Last week on Fear The Walking Dead, Madison and Walker continued their road trip with Strand in search of Daniel and Lola’s dam. Daniel and Lola also were dealing with their own drama of being in charge of the world’s most precious resource in an area of endless desert, upsetting those who need it the most. When they finally collided, Madison was able to broker an agreement between the Broke Jaw community and Lola: water for guns. Meanwhile, on the ranch, the Black Hat people were not getting along with the Broke Jaw ones, and they all nearly came to blows over the discovery that they only had 3 weeks of water left and it was going to turn into “Lord of the Files” very quickly. While they managed to avoid a confrontation, how long will that last?
This week focused wholly on Broke Jaw and a new threat (one they thought was banished) returned, and he brought some friends. So how did this week’s episode of Fear The Walking Dead go? Here are a few highlights.
The Return of Troy
Troy, who was introduced to us with serial killer tendencies at the beginning of the season, returns from his isolation this week. He was banished for trying to stage a revolt against the Black Hat leadership, and in order to keep the peace, Walker and Madison opted to banish him. Leaving him with a gun and a single bullet, he was as good as dead. However, this week’s episode begins with him endlessly wandering the landscape, having been through hell in his isolation. However, he still knows the land and comes across one of his family’s other properties, that happens to have a grenade launcher.
At first, you would think that he’s just going to blow up Walker and assume leadership over the community. No. He has a much darker plan in mind. Having stumbled across a large horde of zombies, he opts to use the loud noise from the grenade explosions to lure the zombies towards Broke Jaw. He’d rather murder everyone there since he’s been banished. While he does sneak into the ranch to tell Nick (and his brother by default) that something bad is coming, he doesn’t seem to care for anyone else who will die in his quest for vengeance.
Nick and Jake Go To Stop Troy:
It’s no secret that Jake is the weak link of the Otto brothers. He’s not a crazy racist like his dad, nor is he a psychopath like his brother, but he’s almost too green to be in the world of The Walking Dead. Even Ofelia and Crazy Dog on the Black Hat side state that he’s too weak to be in charge. They think that Nick would be a good replacement as their community counterpart. Jake even thinks that Alicia was sleeping with him as a power play for her family to have leadership and leverage on the ranch.
Which is why it’s so surprising that upon learning about his brother’s possible return, Jack decides that Troy needs to be put down and opts to find and kill his brother. Now rest assured, Troy needs to be put down, it just doesn’t seem like he’s the one that would have the stones to do it, which is proven right. When the two of them finally catch up to Troy, he’s firing grenades to lure the zombies to the ranch. The two Otto brothers engage in a fight and Jake seems ready to pull the trigger, but Nick tries to talk him off the ledge. There Troy reveals to his brother the truth that Nick killed their father, not the suicide that everyone believes. Surprisingly, Jake’s rage for his brother makes him not really care. It does provide just enough distraction that Troy hits him, causing him to fall back, dangerously too close to zombies. There he gets bitten in the arm. Nick and Troy know he’s aa goner, but thanks to Troy’s sadistic experimentation, he knows that if he cuts off his arm, he just might save him. Bye bye Jake’s arm!
We Got F-Bombs!
The funny thing about the world of The Walking Dead is, you can see the most creative and disgusting ways to kill a zombie, we can see someone gets beat to death with a barbed wire baseball bat, but don’t you dare have any harsh cursings on this show!
One of the big disappointment from Negan’s introduction on The Walking Dead is the fact that he is somewhat a shell of his comic book counterpart. In the comics, Negan uses the word “fuck” as a straight up noun. He barely goes more than two sentences without saying it:
Even though AMC is cable, it’s basic cable, so he doesn’t get to see him in all his glory. However, fans who purchased the Blu-Ray/DVD for The Walking Dead got the chance to see an uncensored scene with Negan cursing like he did in the comics.
But we didn’t get to see/hear it on TV…. Until now. AMC has decided that they were going to give fans of Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead a little more flexibility with their F-Bombs. Recently the producers were told that they now can say “fuck” twice a year for their perspective shows. Nick had the opportunity to be the first character in the Walking Dead universe to use that so coveted word.
Zombies Attack The Ranch
Thanks to Troy’s actions, they manage to come upon Broke Jaw. Crazy Horse decided that now’s the time to bury the hatchet and he gives guns to the Broke Jaw people as they try to defend the ranch from the oncoming horde of zombies. They use all the trailers to set up a barrier between the zombies and them, but of course, that fails and all sorts of mayhem ensue. Countless people are killed, and there are a few close calls for Alicia, Ophelia, and Crazy horse, but they all manage to escape into the pantry underground. They are all lucky that the zombies don’t know how to open shed doors, or the entire community would be gone.
Troy Sees The Consequences For His Actions
Sadly for Jake, he succumbs to his injuries and becomes a zombie in his brother’s arms. Troy is forced to kill his brother, the one person he wanted to survive the massacre. Troy, who was crazy before, is now broken. He even asks Nick to kill him, which he tell him no as it’s now up to the two of them try and figure out a way to save the survivors of Broke Jaw still in the pantry.
Next week, the people in the pantry have to stay alive while Nick and Troy figure out a way to save them.
