"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.
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