The second part of Fear‘s midseason finale jumps right back where the previous episode left off. We begin with a flashback of Ofelia out in the desert during the Season 2 finale. After meeting Ofelia, Jeremiah leaves her to die because there’s no room for “brown people” at the ranch. She’s left for dead, and begins hallucinating Daniel. It’s then that Walker finds her and takes her back to his people. He looks after her until she’s well again, and it’s clear that’s where she has stayed until the present day.
Back in the present, Madison catches up to Ofelia and begins beating her, wanting answers as to why she poisoned the militia. The next day, Ofelia tells her that it was only supposed to make them sick, and that she was told they were only sleeping pills. Madison then takes Ofelia as a hostage back to the reservation and demands to know what was in it. She soon learns that it was anthrax, and that Walker tricked Ofelia into doing it. They believe Nick will survive because he is young and healthy, but the others probably won’t.
While they’re on Walker’s land, Troy creates a diversion with fire, allowing Madison and Alicia to steal priceless antiquities from Walker as payback. Walker isn’t stupid though, and he follows them back with a group of his men. Walker gives them until sundown to leave the ranch before he starts killing people. Nick and Alicia finally comment on Madison’s behaviour, and it leads to Madison telling them a story from her childhood, which reveals she killed her abusive father. This isn’t really a surprise – it explains a lot of Madison’s actions over the course of the series, including how she’s so well equipped to deal with the apocalypse.
This episode also catches up with Strand, who is still by himself after Daniel left him at the hotel. With a streak of extremely good luck, he spots the Abigail and decides to go aboard. It’s completely wrecked and filled with the undead, but once he clears it out, Strand heads straight for the radio. He is able to contact someone, who turns out to be a Russian cosmonaut in space. The man tells him that the rest of the world’s lights have also gone out, and it isn’t just contained to North America. This is information we never learned for sure in The Walking Dead, and it highlights the scale of the apocalypse. Afterwards, he sets the Abigail on fire and leaves it behind.
Madison visits Jeremiah and tells him that peace can only be achieved with his death. She puts a gun to his head; even after expressing she doesn’t want to kill him. However, she doesn’t get the chance to do anything, because Nick comes in and shoots him first. This will have a big impact on the dynamic between the Clarks and Ottos, especially since Troy is left most upset by Jeremiah’s death. The end of the episode shows Madison delivering Jeremiah’s head in a bag to Walker, indicating that they may have found the peace they were looking for.
The mid-season finale of Fear answers a lot of questions, as well as ending on an unsure note moving into the second half. Walker’s people and the ranch residents will be forced to live together on the same land, which will most definitely cause problems going forward. However, with Jeremiah gone, there may be some semblance of peace between them. We’ll see once Fear returns on September 10th.
THE REEL SCORE: 8/10
