Fear the Walking Dead: Captive Recap

Synopsis for 2×05: The kids attempt to establish themselves as bona fide survivors of the apocalypse, to varying results.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This episode begins with the exploration of Connor’s group, with Alicia having a steak cooked for her and his explanation that he makes sure everyone gets a hot meal every night. Even as she asks for Travis, and then Jack, he insists that he wants to get to know her on her own. A timely power outage pulls him away, and Vida – the pregnant woman who tricked everyone on the Abigail – takes the opportunity to steal Alicia’s steak and lock her in.

In a panic, she tries to escape and finds herself on the bow of a giant boat stationed on a dry dock. Jack pulls her back into the cabin and chastises her about what Connor would think if he knew she was running around. Again, she insists she wants to know about her family and Jack asks her to trust him about finding out if she gives him some time.

On the Abigail, Daniel is cleaning around Reed’s wounds, with the added bonus of it being extremely painful for him. Chris looks on while he threatens Daniel and Ofelia, revealing at the same time that he is Connor’s brother and where a certain cluster of boats will give away their location. When Chris seems confused about Daniel allowing him to talk like that, he simply shrugs it off by explaining that scared men are like that.

Chris, understandably, isn’t Reed’s biggest fan and Daniel has him stand guard, but instructs him not to engage. When Ofelia questions that decision, Daniel explains that Chris needs to feel helpful or his mind may wander to places it shouldn’t. She also makes some inquiries into Daniel’s own wounds after the fight from last episode, but he shrugs off her concern.

Instead, he goes to Madison and Strand, sharing his newly gathered information and giving them a direction to head towards in order to get Travis and Alicia back. Luis, Strand’s friend that Nick picked up last episode, argues that they’re going in the wrong direction and they won’t make it to Baja anyway without the proper amount of money. Strand gives her half a day to get her family, insisting that it makes them even for her saving him from the water. Daniel and Madison also briefly argue about “the kids” staying behind and not getting involved once they confront Connor.

Jack is explaining Alicia’s new job to her – she’s supposed to watch the boats on the radar, name them, and keep track of their stats so that Connor can decide which ones to attack and overtake. While they talk about the state of the new world and what it takes to survive, Alicia takes something from his pocket and then plays demure about the whole situation.

Meanwhile, Travis is locked down in a cell somewhere when Alex, the woman whose life raft strand cut loose, shows up to tell him about what happened afterwards. She had to strangle the boy she was taking care of, and shove him overboard, before he could come back and attack her. Connor picked her up and she offered up the Abigail in return for safety. She’s upset about the entire situation and blames Travis, who she claims knew better.

He goes on to share about Chris and the violence of this new world. He tells Alex about how he had to kill Lisa and how he knows the cost, the piece of him now missing, trying to bond them to the same situation. He apologizes to her and when he asks what will happen to her now, she reveals that Connor has found a way to use her – but no one uses her.

Madison and Strand are left alone once again and she threatens him about sending Nick on more “errands.” They have a small argument while they’re pulling up to Connor’s boats where she tells him not to come between her and her son. After confronting Strand with that stupidity, Madison yells at Nick and finds him getting comfortable with a gun.

At the same time, Alicia notices the Abigail on the radar and Jack reluctantly tells her that Connor isn’t the problem, Reed is and that he should be the one bringing the boat back. She immediately comes up with a plan to find her family and he volunteers to go with her.

They’re looking at boats on the radar and find one that looks like Connor would drop everything to target. While Jack makes the call to let him know about it, the two of them plan to take an extra boat and escape. Alicia even makes it down to the cells with Travis and tells him about their plans to escape. She insists they’ll come for him, but he tells her that if she can only get herself out, it’s okay. Her mom would never forgive him for ruining their escape.

Reed isn’t doing too great with a piece of metal shoved into him, but he’s doing well enough to goad Chris about being an outsider. After he’s given his speech, Nick is the one to close the door on Reed and ask Chris if he’s doing okay. Chris confesses that everything that has happened is his fault, but Nick says not even he would consider shooting a pregnant lady. He tries to tell Chris not to let it get in his head.

Once they’re close enough, Madison gets on the radio with Connor and arranges a trade: Connor for Travis and Alicia. Nick volunteers to make the exchange, but Madison says she’ll do it herself. But as soon as the deal is struck, they hear a gunshot from down below deck and go rushing to see what happened.

And what happened is that Chris might have screwed up the entire deal, something he only realizes after the fact. He has Reed’s gun and tells Ofelia first that Reed was dead and going to turn, so he shot him. Madison, in her inability to comfort him, questions how he knew, which he continually asserts that he just knew. When he hears arguing in the other room, he finally breaks, asking if he screwed everything up, and Madison just tells him it’s okay and that they’ll figure everything out.

Luckily, Chris is a terrible shot and Reed turns while Ofelia and Nick are cleaning up the room. Daniel manages to spear Reed to the wall and doesn’t allow them to put him down. While he’s getting Reed ready for the trade, Daniel begins to hear voices urging him to take the gun. Just as he’s about to unmask Reed and make sure it’s not him, Ofelia asks him if he’s alright and they carefully maneuver Reed out to the boat with Madison.

From there, it’s a quick trip in the boat and a stand-off on the pier. Hooded, they trade Travis for Reed, and when he’s unmasked, Reed attacks Connor. Travis headbutts one of the guys running towards them and it turns into a scramble.

Having orchestrated their escape, Jack goes looking for Alicia who manages to give him the slip when he comes looking for her. Unfortunately, she doesn’t shake Vida and has to wrestle her into a cell and leave her behind. From the back of the boat, she can see the fight happening just as Jack catches up to her. He’s hurt and confused that she wants to go back to them, after what they did to Alex, but she ignores him and jumps from the boat to reunite with her family.