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"Ouroboros" is the third episode of the second season of AMC's Fear the Walking Dead. It is the ninth episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 24, 2016. It was written by Alan Page and directed by Stefan Schwartz.

Plot[]

Madison confronts Strand about his mysterious destination. Nick, Alicia, and others inspect wreckage from a plane crash.

Synopsis[]

In the middle of the ocean, Alex swims to her wounded companion, Jake, after surviving the crash of Flight 462. She brings Jake to a raft with other survivors. Tom, one of the survivors, smacks an infected passenger with an oar and pushes him overboard.

Days pass, and Tom tells Alex that Jake is dying and urges her to kill him before he turns. That night, Alex stabs Tom when he tries to kill Jake in his sleep. Michael, the remaining survivor, encourages Alex to put Jake out of his misery.

On the Abigail, Strand tries to call his contact via satellite phone to confirm that he is coming. The phone cuts out. Madison and Travis start to make love in their state room. The boat creaks to a stop.

Travis determines that the engine malfunctioned due to a blocked water intake. He says the problem will require him to look under the boat. Madison urges him to wait until sunrise, but Strand and Travis agree that they cannot waste time.

Travis scuba dives into the water and swims to the water intake. He sees an infected Michael flailing beside the hull, his arm stuck in the intake valve. Michael attacks Travis who panics and struggles to escape.

Later in the engine room, Travis begins removing backed-up sludge from the filtration system and informs Strand that the repairs may take all day. Strand snaps that they cannot wait this long.

Daniel notices that Ofelia's wound is infected. She informs him that she ran out of antibiotics. He forbids her from asking Madison for antibiotics, insisting that families must take care of themselves. "Blood is blood."

Alicia shows Madison a spot on shore that is littered with luggage from the plane wreck. Alicia, Nick, and Chris insist on going to shore to gather supplies. Madison and Travis refuse to let them go but Daniel offers to accompany them. Alicia, Nick, and Chris board the zodiac. Daniel tells Madison that Strand is planning to sail to Baja California and asks her to question Strand about his intentions.

On shore, Daniel tells everyone to stay within view as they gather supplies.

Travis scuba dives underwater to work on the water intake.

Chris separates from the group and ventures inland.

Madison hears a noise and sees blood emerge from the spot in the water where Travis was swimming. Michael's body floats to the surface after Travis plunges a knife through his eye socket.

Nick finds a knife in a suitcase and pockets it. Elsewhere, Chris discovers part of a wrecked plane hull and enters the cabin. He taunts an infected and bludgeons it with a metal scrap. A man, still alive, wakes up in a nearby row and weakly begs for help.

Madison confronts Strand about his secret plans and demands to know what is in Baja. Strand reveals that he has a safehouse with food, water, and concrete walls in Rosarito, Baja California, but explains that he has precious little time to get there. She demands that he take the entire group with him. They cautiously make a pact to trust each other.

Daniel rummages through luggage in search of antibiotics for Ofelia. Nick informs Daniel that Ofelia needs Amoxicillin, Oxycodone, or something similar. Daniel realizes that Chris is missing and goes to find him.

Chris helps the plane survivor out of his seat. When the man is unable to move, Chris notices that part of his spine is exposed. Critically wounded, the passenger continues to beg for help, but he refuses water. Chris realizes that the man wants to die, and knowing that the wound is fatal, Chris bashes the infected man in the head.

Daniel looks for Chris on the beach, before moving inland.

Alicia leaves Nick to look for Daniel and Chris. Nick finds a large stash of Amoxicillin.

Madison informs Travis of Strand's Baja plans and tells him the house is their best chance at survival. Travis balks at trusting Strand, but Madison argues that they have little choice.

Daniel runs into Alex in the beach, who is fleeing from over a sand dune. "They're coming," she pants. A large herd of infected appears in the distance.

Nick spots an infected trapped in a nearby pit. He watches curiously as crabs crawl over it. It manages to catch and eat one of them. Getting too close to the edge, Nick accidentally slips into the pit and is attacked. He stabs the infected using the knife he found earlier. Another infected falls into the pit.

