Episode 18 Synopsis: Pillar of Salt

"I'm still not sure she actually sees me." - Alicia Clark

I have to admit, I've been kind of disappointed in my enthusiasm for this season.  While I've been liking some storylines (I love the Nick/Luciana affair, and I really really like the Strand/Madison team becoming leaders in this world), it really hasn't translated well into my writing about the passion I have for the show.  This episode, though IGN gave it a 6.9 rating out of 10 which was way too low in my opinion, kept me engaged, went too quickly and quite frankly had a lot of underlying themes and narrative and engaging stories, each with their own tragic flaws.  Of course, the one storyline that the IGN reviewer loved was the Ofelia backstory and her journey without the tribe, was one I could have done without.

It's no secret that I like the flashback episodes.  Typically the writers focus on that one character (like Nick earlier in the half season), we get to learn more about how they lived in the previous world and how it creates their personas in this world.  Ofelia, meh.  The Salazars I felt were fodder, they are talking like there isn't even a remote chance that Daniel is alive (how much you wanna bet he shows up and demands to know where Ofelia is...and she's off gallivanting trying to find her ex-boyfriend), Griselda was one of the first casualties and now Ofelia has nothing linking her to this tribe except that she knows and trusts them.

Gurl, BYE.

The connecting theme in this episode was family.  Family of blood, family we choose, family we create.  We see the diverging and sometimes connecting paths of a new character, named Antonio, and Nick, who left his family for something "else" and is trying to find his way in this new world.

The episode opens up though with characters we are being introduced to, at La Colonia.  This is Francisco, his wife and their young daughter.  The daughter cries that she wants to stay, the parents tell her it's too dangerous to stay.  I'm guessing with seeing how Pablo (Luciana's brother) was killed, not to mention the Jonestown-ish vibe of La Colonia and worship of Alejandro, I can see why.  They make a break for it (in broad daylight because NO ONE will possibly see them, right), go through the wall covered in infected blood but are captured seemingly not very far from the colony by the warehouse henchmen.  Because of course.

So at La Colonia, the leaders (Alejandro and Luciana, along with Nick and a few others they trust to do exchanges) are caught unawares that Francisco has taken his family and left.  Francisco, in effect, chose the safety of his own family over the one that was being built in La Colonia.  Fair enough.

So while that's happening, life is peachy keen at Rosarito Beach Hotel.  Gardens are being planted, everyone is pitching in to clean up behind them, hell they are even able to make a luxury like ICE by running the generator.  Everything seems to be working well...till Mrs. Stone, who we find out is named Ilene, goes crazy and stabs Victor for "taking her daughter."  Well, that utopia didn't last now did it? 

It always amazes that someone in any group has some kind of medical training.  At La Colonia, it's Alejandro who is a pharmacist.  Alicia, we learn, has volunteered at the hospital.  Andreas, who is Oscar's brother, has some medical school under his belt.  Because of course.  He attends to Victor, says that she missed his organs but he's losing a lot of blood.  A clean sweep of the hotel leads them to see they don't have the supplies necessary to help ward off infection.  He makes a list, and why does it not surprise anyone that Elena "knows a place, but it's a drive" to get meds.  Of course it's the Pelicano warehouse, where Nick has been making exchanges this whole time.

Ofelia's storyline is different.  I have to admit, I had her pegged as a goner.  She was shot by that soldier guy, she took a long time to recover from it, then always just seemed to be in the right place at the right time.  Yet, losing both of her parents in such a short time period, I guess she's having some philosophical issues about life, since she did tell Alicia that she didn't think they were going to make it.  In a last ditch attempt, she did take Victor's truck and started driving.  It's evident, though, she has a destination in mind.

She did some bad ass things like take out an infected and seemed prepared to do so.  But the flashbacks gave us some insight to her life prior to the world ending.  She briefly mentioned in Los Muertos that she was engaged to a man named William.  Strand cut her off, not wanting to go down the road of the past.  But it seems as though that's exactly what Ofelia needs to do in order to process the loss she's had.  We see how William proposed, and it was right when he told her he was accepting a job in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  She says that she will talk to her parents.  What, she needs permission to make that decision?  Her flashback also shows us how sheltered she was by Griselda and Daniel.  Griselda told her that they left El Salvador for her.  They witnessed a lot, she says. "We didn't want that life for you.  To have horrors of the world infect your dreams."  With that flashback, Ofelia starts the truck, heads towards the U.S. and presumably to Santa Fe to find William.

What's she gonna do when she gets there...send a text message? SMH.

Back at La Colonia, Luciana and Nick tell Alejandro that Francisco has taken his family and left.  Alejandro presses Luciana, if she "knew," and that he was angry that he left without a trace or a goodbye or a thank you, like a "coward," as he says.  This was interesting though, and why I feel like La Colonia is a little Jonestownish, but Alejandro I think is also leading with fear, that the people looked to him for answers when he didn't want any of it. Luciana convinces Alejandro to speak to the people.

Alejandro speaks of "lost souls" who have left and stopped believing.  Stand strong and keep the faith.  For what is outside of the wall is a greater danger than what is within.  The group disbands, and Luciana says that she and Nick are going to do the drug drop off at Pelicano.  Alejandro says no.  No one is leaving Colonia right now.  Until he says differently.  He accuses Luciana of trying to leave like Francisco did.

Afterwards, Nick and Luciana have a HOT fight, and she says that Alejandro has always known what to do.  Nick is convinced that the gang will find them, they're expecting their Oxy and at worst they get a half cart of water.  Nick later tries to convince Alejandro to do the trade.  Alejandro still refuses.  Says that the geography of La Colonia and the wall of the dead will keep them safe.  Nick tries to convince him that the danger is now, faith or no faith.  Nick convinces him that he has faith.

Oscar, Madison (Oscar...Madison? Oscar Madison!) and Elena drive to the warehouse to do an exchange.  Prior to leaving, Hector and Elena argued.  She wanted Hector there, apparently his brother Antonio has stayed at the warehouse with the gang.  She tells Maddie that he stayed with the gang over his own family.  Sympathetic to her plight after losing Nick, she tells Elena to hang in there.

Elena and Madison do the exchange at the warehouse, while Oscar waits outside.  Antonio asks why Hector didn't come.  Elena doesn't respond.  As Antonio goes to find their list of supplies, Madison hears arguing upstairs (more, yelling) in Spanish.  Thinking it's about them, Elena quashes her theories and says they are arguing about a colony, and some gringo with ratty hair who brings them drugs.

