‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Review ‘Pillar of Salt’
The tension between the colonia and Marco’s group reached new heights this week, Strand took a hit for helping Oscar take care of his wife, and Madison’s desperate attempt to find Nick may have put the hotel in danger. Ofelia also resurfaced and we learned where she’s headed and why.
Recap
Through a series of flashbacks, we learn more about Ofelia and her life before the outbreak. She was engaged to a man who moved to Sante Fe, but she couldn’t leave her parents, so he went without her. By the time the credits rolled, Ofelia, who absconded with Strand’s truck, was headed back into the U.S., presumably to Sante Fe to see if her finance survived.
At the colonia, Franco, one of the scouts who transports the oxy to Marco, tried to leave with his family. They were caught by Marco rather quickly, who took them back to the warehouse to try and get the colonia’s location out of them. After realizing they were gone, Alejandro mandates everyone is to stay put, and the drop for the drugs will have to wait. Nick doesn’t agree, and tries to make arrangements to make the trade for water.
Madison, Alicia and the rest of the gang at the hotel prepare to settle in by fortifying the gates and get the generator going. Just as they seem to be settling in, Ilene surprises Strand and stabs him in the stomach. She blames him for taking her daughter away. They determine he needs some medical supplies. Before they leave, Madison says that Ilene needs to stay locked up, and if anyone hurts another, they will be turned out.
Elena, Madison and Oscar go out on the road for meds to a place that Elena knows of, which just happens to be the warehouse that Nick has been too. Her nephew, Hector’s brother, stayed there to be apart of Marco’s gang instead of going with his family at the time of the outbreak.
At the Warehouse, Madison overhears Marco questioning Franco and his wife, she begins to believe they are talking about Nick. Even though she disobeyed the order to stay put and pushed her way into the room to try and find out if they were talking about Nick, they were still able to leave with the medicine they needed for Strand.
After returning to the hotel, Madison makes a dangerous choice and runs the generator at night, bringing the hotel lights to life. Off in the distance Travis sees the hotel lights come on, and will presumably make the trek to its gates.
Dangerous Choices
Just when you think Madison may finally be ready to make some good decisions, she goes and does something dumb like light up the hotel at night. All their hard work fortifying it against would be attackers, and she basically goes and turns on the vacancy sign. This choice also has immediate consequences when Alicia confronts Madison about it. Alicia can’t understand why Madison keeps choosing Nick over her, when Nick was the one who left them.
Did Madison actually hear what Alicia was saying? Who knows at this point. However, we do know that at least one person saw the lights of the hotel, and that was Travis. Who, by the way, was alone when he spotted them turn on, then turn off soon after. Which begs the question… where is Chris?
What to make of Alejandro’s very dangerous decision to not fulfil their deal with Marco? Nick thinks it is putting the colonia into a bit of danger. Lucina doesn’t agree, and thinks it is best to follow whatever Alejandro says. By the end of the episode, we have to assume that Franco cracked under the pressure of interrogation and told Marco the colonia’s location, because they had eyes on it and Nick, who was standing in clear view.
Someone’s Going to Die
I hate to be “that girl” but with two episodes left for the season, I fear we are going to lose one of the main characters. But who? Well, a lot of fans speculate that Nick’s time may be up because of the current situation at the colonia. Personally, I think it will be Chris who is in danger of losing his life.
Next week’s episode is titled, “Date of Death”. Now that doesn’t mean that someone will die, but I think that his mental state is touchy at best. His decision to kill the man in the barn was a harsh one, and may not necessarily endear him to the guys they are traveling with. However it plays out, I still think we will see one of our core survivors put down by episode’s end.
‘Fear the Walking Dead’ airs on AMC, Sundays at 9/8C.
Writer of stories, watcher of TV. I am an avid horror and sci-fi junkie who’s been riding with the Winchesters since their dad went on a hunting trip in 2005. Current obsessions are The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files and The Dark Tower movie. Find me on twitter – @jryan_author – for your daily dose of sarcasm and poems about my unnatural love of coffee.
