Fear the Walking Dead: Ouroboros Recap

Synopsis for 2×03: Strand’s secrets are revealed and the group learned nothing about their last landfall, nor have they decided to be any more trustworthy. Strangers are going to stop trying to make friendship bracelets for them soon.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Trust continues to be a major theme in Fear the Walking Dead. Opening on the aftermath of the Flight 462 miniseries, it seems that there were five survivors that made it to the safety raft after the crash. One man is immediately knocked back into the sea when another notices a bite mark on his leg. That man is taken out by Alex when he tries to put a badly burned Jake out of his misery. The fate of the last man is unknown, except that he eventually ends up dead and blocking the Abigail’s intake.

That information is found out when Travis and Madison notice a sound on the boat. Rather than wait until daylight, Travis decides to dive right in and discovers the bloated man, who startles him enough to resurface without fixing the problem. Strand confronts him about how long the fix is going to take before backtracking to try to keep the peace onboard.

Elsewhere, Daniel checks on Ofelia and finds her gunshot wound is infected. But when she says she’ll go to Madison about getting more medicine for the injury, he stops her and re-enforces that it’s every family for themselves. Like I said, trust issues abound in this episode.

Meanwhile, Alicia is drawing everyone’s attention to a bunch of suitcases washed up on the beach where no one has been around. Suddenly, Daniel’s a team player who volunteers to take Nick, Chris, and Alicia ashore for supplies. But before he departs, he tells Madison about Strand’s plans for Mexico, which he hasn’t shared with the rest of the group. He insists that she will be more diplomatic in handling the fallout from that tidbit of information and leaves with the kids.

On the shore, Daniel instructs them to be quick and stay within eyesight, so naturally Chris wanders off immediately. While everyone else is raiding the luggage on the shoreline, he heads towards the body of the plane, picking up a bit of fuselage along the way, and enters to find some of the undead still trapped in their seats.

After Madison nervously waits for Travis to clear the intake by stabbing the bloated zombie in the head, she confronts Strand about Mexico. He reminds her of how he saved Nick, her entire family, brought them all on his boat, and that they still don’t trust him. With good reason apparently, as he fesses up that there is a stocked and defensible safe house in Baja and that they have little time to get there. They argue about having to trust each other, but still Madison parts by telling him that if he becomes a threat to her family, she’ll toss him overboard.

When Chris finds one of the people in the wreckage still alive and begging for help, he attempts the humane fixes first by giving him water, but it’s obvious what actually needs to be done. He does a shoddy job of putting the man out of his misery quickly and painlessly and Chris has taken a human life. Meanwhile, after Daniel chastises Nick for making light of their situation, he finally realizes Chris is gone and goes looking for him.

Sometime after Chris and Daniel have wandered off, Alicia decides it’s been too long and tries to bring Nick with her to find them. Nick is distracted by finding a medical bag full of supplies and Alicia heads on without him. At the same time, Daniel sees someone who he thinks is Chris running over the sand towards them. It’s Alex from the plane wreckage, who tells him that they’re coming just as a group of zombies crest the hill.

On the boat, Travis is still fixing the intake system when Madison approaches him about Strand’s plan for Baja. She thinks it’s their best chance and that they should trust Strand, while Travis thinks it sounds like Madison has already made up her mind without consulting him. He drops a comment about how he doesn’t know where they’re going.

Nick ends up finding a rather active zombie stuck in the sand with crabs all over his torso. He tumbles into it and has to fend off its attack when he slips down in the sand pit with it. Unfortunately, by that point, the hoard is catching up to their position and Nick watches as more tumble down with him.

Alicia finds a dazed Chris by the plane, but before he can assure her that he’s fine, they heard Daniel shooting the gun. This also alerts Madison on the boat, who wants it started and heading for them immediately. Travis strives to get the boat intake cleared, pulling out a severed human hand before it actually starts.

Chris and Alicia quickly regroup with Alex and Daniel, who urges them to pick up a weapon to defend themselves. They’re pushed towards the edge of the beach, with nowhere to go, when a blood-covered Nick shows up and starts fighting his way through them. He makes a hole for the group to escape to and ends up going back himself to get in the face of one that won’t attack him so long as he’s covered in blood.

Luckily, they escape uninjured, but they pick up Alex and the still-burned and recovering Jake in their lifeboat. Madison spills the beans about Baja when Strand summarily refuses to let the two new people aboard. Travis jumps in to support Madison’s opinion, but ends up compromising by saying that they can tow Alex and Jake behind them in their own raft. This way, they’ll have some chance and they’re given water and blankets by a guilty group.

Once things settle down, Nick goes to Ofelia and hands her the rosary Daniel was looking at on the beach. He’s somewhat cleaned himself up and she teases him about smelling like death. On her own raft, Alex is trying to reassure Jake that this is the worst he’ll have to endure, with each day getting a little better. Unfortunately, that’s the same time Strand comes storming down from the desk and cuts their tow line before anyone can stop him.