And this is where I lose ALL respect for Madison.  Up to this point, she was being very pragmatic and even fair, even in the face of her friend Strand getting stabbed by an outsider.  (Prior to leaving, she warned that violence will not be tolerated, and that Ilene would be locked up...a prisoner, but it's either that or she goes outside to fend for herself).  She believes this to be Nick, and she loses all sense of reason and puts herself, Elena and the hotel at risk by barging into the meeting, asking all kinds of inappropriate questions.  By the way, Francisco and his wife are being interrogated by the gang, separated from their daughter.

Seriously, has she never watched a movie about the mafia?  Don't fucking ask questions, you fucking moron.  Ugh.

They get their drugs, Antonio tells them to get out, fast.  Elena, meanwhile, her weakness if her family as well, and begs Antonio to leave, to reconsider.  He mentions, somewhat slyly to me anyway, that they won't be at the warehouse long.  (Either they believe they are going to gain control of La Colonia with whatever info they get from Francisco or that the warehouse collateral, i.e. water and medical supplies, are running so low that they won't have any bargaining chips left to be tough guys).

Reynaldo, the other guy at La Colonia who makes drug trades with the warehouse gang, agrees to help Nick make the trade.  Nick is very intent on doing this.  I haven't thought of ulterior motives, except that the rush Nick gets from being outside the wall is probably similar to his drug addiction.  But I also can't help but think he likes being the "hero" to the group as well.  Remember, Chris said in a previous episode that the group they were with looked at him differently.  Nick is a lot alike in this manner.  Strand, Celia and now Alejandro and Luciana see Nick without the drug addiction victim blinders.  And I do believe that Nick has the best intentions of La Colonia at heart.  He distracts Luciana by taking some shots, I believe so that he can make his escape with Reynaldo to do the trade.

Back at the hotel, Alicia and Strand have a heart to heart.  Alicia tells Victor that her mother always had her hands full with her dad and her brother, that she became very self-sufficient.  Strand says that they are together now and she has her mother all to herself.  Alicia of course didn't want it THAT way.  Victor says to make her see *you*.

Nick goes to the outside perimeter of Colonia, and sees in distance that they are being watched.  We also see Antonio.  At this point, I'm sure that Francisco probably cracked under pressure, now Nick sees that they are probably in trouble.

The episode crescendos with Elena, Oscar and Madison returning to the hotel.  Madison jumps out of the vehicle, Oscar hands the drugs to Andreas, and Elena tells Alicia that Madison almost busted the deal by asking questions of the gang.  Tells Alicia that she lost it when they said a gringo with "ratty hair" was bringing them drugs.  Realizing that Madison has lost all sense of what's right in the world once she heard there's a possibility Nick is not only alive and well but probably within a 15 mile radius, now Madison has completely lost her shit and TURNS ON THE LIGHTS TO THE HOTEL SO THAT ANYONE CAN SEE THEY ARE UP AND RUNNING.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, MADISON?

Alicia runs to where she is at the generator, accusing her of almost blowing the trade to help Victor.  Madison rationalizes it, "we got the drugs!"  Like, NBD, right, I'm the fucking leader here and if I want to kill us all, I will.

Alicia is still incredulous, that she lost her mind because she heard about a boy that may or may not be Nick.  "Your child is always your child" Madison says.

"I'm your child! I don't understand! He chose what's out there over us."

Madison is still holding onto the past..."He may have changed his mind!"  (note to Madison: doubtful.  He's having hot sex with some hot Mexican chick.  He's not coming back for awhile)

"I never changed my mind."  Alicia asks why she isn't enough.  And she's right.  Alicia has stuck with her, has believed in her blindly and isn't afraid to call out her stupidity.  Maybe because she is the parent, but also Alicia is there.  She's always been.  Nick has not.  Madison still holds onto this idea that she can help him. 

Madison acquiesces, realizes it's pie in the sky thinking, and shuts down the lights.

But not enough for at least one person to see the beacon in the dark.

And we see that is Travis, who appeared by himself without Chris in plain view.

As I wrote that last scene, my hairs stood up on end.  But I can understand that there is an element of predictability here.

Keep in mind, that in the Los Muertos episode, Alicia had written on the sand where they left the Abigail to GO NORTH.  It's possible that Travis (and Chris may have been to the side, we don't know that yet) did try to find the group at the Abigail.

We will find that out next week.

Can't wait.

Episode 17: Pablo and Jessica

"Surviving feels like eating shit." - Nick Clark

This week, we are back to Nick and the Colonia, with Alejandro and Luciana, who are clearly the leaders of the group there.  We also see that Madison and Alicia are reunited, along with Strand and the managers of the resort, Elena and Hector.  Their adversaries are not only the infected, but the remaining wedding guests who took residence at the resort, and have it in for Elena.

We find out what happened between the time when Alicia and Ofelia had separated from Maddie and Strand, along with them getting hammered at the hotel bar.  The infected started to surround them, and Maddie escapes to a back room, where she takes out an infected.  She covers herself in infected blood, and encourages Strand to do the same (which provided some comic relief, as Strand always seems to be this "put together" guy, and is grossed out by this concept).  They make their escape quietly, lock the doors, which is what we saw with Alicia and Elena and they came across the other group.

During the whole hubbub in the bar, Maddie heard Alicia cry for help from the balcony as she saw infected falling onto the ground.  Strand and Maddie leave the premises, see that the truck is missing.  Victor assumes that the girls took the truck.  Maddie believes that Alicia wouldn't just leave.  Strand is a little more accepting of it.  If they took the truck, they needed a way out.  Maddie and Victor climb some scaffolding to a safe area, lock themselves in a guest area, and find supplies, and wait things out.

After cleaning themselves of the infected blood, that's when they hear the banging on the door, which we know now is Alicia, with Elena and Hector in tow.  When the three of them come in, Strand asks in Spanish, "Who the hell are you?"

Back at the resort, Maddie and Strand discuss Ofelia.  Maddie felt personally responsible for Ofelia, since she promised Daniel she'd look after her.  Strand is ready to cut that part of their life off, she did what she could.  Alicia backs up Strand, remarking her last chat with Ofelia was about hope, and that Ofelia had been losing it (hope, that is).  Ofelia chose to leave, Alicia says.

Elena says that there are canned goods in storage for months on the resort grounds.  But the other family wants her at best, gone, at worst, dead.  Madison decides to negotiate, saying to Strand that she's tired of running.  Oscar appears to be the spokesperson of the remaining wedding party, yet I can tell just as an observer that the three remaining guests are not only in mourning, they are scared, and have no real plans.  Their immediate plans are to scavenge for what they need.

