict between Daniel’s high survival skills and his wounds from the dam. Strand breaks the silence by talking about going another round at using a hotel, to which Madison says she and her group only renovated it, that Manuel and his people found it first. Strand will comment that they’ve all done a great job, but Madison thinks enough is enough, that he’s stalling. She tells Strand to finish his drink because he has a deal to make.

After a commercial break we come back to Madison and Strand leaving from the front doors of the hotel, Strand leading. One of the guards as a gun on him, Manual also watching the pair with a look of distrust. Strand will comment on “friendly” her people seem to be, to which Madison will comment that they have good reasons to be so. After walking out the gates they travel a bit into town before get to an abandoned building, something like a home improvement store. Strand calls out before walking in and as they enter two El Buitres come out and ask for weapons. Strand assures Madison it’ll be okay and she disarms with Strand, but she’s on edge. These new people don’t look very savory. Both are brought to Melvin, who asks if Strand has found any supplies. Strand regretfully tells them that no he hasn’t, but quickly adds on that he does have a plan, that Madison and her people can help them out. Madison becomes outraged, about to yell out that she made no such deal. She’s only able to get Strand’s name out before he shushes her, giving her a serious look that says, “Look, please trust me on this.” Melvin does notice the anger on Madison’s face, but Strand is quickly able to bring the attention back onto him. He starts to explain with Madison’s community they’ll be able take El Bazar, along with all the stuff the Proctors have taken.

Melvin will squint at this, reminding Strand that their deal was that he’d help them get supplies, not fight a war. Strand now really shows off this negotiating skills, insinuating that they don’t just need food and water, they also have terrible clothes, need medical supplies, and could really use a bath (to name a few). “You don’t want to just survive, you want to live! I can help you live!” Melvin hears the “we” and Strand reiterates by say, “I can help you live!” Melvin is still on guard, but he then turns his gaze upon Madison, inquiring what Madison has to offer. She answers that she has guns, troops, and have been in the bazaar before. We get some time for Melvin to ponder this before answering that he knows Madison might not be willing to help, but he’ll give them time to get an answer. How much time? End of the day? Strand tries to interject by saying that’s barely any time, but Melvin buts in by saying that Strand still has some debt to pay off. He stole from them and he needs to make it up. With that done both he and Madison are escorted out of the building and the scene cuts to black as they’re taken outside.

Our next scene is Madison and Strand walking back up to the entrance of the hotel, the former of which is furious over Strand putting them in another predicament. Strand is going to try and reassure her that with the El Buritres they’ll be able to rescue Alicia and solve the looming supply crisis. Madison snaps at Strand, berating him that this wasn’t about Alicia, but about this group. Strand is going to look at her shocked and a little puzzling, commenting that he thought she would be more than happy to rescue her daughter. Madison will affirm that but adds that Alicia’s rescue wasn’t a part of the plan. The plan was to help her people. “And your daughter isn’t your people?” Strand will inquire, leaving Madison silent unable to find an answer.

Before she can give on though Manuel comes in and escorts the both of them to meeting room where other important members of the community are waiting. Here Strand will outline his plan by partnering with the El Buitres to raid the El Bazar. All the counsel members besides Madison and Manuel cry out in anger and it lasts for a long moment until Manuel restores order. Our main community leader questions Strand how the hell he thinks they’ll follow his plan. Strand is ready for this though, talking about his time on the road scavenging compared to what the Bazaar has. Using his negotiation skills, he makes comparisons to the other survivors he’s met in the past few months, along with the struggles at the hotel. Furthermore, he goes on to talk about how the Bazaar is having difficulties with the undead as more and more begin to make their way south, that if nothing is done the bazaar will be lost and all those resources left for anyone to pick.

This note will cause some concern about the room and Strand takes note by questioning if they too have seen more infected of late. He’ll get the reaction he was hoping for and elaborates that he’s been to El Bazar many times and his last visit has shown him that the place still has the same weaknesses as before. Not only that, but he adds that they’re not going in like a marching army, this will be a quick attack to raid as much as possible. Here though Manuel sits up and informs Strand that the Proctors already have the hotel under their foot and his plan is going to cause them to really go after this community. In response Strand will ask if his plan is to do nothing about it, hope it’ll all go away and that they all can just live with it. This puts Manuel is a tight spot because the Proctors have already been a problem already and have taken so much. Go for the kill, Strand says that once he’s back at the bazaar he’ll be able to contact some of the big members there and get them in on the scheme.

This comment has Madison skeptical and makes her wonder if Strand is pushing it too far. If the plan is a go ahead and something goes wrong everyone of them, along with Alicia, will be killed. Strand is on a role now though so she keeps her silence. The room is quiet after Strand is finished and it takes several seconds before Strand delivers his final words:

“Before everything went to Hell I had a partner. He and I worked together and made a lot of money. One of the things we learned is that nothing is ever still. The market is continually changing, and an offer one moment might be gone the next. We have all been given an offer that if we lose… we’ll lose a lot. A whole lot. Look, I have my own personal reasons why I want this, but part of that is to make sure that a whole lot of people don’t die. As well as some people really dear to me.”

