Richard Foreman Jr/AMC
Before the season wraps Sunday, here's an overview of the current state of the AMC spinoff's zombie problem.
Things are not going well for the Clark-Manawa clan. Then again, things rarely go well for anybody in the world of Fear the Walking Dead.
As the AMC zombie series approaches its final two episodes of season two — both airing Sunday — the deck is stacked against the blended family at the heart of the Walking Dead spinoff. Characters spent the season scattered from one another, finally starting to come back together as the final hours draw near. In some cases, though, there's no reunion in sight, with at least two players turning their backs on the family forever.
With the finale almost upon us, let's take quick stock of where things stand heading into the remaining hours of Fear the Walking Dead season two:
** Let's begin with Nick (Frank Dillane), the troubled son of the Clark side of the equation. He left his family behind in the midseason finale, turning away from his mother's killer instincts and instead embracing a life on the road, walking among the dead. It didn't take long for Nick to find a new place: La Colonia, a Tijuana stronghold guarded by an army of the dead and fueled by faith. Nick has become a key player within the colony, becoming friends with mentor Alejandro (Paul Calderon) and lovers with lieutenant Luciana (Danay Garcia). But how long will the Colonia last, now that the nearby Los Hermanos gang has its eye on finding the veritable fortress and taking it for their own?
** About an hour away from Tijuana, Nick's mother Madison (Kim Dickens) has found a safe haven of her own, in the form of an abandoned hotel. Well, almost abandoned, save for the survivors of a wedding gone horribly wrong at the top of the zombie outbreak. Madison and her allies have teamed together with these allies to reinforce the hotel, which has now become a port in the storm for other disenfranchised survivors. Although Madison is keeping her people safe, she can't stop thinking about her missing son, even if he's not thinking much about her at all.
** Few people are more frustrated with Madison than her daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). The young woman, who in another universe served as Commander of the 12 Clans in a very different post-apocalyptic scenario, feels intensely neglected by Madison, so preoccupied her son's missing whereabouts. While Madison wasn't paying attention, Alicia decided to take things into her own hands, becoming a leader within the hotel community in her own right, proving that she's one of the few members of the original Clark-Manawa squad who can actually handle herself physically and emotionally.
** Also posted up at the hotel: Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), the con man with a hidden heart of gold. The secret's out, however, now that Strand has moved on from his deceased boyfriend, those hopes for a happy ending behind him for good. Instead, Strand has focused on building up the hotel community, taking especially good care of the bar. Despite his best intentions, Strand suffered a knife wound from a fellow guest, after eliminating said guest's zombified daughter. Thankfully, he's alive; as it stands, Fear the Walking Dead can't afford to lose Strand.
** The latest addition to the hotel crew is Travis (Cliff Curtis), Madison's veritable husband who removed himself from the group during the midseason finale. His reason? He wanted to take care of Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie), his son who took a sharp left turn toward the dark side during the first half of season two. Travis and Chris never found common ground on the whole "don't kill people without a really good reason" thing, leading Chris to abandon his father. Travis' final words to his son: "God damn you, Chris!" He does not believe he will ever see Chris again.
** Little does he know it, but Travis has good reason to suspect he won't see Chris again. The most recent episode ended with two new arrivals at the hotel: the punk kids last seen traveling with Chris… except there's no Chris in sight. Did "Killer Chris" get killed, or were his murderous ways too much even by bonehead Brandon's standards?
** And then there's Ofelia (Mercedes Mason), the last surviving member of the Salazar family (as of now), and the most easily forgotten main character on Fear the Walking Dead. She was with Madison, Alicia and Strand when they discovered the hotel, but decided that since these people are not her actual family, it would be totally reasonable to steal their vehicle and drive off on her own. So far, Ofelia remains alive, albeit completely alone, if not totally directionless. What her story lacks in clear purpose, Ofelia at least has an idea of where to go next: back toward America.
** That's everyone, right? Not quite. Daniel Salazar (Rubén Blades) apparently died in the midseason finale, but showrunner Dave Erickson has made it clear that viewers haven't seen the last of Salazar. There's also another series regular: Michelle Ang as Alex, the sole survivor of the ill-fated Flight 462 plane crash and web-series, last seen palling around with a bunch of pirate types. Will either one of these characters emerge in the season two finale? It's not probable, given everything else hanging in the air… but then again, improbability has never been a problem in the world of Fear.
Fear the Walking Dead concludes its second season on October 2.
Fear the Walking Dead