Madison tells them that outside the walls, they've been there and seen bad things.  They can all live at the hotel, safely and comfortably for now (let's be fair -- we've seen that these safe havens NEVER last in this world, but they can at least try for now and live safely for the time being).  She has clear plans, concise goals:  harvest water, grow food, fortify the walls.  But first they need to remove the dead.

Mrs. Stone is still upset about losing her daughter.  The three want "her" (meaning: Elena) gone.  Madison knows that she is valuable to the team: no one knows the resort better than her.  Madison says that Elena is remorseful about the incident.  Elena didn't kill her daughter, though.  The sickness did.

Maddie has been beyond the walls, she explains.  The next tribe that comes, they won't be as nice, they WILL take.  She plans on removing the dead, but she needs their help, and it will be easier if they worked together.

Oscar agrees, and hands her the keys to the guest rooms.

Funny, up to this point, Strand and Maddie had butted heads, both being alphas.  However, Strand felt he was negotiating on his turf (the Abigail yacht and ranch), now he sees Madison didn't need his help.  They're becoming BFFs.

The theme of this episode is "negotiation."  Though Maddie and Nick are far apart now, it's evident that they have their skills together.  Back at Colonia, Nick tries to make good on a promise he made to Alejandro.  He knows he screwed up at the superstore by putting the Colonia in danger, where he promised Oxy to the heroin addicts there.  Nick instead cuts into their supply and increases it by putting more byproducts into it. "You're a pharmacist, I'm a junkie, trust me," Nick tells Alejandro.

Alejandro is impressed with Nick's skillz, with a Z.  With this, Nick is able to buy the Colonia more time, more hope.  "Gets you more than a Gansito," referring to the snack cakes Nick took from the superstore.

Nick starts to ask questions about Alejandro, namely to ask about what Luciana has told him about how Alejandro survived a bite.  Nick flat out says that no one survives a bite.  Alejandro tells him how there was an addict, a boy just like him, who was mistaken for an infectado, and thrown into the wall.  Alejandro tried to save him but was bitten instead.  He prepared for death that never came. 

Alejandro tells Nick he wants him to do the exchange later.  Be brave, but careful.  As Luci plays soccer with little kids and Nick, she notices a man approaching Alejandro.  Overhearing the conversation, she hears that someone was found dead.  She says it's Pablo, who we find out is her brother. 

Luciana goes to the exchange with Nick.  Nick asks her about Pablo, and they have a connection.  After they embrace, I could see a mile away that they are sweet on each other.  Most of all, I think they have a mutual respect for each other.  Willing to put themselves out there for the Colonia, and have each others backs.

As a thank you back at Colonia, Nick gets his own residence.  Alejandro thanks him for buying them time, but they need his bed as more are getting sick. 

Back at the hotel, Alicia is leading the clean sweep of the infected.  They are going one by one to remove them, but outside Alicia sees that they can lead the infected off a short pier to take a long walk off it (see what I did there?).  Each group leads the infected to a common area, as Madison leads them out.  I really loved the awesome display of teamwork that they had together at this moment, even Oscar and his brother helped out (not Mrs. Stone, who is still shellshocked by what happened).

Hector and Alicia take a boat out to the end of the pier, where Madison dives into the water and takes the boat back safely to shore, infected falling off the pier one by one.

Speaking of teamwork, we see our favorite tandem of Nick and Luciana together.  Luciana visits him in his new abode, "too tired to sleep" as she says.  They talk about his family as he reads a Spanish to English encyclopedia (his sister took Spanish, he mentions).  Luciana seems surprised, it's "hard to imagine you with family." 

It's tough to imagine it now.  All Nick wanted was to be left alone, but his story is similar to Chris in the previous episode where he said that the new group looked at him differently.  Nick was pigeonholed into being a junkie.  He was always coddled.  Even when Madison knew better, she still did that.  Nick in this new world adapted quickly.  He didn't care about dying.  That's a valuable tool to have.

Luciana falls asleep, and says she will go back since "people will talk shit."  Nick says that earlier on, Alejandro said that you test people.  You're testing me.  They give big besos to each other.  Who didn't see that one come a mile away?

After the infected removal, the new group at the hotel share a meal together.  Madison asks if they should wait for Oscar.  His brother says that he's not ready.

Apparently, that meant two things.  He's not ready to eat dinner, but he's also holding onto a piece of the past: his bride, Jessica, who is still in one of the honeymoon suites.  Strand goes to talk to him.  He empathizes with him. "I've lost a loved one too." Oscar says that it's not fair, he tells the story of how they met, and now this is all he has.

Strand says that it isn't fair to him.  It's also not fair to Jessica. That is not her in there.  Strand would like to help her.  Oscar hands the keys, Strand enters the honeymoon suite and presumably takes out Jessica, in a last sweep of the rooms in an effort of teamwork.

Episode 16 Synopsis: Do Not Disturb

"It will come back to the way it used to be.  I don't believe this is the end.  I can't.  I won't.  Neither should you.  We can get back what we lost." - Travis Manawa

This week, we don't hear from Nick or the people at the colonia, but rather we are reintroduced to Travis and Chris Manawa.  When we last saw these two, after the fire and stand off at Abigail ranch when everyone fled in different directions, Travis told Nick to say he couldn't find them.  Chris, having lost his mother and everything around him, not to mention second guessing himself and putting the boat at risk, is going through some heavy shit.  Instead of putting him back in the environment with people who are trying to save themselves, Travis takes some RNR with Chris to reconnect.

I kind of chuckled at that idea.  "Reconnecting."  We all have our shit, but in this world you gotta get over it quickly.  I could give a rats' ass about Chris at this point.  He's almost gotten everyone killed like eight times and is still a spoiled fuckin brat who thinks the world revolves around him.  Travis is merely indulging him because he has this guilt that has spilled over into the new world, post-divorce life.  It's clear that Chris has some issues with his father.  We don't know 100% of that story, not sure it matters right now, but I'm almost certain it has to do with the fact that Travis and Madison got together so quickly, and now Travis has this new family (and as Travis has alluded, he's been supportive of Maddie with her troubles with Nick, but she wasn't sympathetic about Chris).  However, Madison had to let Nick go in order to facilitate their survival, and she certainly wasn't going to be complicit in coddling Chris right now.