At this he looks at Madison, reminding her of when he tried to save her and her family back on the dam. He took a few beatings for it as well and even had to kill somebody, but that was a real selfless act from him. He then returns his gaze upon Manuel, who is trying to keep up his leader-like appearance and figure out if Strand is trying to deceive him. As we are given a side shot of Strand looking up at Manuel we cut to black.

After our last commercial break of the episode we cut to Strand, sitting on her bed with his head in his hands. It is night time now soon we hear the door open and see Madison step in. Looking up, the two stare at the other silently before Madison breaks the silence by declaring at she’s not doing this for Alicia. Strand will say that he knows that, but Madison will interrupt by telling him that it’s not. Or at least she doesn’t want it to. She’ll continue that after the dam she realized she was doing a lot of things wrong to protect her kids. She can’t be that old Madison anymore. Nick and Alicia had begun to look at her like she was a monster and at the dam she realized that she was. This is a new life for her and if she’s going to save Alicia she cannot return to how she was before. Strand will look at her in a new light at this and remark that he was wrong, that she has changed since last time. Madison will give Strand a real smile at this and Strand will ask for a confirmation that the plan is a go ahead, to which Madison will confirm.

We cut away to morning, still mostly dark, with some members of the hotel community and the El Buitres meeting close to the wall with Strand as mediator. He’ll tell Melvin that the hotel has agreed to help, but with each group getting half the supplies taken. Melvin however wants more than half, two-thirds. Before Manuel can say anything though Strand will come in and tell Melvin that this is the best deal he’ll get. They’re in the same position as his group. Melvin will glare at Strand for this, but this argue will cause him to agree and shake hands with Manuel. As they shake hands we get closeups on each leader’s face, then Strand, then finally Madison. This then transitions (still on her face) to all of them riding in a vehicle, followed by other vehicles containing select members of the hotel and the El Buitres. The final shot of the episode is all the cars driving down the road as the sun starts to be see rising in the east.

Episode 7 – Family Matters

Starting this episode we see Nick, Daniel, and John Dorie still driving west and as they’re driving we see them pass a sign that points eastwards towards Yuma, around 20 miles back. It’s around mid-day at this point and they’ve all rested in the truck during the night and made good progress during the early morning. But the sun is up high now the temperature is getting intense. They’re starting to get close to running out of water at this point in their journey. Nick will comment on this to start the episode and wipe sweat from his face. Daniel will add on, questioning of John Dorie is leading them to their deaths and that they should have taken less barren route. Dorie, unwilling to lose the hope he obtained from finding Naomi’s revolver, assures them that this won’t be much longer. Nick will add on though that it doesn’t matter how much longer if they don’t find water. As they keep moving west though Daniel spots a river. With how hot it’s getting Nick drives off the road towards the underside the bridge. As he does this we’ll get a shot of the truck moving out of sight, as well as a vast view of the desert and mountains in front of them.

After the intro we see Alicia and Brian on the wall, killing infected together. They’re becoming a pretty good team, with Alicia even killing a walker about to grab Brian. Soon after this they, along with the others are their chain, are changed out for a new group. Even though they are getting better we see that the dead are not lessening in number and corpses are all over the street. Dragged into their cells they are left in silence and as the guards continue down the line putting prisoners back into their cells Brian leans against his cell bars and whispers as best as he can that it’s almost time to escape. For everyone in the show it’s been a few days since the previous episode, enough time for everyone to start getting closer together geographically. Alicia is confused, saying that when she asked not too long ago (AKA the last episode) he said it just wasn’t time. Brian will wiggle his eyebrows and grin, saying that that wasn’t the right time, but now it is.

Just then the guards come back their way and both lean back from the bars of their cells, pretending like they hadn’t just been talking. This doesn’t fool the guards though and one of them asks what they were discussing. Brian shakes his head and denies everything, but Alicia, acting more reasonably, tells them that Brian was just thanking her for having his back. The guard snorts at this, telling Alicia that she won’t be saving him for much longer once Proctor John comes back. They then unlock Brian’s door, who pretends to try and make a break for it once more, but not as hard as previous times since he told Alicia it’s almost time for the escape. The guard give him a few small whacks before dragging him off, cursing and hollering as they drag him off to the torture room.

