“Not Fade Away”

Well, there goes the neighborhood. In the span of a week, the military has built a fence enclosing Madison’s neighborhood and declared it a “safe zone.” (Good thing nothing bad has ever happened when the military takes over during the apocalypse). Despite this obvious façade of safety Travis seems to be the only one who considers them “the lucky ones,” (of COURSE you do, Travis). Meanwhile, Chris notices someone beyond the safe-zone reflecting light to him in (probably) Morse code. It appears LA is NOT completely evacuated (unless walkers are getting smarter). Despite this discovery, Travis AKA the human buzz-kill doesn’t believe Chris his findings.

A military commander updates the community about the 6-mile infected-free perimeter they’ve created in 9 days (are they measuring 9 days in dog years?). The commander has elected Travis the unofficial mayor the community and asks him to check out a neighbor, Doug, who’s been “acting strange.” Unfortunately, acting strange is code for being a wimp, not undead. Doug admits to Travis he doesn’t believe he can protect his family anymore and Travis tries to talk him out of it.

While Alicia breaks into Susan’s house (for what seems like the 38th time) to admire pictures and love letters, Liza decides to put her half-nursing degree to work to make house calls for the sick in the community. One of her patients is an elderly man named Hector, who Nick steals morphine from (Great to see him get his priorities straight).

(Side note: this episode was also full of romance. Ofelia began a relationship with a soldier, (who she’s basically using to get medicine for her mother), Travis and Madison made it steamy in a car, and Chris is saying God knows what in morse code to the person beyond the fence).

Doug the wimpy neighbor is now missing. Travis does some digging and finds Doug’s abandoned car by the fence, which he immediately reports to the military commander (who’s casually playing golf). The commander claims they found Doug last night crying and handled it. Travis also mentions Chris’ Morse code communications but he brushes it off. Liza returns to find her patient Hector also missing. A woman from the government named Dr. Exner tells Liza that Hector is getting the care he deserves.

Meanwhile, Madison experiments with the lights Chris spoke about and receives messages back. Determined to expose what’s outside the walls, she breaks out of the safe zone and journeys to the source of the lights. After walking past missing person signs, desolate streets, and corpses (who have been shot in the head, not turned), Madison spots a military patrol and ducks under a car next to a dead girl. Thankfully, she goes unnoticed when the patrol walks by. In search of answers Madison only gets more questions.

Dr. Exner convinces the Salazars that Griselda needs to get to the military infirmary for help (they’ve had an infirmary this whole time??) and Daniel vows to come along. She then questions Nick about his drug usage. It’s clear Liza trusts Dr. Exner and that Nick doesn’t.

After Madison tells Daniel what she saw past the walls, he recalls his own story about a traumatic event in his childhood. It involved a takeover in his community and finding dead soldiers while fishing. The point of his story was to illustrate the overreach of authority and the quickness of change. He even predicts, “If it happens, it will happen quickly,” (seriously WHERE is Tobias)? Daniel pleads with Madison to look after Ofelia if something happens to him and Griselda. Soon after, Madison discovers Nick scavenging through Hector’s house for drugs and beats him out of frustration. Things have changed, Madison’s changed, and she wishes Nick would change too.

Alicia finds out about Nick’s injury just in time for the military to arrive at the Clark’s house to take Griselda. They stop Daniel and say the only other name they have is Nick’s. Alicia looks at Nick and says, “Run.” As he darts out a solider pistol whips him in the face and takes him into the truck as Madison desperately calls after him.

Travis pleads with the military to let Nick stay but they refuse. Madison throws the blame on Liza, who decides to leave with Dr. Exner. Nothing went as planned and the families feel hopeless as tensions have hit their peak. As Alicia reads/narrates one of the letters she took from Susan’s, Travis sits on the same roof Chris was at in the beginning and begins to cry. As he gazes into the distance, he observes a light shining at him; Chris was right all along. Suddenly, gunfire replaces the light and the person trying to communicate with them has been gunned down by what we can only assume is the military. After informing the commander about the lights earlier, it appears they didn’t brush it off and Travis might have been directly responsible for it. The military isn’t here to help and everyone knows it. Now we wait to see what will happen next week.

Question time:
Will they ever find out who the person communicating with them was?
Where did Nick and Griselda actually get taken to?
Will they make it out of the safe zone alive?

Let us know in the comments below. See you next week!