The overlapping story was the Madison/Strand team, where in the previous week's episode, Madison and Strand found themselves surrounded by infected who came in from the outside, at the hotel bar they had taken camp.  Separated from Ofelia (parts unknown) and Alicia (who is methodically trying to make her escape to find her team), we follow Alicia and her escape this time around and the underworld of the hotel that she stumbles upon with the living.

The underworld includes presumably the general manager of the hotel, named Elena.  The scene opens with the wedding, the very ceremony that it looks like our gang has entered, seeing memories of what was to be the happiest moment of someone's life, turning deadly.  In this flashback, we are introduced to a woman who appears to be in charge, who we later learn is Elena.  We see whispering by presumably the parents and the young couple celebrating, named Oscar and Jessica.  During their first dance, "Mrs. Stone" (Jessica's mom) is insistent to Elena that they will need to leave.  They hear the "sickness" is spreading, the borders are shutting down.  People need to get home.  Elena insists that they are safe there, that things are contained.  I liked the allusion that Talking Dead had post-show, which was Mrs. Stone was one of those "I need to speak to the manager" type of people.

Elena calls for the vehicles to take everyone back.  On the dance floor, where Mr. and Mrs. Stone have joined the young couple, Mr. Stone is struck with a heart attack.  The bride tries to resuscitate him, only to have him turn, and bites the girl.  The party begins to panic.  Elena, trying to keep things orderly and in control, locks the wedding party in the reception hall. 

Welp.

At least we know now what the world was like before it changed over at this hotel.

We are a few days removed from the standoff at the Abigail ranch.  Travis is still nursing some injuries, especially after he ran barefoot in the fields, looking for Chris.  In their search for shelter and shade, they happen upon an abandoned taco shop.  Chris suggests he look for provisions.  Travis, being Travis, doesn't want him to go.  They notice a car, and Travis decides to hot wire it. Chris goes into the shop, steals a can of refried beans and some water.  He hears voices, and notices a couple, shot in the head behind the counter.  Infected come in through the open door.  He takes one out, and a living person comes in.  He runs out, makes it to Travis, and they get the hell out of dodge.

The son and father share a "moment," as Chris (who presumably didn't have a license yet) takes over the wheel while Travis instructs him.  Ulterior motives, Travis' foot impeded him from driving and he needed to heal.  This is the sort of thing that will ultimately get Travis killed: he and Chris are going on, like NBD, it's just a regular day in the neighborhood, teaching my son how to drive.  Except the world is fucking falling apart and his son has some real personal problems and anger issues that is driving a wedge between everyone who wants to stay together.

On the other hand though, I can't help but admire Travis' optimism.  I think he truly believes that the world will be saved and he can go on as normal.  However, towards the end of the episode, it's learned that he knows far more about the damage on the continent and the world, than others around him do.  When Travis gives his speech about how this cannot be the end of the world, and he won't believe that they've lost everything, Chris says that we can't get everything back that we've lost.  Well, we know what that means. (hint: he lost his mother, and has not been able to properly grieve and blames everyone BUT the actual infection that took her).

When the car runs out of gas, they bail and build a fire and set up camp for the night.  Again, Travis focuses on the happy memories of the past, when they used to camp at Big Bear mountain.  Travis suggests that they start over, build a future together.  "Find elevation, see things before they see them.  Start over."

When they hear a vehicle in the distance, they take cover.  It's the boys who Chris had stolen water and provisions from. They say they won't hurt them.  In fact, they think Chris showed some "bad ass" qualities in taking out the infected. 

The three guys are Brandon, Derek and "Baby James."  They call the infected "the wasted."  Since they were partying in Baja when the "shit hit the fan," they thought the first one they encountered had a few too many.  They say they are trying to get back to San Diego.  Travis has the upper hand with info right now.  The new crew have no idea that San Diego was taken out by the military.  Travis informs them about what they know: everything is destroyed to Continental Divide.  Unlike George Geary, who planned to "Jonestown" his family (as Nick put it), Travis still has some hopeful optimism in knowing this info, that at least it's being contained or trying to be. 

Travis is still a bit trustworthy.  Perhaps he still has that guilt in allowing Alex's lifeline to be cut.  The boys ask how many "wasted" they've taken out.  Chris knows his exact amount: 17.  The guys want to take the rest of the food they have.  But they will give them a ride to the next town.

So back at the hotel, Alicia has been plotting her escape.  Looking through the hotel room door's eye, she sees infected roaming the halls.  She makes a break for it, calls out for Ofelia.  No answer.  She finds herself surrounded, and forces open the elevator doors.  She climbs onto the cables, and infected start falling down the shaft.  At this moment, a light shines in her face.  It's a living person, of course.  She jumps back into the hall.  The woman who has saved her holds her against the wall with an axe.  "Where is he? WHERE IS HE?!"

Alicia is confused; of course, she doesn't know the "he" this woman is talking about.  The woman is naturally, Elena who is the general manager of the resort.  Alicia makes the connection that whoever is putting the Do Not Disturb signs on the door is her; she is warning who comes over there.  Elena has been separated from her nephew, Hector.  He went to scavenge for food.  He hasn't returned.  Elena tells Alicia that some of the guests who survived the wedding brouhaha are trying to take the resort over and force them out.  She has all the master keys to every area, knows the resort backwards and forwards.  The other tribe wants the keys.  If she gives them up, they'll have nowhere to go. 

Alicia tells her that we will die if we stay put.  They need to leave, Alicia to find her family, Elena to find her nephew.

Alicia and Elena lure the infected into a guest room.  Alicia baits them, while Elena shuts the door.  She escapes to the balcony, and Elena helps her navigate to the other balcony to safety.  Elena, meanwhile, agrees to help Alicia to the lobby to find her family.  She tells the story of the wedding party as they pass the reception area.  She explains that she had to protect the greater population, while she waited for help, which is why she locked them all together (think about the earlier episodes, when Daniel Salazar found that the military had locked the infected and living together in The Forum).  But the help never came. 

Since this is so early on in the apocalypse, it amazes me what people have and have not seen, the disparity between the two.  Travis and Chris came across the three young guys who literally had no idea that the U.S. coast line was taken out by the military.  Elena and Hector had given up, but managed to stay mostly safe.  Yet, they are still incredibly vulnerable by not fortifying their walls.  Alicia reassures Elena that she's done and seen worse so far.  She's now obligated to help protect Elena from the other tribe taking residence at the hotel.  (There's that word again: obligation).

