‘Fear the Walking Dead’ season 2, episode 5 review: Alicia and Jack’s game of trust

After watching Sunday night’s “Fear the Walking Dead” episode, was there really any reason to doubt at all to doubt why Alycia Debnam-Carey was on “Talking Dead”? This was a big episode for Alicia, and not just because she fought (literally!) to ensure her safety. It’s also because she showed trust in her family, even when they were doing things that were brutal and violent.

Basically, she still decided to leave Jack despite knowing what her family did to Alex, ensuring that they could get back together as they work harder to bet down to Baja. This move happened at the same time that the crew of the Abigail did one of the more gruesome prisoner exchanges out there, basically handing over a zombie version of Reed and passing him off as the real thing. This is probably the sort of thing that you could get away with at this stage of the zombie apocalypse, but probably could not on “The Walking Dead” proper when there are so many more eyeballs watching your every move … and also people who know better.

Oh, and we should mention that Reed bit Connor not long after the trade, which made for a rather sad moment in its own way.

In the end, the good news for our heroes (provided you want to call them that) is that this little diversion seems to be over for now, and we’re getting set to move on more to the next thing … though it’s pretty clear Strand is holding onto something. The air of mystery around this guy is one of the things that we’re still watching for, since the rest of the show is good but missing those buzzworthy moments. Tonight’s “exchange” may be one of the closest we’ve gotten to having one. Episode Grade: B.

If you are interested in getting some other news right now on “Fear the Walking Dead,” be sure to head over here to see more of what lies ahead on the show! Also, sign up over here to secure some more TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: AMC.)