Under ordinary circumstances, if you spotted a beach littered with luggage from a plane crash, you’d probably call it a tragedy. But if you happen to be in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, you might instead call it a yard sale.

At least that was what Nick — as much a wit as he is a survivor — did in this week’s Fear the Walking Dead. Of course, there was more waiting for the Abigail’s passengers on shore than just travel-size cream rinse and dog-eared copies of SkyMall.

Who? What? Read on, and we’ll unpack “Ouroboros” together.

‘I AM NOT THE HELP!’ | As the episode began, we joined Alex, Jake and a few other Flight 462 survivors aboard a lifeboat. It appeared unlikely that the youngster would pull through, he was so badly burned. Yet Alex protected him with a ferocity that would have done his mother proud.


Later, when the Abigail came to a sudden and unexpected stop, Travis dove into the ocean to investigate — and discovered that what was blocking the water intake was the reanimated corpse of one of Alex and Jake’s lifeboatmates. The following day, though Travis warned Strand that fixing yachts wasn’t his forte — and though el capitan treated him like the Skipper did Gilligan — the handyman still went to town in the engine room like he was Edgar Hansen from Deadliest Catch.

Meanwhile, in spite of the fact that Ofelia was out of antibiotics, Daniel wouldn’t allow her to ask Madison for more. They had to handle their predicament themselves, he insisted. “What do you suggest we do, go to Walgreens?” she replied. “I’m pretty sure they’re closed.”

AMC has released a series of teasers for Fear the Walking Dead season 2 and it appears there is no safe sanctuary for Madison, Travis and their extended families. The teaser reveals that herds of flesh-hungry zombies are trying to attack the survivors of the mysterious flu that has now become a pandemic and engulfed entire Los Angeles.

The latest and longest trailer of the Walking Dead companion series hints that Madison will emerge as a strong woman. "To kill the monster, you become the monster... stare to the abyss and the abyss stares back. It is alive, it is hungry and it devours," she tells in the background voiceover. Meantime, fans can see herds of undead walkers attacking Strand's gated estate.

The lead cast then leaves to board Abigail, Strand's yacht which is moored offshore. But the big questing remains: Is the water safe and can the zombies swim?

From the trailer, it appears the zombies will stay afloat and live in the water as there is a scene where Travis (who has probably abandoned his naive self) is seen recklessly beating a walker who is trying to get over their raft.

The small teaser has surely increased the interest of FTWD fans, who had lots of complains from the first season for being slow and the hero Travis being a weak man. It appears the cast will be in full action mode when they take down the zombies in order to stay safe during the apocalypse.

The official synopsis reads: Season one left off with Madison (Kim Dickens), Travis (Cliff Curtis) and their extended family taking temporary shelter in Strand's (Colman Domingo) gated estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean. As civil unrest continues to grow and the dead take over Los Angeles, Strand prepares to escape to "Abigail," his large yacht moored offshore.

The second season of Fear the Walking Dead is still nearly two months away, but AMC has released a new teaser trailer that will give fans plenty to nosh on while waiting for the zombie apocalypse drama to return.

The video above reveals roughly just 10 seconds of action, from which our multiple viewings show:

1. Zombies lumbering on a beach near water…

2. … and in the water. Does this mean walkers can swim?! 

3. Travis (Cliff Curtis) is staring at a lineup of waterlogged (and dead?) walkers…

4. … while his son, Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) is in the process of braining one with a baseball bat.

5. Strand (Colman Domingo), the mysterious rich guy whose Pacific Ocean estate Travis and company took refuge in at the end of Season 1, appears to have traded his fancy suit for more casual clothing… perhaps his outfit for boarding “Abigail,” the moored yacht he plans to escape to?

6. Madison (Kim Dickens) is running with supplies on a night beach where there are also several walkers milling about… is she running out of the water? As in, escaping the yacht?

7. Another figure, which looks like Chris, is shown diving from the yacht into the water… do the survivors board the yacht, only to find — as the teaser’s tagline states —there is “NO SAFE HARBOR”?

