For much of the run of both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, zombies have been a low-level threat to their characters. They can best be described as a lethal nuisance and usually only pose a significant threat to the main characters in large numbers or hordes. They are slow, relatively simple to kill, and easy to outsmart. Except when characters are overrun by zombies, or cornered by them, they remain a menacing but secondary threat.
In some ways, that changed in this week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead, “The Hurt Will Happen,” when a new breed of zombie was introduced to the series: The toxic zombie. All the hazard signs that appeared in last week’s episode were a sign of what was to come. The plane that crashed in the season premiere did so in an area near a nuclear power plant which experienced a meltdown after the apocalypse. Sixty-three people were contaminated with dangerous amounts of radiation and died. Grace, a new character played by Karen David, also worked at the power plant, and though she suffers from radiation poisoning, she has not yet died. However, she’s made it her mission before she does so to locate the 63 radiation-infected zombies and dispose of their bodies safely.
Interestingly, this storyline converges with the popularity of HBO’s Chernobyl, a dramatization of the worst nuclear meltdown in history. Here, Morgan, Alicia, and Co., are in the midst of Grace’s efforts to clean up a mess left by the Texas nuclear facility. What it means for the characters, however, is that killing a zombie can be almost as dangerous as the zombie itself. Close proximity to one of the toxic zombies can result in radiation poisoning, as Morgan discovers in this week’s episode after he kills a toxic zombie and has to take a shower and permanently give up his wooden stick (RIP wooden stick). Morgan and Co. offer to help Grace locate the other contaminated zombies after they find Grace, but after locating a good number of them who have already been reduced to bone, Grace decides to do so on her own rather than risk anyone else’s well being. Grace and Morgan, however, agree to remain in contact, should Grace find Althea or Morgan find any more contaminated zombies.
That call will be coming soon, however, because back at the truck stop, a drugged and woozy Luciana — still recovering from her injuries — is pinned into the truck stop by a number of zombies, some of whom might be contaminated. When John and June return to help Luciana, the zombies are gone, but someone left behind their calling card: Decapitated zombie heads and intestines are strewn across a billboard. Grace is not responsible for these heads — which have been strung up around the area as a way to warn away passersby — which likely means that CRM, the outfit that abducted Althea and is likely tied to Rick Grimes’ location in the present — is responsible. CRM clearly wants Morgan and Co. to leave, but they remain committed to finding Althea, locating the three kids we met in the season premiere, and escaping in a plane secured by Strand.
Securing that plane, however, won’t be so easy for Strand. We learn this week that the man who holds the plane is our old friend, Daniel Salazar, who we have not seen since Strand shot him in the face in the season three finale. Daniel — who found his way to Texas and is now in the possession of a number of vehicles, as well as a plane — is not exactly happy to see Strand again, but he doesn’t immediately kill him, either. Daniel hears Strand out, as Strand insists to Daniel that he’s a changed man and that he needs the plane in order to help his friends, including Althea, a mutual friend with Daniel.
Daniel doesn’t buy it. He acknowledges that Strand’s friends are in trouble, but says that they’ll “manage.” Besides, Daniel says, allowing Strand to help them will just make it worse, because “Every time you try to help people, you end up hurting them. No one knows that better than me.” Daniel is not wrong.
And so, after two episodes this season, Althea is MIA, abducted by the same organization that took Rick Grimes (is Althea an “A“); the three new kids are missing; Logan has taken over home base for the Fear characters, most of whom are stranded in a literal toxic wasteland with a new character who is slowly dying of radiation poisoning; Luciana is still hurt; Alicia is questioning their mission to help; Morgan has lost his wooden stick; and Strand is being blocked from helping out by his old foe, Daniel. Meanwhile, Sarah no longer has the supplies needed to make a decent beer. Clearly, trying to help others isn’t as easy as it should be.
Additional Notes
— Skidmark is the name of the tape that Althea had on Daniel. It’s also the name of Daniel’s cat. This season’s fourth episode is also called “Skidmark.”
— The book from season four, The Little Prince, is back. However, the character for whom it is most associated, Charlie, has barely been seen this season, even though the actress who plays her, Alexa Nisenson, has been elevated to series regular. (I also have a hunch that she might be one the two girls in the second The Walking Dead spin-off).
— Next week’s episode looks like an Old West episode, with zombies. Garret Dillahunt will feel right at home.
