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1st June 2022
11:22am BST
Credit: AMC[/caption]
Teddy (John Glover) was somewhat successful in bringing about his vision of "The End" by detonating the U.S.S. Pennsylvania's warheads across the Texas landscape, turning much of the state into an entirely different kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland.
His drastic actions resulted in food becoming scarcer than ever, shelters being refitted to withstand the nuclear fallout, survivors needing protective gear to even venture out into the wastes and now irradiated walkers littering the region. However, while he might have been hoping to start the world over again, one missile wasn't enough.
Following the doomsday chaser's death and that Dakota scene, it was left up to those who survived to shape his new "Beginning". Some rose to the occasion, some found new purpose and others completely redefined themselves in yet another apocalyptic era - no how matter how grave the cost.
We catch up with Morgan (Lennie James) and Grace (Karen David) as they struggle to adapt to life on the submarine and ever-crying Mo. Morgan has rigged a car with clean air to help them escape the radiation zone but the pair held up when they bump into another couple, Fred (Derek Richardson) and Bea (Maren Lord).
The group plan to escape together but must hide from walkers first. After going outside to fix the car, another vehicle approaches and a mysterious man steps out; not taking any chances, Morgan shoots him on sight. Fred, deluded and believing it is his child, grows concerned that Mo's cries will draw more walkers and tries to smother her, but is ultimately shot dead by Grace.
After rejecting an offer from Howard (Omid Abtahi) to live at the Tower, the episode ends with the mystery man being revealed as the brother of Virginia's hired assassin, Emile (Demetrius Grosse) - you know, the one Morgan had beheaded. Creepier still, he's still carrying Emile's walker head. Can anyone else smell vendetta?
In episode three, June (Jenna Elfman) and John Dorie Sr’s (Garret Dillahunt) routine in Teddy’s fallout shelter is disrupted when they discover Teddy’s secret room where he tortured and killed people.
Hallucinating from alcohol withdrawals, John begins to envisage walkers as ghosts of Teddy's victims. After going above ground to find the remains of Teddy and Dakota (Zoe Margaret Colletti)—now turned—he is saved by June and the pair hurry back inside as three masked figures approach.
The intruders ultimately break in and the bunker collapses around them. The pair then wake up in Strand's tower, who apparently heard their distress calls over the radio - but so to did Morgan, who finds the bunker deserted threatens to kill Strand if he hurts them.
After having been unconscious for two days, Sarah (Mo Collins) searches for Wendell (Daryl Mitchell) - against the advice of the group - and runs into a dangerous survivor, Josiah (Demetrius Grosse): the mysterious brother of the deceased assassin, who also happens to have Morgan's dog, Rufus.
Threatened at gunpoint, the pair make a pact to help find both Wendell and Morgan. Sarah ultimately attacks him and sets free a literal wagon full of walkers and crashes while trying to escape in a car. Morgan eventually shows up and the two face off.
Going to kill Morgan with his brother's head, Emile ends up biting Rufus and the poor pup ends up in the ground. The trio bury the hatchet and resolve to find Wendell at Strand's Tower; Victor gives them an ultimatum which denies them a reunion and the episode ends with a leaking warhead. Gulp.
In episode five, Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry (Christine Evangelista) have joined a rebel group known as the Dark Horses, but when Strand recruits them for a rescue mission, their new code is called into question. They find their target, Mickey (Aisha Tyler), who is looking for her husband Cliff (Wade Hampton) and all three agree to find him and Padre (Jeff Chase) together.
They ultimately find the bodies of the Larsons left behind by Eli (Alex Skuby) and after splitting up, Dwight is ambushed by Eli who is revealed to have been hired by Strand all along. Meanwhile, Sherry and Mickey are surrounded by walkers, including Cliff himself, and have to smother themselves in guts to escape before reuniting with Dwight.
The trio then receive a call over the radio asking for the Dark Horses and as they travel to meet at a rendevous point, they are met by a masked man who promises to help them find Padre.
We return to Morgan and his search for Al (Maggie Grace), only to discover that he’s not the only one looking for her. Meanwhile, she overhears soldiers talking about "reclamation" as a chopper flies overhead. The two manage to meet back up and they figure out that the soldiers are trying to retrieve their pilot, Isabelle (Sydney Lemmon), whom Al had a relationship with.
With the reclamation team now having located Isabelle's coordinates, Al pretends to be a soldier, and answers the call, commandeering a helicopter to go and find her. The two are reunited and decide to stay together even if it means being on the run. You're always on the run in this universe, folks.
After baby Mo falls sick Morgan successfully pleads for entry into Strand’s Tower in order for June to treat her. The settlement then comes under attack from the Stalkers who are launching bodies at the tower with a catapult - yes, a catapult. To make matters worse, the walkers are stuffed with pieces of warheads.
Their leader, Arno (Spenser Granese), gives Strand a deadline of one hour to grant them access to the Tower; meanwhile, he keels over after having been poisoned by Morgan and the two fight. Morgan is foiled and once again exiled and Strand claims Mo as his daughter. Morgan is eventually picked up by Dwight and Sherry, who bring him to a new camp run by none other than Alicia.
However, their embrace is short; an alarm sounds as they come under attack and an irradiated walker explodes, leaving walkers near the camp, where one irradiated walker explodes causing everyone to flee the now toxic air.
In the final episode before the mid-season break, Alicia enlists Morgan’s help to search for a new home for her people, but not before we flashback to see where she's been all season: locked away in Teddy's bunker and left to meet Will, who helped her escape, and a file labelled P.A.D.R.E.