8. And is that Madison’s son Nick (Frank Dillane), also underwater?

9. Daniel (Ruben Blades) is pointing a gun at another man…

10. … a newbie who is pointing a rifle back at Daniel.

Season 2, which will span 15 episodes (split into two parts), is already confirmed to have several new cast members, including Desperate Housewives alum Dougray Scott, Daniel Zovatto (Revenge), Arturo del Puerto (The Lottery), and Veronica Diaz (Criminal Minds) as the “smart and deceptive” Vanessa.

Cliff Curtis as Travis Manawa on Fear the Walking Dead (Photo: Justina Mintz/AMC)

It’s just the beginning of the zombie apocalypse on Fear the Walking Dead… and this is just the beginning of kickass Fear the Walking Dead merch.

On Thursday, McFarlane Toys, the people behind the popular Walking Dead construction sets and action figures, announced on Yahoo TV that they’d be continuing their collaboration with AMC and creating collectible action figures for the spinoff show. And, today, we’ve got a sneak peek at the first character in the line, which is part of McFarlane’s new 2016 Collector Box Program.

The Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) action figure stands seven inches tall and features screen-accurate accessories and weapons. He looks pretty handsome, too, with his leather jacket and I’ll-protect-my-family-no-matter-what angry face. Plus, he has 15 points of articulation so fans can recreate pretty much any scene they want.

The Walking Dead’s Daryl is never going to teach Fear the Walking Dead’s Nick how to shoot a crossbow. TWD’s Carol is never going to share her post-apocalyptic cookie recipe with Fear TWD’s Madison. TWD’s Negan is never going to take a swing at Fear TWD’s Strand. And here’s why.

“As interesting as the ways that [TWD showrunner] Scott [M. Gimple] & Co. are able to shift the comic book narrative and really explore that, there is no Fear TWD” in that universe, Fear TWD executive producer Dave Erickson tells TVLine. The spinoff “didn’t come from the comic, so some tectonic plates would have to shift to make [a crossover] happen.”

There’s also the little matter of location, location, location. Since Fear TWD is set on the West Coast, “from a geographical standpoint, it’s going to be very difficult for us to ever get to the East Coast,” Erickson notes. “And from a narrative standpoint, with [TWD] being six seasons in and going on seven, I don’t think we’ll ever quite catch up with them, so chronologically, it would be difficult as well.”

Which is too bad — a meeting between TWD’s embattled survivors and Fear TWD’s dysfunctional blended family might win over some of the spinoff’s detractors. “I don’t know the stats, but I think there are people who do like both shows,” says Erickson, adding with a laugh, “I think there are, like, seven people on the planet who haven’t seen TWD, and we’ve got those guys.

“My hope is that at a certain point — and it’ll probably never happen — but if we stay on the air long enough, people will stop comparing the shows as much,” he continues. “I don’t think that’ll ever go away, but they are two separate stories with similar rules taking place in the same universe that was created by Robert [Kirkman] in the comics. There’s room for two shows that have their own tone but are different in terms of characters and locations. That would be my hope.”

Fear the Walking Dead executive producer Dave Erickson has heard your complaints that his series isn’t The Walking Dead. He gets it. And “that has been one of the challenges of the show,” he tells TVLine. The Walking Dead has “a huge fan base to whom we are incredibly grateful, and we obviously want to deliver a story that everybody loves. But at the same time, we wanted to make sure that our characters didn’t embrace the tropes [of the genre] as readily as,” say, the characters in a zombie movie.

On the big screen, the learning curve is so steep that, ordinarily, “by the end of the first reel, everybody knows the score and is able to kill [the undead] without any thought,” the showrunner notes. “They become very practiced at it very quickly. And that was something we wanted to avoid. We wanted to [instead] try to balance expectations of how people should behave once they know there are zombies with this sort of attempted slow burn into the apocalypse from a character standpoint.”

