Fear the Walking Dead concluded its second season with a strong two-part finale, full of powerful character moments and some notably gory scenes, even for a show of this genre. Major characters experienced turning points and main story lines were resolved, only to lead to more tension. And, as is practically tradition with any show in The Walking Dead universe, there was also a major character death.

Travis underwent a truly dark transformation in the first half of the finale, when he met up with the two terrible jerks with whom he had left Chris and found out the painful truth about his son. It was a bit strange to see Chris’s death play out in a weird flashback but it was expected, and the guilt and rage Travis felt over this (even if it had been Chris’s decision to leave him in the first place), pushed the bereaved father to great extremes.

Watching him brutally murder the two douchebags who killed Chris brought its own kind of sinister satisfaction. Chris was always one of the most annoying characters on the show so it wasn’t really sad to see him go. His death, however, did lead to some thrilling moments with Travis. He’s crossed a line and there’s no turning back now.

Madison’s rule against violence backfired on her when Travis had to be banished from the hotel. His wrath led to all sorts of grave consequences, from killing an innocent man to having Alicia kill Andreas. (The two shared a rare moment of bonding earlier in the episode, which gives me hope for their forming some real family ties should they survive long enough.)

Madison decides to leave the safety of the hotel community with Travis and Alicia. They invite Strand to come along but he chooses to stay. I really hope that this isn’t the last we see of him, since I’ve frequently mentioned that he is one of the most compelling characters on Fear the Walking Dead.

Back in Nick’s side of the story, Alejandro is exposed as a fraud (again no surprise there) and the gang from the superstore prepares to attack the community. During his last moments, Alejandro manages to defeat the gang by releasing all the walkers on them. There was a lot of talk about faith and about how revealing the truth would make the people lose their faith and their will to survive.

Nick leads the rest of the community (all smeared in walker guts, something they do more often in Fear the Walking Dead than they do in the main show) all away from the danger but unfortunately, it seems like he only led them to a more precarious situation. And given the trouble the military has given this show in the past season, this group of armed mercenaries don’t seem like the best people to be hanging out with during the apocalypse.

Earlier in the episode we saw the tough and awesome Ofelia take out a group of walkers, only to be found by one of these armed mercenaries. Who are they and what do they want? And how have they managed to do so well for so long? I suppose we’ll just have to find out in the third season of Fear the Walking Dead.

Alejandro remains alive conveniently long enough to meet Madison and Alicia and to give them some clue as to where Nick went. The group is scattered once again, but they seem to be taking long and arduous paths back to each other. The season has been uneven and sometimes uneventful but it went out on a strong note, building up on the characters, developing their story lines, and even serving up a lot of blood, guts, and gore. It’s clear that there’s more pain and suffering ahead of these characters, but that’s what we’ve all come to expect and enjoy about Fear the Walking Dead. Here’s hoping the third season doesn’t disappoint.