‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Sets Up An All Out War In Next Week’s Midseason Finale

The Black Hat reservation is a “truck stop, a motel and market, rocks and asphalt, liquor and Oxy, drunken diabetics and welfare cheats,” Jeremiah Otto explains to Madison in the episode’s outset, telling her that the threat Walker and his tribe of Native Americans pose to Broke Jaw Ranch is nothing to fear.

“I feel your liberal judgement. It’s palpable,” he continues. “But that’s not racism.”

“Isn’t it?” Madison asks. “The man I saw yesterday was a threat. He had command.”

In this week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead, “Red Dirt,” the Black Hat Native Americans take the fight to the outskirts of the Broke Jaw Ranch, and while Madison sees the danger that Walker and his men pose, Jeremiah — blinded by his racism — can only see the “drunken diabetics and welfare cheats” he knew prior to the apocalypse. Those dueling perceptions help form two of the approaches the key figures on Broke Jaw Ranch take this week. Do they go on the offensive and attack the Black Hat Tribe, as Troy suggests? Do they wait and defend themselves only if the threat materializes, as Jeremiah suggests? Or do they take Jake’s approach to the situation and try to negotiate with the Black Hat Tribe?

Do we even want the Ottos and their border militia to win?

This week’s episode breaks down along the three approaches taken by the Ottos, while the Clarks pick their own sides.

Alicia

Alicia Clark is trying to play Lady MacBeth. She’s hitching her wagon to Jake — who she “likes,” but does not love — and trying to steer Jake into a leadership role. She’s pushing her boyfriend to take over the Broke Jaw Ranch after Jeremiah dies, and Alicia thinks she can control him and win a place for her family at the Ranch table. However, by the episode’s end, Alicia realizes she doesn’t have as much control over Jake as she might think, and that maybe she does have more feelings for him than she initially believed.

Alicia’s gambit backfires. “You’re right, I have to be more than just a voice in my father’s ear,” Jake tells Alicia, before embarking on a journey to find Walker and negotiate with him. Alicia tries to prevent Jake from leaving, partially to assert her control and partially because she legitimately fears for his safety. She cares for him so much, in fact, that in the end, Alicia decides to put her own life in danger, leave the ranch and go with Jake.

Nick

Nick is on Jeremiah patrol again this week, and while Nick has been able to keep his addiction locked down, Jeremiah’s alcoholism resurfaces, ruining any possibility that Jeremiah might one day be the Hershel Greene of The Walking Dead. Walker and the Black Hat Tribe successfully stoke the fears of those inside Broke Jaw by setting fires around the perimeter, driving another of the founding families away.

Jeremiah doesn’t take the departure of his lifelong friend Vern well, and he is a nasty drunk. He not only upturns a table in Nick’s room, but he punches his own son Troy the next morning.

Jeremiah is losing control of Broke Jaw Ranch, and Nick — like Jeremiah — seems content to sit back and watch it happen. Nick has clearly backed the wrong horse here; Jeremiah may have all the power, but he’s blinded by his prejudices and crippled into inaction, leaving his two sons to compete over the future of the ranch.

Madison

Madison has the sneaky play. She’s backing the nutjob, Troy, who illustrates glimmers of the type of great leader he can be when he’s not out killing his own people for spiteful reasons. To wit: Fearing an attack by the Black Hat Tribe, Vern packs up his family and leaves. Jeremiah reluctantly lets them go, but Troy tracks them out into the desert, tries to make them return, and, failing that, he kills them all.

Troy tries to pin the death of Vern’s family on Walker, and while Jeremiah and Nick know better, Madison exploits the situation. While Alicia tries and fails to play Lady MacBeth, Madison has that routine down cold. She vouches for Troy and tells the community it was Walker who killed Vern’s family, though she knows damn well that it wasn’t.

Madison displays the corpses of Vern’s family and warns them that if they leave Broke Jaw Ranch, they will meet the same fate. It works. She stems the exodus, but she also lets Troy know that she’s not only on to him, she has him by the balls. Troy is basically her soldier now, and she’s prepared to go to war with Troy against Walker, but only if Troy can get his sh*t together.

A war between Broke Jaw Ranch and the Black Hat Tribe is brewing, one that could step on the feet of the All Out War set to take place on The Walking Dead this fall. Next week sees the two-hour midseason finale, and it looks like the two sides are coming to a head.

SPOILER FOR NEXT WEEK’S EPISODE

Those who watch the upcoming scenes, may have also noticed that Ofelia is finally set to return, and it looks like she’s on the other side.

We’re going to see that war, and at least Alicia recognizes that the Clarks are “on the wrong side.”

How will Ofelia’s presence chance the dynamic? Will she convince Walker to spare the lives of the Clarks? Or will the Clarks see Ofelia and switch sides? Personally, I’m rooting for Walker and the Native Americans over the racist border militia, and maybe the Clarks (and sure, Jake, maybe) can figure out a way to work with Black Hat to keep Broke Jaw Ranch without keeping the Ottos.

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