"If this is the end of the world, it's already over." - Daniel Salazar
Strand is moving the tribe to the yacht, Abigail, which he alluded to in the previous episode. In the cover of night, the tribe moves on small boats to get to the yacht. Besides the living of the group, Liza's body is being carried on, so she's not left behind. You know, respect for the dead and all.
Nick arrives on the motorized raft to pick up Travis, Maddie, and Chris (plus Liza's body), as the infected quickly outnumber them, and they start using blunt objects to stab them and protect themselves.
Daniel Salazar and his daughter, Ofelia, are also on the boat. Ofelia is still nursing an injury from being shot by her ex-lover, soldier Andy Adams, at a stand off in the military hospital.
Military fighter jets have started napalm bombing the shit out of the shoreline and most of L.A. Over radio, which Alicia has been listening to, the Coast Guard is making announcements that there is no rescue by land, sea or air. Supplies have been depleted. Voice over the radio says, "Please forgive us."
Abigail, meanwhile, has enough fuel to get them 3,000 miles, as Strand says. Daniel overhears people in the distance, pleading to be saved. Maddie wants to take them on. Strand says that he's met his quota, that they need to be cautious now about any human (they're more the threat now, as we well know). Travis actually agrees with him; says there's no way they could possibly know who or what they're dealing with.
Strand and Nick are forming a partnership, a real special kind of relationship in this new era of survival. Nick, still stuck in the old ways of helping people, thinks that maybe they should've helped. Strand reminds him of their conversations in the lock up, but Nick thinks this is different.
The group is headed to San Diego. Though Coast Guard has announced there will be no rescues, Strand believes that with the military base there, there may be help at Border Patrol. He makes a comment about "old man, hurt girl, scared kids" on his boat...they've got enough resources to last and help each other at least.
Though there is a new group of "Old men, hurt girl and scared kids," Travis and Maddie, who are obviously going through a rough patch of their own (who wouldn't?!?! zombie fucking holocaust is happening and they have no roots now), are arguing about protecting the family. There is an interesting push-and-pull with the story line: needing to do what's best for their family (and even the Salazars who are kind of outliers, if you think about it), but having their de facto leader Strand, whom they don't really know or trust 100%. At this point, there is really no choice for the Clark/Manawa/Salazar families, who were bound together by accidental mandate. Strand and Abigail are the only refuge they have.
Each of the children is dealing with either grief (Chris) or some kind of loss (Alicia), which could stand for the sheltered world they have just seen literally and figuratively burned. The scenes focus on how each of the kids are handling these changes.
Alicia, listening to the the CB radio (Channel 16), hears a young man, asking if anyone is out there and wants to talk. She answers his plea for a chat, craving more human connection.
Chris is standing by with Liza's corpse. He goes to the deck, where Daniel is fishing for dinner. Daniel has also lost his wife, but has adjusted quickly (he's ex-military and part of a torturous regime from El Salvador...he's good at hiding his emotions but with a wee bit of paranoia involved). The two bond over the loss of their loved ones.
Stark contrast from Nick, who has adjusted to his new life on the run. As a heroin addict who was literally foraging for his next hit, this is a new high, apparently. Ofelia is still recovering from her gun shot wounds, and Nick asks if she needs help. Ofelia is still very guarded with everyone. He makes a comment about how he knows "drugs." (Side note: I really dig Nick's sense of humor.)
Alicia is left to her own devices as everyone is dealing with their own shit. Of course, everyone who is watching the show (myself included) know she is making a HUGE rookie mistake, by engaging this person on the other end of the radio. However, it seems relatively benign, almost like a misery needing company. They both bond over where they were when the world ended. "It was over before I knew it started."
The boy, Jack, tells Alicia that his group might head to Hawaii. She starts giving him details about the group, where they are and well, come on...you just know this is going to bite the team in the ass at some point.
