Fear the Walking Dead S02 E6: Sicut Cervus

On last week’s episode of “Fear the Walking Dead” our team pulled together to save Alicia and Travis. They are truly beginning to act as a family, but better keep an eye on Chris. This kid has issues that might upset the family. There is unexpected company heading towards the Abigail and, Nick meets a new maternal figure.

Holy Walker Altar boys! This episode starts off with a bang when the men that Luis is supposed to make arrangements with to get to Baja argue over the money. While Team Travis hides in the cabin below, Luis is dying. The Abigail makes it to its destination, but if Strand was expecting to be greeted by happy villagers, he’s a little too late. The entire village dies a horrid death after taking a bad batch of communion wafers. The priest tells Thomas Abigail that Celia caused it. Why was the priest leading armed men to go after Celia? What was she hiding?

Thomas Abigail

When Strand and the others finally make it to the compound they are told to leave their weapons behind. I don’t know about you, but my Terminus radar went off and especially when Celia warmly welcomes everyone into the estate. To top this off, it’s a farm and I’m thinking Hershel and we all know how that went down. But before we talk about the crazies on tonight’s episode, I wanted to talk about the relationship between Strand and Thomas.

Colman Domingo outdid himself on tonight’s episode as the heartbroken lover of Thomas Abigail. Thomas was bitten during the church zombie escapade and he was dying, but he held on until he saw Strand. I worked in the Intensive Care Unit of a South Philly hospital and I saw with my own eyes how patients survived against all odds just to be able to say goodbye to a loved one who was on the way to the hospital. The will to survive is powerful, but Thomas was dying and Celia wanted Strand to die with him. Why else would she serve the poisoned communion wafers?

Chris

There’s crazy, and then there’s crazier. Chris is acting so psychotic, there is no doubt that his reality is swirling around the drain. But, let’s be fair because Chris is the youngest one in that group. His mother is dead. His father killed his mother. Madison acted like she believed him, but says differently to his dad. Did Chris kill Reed because he was changing?

Later, as the group leaves the boat and walks through the town, they are attacked by walker parishioners and Chris idly stands by while a walker attacks Madison. When Alicia confronts Chris about this, he doesn’t remember the event, but he does threaten her if she tells anyone.

Daniel is quiet and knowing what this man is capable of, his silence is freaking scary. He is also showing signs of mental distress. He refuses to eat or socialize with the others. His conversation with Celia and, what he finds in the basement towards the end of the series confirm my belief that the living are more dangerous than the shuffling dead.

Celia

“Come into my parlor,” said the spider. Celia purposely poisoned men, women and young children because of her dark secret. She didn’t want the priest leading the mob to the estate. Daniel guessed at her madness when he told her Luis was dead. She was fine as long as Luis wasn’t shot in the head. I’m not sure if anyone else remembers Luis mentioning that his mother would be able to survive any situation especially the apocalypse, but this woman embraces death with something close to glee.

Celia recognized this fascination with the dead in Nick. While the rest of the world descends into confusion, Celia and Nick are in their element. Celia told Nick that the walkers are not dead. They are what comes next. Was she talking about evolution?

Conclusion

Last week, I was comparing certain characters in “FTWD” to beloved characters from “The Walking Dead” but this week, I found myself comparing situations that were mirrored in tonight’s episode. The similarities with Hershel’s farm on season two and Thomas’s estate and, Celia’s pet walkers with the Governor’s collection of heads in season three, and finally, the way Team Travis was welcomed so warmly by a woman who just hours earlier wiped out the entire town, yelled out “Terminus” from season four.

Blended families have a hard enough time getting their act together without the added stress of an apocalypse thrown into the stew. Travis was dead right about picking up for Chris. He always picked up for Nick. But Madison is more like our Ninja Carol. To Madison, blood is thicker than water. Would Chris have stabbed Madison and Alicia if the gunshot did not wake them?

Strand did not eat the communion wafer like he promised Celia and Thomas. He never intended to die. Strand’s intention was to be with Thomas until he died, then bring him permanent peace with a bullet to the head. His act of love kept Celia from adding another pet walker to the basement. Celia will not take this betrayal without a battle.

On the plus side, it looks like Ophelia and Nick are becoming more comfortable with each other. Ophelia even got Nick to church. This is great because they’ll need all the help they can get. See you next week, my little walker snacks, for the mid-season finale.