Travis and Chris are now traveling with the band of party boys.  It's clear Chris has found guys he's comfortable with, as he rides in the cab with Baby James and Derek.  While Travis, and most of the Clark family, were not comfortable with the route Chris was taking, these guys almost admire him for it, gives him a sense of pride.  Gives him validation, and makes him feel valued.  Chris notices a farm that appears deserted.  Once again, he is congratulated by the new tribe, look to find provisions together.

Travis tries to convince Chris to stay here, build a home, together.  Chris, however, wants to stay with the guys.  That they "need people."  Travis says, "We had people."  Chris says that they look at him differently.  Which is true: Chris has sociopathic tendencies, which frightened the people who knew him previously, who thought he was merely a spoiled, selfish and yet aloof teenager.  These new guys think it's "cool" that he's done so much in this new world.  K.

Travis roams the ground as the young guys find a chicken coop, to maybe rustle up some grub (see, they're on a farm for 10 minutes, I'm talking Southern).  He notices there is a burial ground out back.  I had this conversation with my husband while watching; it's clear that this is set in the past of course, but most specifically, 2010, when the sister show aired.

Travis realizes, this is not only sacred ground, but someone is still living there.  They need to leave, pronto. 

Elena and Alicia find the bar where Strand and Madison were.  It is now under lockdown with infected, the other two nowhere to be found.  However, they are approached by the remaining wedding party guests, namely Oscar (the groom), his brother and Jessica's mother.  Hector, Elena's nephew, is also with them, held at gunpoint.  Alicia has Elena hand over the keys to the resort, but opens the doors to the infected room, and they all bolt. 

Being chased by infected, Elena, Hector and Alicia go into what appears to be a side hallway, find a locked door that of course they cannot open.  However, on the other side, is Madison and Strand, who had evidently escaped to safety in that room. 

On the other story line, Travis tells Chris that they need to leave, someone is still on the farm.  Chris, along with the three others, don't take it seriously, and refuse to leave. 

The family who had been buried at this ranch all had the surname "Suarez."  I'm guessing that is the family of the man who comes into the chicken coop with the shotgun.  None of them speak Spanish, and Suarez is speaking very angrily in Spanish.  While he shoots Baby James, Chris, in turn, shoots Senor Suarez.

There was a lot going on this episode, though there were two main story lines: Travis and Chris and their new life, and Alicia finding and rallying the people who ran the hotel.  Yet, the Travis and Chris one stuck with me.

It's clear to me that Chris wanted new people, who wouldn't judge him for his previous transgressions, but those that valued him for what he can contribute to the new world.  Not only did Brandon, Baby James and Derek provide that, they gave him validation, even called him a "bad ass."  Travis is clearly uncomfortable not only with their role in the new world order (if there's anything that Travis likes, it's "order" and a place in the world), but also doesn't want to see his son behaving this way.  The "old" Chris wouldn't have shot someone for protecting his own property.  The "new" Chris, however, is now protecting his tribe.

I have mixed feelings about it.  Perhaps if they were able to reason effectively with Suarez, it wouldn't have escalated.  But the simple matter is, Chris took out a seemingly innocent man who took out one of Chris' own tribe.  Yes, Chris will go to great lengths to protect those who have his back. 

But Travis is clearly disturbed by Chris' behavior and sees we are beyond help and normal life roles.

Episode 15 Synopsis: Los Muertos

"The dead are returning.  And when they go, this world will be as new."  - Luciana

Fear the Walking Dead started off in Los Angeles.  Now we have "Los Muertos."  From the Angels to the Dead.  Except what I've noticed in Mexico is that there really is a fine line between the angels and the dead.  In Latin American culture, and especially Mexico, honoring the dead is a common practice.  As Alejandro, the pharmacist and town "doctor" in the village where Nick is, death isn't to be feared, but is not to be pursued. 

Except if you find yourself so sick that you give yourself to the dead, or the "wall" as the townspeople have come to call them, then death is to be pursued.  The dead walk among us, that is what they are told and believe in.  When you are beyond saving in this life, Luciana and Alejandro are instrumental in having them give themselves up.

It's kind of fucked up.  Especially when Nick opens the episode, he awakens in the infirmary, where he has found a bed and is recovering from a dog bite wound.  He notices the village is very quiet, and he heads down towards the fences, where the wall of infected are.  He sees a little girl crying, saying, "My papa!"  It's then Nick notices that a man, presumed to be the little girl's father, enters the wall -- which is a fenced in area, and the only way the living can enter is through a school bus that has blocked the infected from getting to the uninfected area. 

As he enters, the townspeople chant, "From death we come, and we give ourselves to death."

Kind of fuckin creepy.  Papa sacrifices himself.   Nick tries to shield the little girl, but she runs away.

As opposed to the first episode of the second half, which just focused on Nick and his survival, we are finally brought back to the rest of the group, which as we now know has fractured off. 

Madison, Alicia, and Ofelia have left the Abigail ranch with Victor Strand.  Madison and Alicia are the only people from the original Manawa/Clark tribe.  Ofelia has presumably lost her father, Daniel.  And Strand has lost Thomas, his lover.  However, Strand knows he can trust Madison.  Which is kind of a 180 degree difference from the beginning.  Travis didn't trust Strand, yet he's helped them when he probably shouldn't have.  Madison realizes he's all they have, but they have a mutual respect for one another.  They are both pragmatic and smart.  Although Maddie still believes she can find Travis (who the audience knows has tried to help his son Chris) and Nick (who though near-death has found a new tribe who is just a little too comfortable with death), Alicia and Strand tell they are going back to the boat.  They know they have supplies there.  Tired of scavenging. 

However, they make it to the landing where Abigail is...or was.  It's gone, probably taken by military for its supplies and size (remember, they were being followed in earlier episodes).  Madison's last hope was to meet up with Travis, Chris and Nick.  Nick "always comes home."  Alicia tells her that it's just "you and me now."  They had noticed a large hotel resort not too far.  They will go, but not before writing "ABIGAIL LOST HEAD NORTH," in the sand as a last resort to be reunited with their tribe.

While plotting their move, they case the establishment.  Ofelia thinks it has to be crawling.  The rest say they haven't seen anything move the entire time.  Alicia makes the move, says they are better in than out.  Deliberately making noise, they are not met by anyone else, alive or dead.  Oh, and Ofelia has left one of the front doors open, that were originally locked down.  Because of course. 

