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Fear the Walking Dead 4.08 Review – ‘No One’s Gone’
Loading...Welcome to the mid-season finale of Fear the Walking Dead. Tonight, we learn at last the answers to many of our long-burning questions about what brought everyone to this point, and who survives to go forward into the future.
The plot! Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Madison and Althea met over a year ago when Madison tried to steal the SWAT van. After a few tussles, Madison eventually gives Althea the interview she’s after. Madison tells her about wanting to protect her kids and keep the good people they are alive, and her search for a place where she can do that. Althea trades her some food, and Madison shortly thereafter reunites with her family and directs them to the stadium, along with the plan to bring in other people to be a part of it. Althea never got the specific details or names, so she had no idea that they were connected. But before all this comes to light, Alicia, Victor, and Luciana hunt the van down and Alicia is determined to kill Naomi. She comes damn close, too, but in the end, Morgan is able to get through to her, telling her she doesn’t have to do this. Naomi–whose real name is actually June–saves John’s life, and we learn at last what happened at the stadium’s demise. After being left with no options, Madison uses a flare to lure the herd inside the stadium, knowing they can be contained inside. When she’s unable to get back out, she locks the gate, says goodbye to her kids over the walkie, and dies having given her life so they could live. Alicia, Victor, and Luci all agree that it was never really about the place, but the people that made the stadium what it was. With this, the new group shares a dinner of cup of noodles around the fire.
While the action in the ‘now’ was exciting and kept things tense throughout the episode tonight, the real story was with Madison tonight. For the most part this season, we’ve only seen Madison but not experienced the show with her, but tonight that changed as we saw her struggle against Althea out of desperation, and then open up to her. We’ve always known Madison would do anything for her kids, she’s proven that time and time again. And a mother’s love is something we’re all familiar with enough, whether through experience or just through media, that we’ve never questioned why she does this. But to hear the story of her children nursing a broken and dying bird slowly back to life was kind of perfect.
We’ve seen Alicia’s determination and how she’s often tried to work for and believe in a better world. From how hard she worked to help negotiate a peace between Broke Jaw Ranch and the People, how she tried to connect with Chris, how she wanted so badly to believe that random guy she talked to over the radio on the Abigail, and, of course, how she’s looked after her brother so many times and always knew he could do and be better. Nick’s sensitivity, on the other hand, has shown itself in more strange and subtle ways, but he’s certainly always had a unique way of opening up to the world and letting it in. He was almost always the first to adapt to a new situation, from the apocalypse itself to the Colonia to the ranch, even to farming at the stadium. Both kids have made some poor decisions thanks to these traits, the latest of which was probably going out to save Mel on the night the stadium fell. But much like they say to their mother, it was still the right decision. It’s easy to see how things could have worked out differently and for the better: if Madison hadn’t kicked Mel out in the first place, if Ennis’s timing been a little slower, if the other stadium residents not fled, if they’d gotten back to the car before he came to.
But this half-season wasn’t about a time when things worked out just right. It was about a time when things went just wrong and it all ended tragically. Madison’s final sacrifice is nothing less than how she would want to go, giving her life to make sure her kids survived. It’s heartbreaking, and it makes the loss of Nick so soon afterward even more heartbreaking. On more of a production note, I liked that we never saw how she actually died, though, whether by the walkers overwhelming or by her own hand. This is a show that revels in its gore, after all, and fading out into that bright light for Madison felt very respectful and a unique way of having someone die.
Just as Alicia, Victor, and Luciana say, in the end, it truly does all come down to the people. Althea’s gift of food inspired Madison to bring others into their new home, John’s kindness to Naomi/June inspired her to stay in that home and to risk everything to save him, Morgan’s determined intervention got through to Alicia and got her to let go of her need to kill Naomi. On the darker side, Ennis’s cruelty and sadism drove Nick to kill him, which in turn got him shot by Charlie. It also lead to the slaughter of the Vultures later on, and to Alicia’s vicious need for revenge.
So what will happen now? Though the group seems to have absolved one another and to be mending their wounds, both literally and metaphorically, the loss of Madison is a huge one. She’s been a somewhat mercurial but tough as nails and interesting character, and I would’ve gladly watched more of her. I didn’t always like her or her choices, but she sure did keep things moving and she was very decisively the leader and center of her group. Now, of the original cast, only Alicia remains. Though she has Luciana and Victor, her entire family is gone and that has to be terrifying for her. She’s a young woman capable of leading, yes, but she’s never been without that anchor in her life, that point on which to pivot. The show that started about a specific family’s fight to survive is now about a ragtag group of strangers with no clear goal, and a tenuous trust of one another. I’ll be honest, I’m kind of hoping Morgan will eventually ask them, “How many walkers have you killed?” and kick off a unifying of the two shows (especially given rumors about Andrew Lincoln’s future on TWD).
Where do you think these survivors will go next? Will they head towards Atlanta, where Morgan knows there’s a group of good people and a secured set of communities? Or will they wander to find their own way? And what did you think of tonight’s episode? Let’s hear it in the comments, and I’ll see you in August when Fear the Walking Dead returns!