After a time we hear the door open. We’re still stuck on Alicia waiting about, even as we hear a familiar voice say her name. Turning around she sees it’s Strand. She asks the obvious, “What are you doing here?” question and he’ll reply that he and Madison are going to be busting her out. Hearing that her mom is around she inquires where she is, to which Strand will say he can’t say. This doesn’t relieve Alicia’s worries, saying that she doesn’t want her mom about or to save her. Irritated, Strand says that he doesn’t want her locked up either, to which Alicia will respond that whatever Madison has planned she’s going to get people killed. Strand will call her out, telling her to get off her high horse and this isn’t just about her, Madison is trying to help other people out. Alicia however still thinks that unless Madison is determined to save everyone in the bazaar she isn’t going to following her anymore. Plus, since she has Brian to help her get out, she threatens Strand that if he doesn’t leave and tell Madison to leave her out of her plans she’ll notify the guards and Proctor John will soon have him for himself. Strand, aghast by her behavior, asks what’s wrong with her. She’ll reply that her mom has done nothing but destroy since the world ended and she doesn’t want any more part of it. So Strand, knowing that this won’t go well if he stays, leaves Alicia. I know this is kind of nasty of Alicia, but last season she calls out her mom for all her bullshit multiple times and since Brian has offered to help her out she already has an escape plan (hopefully). Here we cut to a commercial.

We return to Madison on a hill northeast of the city, using binoculars to watch the stadium. Eventually she notices a car making its way up to where her and her team are waiting for their next move. Knowing it’s Strand, she walks over to the car as it parks and he steps out. Inquiring on what he found out, Strand tells her that the place is definitely having problems with the infected and that he knows what needs to be done. He in turn inquires about the El Buitres and their plan, to which she says that it seems all is going well. Then comes the big question from Madison as she asks if Alicia is still there. Strand confirms this, but also tells her that she threatened him once she found out that you were here too. Stunned, Madison inquires if Strand told her this wasn’t just to rescue her and he verifies this but adds that she didn’t want to listen unless the people in the stadium are saved as well. Tension fills Madison and she groans, rubs her forehead with her fingers, and walks about a bit before turning to Melvin.

The leader of the El Buitres is looking north from the hill as Madison walks up to him. Melvin will comment that things are all going according to plan and that his people will be ready as soon as night hits. As Madison begins to request if they can also find a way to save some of the people from the bazaar he’ll look at her funny, asking “Like who?” Madison, as best as she can, try to talk about more than just obtaining resources, but also people. This will instantly cause Melvin to glare at her, snarling at her that the plan is to raid and that’s that. “We have our own people to worry about, we don’t have time to worry about some greedy shmucks,” he’ll add on. Madison, thinking fast, adds that humans are resources as well in an attempt to change his mind, but Melvin continues to look at her dirty and warns her not to ruin the plan.

Madison is conflicted now. She could be smart like what Melvin told her and just get the resources. But that would mean a lot of people would die. This however conflicts with who she wants to be and would prove once more to her daughter that she’ll throw away anyone and possibly everyone’s life for her children. On the other hand this last minute change is dangerous and there’s only several hours until the plan officially begins. Walking back from Melvin, Madison is thinking as hard and as faster as possible until she bumps into Manuel. He looks at her and asks if she’s nervous. She’ll admit that she is, but that’s not the big thing on her mind. The leader of the hotel asks her what’s up and she asks him that if he was given the option to save those people in the bazaar, would he do so? Manuel will pause at this and think, eventually telling her about his own family.

He once had a cousin who was kind of a problem. They were a prostitute who would always bring home bad people. She didn’t have a proper papa or mama to raise her, and she had some bad influences through her life. But she wasn’t a bad person and would love her aunt and uncle (his parents), his siblings, and tried not to be too much of a bother. She like animals and had wild dreams of being a fashion model. But then one day one of her clients she brought home caused some violence, fatally wounded Manuel’s parents, and stole some antiques. His mother died, but his father lived. The incident caused her to be banished from the house. Manuel one day saw her though and it she was working at a supermarket. When he came to talk with her he learned that that incident changed her life. It was lazy and people got her because of her and her previous profession had been a hinderance in getting a real job. Her failures and rejections kept tempting to go back to prostitution, but eventually she found this small job. It’s not the best, but even if she can’t succeed in better to people she still cannot go back to that life.

Manuel finalizes his story by telling Madison that it’s not always easy to do the right thing, but it’s better to try and make up the mistakes of the past than let the past control us. Madison will be silent for a bit, then thank Manuel for his story. Before she leaves, she inquires about what happened to his cousin. Manuel will sadly reveal that she died early in the apocalypse, but she was still working at the story before she did. With that knowledge, Madison goes to Strand and asks him for a favor. After that the screen hits black and a commercial break.

We then return to Nick, Daniel, and John Dorie driving across the small desert towards the mountains. Nick will comment that they’re getting close to the coast, they’ll need to turn back or part ways soon. Daniel agrees, adding that the further west they go, the more chances they’ll encounter the Proctors again. Dorie agrees, saying that should go just a little further and then they’ll find another way to go. Daniel is still not fully convinced in Dorie’s dedication to find Naomi though, making it clear by adding that John needs to start preparing better if he’s going to keep looking around here. “Or else you’ll end up like them,” he’ll add, indicating some infected who are just dried up and incapacitated, lying on the ground with bones and skin so dried up that they cracked and now they’re just lying there for the rest of their undead lives.