The hotel looks to have been evacuated at the outset of virus.  The reception hall suggests there was a wedding on the last day before the world changed.  What was odd is that Ofelia has started to let the crew in, a little, as to her past.  We've been led to believe that she's an obedient daughter, taking care of her parents, but she's also very quiet, subdued.  Doesn't rock the boat much.  She starts to talk about how the wedding was supposed to be the best day of someone's life.  She was almost married, once, to a man named William.  He wanted to move to New Mexico, which he did.  She stayed behind to care for her parents.  It's clear that she's still tied to the past, as Strand tells her, "The past will drive you nuts."

Meanwhile back at the "Colonia," where Nick is staying, Luciana seeks him out to help with errands.  They cover themselves with dead blood as camouflage.  Nick wanted to know why she chose him.  She says that no one will miss him.  Then an interesting turn as she says, "The only who will miss me is already missing."  Suggesting that she's already lost some people.  I wonder if it was the guy who sacrificed himself to the wall.  Or we will find out.  Anyway, it's obvious that she has very little to lose. 

They head to a mega store to get supplies, while on the way she tells Nick that Alejandro, the pharmacist, survived a bite from the infected.  Nick believes that he's lying, yet she claims to have seen it herself.

That part I thought was interesting, because while it's possible he may just tell people he was bitten (and in a struggle, he could have easily gotten blood on him, and thought he was bitten)...or, is Alejandro one of the few who may have a natural immunity to this disease?

It's an interesting concept.  I mean, prior to vaccines, there are people who never had the chicken pox, even if they were exposed.  Who's to say that someone just wouldn't turn?  So somehow, Alejandro is someone the colonia people trust but believe he is somehow empowered by this new world.

At this mega store, the henchmen there say that they are no longer entitled to two carts of supplies, just one.  While Nick and she are "shopping," there is a tent city where he notices one of the people coming down from a heroin withdrawal and is being comforted by one of the henchmen.  He tries to put a package of snack cakes in the cart, while Luci tells him no way, only what they need: water, vitamins, bandages.  They leave the premises with their items, and someone noticed that Nick took the cakes anyway.  As they try to chop off his hands (eye for an eye vigilante law), he begs Luci to speak to them in Spanish, that he knows that the woman inside is his sister, and that she needs Oxy.  Well, they have Oxy.  And they want another cart if these folks want more Oxy.

They get another cart, and Luci said the one thing she needed him to do was keep quiet.  These henchmen don't know where their colony is, they've never followed her before.  Yet, I think she's impressed with how Nick was able to talk himself out of trouble.  I'm like 100% certain that he will be used for this and kept around in this colony.

Back the hotel, the four enter the bar area.  Alicia and Ofelia volunteer to look in some of the guest rooms for clothes, supplies, water, food.  Alicia tells them they will be back by sundown.  Madison doesn't want her to go.  Alicia goes anyway.  Strand pulls up a seat, and starts pouring drinks. 

Lots of backstory is revealed in this episode, especially regarding Madison's relationship with her children's father, Steven, and Ofelia.  Ofelia had been seen, to me, as an extra body who didn't have much to do (especially since she'd been shot by her lover).  She seemed to have some skills and was underestimated.  As she and Alicia rifle through the guest rooms, they notice that some of the dead have been herded into the rooms with "Do Not Disturb" signs.  They found a master key, and find a room had been emptied out, but there is a man who had hung himself in the shower.  He is now infected, but can't get out of the restraint. 

They find another room, and Alicia starts going through their things.  Ofelia notices there is still hot water available.  She sits down and talks about why the man might have given up.  Alicia said she'd try to find a way out, that she wouldn't give up hope.  Ofelia, on the other hand, says he was probably tired of surviving.  "We're not going to make it," she says, deflated.  Alicia tells her that they will find a way, and that they now have each other.  For what it's worth. 

Downstairs, Maddie and Strand drink.  And drink and drink.  She talks about Nick and her husband, Steven, who we learned in the last episode had died in a car accident.  She tells Strand that Nick had been born lost, that he had been slipping through her fingers since the day he was born.  As for their father, she tells Strand he was leaving a work site and got into an accident late at night.  Strand asked if he fell asleep at the wheel.  Maddie says, "That's what I told the kids." 

Interesting parallel story line there.  We've determined that Steven was either clinically depressed or had a chronic illness.  She implied here that he was "tired of surviving" and he may have intentionally driven into traffic.  Same with Ofelia.  She lost her mother and presumably has lost her father at this point (we really don't know...but we need Daniel back).  Alicia reassures her.  But all Ofelia sees is running and never really being safe.  Or saved, for that matter. 

Which leads me to the theme of this episode, and possibly this season.  We're seeing the Five Stages of Grief.  Remember when we learned that in health class, by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross?

1) Denial
2) Anger
3) Bargaining
4) Depression
5) Acceptance

We've seen all those stages of death and grieving in this episode.  Possibly with each character come to think of it.  Nick is bargaining, with his own life and wanting to walk among the dead, unnoticed.  Alicia has acceptance, but is working with it.  Ofelia, depression.  Travis is so fully in the denial camp, not realizing his son is beyond help and thinking that an end is going to come soon (maybe he doesn't watch The Walking Dead parent show...).

Anyway, in the midst of all the tension between Madison and Strand, they start breaking down as Madison divulges pieces of her life.  She is a Southern belle, from Alabama (leading us to wonder what her link is to the main show...I saw someone post a pic of Andrea and please do not have Madison related to that horrible awful woman).   She and Strand let loose, he starts playing piano, and she starts breaking glasses.  It's like a Greek wedding celebration gone bad.

Alicia, meanwhile, has finished her hot shower.  Getting dressed, Ofelia is nowhere to be found.  We see bodies flying off the upper floors, taking Alicia (and all of us) by surprise.  Alicia goes to the balcony, and sees that infected are getting out of their rooms, falling off the balconies, but walking towards the hotel.  Another store's glass windows break and here come more infectado.  All towards where Madison and Strand are partying.  Strand notices, grabs Maddie, and they are held hostage behind the bar as the infected come in from all over. 

Alicia screams for Ofelia, runs towards the emergency exit they came up, and now they are infested with infected.

Fab.

On the "bargaining" side, Nick is in the colonia.  He seeks the little girl whose father just died.  He hands her the snack cakes.  Luci sees this, that Nick is not a bad person.  Still, Alejandro asks him why he was willing to start a war over cake.  He says that the little girl needed comfort. 