Back in the present, Alicia explains that she hopes to follow a walker, formerly Senator Vasquez (Jared Gibson), believing his residual memory will lead them to this safe haven. Followed and attacked by Strand, Alicia ends up bitten by the senator only for us to find out she was already bitten back when she escaped the bunker and forced to cut off her own arm to stop the infection.
Despite fashioning a prosthetic out of metal and the remaining bone, Alicia has been fighting the infection all this time and doesn't know how long she has left. The Senator only leads them back to the Tower and after seeing Will as a walker (remember Strand launching him off the roof?), she declares war to conclude the tense mid-season finale.
Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) shows up at the tower unexpectedly and is captured by a young ranger, Ali (Ashton Arbab). Claiming she wishes to defect, Howard offers Charlie security if she can locate an elevator part while Ali seeks her true intentions.
The pair quickly become smitten and Charlie admits to she was sent to infiltrate the Tower but insists she wants to run away and live a normal life. Ali is attacked by a group of Stalkers attempting to explain Strand's interest in the walker-filled crater, but tricks them into getting devoured by walkers and despite successfully retrieving the part, the pair decide to run away together.
But it's not to be, as Charlie has contracts terminal radiation sickness and after Ali's betrayal is discovered, Howard throws him off from Tower. In response to his ruthlessness, June begins plotting to take Strand down by any means necessary while John conversely looks to earn Strand's trust. Talk about pulling in different directions.
As Morgan and Alicia plan their next steps and Dwight and Sherry feel torn between their newfound code and their safety, others pursue a weapon's cache. During the search, Daniel (Rubén Blades) wanders off as he is convinced that Ofelia (Mercedes Mason) is still alive and somehow managing to send messages to him from the Strand's former boyfriend's yacht, The Abigail.
Followed by Luciana (Danay Garcia) and Wes (Colby Hollman), the trio are captured by Stalkers also looking for the cache. After sending half of them on a wild goose chase, Daniel proceeds to kill Sage (Jacob Kyle Young) as he admits the group never had Ofelia.
On a rampage, he lowers Arno into a pit full of walkers, but not before he reveals that his followers someone plans is about to let the radioactive horde out of the crater. Luciana is able to convince the remaining Stalkers to team up with Morgan and fight Strand, as well convincing Daniel by claiming Ofelia is in the Tower. Wes condemns the deceit and defects and sides with Strand.
As a paranoid Strand searches for traitors, baby Mo vanishes and after discovering a radio message among his belongings, he suspects Howard is the turncoat. However, John deduces that June kidnapped Mo and is trying to sneak her back to Morgan through the tunnels to Morgan and while trying to stop her, a storm washes in walkers, trapping them both.
Despite being rescued by Strand, John reveals he also has radiation sickness from rescuing Charlie and confesses that he set up John in order to gain favour. However, in a predictably unpredictable turn from Strand, he orders him to throw Howard from the roof - at which point John realises Strand is simply beyond reason and decides to sneak Mo out through the walker moat.
As expected, John is bitten in the process and after reaching Morgan with Mo, chooses to sacrifice himself to buy them Morgan time. With Howard and John dead, Wes becomes Strand's right-hand man.
While Morgan and Alicia plan their next steps, Dwight and Sherry rescue a woman named Maya (Candice Michele Barley) from walkers and send her to the Tower despite the escalating war with Strand. Morgan then leads Strand's walker moat to the crater only to find the herd has been released.
Looking after Mo, Dwight and Sherry are chased by Strand's Rangers searching for her before escaping to the bunker and realising they can use it to contain the herd.
Then, trapped under a ceiling collapse, Sherry reveals she's pregnant and manages to dig herself free to reunite with Morgan and Alicia. While Morgan departs on the sub's emergency life raft in search of a safer homer for Mo, Alicia prepares for an assault on the Tower. Here we go...
The battle for the Tower heats up as Alicia brings the fight to Strand's front door. Strand invites her in under the guise of diplomacy but really, his men have been leading the radioactive walkers to deal with her backup from the Stalkers while he keeps her prisoner.
Breaking free, Alicia reveals she's dying and Strand offers to stand down if he stays with her. Surprised by yet another bizarre turn, his men mutiny and plan to kill everyone to protect the tower. After being captured by Wes, the pair are freed by Daniel and Strand decides to kill his new deputy despite Alicia's pleas, who resolve to betray her too. You just never know with this guy.
Despite overpowering him and broadcasting a message reaching out to other survivors, the Tower catches fire in the struggle and Alicia passes out — cut to black. We hate it when they do that.
While Morgan and other survivors prepare to escape the irradiated region of Texas by raft, Alicia turns back to save one more person trapped in the fallout and while many viewers may have thought this would be Madison (Kim Dickens), the only real person she seemingly appears to rescue is Strand.
With the majority of the episode taking place during more of her hallucinations, we discover that the little girl Alicia is following is her younger self, who simply exists as a figment of her imagination. Fixating on a bird, which serves as a season four callback to the bird she saved as a child (she named it "Amina"), she returns to the Tower to save Strand and put an end to their feud.
But before Victor drifts off on his own raft, Alicia - who seems to have overcome her fever and staved off what looked to be an inevitable death for the time being - commits to one last heroic act and decides to walk off into the wasteland to try and save those who heard her broadcast, leaving us to wonder what will happen to her and will she still be around come the finale. The stress!
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