This sight though makes John Dorie really notice that these two are putting so much on the line for him. The truck is silent for a bit as they start going into the mountains. Eventually John breaks the silence, saying how he doesn’t want them to get hurt in his pursuit, if it becomes too much they can leave him. Nick chuckles at this, saying, “What, after all the rescuing we had to do for you?~” John will pleasantly retort back that he saved them as well and both he and Nick will smile and chuckle a little. Daniel will not though, instead keeping an eye out for trouble. And trouble he spots, telling Nick to leave the road, take the southern road branching off. Nick looks to were Daniel is pointing, then notices what Daniel had spotted: A lot of armed vehicles. Proctors. And they’re heading right for them. Driving off the main road, Nick gets onto the southern road and leads downwards. Looking behind them, John and Daniel watch the patrol continuing down the road. It seems they missed them.

Eventually the heat becomes a little too much and Daniel points out that if they don’t stop soon the engine is going fry. Thankfully they find a small town called Jacumba Hot Springs and they park outside the market. Moving the car into some shade they sit about, thinking up what to do next. Nick goes with the obvious: They’re at a store, so why not shop? He leads the way to the market, John and Daniel swiftly following them. Entering, they find it deserted and with mostly empty shelves. Not all has been picked though and they start to scavenge for supplies. Daniel and John find some bottled water and containers of food between them, but Nick decides to try going in the back. He knocks on the door first to see if there is anyone or anything in there. After a few seconds of no response he carefully opens the door and looks inside.

As John walks towards the front doors to put the food in the truck though he hears a noise outside and notices with horror that a pair of Proctor trucks had just parked outside the market. Ducking back inside John warns Daniel of the approaching Proctors. Both hide as the Proctors walk into the store. Thankfully the truck the three stole was parked in the shade and away from the main entrance. But that would mean they’d have to find a back door to get to it fast. And Nick doesn’t know what’s going on, so he’s in more danger than the rest. Speaking of Nick, as he’s walking in the back he finds some good food that hasn’t spoiled. As he reaches for it though a hand snaps out from the shelve and grabs his wrist. It’s an infected! He tries to pull away, but the grip remains strong as the dead woman’s mouth reaches forward to bite him. In an act of desperation, he puts a foot and a hand against the shelve and pulls as hard as he can, repeatedly bouncing the infected’s face hard against the metal shelf over and over until the damage is too much and the head is smashed in. Breathing hard, Nick looks at the his hand before a gun clocking is heard.

Nick turns around to see a few Proctors pointing their guns at him. They’ll be like, “Well well, look who it is,” and, “Proctor John’s been dying to see you.” But soon after their reveal to Nick we heard Dorie gun sling the Proctor’s hands and arms. This distraction is enough for Nick to bowl right through them and charge for the door. The noise has brought several other Proctors to the scene, but Daniel pulls out his stole rifle and begins to unload on them. One gets hit, but the others duck for cover as Daniel and John Dorie join Nick in the back. In a panic they start looking for the back door as Daniel provides cover fire! Then Dorie finds it and they all rush out to their vehicle. Quickly getting in, Nick starts up the engine. But as soon as it starts revving up Nick gets shot through the shoulder and falls onto the passenger seat. John Dorie takes over, punching the gas and rocketing the truck onto the road west, while Daniel starts to tend to Nick. But even as they race along the road they can see in the mirrors that the Proctors are on their tails. Worse yet, a red flare is launched into the darkening sky. Only option left to the three is to flee as fast as possible and Dorie, with a look of fear and concern on his face, worries if he’s about to send his new friends, along with himself, to their deaths. With that we cut to another break/ commercial.

Our last scene of the episode we see Strand sneaking through the stadium into the cellblock where Alicia is. This is total stealth/ spy mode, with him watching out for guards, checking corners, and blending in with others. Eventually he reaches Alicia and before she can say anything he tells he is going to get her and the rest of the people out of the stadium. Before Alicia can respond Strand quickly continues that he’s used what connections he’s made in the bazaar to tell others what’s about to happen and how to get them out before Proctor John returns. Alicia, now a little curious, but still hesitant, tells Strand when this is going to happen. He tells her tonight and be fully ready when she hears the signal. Alicia nods slowly, still a little suspicious. She then asks Strand what changed, to which he’ll respond, “Your mother. She’s changed a lot last time you saw her.” As he leaves Alicia puts on a thinking face, wonder if Strand is being truthful or tricking her. Either ways Brian and her were going to break out this night, so best use it to get with Strand at least. As she looks towards her cell window we cut to Madison looking down from the hill, waiting for it to begin. Soon enough Melvin comes to her and tells her it’s time. With a sigh, Madison adjusts the rifle over her shoulder and heads over to the cars. Our final shot of the episode is the cars driving off screen to the right as we get a shot of the stadium from the hill. We linger on it for a good while as the vehicle begin to make their way down until at last we cut to black.

