Fear The Walking Dead season 5, episode 2 recap: The Hurt That Will Happen

Fear The Walking Dead presents: Daniel Strand vs. Victor Strand

Fear The Walking Dead gives us its second episode of the fifth season and it was an intense one. The episode kicks off with Strand recording a message for his comrades in case of his death. (Side note: How does this camera get charged? Just asking.) Anyway, Strand eventually makes it to Daniel’s location and quickly learns that Skidmark isn’t his nickname but rather, his cat’s.

At first glance, Daniel is not happy to see Strand but it has been a hot minute since the two have seen each other and a lot has changed. I have to admit that for a moment I thought Daniel really did shoot Strand, but luckily, he was just making sure that the walkers were falling into his trap. After being invited in, Strand realizes that Daniel has been quite busy since he last saw him and apparently now has all sorts of vehicles at his disposal. Not sure how that happened, but we’ll go with it.

Daniel is awfully curious how Strand found him in the first place but soon learns it’s because of Al. More so, Strand says they need Daniel’s plane, and they include some of his old friends. Unfortunately, not Nick or Madison but Alicia. Having dealt with Strand’s betrayal before, Daniel is not quick to trust him in the slightest bit.

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Fear The Walking Dead continues as we check in with Morgan, Alicia, and John who are perusing the site of the crash. It’s clear that the area has been swept clean of any and all weapons which doesn’t bode well for Al’s disappearance. Meanwhile, Luciana’s injury is being tended by June and is a bit loopy from the drugs she was given for pain.

In pursuit of Al and the kiddos, John and June head off to look for them, leaving Luciana behind with a gun. Not sure how smart of an idea that was!

Morgan and Alicia continue to investigate and once again see the radiation signs which is awfully suspicious and a car that seems to have just been driven. Given that I just watched HBO’s Chernobyl, radiation is on my mind and makes me uncomfortable. Plus all that talk of dosimeters and measuring radiation is just altogether frightening and very reminiscent of Chernobyl.

Alicia and Morgan soon learn that the vehicle’s owner is a woman named Grace who used to work at a reactor about 13 miles away. Basically, the cooling system malfunctioned and anyone and everyone that made a home for themselves there after the apocalypse faced a very quick death. Basically, radiation is another problem we can add to the list of problems in Fear The Walking Dead.

As a precaution, Grace put dosimeters around the necks of walkers that were affected by radiation to ensure that she doesn’t kill them which would cause the radiation within them to spread. Alicia and Morgan didn’t learn this tidbit until meeting Grace so it meant they could potentially be contaminated. Speaking of which, R.I.P. Morgan’s stick.

Strand was having a rather difficult time convincing Daniel of his good intentions so he asked to use his radio to reach the group. It turned out to be an epic fail when the radio didn’t reach any one of them initially. However, Luciana eventually got through and they were able to talk for a brief amount of time until their connection cut off. Now realizing Strand is telling the truth, Daniel agreed help was needed but he didn’t intend on helping via Strand who he threatened to get away from him—or else.

As this episode of Fear The Walking Dead continues, Alicia and Morgan decide to help Grace look for the radioactive walkers after which they’ll look for the kids and Al. The hope was that Grace would join the group after all was said and done, but that is not what happened. Basically, after trying to save people from the plant, she was contaminated which meant her days are numbered. All she can do is help in whatever way she can before her life ends.

After being disconnected from the call with Strand, Luciana goes outside to investigate a strange noise. She doesn’t progress much since walkers started heading her way and she had to run and find a hiding place and then eventually fell unconscious. When she came to, June was back and things outside were rather strange. The walkers were all dead and their decapitated heads hung like Christmas ornaments on the tree.

What the heck is going on, Fear The Walking Dead? And who is doing all this?! Guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

Fear The Walking Dead airs every Sunday on AMC at 9 PM EST!