Everyone I talked to later about this episode was apoplectic about this situation with Alicia. I'm not going to say I wasn't...but she is only, what, 16? Incredibly naive, probably sees the radio as another means of say, social media, which her generation has basically been raised with. Tinder radio, perhaps? I don't think she was thinking there were bad people out there, taking advantage of the situation; she truly felt a connection with someone else, something she hadn't felt with everyone kind of dealing with their own situation in running.
Speaking of "developing situations," Daniel has been "watching Strand" quietly, and believes he has motives. Well, it would be silly to think he doesn't. But in a paranoid and falling apart world, Salazar is correct to question the person who is now calling the shots in the group. (At the same time, Strand has allowed pretty much total strangers on his boat so I suppose it goes both ways).
Travis, in a move to bond with Chris and perhaps get his forgiveness in his "mercy kill" of Liza (which Chris still does not fully comprehend), has a ceremony and burial at sea for Liza. He says a few words about the person Liza was, Chris arrives and dumps the wrapped body into the sea in anger. He then punches Travis and blames him for Liza dying. "You shot her!" et cetera, et cetera
It seems like the audience is only aware that the "cure" for the infection, at least right now, is to be shot in the head or traumatic brain injury. Daniel sympathizes with Travis, reassures him that Chris will one day understand why he had to do what he had to with Liza.
Alicia is still talking to this Jack over the radio, Jack is panicking. Says his crew is "sinking," they need help. She rushes to get help from the group. She goes straight to Strand, says she's been talking to a boy over the radio who is on a boat that is sinking.
Strand gets angry, thinks she's giving information to this new group that can put them in danger. As I said before, Alicia is naive about how the world works and even more so of the new world. Obviously, I don't believe she intentionally put the group in danger, just wanting to help others. Again, naive, but I don't think she really was being malicious.
Strand then announces his rules to the group. "Number one...it's my boat. Number two...it's **my** boat. Number three...it's MY GODDAMN BOAT." Strand then reminds the group that they are only there because he let them. I don't think it's cruel or even remotely untrue what he's said. Without his advice or guidance, the tribe would have headed east and would have had way more troubles doing that.
Nick, again who is almost Strand's "good cop" at this point, says that Alicia was only trying to help. Strand, not so much "bad cop" but "rational and cold cop," says that she is compromising them. Strand calls him "Nicholas," which Nick clearly bristles at. Strand asks why, Nick admits it's what his father called him. Never liked it.
Maddie then has a talk with Chris. She tells him that she first hit her own father when she was 13 years old. It didn't end well; the hurt stays. She doesn't so much tell him that Liza's kill was of the "mercy" variety, but instead says, "What happened had to. If your father hadn't done it, I would have. I wouldn't let that happen to someone I love."
Daniel starts to prepare an eel that he caught fishing. The group starts to bond over a makeshift dinner, some kind of semblance of a normal life. A "new" normal, if you will.
Chris doesn't join them. Instead, he jumps in the water. Nick jumps in after him. They don't drown or struggle; them swim instead. The water in this episode obviously serves as "life" or "cleansing." Maybe a "rebirth." Cleansing of the hurt and horrors they've witnessed just recently, by burying Liza there. And now almost a celebration of life, a new life they're all living. Though chaotic. It is what it is.
Alicia takes off by herself. Clearly shaken by Strand, she has to tell Jack that it's too dangerous to come for his group. They can't rescue them. He says, "I'll see you soon." (Who here **didn't** think his tribe would come on the boat at the end of the episode?!? They didn't but still...you know this would turn it's head again).
Strand sees something on his SONAR. He's alarmed. Something large, something gaining on the group. Whilst in the water, Nick sees a "floater," an infected who has come from somewhere else, obviously. In the distance, the group sees a boat wreckage, capsized.
Nick is absolutely fearless. He swims to the wreckage, dives underneath. He hears a noise, but it's one of the infected. He gets into a scuffle with it, but prior to escaping, he grabs the yacht log.
Nick gets back on Abigail, asking what happened. Maddie points in the distance at the wreckage.
"Whoever did that...they're coming back."
DON DON DONNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.
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