Fear the Walking Dead, S2 Ep12 – Pillar of Salt

Fear the Walking Dead delivered a good episode, both eventful and insightful. While the focus alternated between the people at the hotel (Madison, Alicia, Strand, and co.) and Nick at Alejandro’s community, there were also some scenes devoted to Ofelia, exploring her choice to go solo and how her past affected this decision. Ofelia’s one of the more interesting characters left in the show and it was good to see a little more of her, though it wasn’t really enough. And this episode also did a lot to tie together the disparate story lines, although the way this came about was a bit contrived.

So far this season, Fear the Walking Dead has benefited from having the characters split up, all exploring different paths. This structure has given them room to breathe and develop and for the audience to get to know them better, without all the baggage of having a large group, with all their tensions and conflicts. The separate story lines have worked effectively for Nick as he makes his way through the world, meeting new people and getting involved in a new community, and for Alicia and Madison as they bond together over survival. Same goes for Travis and Chris, though we don’t see Travis until the very end of this episode.

But it looks like the writers are trying to tie everything together and to have the group re-assemble, so to speak, by the end of the season. So suddenly, Elena had ties with the gang that runs the supermarket and also supplies goods to Alejandro’s community. The reference to Nick was very vague, so it seemed forced that Madison would immediately determine that he was the one being talked about. Nevertheless, a plot point is a plot point, and she ended up risking the lives of her group (after they had set up the hotel so nicely) as well as her improved relationship with Alicia when she left the lights on as a beacon to draw Nick to her.

It effectively alerted Travis to the existence of a group somewhere, though no doubt this reckless action also attracted more unsavory types to the location of the hotel. Poor Strand had to deal with being stabbed for dealing with the zombie bride, and Madison tried to lay down the law in the group. But that’s just trouble waiting to happen.

Meanwhile, Nick was in a rebellious spirit as he decides to go against Alejandro’s (and Luci’s) rules and to strike a deal with the supermarket gang on his own. He’s always been a reckless type and he’s managed to survive so far, but there’s a limit to anyone’s luck.

But the board has been set for some uncomfortable (to say the least) confrontations and the characters of Fear the Walking Dead are about to have more problematic humans to contend with. Let’s hope they’re up for it.