Episode 8 – A Night of No Return

So this is going to be a big action-filled mid-season finale. I was originally planning on splitting the action between the 7th and 8th episodes, but I needed to dedicate some time for Nick, Daniel, and John Dorie to make their way west enough to meet up with the rest of the cast. I had to look so much into Google maps as how what paths everyone is going to take to eventually meet up and it was nuts!

Our episode begins with two Proctor guards at a watchtower on the west side of El Bazar. They’re going to have conversation about random things, though probably one of the big things they’ll talk about is their most recent sexual adventures with women. It’s going to be a little obscene since they’re cruel, nasty bikers, but don’t worry, they’re going to get their just deserves in a bit. At a certain point one of them is going to have a good laugh until the other hushes them. Listening carefully they hear and soon see the dead coming. As they start to raise their guns though both are shot by silenced weapons. We cut to two hooded members of the El Buitres running up to the wall, a horde of the dead behind them. The two vagabonds throw grappling hooks over the wall and start to climb over as the dead follow and press up against the wall. As they successfully climb over the injured guard they shot cries out that the dead are coming. This alerts everyone as he lights them up with his rifle. With all the guards now rushing to the west side we see Madison, Manuel, and the rest coming out of the homes on the east side and climb over the wall as well. As they start to hop over the top we get a more aerial view of the scene and see the horde pushing on the walls, their moans and growl growing louder and louder until we cut to the intro!

After the intro we start with a shot angled upwards of an empty road. At first it’s all quiet and dark until we hear a noise of a truck coming closer until it goes over the camera shot, soon followed by a few other trucks. We’re about 35-45 minutes into the chase and we’ll see both sides have taken some damage. John Dorie is still driving as fast as he can, Nick patched up as best as possible in the current situation, and both he and Daniel returning fire on the chasing Proctors. This is going to be a high-speed shootout! Though some CGI would probably be needed for the “outside shots” from the vehicles to make this possible. As they keep firing Daniel runs out of ammo for his rifle and asks John Dorie to pass him one of his revolvers. Dorie hands it over, telling him not to lose it. Daniel, getting a grip of it, fires a couple of shots before one of them hits one of the Proctors driving a truck. This doesn’t crash the vehicle like he hoped, but the truck rolls off the road with the Proctor in the passenger seat trying to take control.

This relief is short lived though as the sound of a motorcycle is heard and from the northern intersection an armed motorcycle with guns and front shield joins the chase. Soon after it begins to follow our three heroes it starts to fire and everyone takes cover as it follows closely behind. So many holes are being made by this new attack that some of them pass through the main body of the vehicle, a few barely missing our heroes. They’re going to be toast if nothing is done quick! The attempts to swerve about the empty road doesn’t do much and we’re going keep this going for while. Eventually though Daniel yells and Dorie to slam the breaks. Dorie, knowing what Daniel has planned, yells at him that it’s not going to work. Daniel will respond by asking if he has any other idea. Before Dorie hits the breaks he tells Nick to get ready and Nick groaning in pain, leans next to his door. Gritting his teeth with nervous fear, Dorie slams his foot down and the vehicle brakes. The biker just dodges the slowing truck, moving to the right as he does. But Nick, just in time, knocks open his side door and the biker’s front hits it. This angled strike sends the motorcycle into a spinning crash, hurling the biker onto the speeding asphalt near the edge of the road, killing him on impact.

This slowdown though has given the chance for the other Proctors to start catching up, even as Dorie puts the pedal to the metal once more. The gunfight resume, but this time the chased vehicle is starting to break down as we hear the back grill of the car fall off after being shot so much. Daniel will swear in Spanish after this and keep returning fire. As the fight escalates though all of them receive some form of gunshot wound, with Nick especially getting hit hard. But as they start to go down a wide turn in the road one of their tires gets shot and this causes their car to hit a metal railing and flip over into a ditch. As it lands down on the ditch it lands on top of the “camera” and we cut to black.

After commercial we return to El Bazar, the Proctors gunning down the advancing horde while Madison and Manuel’s teams have split up: Manuel heads sneakily to the gates to get them ready to open for the rescue vehicles while Madison heads into the bazaar to grab the supplies (and Alicia). As Madison makes her way to the gates we hear screams and see smoke coming from inside the stadium. They have to wait for Strand to let them in and after some banging on the gates we see Strand come out of the darkness and open the gates. Joined by the two El Buitres from the start of the attack all of them rush into building. Unfortunately it seems the place as erupted into chaos because a majority of people are panicked. However the group soon encounters a few of the people that Strand convinced into believing him, including Maria Lu, the vendor, and El Matarife, the barowner and drug dealer. Strand immediately tells them to follow Madison out of the stadium, then immediately tells Madison that he’s going to get Alicia. Before Madison can say any more though or make any protests there are more screams and we see a few walkers have sneaked in through the back of the stadium.