Alicia finds Chris by the airplane hull. He is visibly shaken from his experience and is hesitant to divulge details. They hear a gunshot in the distance. Madison sees the herd through her binoculars and tells Strand they have to move. Daniel shoots at the herd, and is joined by Alex, Alicia, and Chris in the fight.

Back on the Abigail, Travis removes the last bit of sludge and a severed hand from the filtration system and fixes the engine. Strand powers the boat up.

The herd closes in on Daniel, Alex, Alicia, and Chris. They fight back, but are vastly outnumbered. As they are about to be overwhelmed, Nick arrives covered in blood and helps fight off the infected, allowing the group enough time to escape. As they flee, Nick realizes that the infected are not attacking him. He walks into the herd and comes face-to-face with one. The infected smells him, but is unmoved as Nick snarls back at it. Nick is brought out of his trance by Alicia's voice, and retreats.

The group reaches the zodiac and pushes off into the water. Alex tells Daniel that they need to make one stop.

Strand looks through binoculars and sees the zodiac approaching with a yellow raft in tow.

Back at the Abigail, Madison informs the group that Strand has invited them to join him at a compound in Baja with food, power, and water. Strand refuses to let Alex and Jake board the ship. Travis insists that they at least tow Alex's raft to San Diego. Alicia and Madison bring water and blankets to Alex and Jake. Nick gives Ofelia rosary beads that he found on the beach. Inside the boat, Strand paces up and down.

In the raft, Alex cradles Jake and assures him that things are currently as bad as they will ever be and that each day he will get better and better.

Strand dashes outside and cuts the raft loose. Madison objects, but it is too late. The raft drifts behind as the Abigail cruises south. Strand returns to the wheelhouse in silence.

Other Cast[]

Co-Stars[]

Uncredited[]

  • Joe Giles as Crab Infected
  • John Dixon as Flight 462 passenger
  • Main Flow as Walker

Deaths[]

Trivia[]

  • First (and last) appearance of Ian.
  • First (and last) appearance of Tom.
  • First (and last) appearance of Michael.
  • First (and last) appearance of Alan.
  • Last appearance of Jake Powell.
  • As of this episode, Michelle Ang (Alex) has been added to the opening credits.
  • This is the first time in which survivors (Jake and Alex) originally from a Web Series appeared in a TV Series.
  • Ouroboros is a symbol of a snake (sometimes dragon) eating its own tail in a circle, and often symbolizes eternal recurrence (something coming back in a similar form infinitely), something recreating itself constantly, or a phoenix-like cycle. It can also symbolize eternity, or something so great it cannot be extinguished and endures forever.
  • This is the first known time that the method of concealing survivors with infected guts worked successfully without an incident. This is a trick used several times in the main show following its discovery by Rick Grimes in "Guts".
    • Despite Nick killing several walkers while covered in walker blood, they do not see through the disguise and become hostile towards him as has been previously seen on the main show when a character breaks their cover in such a manner. In Nick's case, the herd appeared to be more focused on chasing the others and Nick had ceased hostile action and was acting like one of them again which appeared to be enough to render his disguise effective again.
  • The actor who portrayed the crab infected walker was buried up to his waist in sand. To protect him from being pinched, the ghost crabs were added digitally.
  • To create the effect of the gruesome spinal injury on the plane passenger, they used practical effects makeup. A harness was fitted with a spine made of urethane - a synthetic crystalline compound - and covered in fake blood.
  • When Chris is entering the crashed plane there is a dinosaur toy on the ground. This is a subtle reference to the plane crash in Jurassic Park III (2001).
  • Rubén Blades, who plays Daniel Salazar, says that Frank Dillane is the best of the cast at driving the zodiac.

Episode Highlights[]

TBA

Goofs/Errors[]

  • When Tom knocks Ian into the water with the oar, the water surrounding the boat is undisturbed immediately after.

References[]

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