Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 9: Recap & Discussion

“Channel 4”

 
Al puts everyone on tape and asks why they keep going. Morgan explains he’s paying it forward, Strand says he believes the universe is testing them, and John gloats about wealthy people now have nothing. They all take turns explaining why they want to help others. Al presses Morgan on why he says they all need to start living. “I guess sometimes it’s easier to see what other people need help with,” he says. Al puts down her camera to kill a walker and then resumes her interview.

 
Al recalls how they raided a pit stop to fetch camera batteries and equipment. Morgan explains they picked up more trucks to cover a wider ground. Sarah gleefully explains how they took Logan’s oil truck and abandoned him on the road. Dwight admits he fell in with the right crowd and still hopes to find Sherry. Daniel then tells Dwight he wants to cut his air so he can look more presentable.

Alicia explains she, Luciana, and Strand are the lead vehicle on supply missions. We see her train on the staff with Morgan. “I think the change is good, it’s what I needed,” she confesses. Later, we see the gang setting up camp with some strangers. June explains she runs the caravan with Grace, where they escort people to outposts when necessary. She promises they’ll eventually find a place to call home. Al asks Grace why she was checking her lymph nodes and Grace says she just wants to be prepared in case she gets sick.

 
Luciana radios Morgan to a house to help someone named Tess. She tells them she’s waiting for her husband to return with her son’s asthma medication but won’t come outside because of the landmines. On the road, Sarah sings along to truck songs as Charlie, Dwight, and Daniel talk shit about it in confessionals. Back at the house, Morgan tells Tess they’re recording the experience so they can prove to future survivors that they’re legit. Tess explains she hasn’t left the house since the onset of the apocalypse and Morgan promises to stay there until her husband returns.

Elsewhere, June grabs supplies from the pharmacy that Tess said her husband was at. She doesn’t find him so they split up to look. Alicia finds a tree that has a “If you’re reading this then you’re still here” message painted on the branches. Alicia admits that Madison would have loved it. Suddenly, Strand saves her from a walker which gets inches from her. She reveals on camera she hasn’t killed since the plane.

 
John tells the camera that it makes sense Morgan is so dedicated to this mother/son scenario. Back at the house, the walkers break through the fence and get immediately blown up by a landmine. John calls it “the ugliest mustard” he’s ever seen. As more walkers explode by the house, June reveals that the walker Strand saved Alicia from was Tess’s husband. hen Morgan hears the son cry out from the house, he sprints through the yard to get him. Just feet away from the porch, Morgan freezes after Al spots a landmine next to his foot. John and Luciana join him as June, Strand, and Alicia pull up with the inhaler.

 
Morgan radios Tess that they have the inhaler but she has to come outside to get it. He then breaks the news that her husband is dead and she needs to come get the medicine. She tearfully asserts her husband is still out there. Al instructs Morgan on how to navigate the mine he’s standing on. He digs around it and she hands him a screwdriver to get to the fuse, admitting it’s a 50/50 chance she’s right. Morgan prepares to pull the firing pin until Tess radios them to stop. She finally emerges from her house and admits her husband isn’t coming back. She hands him a clothespin to use as Morgan tells the others to back up. He gingerly removes his foot and nothing happens, so he and the others finally leave. Once out of range, the mine explodes. Morgan returns to give Tess and her son the inhaler.

 

 
That night, Tess and her son dine with Morgan and the gang at the camp. Sarah, Dwight, and the others join them our heroes tell Al on camera what they want. Morgan longs to say goodbye to his own wife and son, John wants to make the world better, June vows to find them a permanent residence, Daniel hopes to make Ofelia proud, and Al just wants to make sure these stories are more than tapes.

The tapes conclude with everyone pleading with future survivors to help others. We zoom out to see a new survivor, Wes, holed up in an old gas station store watching the tape. He considers reaching out on his walkie but decides against it. He stares at a “Take what you need” box before going outside. Two cars pull up – it’s Logan and his cronies. Wes tells them he doesn’t want any trouble but Logan tells his people to take his gas. He says if he reveals where the oil fields are they don’t have to do this. Logan asks Wes if he’s with Morgan and the gang but he says he isn’t. Logan commands his people to shoot the shit out of his motorcycle so he can’t follow him. Logan suggests he radio Morgan for a lift.

 

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What did you think of Fear’s Mid-Season Premiere? Did you like the found footage aspect? What’s next for this mysterious new survivor? Let us know in the comments!