"Water is the new currency." - Victor StrandThe story arc of this episode spanned the Otto's Brokejaw Ranch, where the Clarks now are with Luciana, and Victor's whereabouts after he left the resort in Rosarito Beach.
What we haven't seen to this point is what Jeremiah and the Otto boys, Jake and Troy, and how Brokejaw Ranch and their band of survivalists came to be. The story opens with a video of Jeremiah, presumably set in the late 90s (it's a VHS tape and they talk about international terrorism incidents that occurred then. He calls it "The End Of The World As We Know It" (TEOTWAWKI, as the survivalists call it). He is pitching a Survival Starter Bucket (kind of like the Home Depot Homer bucket...do they even sell those? I had one back in the day), with all sorts of items that you need to survive the end of times.
"Don't plan for a future...Plan for a BETTER one!"
The video ends...
Madison and her family are at the camp, where there is a service for Charlene, Jeremiah's goddaughter who died in the field. Madison gets up and says a few words, introduces herself and her kids. "We lost Travis; he was our compass." The crowd wants to know who took the helicopter down.
As the service ends, some of the members call her names like "freeloader," and she sees that they are skeptical of her and her family. As Alicia and Madison get food in the line, one of the servers, a young lady named Gretchen Trumbull, introduces herself and invites Alicia to bible study later that evening. There will be practice for the Christian rock band, "Christ Risen." The group meets along with Carrie, Gabe and she can meet Jeff when they get there. Madison encourages Alicia to go, though Alicia tells her that they are Jewish (PS I never got that sense they were part of the tribe).
Nick attends to Luciana, as she is still recovering in the infirmary. She wants to get better so they can leave. Nick seems to have a change of heart being with his family again, and just wants them to be safe.
Madison enters her barracks, and Troy is waiting for her there. He starts to ask her what she did in the old world. She tells him she was a guidance counselor. Their dynamic seems to be more of a mother/son vibe, except I get the impression the son wants to fuck the mother (Oedipal complex maybe?). He starts to press her for info on Nick, as he picked her to come back, and not him. Specifically, why were they separated, and he was with strangers?
When Nick returns later, he broaches the topic of leaving (I guess he'd like to since Luci has no intention of staying). Madison says that this is all they have right now. She blames him for Travis dying, that they rescued him from that hellhole and Travis died as a result. A little harsh, but I'm sure she feels some sense of guilt that her relentless tracking down of Nick led to Travis dying.
When Nick and Alicia talk after Madison leaves, Alicia confides that she doesn't want to stay either. But this is a different circle of hell than what else is out there, so why not stay at this one?
Madison enters Jeremiah's office after her run-in with Troy, not to mention the reactions from the other residents. She asks him for reassurance, and she feels threatened by Troy. Troy killed people, she tells him, in the name of "science." Jeremiah tells her that getting the residents on her side is on her, and her alone. Meanwhile, he sends her into the viewing room to look at his old TEOTWAWKI videos.
Jake warns Troy, after he hears Madison talking to Jeremiah about their confrontation. He tells them to stay away from them, and he will protect them from him. Seems like Jake is the "good son," and Troy is the troubled one. That was pretty easy to figure out. But Jake tells Troy that if something happens to Dad, they will be the ones who need to lead.
Alicia then attends "Bible Study" with Gretchen and her friends. They enter a dark bunker...and it turns out the study is code for "let's get high and talk about shit." And Jeff? Jeff is a head, one of the remainder of first infected that came upon the ranch after "T.E.," as Gretchen calls it. ("The End," for you kids at home).
Gretchen uses Jeff to ask Alicia questions about what it's like on the outside. Alicia tells her bad stuff happens out there, and it changes you. What kind of bad stuff, "Jeff" wants to know. Alicia confesses that she killed a man. She said it was "easy." As they leave the camp at sunrise, and walk back to their barracks, Jake sees them and asks if they were up all night turning water into wine. Alicia, clearly high, says, "Praise Jesus!"
Troy catches Nick by himself, while he watched an older couple slow dance on their porch. Troy invited Nick to go hunting in an effort to "earn his keep." Without hesitation, Nick goes with him in the truck. The camera focuses on the older couple a little long. They do figure in a later episode.
While in the dark, Nick jumps Troy. He taunts Troy, asks him how long he thinks it will take for him to turn? Troy says, "87 minutes." Nick holds a gun to his head, then fires away from his head. They scuffle, and Nick laughs like a maniac. Finding his fucked in the head match, Troy says, "I think we can be friends now!"
As Madison finishes viewing the survivalist videos, she finds a video cut where Jeremiah, obviously drunk, berates his family on camera, making his youngest (Troy) cry. Jeremiah catches Madison watching it, says, "This was not my finest moment." They talk, he tells Madison that his wife Tracy died of the drink. Later, as Troy and Nick were hunting, she tells Jeremiah that Nick is an addict.
It's funny how the Ottos and Clarks have their deepest darkest secrets, and have no problem sharing this vulnerable information with one another. Jeremiah though then takes Madison into a bunker, which is basically a pantry filled with his survival buckets, that didn't sell as well as he thought. But, he tells Madison, that he has a purpose in this new world. "We will build something better than before," Jeremiah tells Madison. Out of everyone in this show, Jeremiah is the one with the most hope for a better future. Guess he really did practice what he preached in building a better one.
Later, Madison visits Luciana in recovery. They talk, but hold their cards close. It is discovered that later, in the morning, that a search party never returned from the night before. They need volunteers to assist Troy to find them. Madison raises her hand. Our odd couple gets thrown together in a small space. Because why not.
On the Victor arc, we see him as he glides down the highway in his fancy new luxury car as Victor is wont to do. He slows down as some people crowd the streets, which we see leads to a dam. People are lined up for water, and are trading goods and wares to get jugs filled up. Victor jumps to the front of the queue and asks to see "Señor Dante." The guards take him down, and as (presumably) Dante approaches.
"Victor. You look like shit."
As the episode ends, we see Victor being held prisoner in a cell by the dam. Someone hands him a canteen of water through the window bars. Camera pans and...in the HOLY SHIT moment of the year, we see it's Daniel Salazar.
He's back, y'all!
He sing-songs, "I told you, I'd be your guardian angel...."
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