"The dead are walking towards their final resting place.  The faithful will remain."  Alejandro tells Nick that he is welcome to stay, but he will be fed to the wall if he puts his people in danger again.

"From death we come," Alejandro tells the congregation at the colonia, "but never will we leave."

Shit is getting very real up in here.

Episode 14 Synopsis: Grotesque

"I want to be where the dead aren't monsters." - Nick Clark

And...we are back. 

Episode 14, "Grotesque," marks our second half comeback for season two of Fear the Walking Dead.  This was an interesting episode, and mostly because out of all the show types in this franchise, the focus on a solitary character is what I love to see.  This one in particular focused on Nick Clark, one of the major characters of this show who has inner and outer complexities that everyone sees, but Nick has tried to get through them himself. 

There wasn't too much dialogue in this episode, since it focused on his intent to walk among the dead.  As we've figured out, in this post-apocalyptic world, the living must fear the living more than the dead.  The dead, well, we know what they are looking for.  The living?  They are in survival mode and will take out anything, living or dead, that threatens their quest for survival.

We also got to see more about Nick's drug addictive past, and his relationship to Gloria, the Patient Zero of the zombie apocalypse, who was in recovery with Nick a few times.

These episodes usually provide a lot of insight to how the characters operated in the previous world, and how that impacts them in this world.  One of the most controversial episodes in the main show was on Morgan, who learned to just take out the already dead, but he never killed anyone living.  His personal philosophies may help him reconcile how he felt about the previous world, yet at the same time, puts himself and his people at risk in this world. 

What's fascinating about Nick is that he's always just put himself at risk.  When he swam across the border to Mexico, he left with only Strand knowing.  Madison was furious that he would put himself in danger like that.  From an addict's point of view, I can't say that I am surprised that Nick would be a risk taker like that.  He's not afraid of death.  And of course, the big fucking metaphor here is that DEATH IS ALL AROUND US.  And you're confronted with it every 17 seconds in this world.

The setting starts off I guess a few days after the stand off at Abigail, when everyone bolts in their own direction and our main tribe from Los Angeles fractures.  Nick walks off on his own.  We are led to believe he is not going to be reunited with his family and the main tribe.  But come on.  He has to be with them again at some point.  Right?

Right?!??!?!!?

In the meantime, it looks like he's found refuge with a woman and her family.  At the beginning of the show, there are two dead next to him.  We don't know if they were infected or if they just didn't want to live in the survival series. 

What is always somewhat amusing to me is how many women and children find Nick incredibly charming and are always willing to help him.  That must be part of his narcissistic personality as an addict.  But also his separation from his family has forced him to create alliances that serve him for the time being, but never seem to be very permanent.  This is evident as the mother hands him a jug of water, tells him to be safe and drives off with her son, to find her son's father.  Nick, with a knapsack and jug of water, heads towards Tijuana, which is 100 km from where he stands.  

We are interspersed with flashbacks.  The first one was of Gloria and he doing some role playing as to what he'd say to his dad in family therapy.  This is the first time we get a sense of what Nick dealt with, concerning his overbearing mother who wanted everyone to be happy and his dad, who was "there" but not "really there."  He alludes to him laying in bed.  Possibly chronic illness?  Clinical depression?  Whatever the case, it sounds as if Madison had her hands full by having a codependent existence with her husband and then her addict son. 

Nick, coming back to the present time, his demons are now the living and not himself.  First, he takes refuge in what seemed to be an abandoned home.  However, he is awakened by an angry mother who is beating him with a bat.  Not speaking English, she doesn't understand that he needs to grab his things.  He is chased out with no supplies and most of all no agua. 

In the sunlight, he finds some abandoned vehicles, with some infected and dead in there.  He find a radio and a little bit of water.  As he plays around with the radio, a group of banditos come in and start to take out the infected.  Nick hides and watches...however, the radio frequency has a shrill sound and he is caught.  He manages to run away but...into the hot desert.  With no water.  Welp.

He is now in survival mode, looking for any kind of water source.  He comes upon cacti, tries to drink some of the liquid (we all learned in science class, cactus plants hold onto to every ounce of water to thrive in the desert).  He makes himself sick, and then goes so far as to drink his own urine.  Nick finds shelter in an abandoned vehicle. 

He then dreams about when he found out his father passed.  His mother visits him, and he jokes that he guess Dad couldn't get out of bed.  Madison tells him that his father was in a car accident, and didn't make it. 

I suppose that not being there for a loved one when they pass is something that we all deal with in humanity.  To know that your loved one is loved, and that they know it too.  Yet, Nick was in rehab and it was all his doing.  The guilt, I am sure, is overwhelming.

He is however woken up by vicious and angry dogs, who are looking for their next meal in his scarcity.  Nick is bitten, badly, but he manages to escape, only to see a group of infected walkers coming towards the noise.  The dogs begin to attack them, yet they are outnumbered, and become food to the infected.  Once all is done there, the car body starts to creak, and the infected are drawn to the noise.  In the distance, a horn is sounded, and presumed to be banditos from earlier that tried to kill Nick.  Nick makes a makeshift tourniquet where he was bitten.  Now, he really walks like an infectado, dragging his leg behind him, and not noticed by the dead.

He walks with the pack, hot, dehydrated, lack of food, he starts to hallucinate.  We see he has made 60 km of headway towards Tijuana.  The banditos arrive again, and this time start shooting the dead.  One of the henchmen loses his ammo, and gets overrun by the infected.  Nick cheats death once again. 

However, in the distance, we notice a few people watching the group, and see Nick is choosing to walk among the dead.  The woman is named Luciana ("Luci"), who is a look out.  At this point, Nick collapses.  Death is imminent. 

We are brought back to his third flashback, which is where he is reading a book in the church which had served as the heroin den we saw in Episode One.  This is Day Zero of the apocalypse, as we are led to presume that this is the night Gloria overdoses and dies.  They are cooking up a shot of heroin, and Nick explains the book.  "If you hold onto something for too long or too hard, you corrupt it." Gloria says she'd like to read the book...in the morning. 

Nick, in the now, is woken by rain, serving as a sort of rebirth for him.  In the previous flashback, as he was able to wake up from that heroin hit and has probably dealt with guilt issues of leaving Gloria behind as she was Patient Zero in that church, he is now kept alive by Mother Nature and the "holy water" of rain.  How apropos.

