John has been shot,
Naomi is upset by this and there’s a huge firefight between Alicia’s gang and
Mel (brother of Ennis) and his vultures. Alicia would quite like to kill Naomi
but Morgan decides to get involved because that’s his thing now - leaping into
situations he knows virtually nothing about.
We also have
Charlotte, the evil child infiltrator of doom - and Jacinda almost seems ready
to pull the trigger. Instead she’s distracted by more appropriate targets and
Charlotte escapes - to be grabbed by Morgan because he’s just rescuing
everyone. He manages to convince Althea to stop filming and play rescue vehicle
- since her truck has big enough guns to back down even Alicia in her full
rampage mode
Despite being
outnumber 165643 to 1, Alicia, Victor and Jacinda cut a bloody swath through
the Vultures who start running away - led by Mel who flees in an
ambulance. Which Alicia shoots. With an RPG. And when he crawls out near death
she finishes him off. Alicia is not playing.
Naomi needs medical
supplies to save John, the nicest man in the apocalypse - which means going to
the one place she knows with supplies. The Stadium - which even the Vultures
dare not raid for supplies.
Inside the whole
place is crawling with a gazillion gazillion zombies.
Time to check the
past and how we got to this stage
Because everything
was going quite well, they had new plans and supplies to rebuild, Madison was
spreading peace and light everywhere, the Vultures have left and she is determined
to make everything work and it all looks shiny and wonderful.
When they get a
visitor - Charlotte the evil devil child. She wants help because Mel has split
up from the Vultures and has now got in trouble, injured and in need of help.
Sensible people say
“hell no” though none of them suggest burning the devil child. Madison,
however, is all compassion and light and insists they go offer help bringing
the injured guy in. Nick is specially suspicious but Madison insists they have
to learn to trust: just as she has with Naomi and Victor.
They bring Mel in,
he’s injured with broken ribs and needs help which they give. But while being
helped he talks about needing to run because Ennis will make the settlement
fall; he’s not willing to let them go. He is so ominous that he makes the very
skittish Naomi super super nervous. She goes to Madison - who is busy
fortifying against Ennis’s attack - to try and convince her to leave. But
Madison refuses: she built this place for her children. But it’s more than that
- like Nick she seems to have an almost pathological fear of being outside -
not so much because it’s dangerous but because of what it does to them, how it
forces them to live. Creating the Stadium allowed them to cling to some sense
of civilisation rather than scavenging and violence - it’s a powerful symbol
for her. Though she is becoming a powerful symbol for others
She even tells Naomi
about the Just In Case care she had Alicia set up - and how she has no
intention of using it.
But she does make one
decision - Mel has to go. He’s too much of a threat and a danger - though they
do insist on keeping the devil child Charlotte. But she’s done too well in
spreading peace and light - too many of her people believe in shiny second
chances. Perhaps especially Victor since he’s only around because she gave him
a second chance.
So when Charlotte,
the evil, cries that Mel is all alone and dying and needs help the soft hearted
people decide they need to go rescue him: Alicia, Nick and Jacinda. Oooh, look,
the survivors who are part of the modern story. What a coincidence
They go to rescue Mel
outside the wall which means they’re not there when Ennis makes his move: all
those numbered flags denote zombie numbers. We’ve seen Ennis and his Vultures
herd zombies into containers; well this is why. By gathering these hundreds of
zombies he has his own herd. And, more, he sets them on fire which is a problem
for the wooden walls of the Stadium
Madison responds to
this by deciding to go outside of these safe walls to safe Nick, Alicia and
Jacinda - with Victor joining because he’s Madison’s number one fan.
Which leaves me sure
that Madison will die: clearly all of the people at the Stadium died except
Naomi (apparently in Alicia’s Just In Case van) except for those outside the
wall: Nick, Alicia, Jacinda, Victor… and Madison. So something has happened to
Madison in the escape.
There’s also the
question of Mel - in the past he seems to be clearly more morally grey than the
evil Ennis. Not necessarily planning evil doom - but cynically expecting the
stadium to collapse: but not agreeing with CAUSING that collapse. But by the
present he’s not only back with the Vultures but Alicia furiously wants him
very very dead
