Fear The Walking Dead ends the first half of its second season with this week’s upsetting Mid-Season Finale
It seems like season 2 of Fear The Walking Dead just started, but this week was episode 7 and also the Mid-Season Finale, so we’ll have to be patient for a few months before the second half arrives. The official title of the episode is Shiva.
Last week, Chris was even more out of control than earlier, when he decided not to help Madison when she was trapped underneath one of the very hungry “Infected” people (they’re calling them infected on Fear The Walking Dead so I’m going with that this week). Madison only made it out of that nasty situation because her daughter ran past Chris and planted a knife in the “Infected” man’s skull. But enough about that “little incident” – you can brush up on last week’s shenanigans in our recap right here.
Another thing that happened last week, was Strand shooting Thomas Abigail after he died, so he wouldn’t return as one of the Infected. Celia – who seems to think the Infected are people of a different kind, but still worthy of their new kind of “life” – is very upset and wants to throw Strand out immediately.
Madison intervenes and Celia gives him one day to bury his beloved Thomas before he will be escorted off of the estate. Meanwhile, Travis is out looking for Chris. He’s on his own after Alicia refused to help. She did have a very good reason: “He just stood over me with a knife” which Travis accepts.
Madison has had enough of the Abigail Estate – and Celia in particular – so she tells her son and daughter that they’ll be leaving as soon as Travis returns. The kids are not interested in this…
Nick insists that he can convince Celia to let them stay, but Madison isn’t really interested. This place hasn’t been good for them.
Daniel is another one, who really hasn’t been well since they arrived. He’s having nightmares and when he wakes up the hallucinations set in instead. A bad case of PTSD has taken its hold on him, and when he grabs Ofelia and says they have to get to the gate, where Ofelia’s mother (who died last season in L.A.) is waiting, we all know he’s lost it.
Ofelia is scared and Celia tries to stop him, along with some of the men from the estate, but Daniel attacks one of them and is taken away to calm down. Or really, they probably have no plans to set him free again.
Nick has once again dressed up in the blood and guts of the Infected and gone to the boat to retrieve Luis – who is now one of the Infected – as a token of understanding and cooperation towards Celia. In doing this, he also went directly against Mama Madison’s request to stay away from Celia. However, it does work and she agrees that Nick and his family can stay as long as they accept her way of viewing the Infected. Strand, however, is not welcome and still has to leave.
Madison goes to talk to Nick as he’s cleaning himself. She is not happy with his habit of constantly going out among the infected, but it’s clear that he’s starting to see things as Celia does. Madison goes to talk to Strand, who’s digging a grave for Thomas, and he explains to her that it was bound to happen. Nick is vulnerable and Celia is great at preying on this, so it was almost too easy for her. Strand also asks Madison to come along with him, back on the boat, but she says she has to wait for Travis to come back.
Travis has been out looking for Chris all night and keeps finding Infected, who have recently been killed, so he knows he’s on the right track. He comes across a house and tries to rest his feet. Since he left in the middle of the night, he has only been wearing socks and no shoes. Though, why anyone would sleep wearing socks (or opt for putting on socks instead of shoes, when a gunshot wakes them up in the middle of the night) is beyond me.
It turns out the house isn’t empty, and a very alive man wants Travis to leave immediately but ends up giving him water and shoes before trying to get him out of the house. The man insists that he doesn’t speak English, but Travis spots a comic book in English and knows something’s up. Turns out Chris is in fact in the house, but threatening to kill the man’s young son, if he doesn’t get rid of Travis. Oh yeah, and Chris has a gun now.
Travis confronts his son, and ends up knocking the gun out of Chris’ hand – because there is no reasoning with him – but Chris takes off before his dad can get a hold of him. Travis is hot on Chris’ heels and catches up to him and tackles him to the ground. They wrestle and Chris grabs the knife Travis had in his belt and tries to cut his own dad several times before Travis gets to knife back.
Chris is crying and saying “I’m no good” and yeah, maybe I’m heartless but I really do agree with him. I get that he’s hurting after losing his mom, and he’s there with his dad’s new wife and stepsiblings. However, they’ve been showing Chris as getting along well with Madison, Nick, and especially Alicia (they’ve called one another brother and sister), so this whole; “The poor kid is all alone” is not working for me. Yes, he’s messed up and needs help, but right now he is crazy dangerous. If the world was normal, he would be talking to a therapist (possibly be committed to an institution for a while), but this isn’t normal and he is deadly for everyone around him.
I get sick to my stomach reading comments that defend him. Chris needs help. Agreed! But there is no defending his actions. That’s some enabling shit and if you really feel sorry for him – without accepting that he’s also dangerous – then you need help as well, cause you’re bound to get in some very unhealthy relationships with people you “want to save”. Unfortunately, the people I see defending him are mostly women and the same type of people who send love letters to murderers on death row. Yeah, I’m not having any of this!
Moving on… Nick has dressed in Infected Blood and Guts (for the second time this episode) to go find Travis and Chris. He finds them, but Travis tells Nick to go back and tell Madison he couldn’t find them. Travis is staying with his son, who he knows he can’t take back to his wife and stepkids right now. This, I do understand. I don’t know what Travis thinks he can do to help Chris, but I understand he has to try. Nick accepts this and gives Travis a knife before heading back.
Celia confronts Daniel, while he’s being held captive, and says she knows he’s haunted by the dead. Not those she’s holding in a cell, but “his own dead”. Meaning those he has killed over the years. While talking to Celia, he keeps hearing his late wife talking to him as well, and as soon as Celia leaves, she appears.
Madison is working on getting things in order with Celia and says she wants to understand how Celia views the infected. Celia takes Madison to the cell, where the infected are now eating a pig that was slaughtered for them. While Celia is saying she still sees them as her family, Madison backtracks out of the cell and closes the door on Celia, who remains on the wrong side of the door with her beloved Infected.
Yeah, I am Team Madison all the way. She’s a Carol [from The Walking Dead] type of character, who does whatever it takes to defend her people (including Chris before he decided not to help her when she was in fatal danger).
While talking to his late wife, Daniel seems to work through his own past, but the outcome isn’t exactly good. He manages to get out of his restraints and sets fire to the holding cell to get rid of off the infected. He remains in the cell as well – still seeing his wife – and this could possibly spell the end for Daniel. I say “possibly” because you never really know till you’ve seen them completely dead, so we’ll have to wait and see.
The Abigail Estate is going up in flames, and Strand – who had just been thrown out and found the truck they arrived in – returns to get Madison, Alicia, and Ofelia, who are waiting for Nick and Travis (and Chris). Nick arrives back just as they’re leaving and tells Madison that he didn’t find Travis. Also, he’s not coming with his mom and sister. He chooses to remain behind with the infected, where he feels safe and in control. Strand grabs Madison and pulls her into the truck, while Alicia looks on in disbelief as her brother chooses to abandon his family just when they’d found one another again.
For the record, this is the official episode plot:
Conflict arises as the Abigail approaches its destination. Chris makes a staggering decision. Nick meets a new maternal figure.
Read the recap for episode 6 of Fear The Walking Dead right here, if you missed it. We’ll be back next time with a recap for episode 8, when Fear The Walking Dead returns on August 21, 2016. Till then, we’ll have plenty of time to think about what we just witnessed in the Mid-Season Finale.
But really, while you wait for both The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead to return with new episodes, you should really consider watching Penny Dreadful. We’re doing recaps of this latest season, which is so insanely good, we’re not afraid to call it one of the very best things on TV. Watch the season 3 trailer and read more about the show right here!
As always, you can follow the FTWD tag for recaps or anything else related to Fear The Walking Dead!
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