Nick limps into an abandoned village and tries to find drugs and bandages.  He attempts to create a bandage but is instead captured by Luciana and some of her henchmen.  They ask if he is "infectado."  He says nooooooo....perro (dog bite).  He asks for "agua."  These folks seem relatively benign, and they take him to get help.  Certainly, after viewing him with the dead from afar, they also see he has some gifts of not being afraid and willing to get his hands dirty. 

He gets the wound cleaned out, by a presumed "doctor."  The doc tells Nick that Luciana says he was very "brave."  Nick said that he is not.  The doc instead tells him that he is "foolish.  Death is not meant to be feared.  But it is not to be pursued.  There is a difference."  Nick tells him that coulda-shoulda-woulda is the story of his life, and right now, he just wants to find a place where the dead aren't monsters.

Once he is cleaned up, the doctor opens the doors to a new world.  Children playing games, an open air market and village.  Nick is finally at peace.  Life has continued. 

Midseason Two Breakdown: Madre

At this point, we are two episodes into the second half of season two of Fear the Walking Dead.  I've literally had the craziest and busiest summer, and I've talked about the show often, just haven't been able to collect my final thoughts on the midseason finale and what I've thought.  I also get a little bogged down with the minutia of the season, because I'm so intent on getting every little detail down.  Mostly, I am able to go back over my notes and even my summaries and find things that I didn't give significance to earlier, and I'm also able to find some sort of narrative.

If I had the patience, I'd probably like to see if I get that from the main show.  But at the midseason point, the major focal point was on the "Mother."  Hence, the title "Madre."  Since, you know, Mexico and shit.  In the narratives of great fictional works and life, the prevalent theme is a search for the "father."  We've seen that shit in Catcher in the Rye and many Russell Banks novels.  What about mothers though?  Our biggest mom is Mother Earth, and from the get-go, Travis has always said that when it comes to Nature versus Man, Nature will always be victorious.  So Mother Earth, exacting her revenge on what her children have done...well, it just makes sense if you follow me.

At the midseason point, we've seen our main tribe split off into three, maybe four, factions. 

Strand gets the beautiful and strong women, Madison, Alicia and Ofelia.

Travis separates off with his son, Chris.

Nick walks among the dead.

The fourth is Daniel.  He was sort of a solitary man to begin with, wielding an automatic distrust of everyone and everything.  When we last saw him, he was having visions of his time in El Salvador, of his now-dead wife Griselda and he had a look of peace on his face as the flames took down the cellar where Celia Flores kept the dead.  At the end of the half, we are not entirely convinced that Daniel took his own life.  I hope not, because I really loved him, and I think Ruben Blades is a complete bad ass.

Let's start with Daniel.   From the very first episode he was introduced, we knew he was secretive, he didn't like doing favors for others (the whole "keeping score" thing), and it's quite possible he somehow blames the tribe that has kept him alive and protecting him all this time for the loss of his beloved wife, Griselda.  If you remember, Griselda was one of the first casualties of the zombie apocalypse, cutting her leg, and not able to receive treatment for several days.  It's hard to say, but I feel Daniel and the Salazars are very spiritual people.  In some way, I feel like he understands where someone like Celia Flores was coming from, about how the dead have always walked among us, and now they are visible.  See, I can dig that shit.  Even though I thought she was fucking looney tunes.  He says at one point that the dead they are burying at Abigail ranch will not rest, it is not sacred ground.  Let's face it: many men get married because they want a mother.  Griselda cared for Daniel and helped him cover up the fact he did horrible things to stay alive in El Salvador, and ultimately, hid the facts to protect their daughter.  Without Griselda, he is back on his own, and feels he cannot continue without not only the blessing of his wife, knowing his true back story, but with the horrible things he's done. 

Without his wife, he slowly goes crazy to the point of cracking.  Then he takes out the dead.  His shit-eating and ethereal grin suggested to me that he felt and knew he was doing the right thing.  In this world, sacred ground doesn't mean shit.  It's humans that caused this.

Then we have Chris Manawa.  I understand that we all have our own shit to deal with, but Chris annoyed me to no end.  He almost let Madison get taken out by an infected, then mildly threatened Alicia, and here's Travis, enabling that shit.  The diplomat in me says I can see and understand Travis' thought process behind protecting his son.  He got angry with Madison, claiming that whenever Nick had his drug issues, he stood behind her 100%, even if he didn't agree with it.  Except now, his own son is in a downward spiral and he's not getting her backing.  On the surface, yeah, I can agree with that.  But we know that in this world, we don't have time for that shit. 

Plus, Travis refuses to see that his son is less than perfect.  Madison, a fierce protector, tried to be there for Chris, but he still destroyed their trust at every turn (including when they were doing the hostage negotiation, and he killed the guy in cold blood). 

It's no surprise after watching these episodes again, that both Daniel and Chris lose it when significant women figures or mothers pass, and they haven't been able to reconcile.  Daniel, I can understand, because this was his wife and she was complicit in helping him overcome his personal demons.  Chris, in my opinion, is a spoiled brat and needs a good ass whoopin.  But what does Travis do?  As "Mr. Fix-It," he stays behind.  Rock on, Travis.  Hope you don't get killed.

We know that Nick has had drug addiction problems.  I feel the dead have given him an outlet, as every addict I have ever known has said they were trying to kill themselves, but without actually dying.  Nick seems like he's able to get that rush of adrenaline and danger, but just walking among the dead.  Celia was someone who understood him and made him not seem like a fuck-up because of it. 

I'm writing this half-season review with the knowledge I've acquired also from the first two episodes of the second half.  Madison is the quintessential caregiver, and puts herself dead last.  Usually in a familial relationship where one person takes up many resources (apparently, their late father had a chronic illness or maybe was clinically depressed...that will go in my write up), someone will also beg for some of those now-depleted resources (like Nick, with his drug addiction) or become so independent they do it on their own (overachiever, Alicia).  Madison, in a way, by being the protector has driven her children away.  Yet, through this whole thing, Alicia and Maddie have grown closer.  Like, they know they have a job to do.  Nick, on the other hand, is trying to still find something bigger than himself.  He bonded with Celia, who says she saw a "light" in him.  Perhaps by being smothered, he felt drugs were his only outlet.  Now, he's able to find solitude with the dead.

Mothers and their fuckin shit.

Lastly, that brings us to Nick.  My theory about mothers was confirmed in the first episode of the second half.  He's still trying to search for a mother figure who "sees the light" in him, the same way Celia and Strand tried to bring it out of him. 

I'm sure my philosophies will change and evolve as the season moves on.  Till then, Tierra del Madre remains the connecting theme among all these characters, and the search for one continues.