Fear The Walking Dead: What’s Your Story? Recap

Synopsis for 4×1: Morgan Jones makes his way to Fear the Walking Dead and a few new characters are introduced.

There’s a man alone in the woods. When he hears a sound, he gets up and begins speaking aloud for the first time in a while. He offers to share his food, his books, his company, and is overly earnest to find another person out there in the dark. But when one of the infected shambles out of the woods, he assumes that’s what he heard. As he shoots it in the head, Morgan is revealed standing behind it and he asks, “What’s your story?”

Cue a flashback to where The Walking Dead season eight left Morgan at the Heapsters garbage dump. Jesus, Carol, and Rick all visit him in order to try to convince him to come back to any one of the settlements. Rick reminds him of the very beginning and how he and many other people wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for him. Unfortunately, Morgan knows he’s not that person anymore.

Soon after, Morgan packs his backpack and agonizes over his decision to leave. Once he’s sure, he runs. Eventually, he finds a vehicle with a full tank and drives until it’s empty, walks, finds another car. When he finds one with a guy inside, he tries to help him, but the bitten and suffering man is not about to accept any charity. It only re-enforces Morgan’s thoughts about other people and he takes his food back and leaves the man.

Bringing audiences up to speed, Morgan is sneaking through the woods to kill the walker when the man does it for him. He introduces himself as John Dorie — like the fish, but with an i-e. John offers him food and asks about a woman carrying a pistol matching his. Morgan declines everything but gives in to John’s offer of sleeping in his vehicle until the man is actually asleep. Then he leaves the sleeping man and walks right into a trap.

Morgan wakes up to two men going through his things. He offers to let them have the food if he can leave with everything else, but they’re not happy with that plan. Surprisingly, John comes to his defense, but they’re still outnumbered. He’s forced to sit with Morgan until a woman, Al, arrives in a SWAT vehicle. She trades some instant noodles for John and Morgan, though it’s clear the other group isn’t thrilled with the trade.

John is happy to be saved by Al and Morgan just wants to be let out. However, Al saved them for a reason: she wants to interview them about their time so far. She’s a journalist collecting stories and in the morning John tells her about Laura, his old cabin, and the matching gun. Morgan doesn’t want to answer her questions and Al eventually lets him leave. John catches up to him and offers him clean socks just before they realize they’re being ambushed by the group from the night before.

They want Al’s truck and hold John and Morgan at gunpoint once more. This time, Morgan uses his stick and gets the better of the two nearest him. John also jumps into action and they work defensively together. Al throws the keys to the truck away so that the leader of the other group is forced to go after them as John provides cover for her to run to safety.

Morgan moves to take out the man on the roof with the rifle, but he gets shot in the process. When he does catch up to the guy who shot him, he easily gets the upper hand as the guy slips off the roof and dangles for the undead. Morgan makes the poor choice to help him back up onto solid ground and they end up grappling again before falling through the roof of the trailer. It’s full of walkers and this time, they take care of the guy for Morgan.

Al makes it back to her vehicle, only to be hit with the door by the leader of the other group. He can’t get the truck to start because she threw the wrong keys away the first time. John shoots the man to allow her time to get into the vehicle as Morgan catches up with them both. She gets in and manages to engage the machine guns mounted on the side, killing all of the infected in the area.

Once they’re away and free, John asks her about a flag with the number 51 on it that she collected from the scene. She’s not sure what they mean, but she’s seen them popping up in the area with no one to explain them. Morgan gives into telling her about the settlements he came from — Atlanta, Alexandria, he even tells her about the Kingdom and Shiva. Then he leaves again.

He notices the car that he’d found the wounded man in crashed on the side of the road and abandoned before he sees a walker limping away from the scene. Shot in the leg, he does his own limping after the guy and attracts the attention of other walkers. He falls over and they start to catch up before John saves him at the last moment. He tells Morgan that he’s wrong about being on his own and helps Morgan to catch up to the walker to bury the guy from before.

Job done, John shares candy with him and tells Morgan he’s happy that they found him. Morgan insists that he’s only with them until his leg heals up, though Al has promised to help John look for Laura. John’s not convinced it will be a fruitful venture, but he can’t think otherwise.

As they drive, Al sees someone on the road. They stop the vehicle and that’s when both John and Morgan let her know that they’re not okay with killing people if they can help it. Still, they defensively arm themselves and try to help the distraught woman collapsed on the road. When they get close enough to her, it’s revealed to be Alicia. Nick, Strand, and Luciana come out of hiding and they take the three hostage.