Episode Eight Synopsis: We All Fall Down

"Right or wrong.  Good or bad.  It just is."  - George Geary

When we last left the crew, the threat of a real danger was heading towards them.  Strand saw a big threat that was moving fast towards them; meanwhile, the rest of the crew saw a giant boat wreckage in the distance.

I was actually waiting for the crew hauling ass out of there, trying to outrun the threat.  But the scene instead opens with waves crashing, peacefully, on the shore.  Quiet, of course, but eerily so, knowing what we know.

We see kids with buckets running down to the shore to play.  Meanwhile, infected are in water, coming to the shore.  I think basically every person watching this show was screaming at the TV, like, "Why the HELL are you letting your kids play, unattended?!"

Of course, two infected come out of the water.  We believe these kids, oblivious, are goners.  However, the infected hit a fence.  *WHEW*  They are safe, sort of, anyway.  The shore has been fenced in, as the camera pans out.

Back on the Abigail, hell is breaking loose. Mostly, though it's Maddie who is berating Nick for swimming to the hull, putting himself in danger.  However, Nick points out that he was able to retrieve the log book.  Travis, by reading this book, discovers that San Diego was torched by the military.

San Diego, Coronado, military base, etc.  The place they were aiming to go to doesn't exist.

Time for a Plan B.

Trying to outrun the new enemy isn't going well, and probably not the best plan at least short term.  Especially since their destination is no longer there.  They seek a refuge.  Again, tough to find.  But there's an island.  Then they all see a house in the distance on said island.  A light flickers.  Maddie convinces Strand to stop, and gets off with Travis, Nick, Alicia and Chris.  Salazar and his daughter stay behind, to "keep tabs" with Strand (or "on" Strand, of course, so that he doesn't try any funny stuff).

As the family arrives on the island, Travis starts speaking out loud, hoping not to alarm the people in the house.  Door opens.  We are introduced to the little boy from the opening scene, little Harry Geary.  His dad is George Geary.

Travis explains their situation.  George says that the light was an "accident," it wasn't supposed to happen, that his wife had switched it on.  Travis asks if the crew can ride out the night, they need to get their bearings because of some danger on the water.  Surprisingly, George and his family agree to this arrangement.

Travis sits with George; Maddie with his wife, Melissa.  They also have a little girl, named Willa.  At this moment, another child comes in, older, a teenager.  Melissa introduces Maddie to their oldest son, Seth.  Seth is dressed for survival.  It's clear many of the "chores" (like, taking care of the infected) are his responsibility at this point.

Back on the boat, Strand is getting antsy.  Ofelia and Daniel talk.  Something I noticed about her, while Daniel has said that his hiding who he was from her was done to "protect her," she is a little more sheltered than the other three "kids," Chris, Alicia and Nick.  She understands how the world works now.  "It's cruel."  Daniel asks Strand if he's planning to leave anyone from the island behind.

Travis is an English teacher, and he notices George has a lot of books.  Of course, I could listen to them talk about literature (that's hot), but the conversation quickly turns to what George has found out about the infection and the dead.  Besides L.A. (which the team witnessed) and San Diego (which they found out from the capsized yacht log), George informs Travis that Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver are all burned.  This is just the coast, though. George has had communication, as a park ranger, with other national park systems.  He's figured out that the damage is more than they feared.  He's lost contact with everyone from Colorado to the coast; basically the continental divide.

The interior is no better than the coast.  George figures that half the country is dead.

George philosophically discusses that nature is correcting its own course.  That we've depleted it's resources, and it's a natural correction.  Going back to Travis' first quote in his English class while teaching To Build A Fire, he says, "Nature always win."  Quietly.  He realizes how prophetic that was to him now.  George says this is "Nature's grand plan."

George is a man who wants to connect with nature, as a ranger.  Melissa wanted to connect with people, like Alicia did in the first episode. 

Nick is bonding with the two kids, Harry and Willa.  Harry says while they are playing that if an infected person comes to him, he can eat his "Power pills."  (I think we all believe, as well as Nick, that the power pills might be something that permanently "puts him to sleep.")