We then follow Strand as Madison starts to lead the survivors out while fighting off the dead. Strand, on his own, is pushing through panicking people while trying to avoid Proctors trying to control the riot in the stadium. We’re going to keep the camera close on Strand as he runs about until we hit the inner doors to the cells. Once there he rushes to Alicia and starts to lockpick the door. It’s not one of his best talents, but that’s all he’s got on hand. Alicia will berate him for his, but he’ll respond that he has seen these cells enough that he knows it won’t take that long to break. Unfortunately though Strand hears a roar of rage, looks to his right, and dodges out of the way just in time as he’s attacked by one of the cell guards. Dodging the blows as best as he can, Strand, almost timidly (since he’s not much of a fighter), tries to defend himself from his attacker. Things don't go well though as Strand gets hit in the face and is knocked to the ground. As the guard advances on him though Alicia reaches through the bars and grabs the man’s leg, tugging hard enough for him to slip forward and fall face first on the ground. Infuriated, the guard kicks back with the pulled foot and her hand hits hard against the metal, causing her to scream and release him.

This though gives Strand enough time to finally get an advantage on the guard, kicking him in the face to stun him. Both then get into a fist fight, landing a few blows until Strand lands a blow that knocks his opponent to the ground. Then, in an act of rage, he grabs the club used by the guard and starts smashing it against their brain until they’re clearly dead. As the fight ends and the adrenaline lessens some from his blood, Strand is horrified by his actions and drops the bat. Until now Strand has never killed a living person before and this has shaken him. He and the audience are going to hear white noise for a while, barely hearing Alicia in the background until an especially loud shout from her wakens him to his surroundings. Realizing that the former guard had the keys on him, Strand pulls them off and quickly unlocks Alicia’s cell. As he calls for her to follow him though Alicia tells him to unlock Brian’s cell as well. Strand tells her that there is no time for that, the stadium is being overrun. But Alicia is insistent and Strand, darkly growling that she’s going to be the death of him, unlocks Brian’s cell as well.

Alicia, Strand, and Brian start making their way out and Brian instantly thanks him for letting him out. As they run Brian compliments Strand for his good deeds fighting for the oppressed, causing Strand and Alicia to give puzzled looks (Strand more than Alicia). Brian continues on by saying that the lizard people controlling the government are only the white people, that’s why they kept going after every other race. Now this moment might get changed or removed, but I thought it would be funny to have a white character who is anti-white/ has conspiracies that white people are villains. Though this might be a touchy topic, I’m hoping this can mostly land as an oddly funny moment and something to develop his character. Strand will ask jokingly if that’s what the aliens told him, to which Brain will scoff and tell Strand that aliens aren’t anything to worry about because of the secret base on the moon built after Neil Armstrong first landed on it. As they leave the cells we hear an explosion from far outside and cut to black.

We return to Madison and her team grabbing supplies and getting people out of the stadium. Right now it’s just the remnants of supplies and mostly survivor, all while the undead start coming in more from the broken-in north side. Madison kills an infected walking up to her and sees a few Proctors trying to fight off the dead on their own. But looking closer Madison notices that the door they came out from and has a guess that might be where some guns are. Calling out to a few others they sneak as best they can through the melee until they reach the door, killing a few walkers along the way. As they slip through they see a number of doors in this new room. Most are open, revealing bedrooms and other useless rooms, so Madison tries one that isn’t open. It’s locked, but one of her companions breaks off the door knobs with a sledgehammer and they head in. At first there isn’t much around, but Madison finds something on the room’s desk: A map. A map of a caches in the Southwest. Perfect, just what they need! Storing it up, they all head out.

As soon as they get out into the main area though they all see that the stadium is becoming too overrun with infected. Their few seconds of noticing costs them as one undead woman grabs the arm of one of them and bites down. Knowing that they’ll be next if they stay any longer, all of them head for the exit. Fires are spreading as well, but after some struggle they reach the doors. Looking at the west side of the parking lot they see that the walls are starting to break apart. They have to get out ASAP. As they rush to the gates we see the vehicles they brought being filled with supplies and a few of the survivors from the bazaar. But as Madison approaches the vehicles she hears shouting and notices Melvin and Manuel arguing with each other. When she gets to them Melvin turns his anger on her, berating her for bringing in people from the stadium. Madison tries her best to diffuse the situation and tell him they can argue about it later once they’re free, but Melvin isn’t taking it and pulls out his pistol, waving it at the others while ranting out how none of these vendors would do anything for free like a good person, that they should rot like the worms they are.

