Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 2 focused on Morgan’s story, after last week’s episode focused on Strand. It premiered a week early on AMC+, and will air for the first time on TV on AMC on Sunday, October 24. This episode really captured the absolute feeling of despair that would naturally befall on people in the midst of an apocalypse. And in this case, they’re not just facing one apocalypse but two back-to-back.
This article is a Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 2 review of the premiere based on watching the episode as it aired on AMC+, so there will be MAJOR episode spoilers.
Grace’s Despair Was Authentic & Relatable
Sometimes it’s hard to relate to characters who stay positive no matter how tough an apocalypse becomes. So I’ve been glad for how The Walking Dead franchise isn’t afraid to show us real suffering and struggles in the midst of survival. I’ll always remember how Rick lost himself in gardening on the main series, while zombies roared at him from the gate. (I found those Rick scenes a bit comforting when I started gardening during the early days of the pandemic, to be honest.) On The Walking Dead: World Beyond, we’re seeing teens dealing with PTSD. And now Grace’s depression is a central storyline in the newest episode of Fear the Walking Dead.
It’s understandable that Grace is struggling like she is. The episode last season where she lost her baby was heartbreaking. She’s still dealing with that grief, but now she’s had a new baby thrust into her life and she just can’t bond with this child. And on top of that, she was ready to shoot herself before the nuclear bombs went off, knowing as a medical professional the type of suffering that might be awaiting them in the future. However, Morgan and his never-ending optimism stopped her, but now she’s no longer so sure that was a good idea.
Her near inability to care for the child or even sing to her was a focal point at the beginning of the episode. Of course, Morgan has gone through his share of sorrow after losing his own wife and son, so he can relate to Grace on a very real and personal level. But he’s having trouble finding a way to reach her. It’s been so long since he walked through his own grief, he’s having a tough time finding the right words. And can words even be enough at this point? As far as Grace is concerned, she can’t see any hope. She only sees them either slowly starving to death or dying of radiation poisoning.
By the way, were you as bothered by the baby crying as some Reddit viewers were?
It didn’t bother me that much, but some people were REALLY bothered by it.
Well, back to the show…
With unusual ingenuity, Morgan jury rigs a car that can somehow survive the apocalypse and has just enough gasoline from the sub to make it outside the blast zone. (This is the kind of ingenuity I’d expect from the character Lennie James played on “Jericho,” Robert Hawkins. He was brilliant at surviving a nuclear apocalypse.) Well, in this case I had to suspend my disbelief a bit at the idea that this car would protect them from the fallout. But it was a nice gesture and pretty much the only hope they had at surviving.
Sadly, Grace’s meltdown upon hearing the cassette tape she had left for her daughter ended up causing them to crash and kind of ruined Morgan’s plan. Then she decides to dive headlong into her depression and she removes her mask, exposing herself fully to radiation so she can die. As if all of this isn’t bad enough for Morgan, an insane couple decided the baby was theirs and the rest of the episode is spent in a push-and-pull between those characters, with zombies thrown in. Considering that Morgan and Grace had left a military sub, I was a bit surprised there wasn’t a single gun for them to take with them. And I was pretty much inconsolable when his dog was released into the fallout. 🙁
To be honest, I’m surprised Morgan’s not having another meltdown. This is the man, after all, who lost his mind from the stress of the apocalypse and went full “CLEAR.” But he’s holding it together. I guess Grace and the baby give him something to live for.
The Baby-in-a-Suitcase Was a Twist I Had Not Expected
In the end, we realize that the insane couple is carrying a zombie baby in their suitcase 🤯 (I half-expected a Z Nation scene during that part of the episode.) The man is killed and the woman is left to die on her own. But not before they reveal to Grace and Morgan that they would have died if they had stayed traveling in the direction they were going. Instead the real salvation is found in a mysterious place called Padre. We see on a map that the area is around Victoria and Aransas Pass. Interestingly, Padre Island (north of South Padre Island) is not too far from there. Corpus Christi is also right around there, along with a naval air station and a carrier that was turned into a museum. So maybe all of that will play into “Padre” somehow.
Of course, even after they get rid of the insane couple (and Grace finds her will to live again when Morgan and the baby’s lives are threatened), the trouble isn’t over yet. Strand’s paramilitary group went back to the sub and raided it. They offered Grace and the baby a chance to live in Strand’s community without Morgan, but she turns them down. (And from her perspective, I can’t blame her.)
After they leave, Grace and Morgan just happen to find a storage locker full of food that they missed all this time before and no one else knew about. It’s a little tough to believe, but I’ll take the deus ex machina and move on…
At the end of the episode, we learn that Strand’s people weren’t at all involved with the mystery person who was tracking Morgan down earlier in the episode. Instead, that turns out to be the brother of the bounty hunter that Morgan had a big showdown with last season. It stretches my “suspension of disbelief” a bit, but there it is. Morgan not only has Strand to contend with, but a “big bad” in the form of a relative who is braving the apocalypse solely to get vengeance for his brother. But does he even need vengeance? Considering how long Morgan and Grace were exposed to the fallout without protection, I feel like realistically their days should be numbered anyway. 🙁
All in all, this was an enjoyable episode. There were some moments that weren’t very realistic and required quite a “suspension of disbelief” on the viewer’s part. But still, the juxtaposition of a nuclear fallout with a zombie apocalypse is fun to watch. I’ll definitely be back next week to see what happens.
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