Fear the Walking Dead season 3 episode 8 review: A Strand surprise; Madison’s move
In the opening minutes, we saw Ofelia try to defend herself when it comes to what she did — she claims that he didn’t know things would be this bad. Madison captured her, and brought her back to Walker and her people with some demands. She wanted to know what it was that poisoned the group, and as he proclaimed, it was anthrax. Shocked? We aren’t, just as we’re not shocked that Walker eventually shrugged his shoulders and sent them on his way. (The most confusing thing is why in the world Walker would be fine letting someone in Madison go, given that she poses more of a threat to him than really anyone else at the ranch.)
Sooner or later, we knew what we were building to in this episode: A showdown like no other with Broke Jaw on one side and also Walker on the other. There was also a little bit of internal strife at the same time … and that came to a head courtesy of Jeremiah Otto.
Basically, what Madison and company realized was that they were on the wrong side in this conflict, and that they had been for some time. Jeremiah was in many ways just like his son Troy, and about 40 minutes in, Madison finally admitted to Alicia that Troy was the one who killed the people trying to leave the ranch.
Following all of this, we saw Madison return to the negotiating table in hopes to determine the right way to end the conflict … even if her children weren’t full on her side anymore. She saw that the future of the ranch was in jeopardy, as was both her life and the lives of those close to her. It was at this point that Madison finally decided that the time was right to start open up a little bit about her past. That’s when she also determined that it may be time for the ranch to get a little bit in the way of new leadership. She confronted Jeremiah about his past, his lack of leadership, and a lot of other stuff along the way. She could’ve killed him; instead, she wanted Otto to kill himself. He didn’t do that. Instead, it was Nick who came in, did the deed, and then made it appear as though he took his life himself.
In the aftermath of what happened, Madison returned with an offering for Walker that the deed was done. What happens from here? That’s your cliffhanger…
Strand’s discovery
Hey, he found the Abigail! After killing a horde of zombies, he eventually found a radio and was able to do a little communicating with the outside world … or you could say, even beyond this world. His discussion with a Russian cosmonaut revealed that the entire world really is under a zombie siege, a question that many longtime fans within the Walking Dead universe have wondered.
Well, apparently hearing that was enough to make Strand give up on the ship, and the hope, that he once had. The Abigail is now gone for good. It had a nice run, no?
Overall Take
One of the effective things about the midseason finale is that it did offer you a little bit more insight into effectively what happened with Ofelia. This was an episode that actually contained quite a bit of interesting new information. Also, it had a crazy ending that set the stage for the second half of the season. Grade: A-.
When will Fear the Walking Dead return to the air?
If you are interested in getting some further news about that, be sure to head over to the link here right now! That includes getting some more news regarding when the show will return to AMC with new episodes. (Photo: AMC.)