Nick remarks that while nature is kind of eating itself alive, without cars or planes, there is no noise or air pollution.  That the earth is kind of getting cleaner as humans are dying off.

Sunrise comes, and Chris sees that Seth is getting up to do his "chores:" killing infected who came to the fence.  He tells Chris that this is from the ship accident on the mainland, that dead are washing up on shore.  We discover the name of the island is "Catrina Island".  Chris now understands what they need to do in order to survive, and Seth is training him.  Seth says that his father has taught him to be "self reliant" and to live from the land.

What we know about this new world is that each person who survives has his or her strength.  Right now, Chris is learning to kill the infected, deftly.  Turns out, he has a gift for it.

Travis sees this from the distance and discusses it with George.  That his son mowed the lawn, did the dishes, and is now killing the infected.  George tells him that this is how life is now.  He goes to mend the fence.  Travis, however, doesn't want to give up the fight. 

Nick is tipped off by little Harry talking about his "power pills," and lo and behold, he finds a stash of some what appears to be heavy duty stuff hidden in a globe.  While he's putting it back, Willa catches him and asks him to draw with her.

Maddie and Melissa talk, and Maddie flat out asks her if the light switch was done intentionally.  Melissa affirms.  She tells Maddie that she's chronically ill, she will be dead weight in a matter of time.  George and Seth think the family should die together and stick together for as long as possible.  She realizes they are "buying time," and it's not safe.

She wants to see if Harry and Willa can have a chance, to go with this tribe as the rest of the family spends their end of days together.

We always go back to Maddie "as a mother" perspective.  This time, she tells Travis that they're saving the kids.  Though Travis had agreed with Strand in leaving the group in the boat behind in the opening of the first episode, Maddie also says that they can't keep leaving people behind, either.

Back on the boat, Strand tells Daniel that their "friends" who have been following them seem to have shifted course.  Crisis averted, for now at least.  Daniel, being the paranoid mofo he is, starts going through Strand's items in the captain's quarters. He finds some automatic weapons (he disables them), and some maps, marked with Mexico as a destination.

As I'm watching this episode, I said, "If anything happens to Daniel, the group is in trouble."  Everyone is starting to find their gifts.  Daniel, in a sense, has been there before with a world in crisis.  He gets the intensity.  He's the one who always without a shadow of a doubt follows his gut.  He's also always right about this. 

Meanwhile, Daniel isn't keeping too much of a tab on Strand, as Strand is talking on a phone, away from Daniel.  He says to the other end, "We will be there at sundown."

Nick talks to Maddie and Travis, who were finishing discussing bringing the children on board.  He says that he thinks that George is planning to "Jonestown his family."  He then confides that he found some heavy drugs in the kids' room.  "I know my pharmaceuticals.  These aren't recreational."

Melissa has packed Harry and Willa a going away bag.  She has them convinced they're going on a boat trip, which they love.  Harry comes downstairs and says that Willa isn't waking up.  She "took her pills."

The pills, by the way, that she saw Nick hiding back in the globe just a few moments ago.  She has overdosed and is about to turn.  Melissa is trying to wake her up.  Before Maddie has a chance to warn her, Willa turns and bites her.

The group runs with Harry in tow to the boat.  Strand is against bringing another person on, especially a child (he's all about the "contribution").  Seth chases after the group before they leave.  Brandishing a shotgun, he says he's taking his brother back, he's keeping the family together.  Reluctantly, they give Harry back to his brother, for certain death.

As the Abigail pulls from the dock, Harry and Seth see Melissa walking the dock.  She has turned and is now one of the infected that Seth has been trained to kill without emotion.

Feeling they should do something, Daniel Salazar says, in only the way Daniel can, "Kid has a shotgun."  Shrugging it away.  Can't do anything about it but accept it and move on.  Flying Spaghetti Monster, I LOVE this man. 

Seth tells Harry to look at the flowers (or rather, wave bye bye to the boat) and kills their mother.

My feelings?  I'm kind of glad they didn't have a kid with them.  I felt it would ruin the dynamic of the group, but also as Strand said, a kid would be dead weight.

Unfortunately in this world, we need to be cold.  All old world thinking is out the window at this point.

The Abigail sails on to their next destination.