As he gets ready to start shooting them, Madison tackles him to the ground. Other El Buitres (but not all) are about to join in when they’re put into similar situations. Madison and Melvin get in a scuffle as others try to break them apart, but it’s too violent of a fight. At one point though Madison gets knocked off Melvin and he shoots her. It’s miss fortunately (but not by much), having not taken the time to aim. This gives Alicia enough time to knock Melvin out. This small respite is enough for Alicia to pull her mother to her feet and for both to see that the infected are becoming so numerous that they’re wrapping around towards the main gate. Knowing that time is up, Madison tells Alicia to get going, follow the other drivers, and not wait up for her. With that some of the group opens the gates and the cars start heading out of the city. Madison and a few others stay behind and start to gun down some of the infected that are getting close to the gate while the rest make a break for it. This’ll last for a bit until Madison’s truck is the last one left. Running to the knocked out Melvin she starts to help carry him to the vehicle, but as she starts to get on it he starts to recover and their fight resumes. This time though it doesn’t last long as he’s knocked out of the back of the truck and the walkers begin to swarm him. By now there is no other option than to run away and Madison hits the back window of the truck, signaling it to get going. As they crash through a few walkers in the gate’s entrance we watch as Madison and the vehicle move out and turn the corner, then from the same camera we see Melvin get up and start running away (semi-towards the camera until he’s off the screen). A few moments later we hear him scream and we cut to black.

After the break we return to Nick, Daniel, and Dorie just after the crash. It’ll slowly fade in from black onto Daniel, who has a blood on his forehead and is recovering from the sudden crash. The camera will be a little shacky to show how disorientated he is, but it’ll also turn slightly to capture him and the road above him as the Proctors pull up near them. With Daniel still getting himself together we see the a few Proctors exiting their vehicles, but in the distance we’ll also hear sudden talk from their radios. It’ll be faint, but loud enough for the audience that the Proctors are calling for reinforcements for the bazaar. One of them argues with the guy on the radio, saying they’re about to capture Nick Clark, but they reply brooks no arguments and eventually the Proctors get back into their vehicles with one of them commenting that the dead will have them soon.

At this point Daniel is fully recovered and he and the audience hear infected near them. It seems they’ve crashed near where a bunch of them were hanging about. Immediately Daniel starts to shake Nick awake, but he seems more knocked out than him. Thankfully John Dorie is partially recovered from the crash, but he too has received some wounds from the crash. With no time to spare, both break out of the ruined vehicle and pull Nick out. At this point Nick is starting to recover, but the crash has reopened some of his wounds and both Daniel and John Dorie have to hold him up as they run for the building ahead of them, a closed down border patrol station. As they hobble as fast as they can to the building both shot at the infected following them, but the large group chasing them is too vast for their guns to diminish it.

Passing through the broken wire gate, the three head to one of the smaller sections of the building. Opening it up, they see two infected in the doorway and kill them. After that is done they sit Nick down on the chair and hold the door against the small herd. Even with that though the infected bang on it and it’s not enough for the flimsy material. John Dorie stays at the door, pushing it as best as he can while Daniel goes to Nick. With nothing on him, Daniel tries his best to comfort Nick, assuring him it’s okay. Nick, smiling as best he can through the pain, tells him it’s fine, he’s had worse. After he says that though he coughs and Daniel notices a wound on his waist is bleeding more. He puts his hands over to the cover the wound, but it immediately causes Nick to loudly groan in pain. It seems the crash must have cracked a few of his ribs and that, combined with the bullet wounds, it causing him to bleed out.

Desperate, Daniel rushes around the room, grabbing a window curtain and turning it into a bandage for Nick. However, he doesn’t get the chance to do any more as Dorie calls for his help and together they remove a few walkers reaching through the crack in the door and lock it. Just as that finishes though they hear banging from other sides of the room and see cracks in the flimsy wall. It becomes a rush to push desks and other furniture up against those spots, halting attempts to break in through those spots. At this point though our working duo are tired and Daniel almost falls over. Shot, hit in a crash, and running all over a room pushing heavy objects is not good for them. So Daniel and John Dorie fall down, close to Nick.

We’re going to get some silence from all three as the infected continue to bang on the walls and door. Tuckered out, they sit about and get a hold of themselves until John Dorie frustratingly declares that this seems to be the end. There will be a long pause until Daniel begins to reminisce about his time in El Salvador. He’ll talk about some of his missions, the people he killed, and how there were times where he almost died. But the thought of his wife would remind him what he would be losing if he gave up and he kept fighting on. I want to go into deep detail on Daniel’s past at this part, bring out some of his emotions. After he’s done though he’ll turn to John Dorie and say he understand what some people will do to reunite with the people they love. Nick will add a short take on how his mom would keep caring for him when he was drug addict and then say directly to John Dorie, “You can’t be alone forever.” I want that quote to mean and exemplify that John needed Naomi, but also people again, friends again.

