Back in the season fifth premiere, in trying to describe to Annie, Max, and Dylan the problems Morgan and Company have encountered in their pursuit of people to “help,” Alicia explained to the kids that “everyone is either lost, missing, or don’t want to be found.” It appears after this week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead, that Annie, Max, and Dylan fall firmly into the latter camp. They never wanted to be found, and now that they have, they’re trying to figure out how to get rid of Alicia and Co.
Return to scenes from the premiere episode of the season, and that seems obvious in the context of what we know now, namely that Annie and Max have been staging zombie roadblocks in a large perimeter around where they are staying all along. Max didn’t trust them the moment they learned that Morgan and Co. wanted to help people and were willing to endanger their own lives to do so. They may be kids, but they clearly have some major trust issues, which may be owed to the mysterious death of their parents. They’ve been staging zombie roadblocks for months because they want to keep people away. When Althea crash-landed their plane in the kids’ territory, they played coy about the roadblocks and eventually ran away at the first opportunity, begging Alicia and Co. to not just leave, but leave them alone.
The truth is: They don’t want Alicia and Morgan’s help. Before they showed up, Annie, Max and Dylan had a good thing going, hunting for deer, killing “growlers,” and taking care of each other. They have no interest in having that life disrupted by a group of people who claim to be helping others. I don’t blame them for being distrustful: Morgan, Alicia and Co., are probably the first people they’ve met since the outbreak on a mission to help others. I’d be distrustful, too.
They’re probably also protecting something within the perimeter of the zombie roadblocks, too. Why else would Max finally reach out to Alicia just as they were going to break through what appears to be one of the final roadblocks. They left Dylan behind in their van, covered in zombie guts, for one reason only: So Dylan could learn more about them and their mission, before trying to scare them away. What are they hiding within that perimeter, anyway? I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, it’s a grocery store or market of some sort, which provides them with all the resources they need to survive the apocalypse. They’re probably not keen on sharing.
In the other storyline this week, John and June — out investigating the zombie roadblocks and searching for Althea — come across Humbug Gulch, a tourist saloon town where John used to perform his trick-shooting feats. There, they encounter Dwight, our old friend from The Walking Dead, who has been traveling across country in search of his wife, Sherry. He found a few clues — Sherry had been leaving him notes — but the trail had run cold until he found a van being driven by June and John that he thought had belonged to Sherry. That led directly to a showdown that resulted in Dwight being shot in the arm, but after things calmed down, John, June, and Dwight bonded over what they had in common: John and June spent months searching for each other, and now Dwight is searching for Sherry.
Dwight is in bad shape, at the end of this rope, and contemplating suicide. However, June and John talk him out of it, encourage him to continue searching for Sherry, and agree to help him find her. However, they first have to help him escape the minivan, where he has been pinned in by a small horde of zombies. John uses his gun skills and eventually employs a terrific trick shot, using his final bullet to shoot Dwight’s ax, splitting the bullet in two and killing the last two zombies. It’s a cool trick.
After that, Dwight meets back up with the rest of the gang, reuniting him with his old The Walking Dead counterpart, Morgan, who quickly welcomes him into the fold. After Dwight joins them in trying to determine who is behind the zombie roadblocks, Dwight quickly falls into the group. He’s invested now, as what looks to be a permanent member of the team.
Additional Notes
— Speaking of the addition of Dwight, the cast here is growing in size. There’s Morgan, Alicia, Althea, Dwight, June, John, Strand, Luciana, Charlie, Sarah, Wendell, the return of Daniel, Annie, Max, Dylan, the new character, Grace, and the new villain, Logan. I expect we’ll lose several by the end of the season.
— We’ve only barely seen Charlie (elevated to series regular), Sarah, or Wendell this season, and we have no idea how long Althea will be MIA. Fear is juggling a lot of storylines this season, though, including CRM, the toxic zombies, the kids and the zombie roadblocks, the search for Sherry, and Logan taking over their home base. Next week, it appears that Charlie will factor in again.
— That San Antonio split was hugely impressive. I think it may have given June the vapors. Six-Gun Sam is also a much better name that John Dorie.
