Happy Tuesday TV fans! After watching AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead season 5 episode 5, I realized that sometimes you need to let something go in order to finally open up to those around you. It’s up to you to decide if you want to stay in the past or embrace the future. Please note spoilers are ahead if you have not gotten a chance to watch the latest episode yet. In last night’s episode, “The End of Everything,” we finally catch up with Al and learn about her fate after she was taken. My top 5 moments from Fear the Walking Dead season 5 episode 5 are:
5
“Hey baldy…over here!”
In the beginning of the episode, we catch up with Al after she goes back to find and record her next story. She is taken by someone in the mask and suit, who is focused on one thing…finding the tape that Al recorded on her camera. Al wakes up in a car with her hands tied, but she proves just how resourceful she is. Al spots a walker and calls him over to her. The walker, or Baldy, takes the bait and Al is able to grab on to the barbed wire around him to free herself. She then proceeds to take out the walker with the car door, reminding us that she is a bad-ass you do not want to mess with!
4
“I just want to know the truth. Why are you out here?”
The stranger really should have used handcuffs as Al suggested, but we learn that the masked stranger is a woman. The woman continues to ask for the tape again and again, but Al is quite stubborn. We get to see the helicopter with the 3 circle symbol up close and learn that the woman is part of “Ground 17,” whatever that means. We also learn that there is a Reclamation team ready to swoop in if needed. So how many teams are there and is the Reclamation team the group that was in contact with Rick and Anne/Jadis on TWD or is this an entirely different branch? This is a lot to process, but Al is determined to get to the truth…even if she has to risk her life to do so.
3
“Why does any of this matter?”
Al finally gets through to the mysterious woman, hilariously nicknaming her Happy for now, when she agrees to tell Al about what they are doing in exchange for the tape. Happy doesn’t seem like she wants to share too much, but Al refuses to take no for an answer and continues to question her, revealing the journalist within.
Happy finally asks Al why any of this matters and Al explains that “when we’re gone, our stories will be all that’s left.” Happy finds Al’s tape, Bog #7, which is extremely important to Al. Al explains that she lost her brother because she was chasing after the story and this is a reminder. Happy seems to be opening up more now and explains that “we have the future,” but does that mean she is ready to give up on the present?
2
“You fall, I fall.”
I don’t know why, but when I heard Al repeating this phrase, I kept thinking about The Notebook’s “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird” speech, but I guess it applies here. In an attempt to get more fuel for the helicopter, it’s time for some extreme rock climbing with an angry walker to make it that much more exciting. Al and Happy work together to climb up the wall and have a close call, but Al is able to hook on to the walker’s line before it is too late. I thought Jon Snow’s climb up the wall on GOT was exciting, but Al sure had me on the edge of my seat as well! They are able to make it to the top together, but Al realizes that once this is all over, Happy will need to kill her because she knows too much.
1
“I want you to live!”
After Al turns over the tape, Happy destroys it, explaining that this is bigger than all of us, but is still pretty cryptic about what she actually means here. Al realizes that this is the end of the road for her, as Happy tells her to turn around. Al tells her she gets it and that she finally knows that she chose something other than a story. She turns over the Bog #7 tape and tells Happy, “Make sure the story matters.” Happy holds a gun to the back of Al’s head, but has second thoughts and tells her, “I want you to live!” She explains that her real name is Isabelle and tells Al not to chase this story. She reveals that she has finally witnessed one of the prettiest things ever since the apocalypse started and passionately kisses Al. I’m still swooning over this kiss!
Al and Isabelle go their separate ways and Al catches up with Morgan and Alicia. She lies and tells them that she only heard the helicopter and says there is no story. I thought this was a huge moment for Al’s character. When she handed over the tape to Isabelle, it’s like she was finally able to free herself from the burden of her past, now ready to open up to the possibilities of the present and the future. Al even reveals her last name, which I am still having trouble pronouncing, but it just goes to show that she is finally ready to write her own story.
Where is Isabelle going? I’m not sure, but we still have been left with so many unanswered questions. Isabelle calls off the Reclamation group, but are we going to have to wait until the movies with Rick Grimes to learn anything concrete about what this group is actually doing? Either way, I was thoroughly entertained by the episode and I thought that Maggie Grace was brilliant, branching out into a well layered character that continues to surprise me again and again. Stay tuned!
I hope you enjoyed the list and feel free to post your own theories and thoughts on Fear the Walking Dead in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!
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