As they’re trapped in the room, infected outside start breaking down the door, leaving holes in the window and lock breaking apart. John Dorie shoots the first one breaking in, but it soon becomes apparent that the door won’t hold for much longer. Knowing that it’s almost the end, all three prepare to fight, with the exception of Nick, who cannot get up from his sitting position. Daniel will ask if John is ready for a fight, to which Dorie will say he is. But as the door is on its last hinges (no pun intended) they hear a yelling outside. The infected start breaking down the door, we get a moment of suspense as one of them finally gets in, and then suddenly we hear gunfire and the infected entering start dropping. As soon as this starts Daniel and John Dorie drop down as the bullet fly over their heads. This goes on for around 10 seconds until the firing stops and everything is silent. In the silence both Daniel and John get ready to defend themselves from this new threat until the door finally falls down and we see somebody in the door: Alicia, with Strand and Brian just behind her.

Immediately Alicia will run over to them, embracing Nick (who winces in pain) and then Daniel. Strand will be shocked over who he’s saved and Brian will look over going, “Well shit!” (or something less vulgar). Daniel will inquire how they found them, to which Alicia will respond that they heard the news from the radio in their stolen Proctor car. John Dorie and Brian introduce themselves as Alicia holds Nick close, helping him up as they taken the three trapped survivors outside. On the road, several of El Bazar’s escapees are in their vehicles, watching over the scene as Nick as walks over to them. But it seems that Nick’s time is almost up as he collapses onto the ground. Alicia, horrified, tried to get him back up, but Nick has become too weak to walk. Weakling smiling, he assures his sister his close calls with death have finally caught up. She however is unable to accept the idea of losing her brother so soon after reuniting. Nick, still smiling, tells her to be strong and brave and all that stuff. As Alicia tries to deny this though Nick finally passes away and she breaks down, holding him too her as she sobs uncontrollably into his now cold shoulder. The music will intensify as this happens until we cut to black.

In our final scene for this mid-season finale we remain at the border station as another truck parks near the rest. Madison gets out and notices the small group in the front. Walking slowly at first, she soon notices Alicia and runs over to her to discover that she’s still holding Nick’s dead body. Devastated at seeing her other child dead, she falls to her feet next to Alicia and silently stares at her son. This silence is broken as tears begin to fall and she begins to sob. Wordlessly Alicia hands Nick to her and Madison will hold Nick to her, rocking slightly as she morns the loss of her son. The group is silent as they watch the scene, unable to say anything as Madison weeps for Nick. But soon we hear a little snarling as Nick begins to reanimate and Madison is forced by the others to let go of Nick.

She tries to fight at first as Brian and John Dorie pin the resurrected Nick to the ground, but gives up as she sees him act more like the undead with every second. Reduced to a sobbing mess, she looks at what was once her son, now a hungry monster that cannot even recognize his own mother. Eventually Strand breaks the silence, speaking directly to Madison that they have to do something for him. Brian will suggest they let him go, but Strand will immediately interject, saying that won’t happen. Brian is about to add that the Proctors are probably after them right now, but before he can say a word Strand will repeat that it won’t happen. We’ll have a silent pause at this point until Alicia volunteers to put Nick down. Before she can rise though Madison interject by saying she’ll do it. As she takes out her knife and sits next to the pinned Nick she looks into his eyes, whispering to him that she loves him, trying to imply to him that she should never have done so much to protect him, and attempt to communicate that she is, and will continue to try, and be better for him.

As she raises her knife though Madison is unable to strike the killing blow. She just can’t do it to her son. Arms falling to the sides, she offers the knife to Alicia, but she also realizes she cannot kill her brother, not after finding him so soon. Daniel steps in now and takes the knife from Madison, assuring her he’ll do it. Nick saved his life, he’ll… save him… Before he performs the deed though Daniel makes several prayers in Spanish, then takes Nick by the hair. “Thank you… for what you did for me.” Then he stabs the knife into Nick’s forehead and the undead Nick falls silent. Removing the knife Daniel says a final few prayers in Spanish for Nick before rising to his feed. John Dorie helps pick him up and the group take him to the truck. Madison though is still on the ground, teary eyed over the loss of her son. Alicia stays with her for a bit until she helps her up and the two walk to the trucks. Our final shot for this episode is an aerial view of the procession turning on and heading eastward towards the Yuma, with somber music playing in the background.

Did you enjoy it? Are you interested is reading more of their stories that aren't full of Morgan Jones and plotholes? You can read part 4B right here:

https://kbachle6490.wixsite.com/greatwarriorwriting/single-post/fear-the-walking-dead-season-4b-rewrite-pitch