Which makes sense from a long-term storytelling perspective. However, even Erickson acknowledges that “that creates frustrations, to a certain degree, because in some instances, you want [the characters] to get it already. And in some circumstances, the things that they do that don’t seem particularly zombie-savvy are, for me, moments where they aren’t zombie-savvy.

“If you marked off the days [that have passed on air since Fear TWD debuted], I think right now, by the end of the first half [of Season 2], we’re getting very close to Rick waking up in Georgia” on The Walking Dead, he continues. Only now have Fear TWD‘s survivors “arrived at a place where they’re up to speed on how one deals with the apocalypse and the dead.” In other words, they’re no longer beginners.

Still, viewers shouldn’t expect Fear TWD‘s characters to start going to the extremes that The Walking Dead‘s routinely do. Yes, Madison condemned Celia to die in the midseason finale. But that doesn’t mean that she’s become as ruthless as Rick. “That wasn’t a matter of ‘We have to have one of our core characters do something that seems incredibly immoral or violent in order to catch up with where they should be,'” Erickson explains. “That was more a mother who was trying to protect her son [Nick] from, essentially, a drug dealer.”

Fear the Walking Dead’s midseason finale split up not only Travis and Madison but Nick and everybody with a pulse, killed off Celia and Daniel (or so it seemed), burned down Thomas’ hacienda and left us with about a million questions. Luckily, showrunner Dave Erickson was kind enough to ring TVLine with, if not a million answers, at least so many that this is only Part 1 of our Q&A. (Check back tomorrow for Part 2.)

TVLINE | Let’s start with Nick. Aside from his being a junkie and all, he generally seems pretty sharp. So why was he so quick to fall for Celia’s insanity?
I think you’ve got a guy who’s got a very strong addictive personality, and everyone that I know who is in recovery tends to find some other outlet for that addictive nature. What Nick does is he finds it in the dead. It started in the [Season 2] premiere. There was one moment when he was under the capsized boat watching that one floating infected, and he saw something different. He saw more humanity there. [Of course] that could be an excuse, because I think deep down, he’s looking for someone who is going to enable this new addiction.


TVLINE | He certainly found her.
Yeah, when he lands with Celia in Episode 6 and into 7, he essentially finds someone who says, “Yes, your lack of fear toward the dead is right.” She embraces that, and he embraces her philosophy as well. He’s been primed to find that person, which is really I think what Strand speaks to in that scene when he says to Madison basically, “You’ve got a kid who is very street-savvy, but he’s also looking for his next fix.” That’s what scares the hell out of Madison, and it’s why she goes to the lengths that she goes to.

TVLINE | I was stunned that Madison went all Rick Grimes on us — she basically murdered Celia in cold blood. 
Madison has alluded to it before, but she’s had an interesting relationship with violence. She does have a morality, and she does have good qualities, obviously. But what we’ll find out [in the second half of the season] is that there’s a darker side to Madison Clark. The more we get to know her, the more we’ll understand why she’s willing to go to the places she does. You also have to bear in mind [in this case] that you have a woman in Celia who seems harmless in that moment but also poisoned an entire congregation to protect the infected in her wine cellar! She’s not someone to be trifled with! So the question for us was, what would Madison do if, for example, she’d gone to the shooting gallery and found her son having shot up, and been confronted with his drug dealer? Would she have called the cops? Would she have dealt with it in the moment?


TVLINE | Clearly, she would have dealt with it.
She has the ability to go to a violent place when the need arises.

Those of you who have been voicing your displeasure with Fear the Walking Dead in the comments section might have been especially pleased by this week’s midseason finale: What transpired basically turned the whole show upside-down, cutting old ties and simultaneously knotting new ones. Plus, one character went full-on Rick Grimes on an adversary. Who? Read on and find out!

‘THIS IS THE END OF DEATH ITSELF’ | Early on in “Shiva,” Celia was lighting into Strand for shooting Thomas in the head rather than joining him in death, as planned. “You love no one,” she spat, adding a slap for good measure. Though Madison tried to intervene, Celia wasn’t having any. “The sun comes down, I want you gone,” she said. “All of you.” Hoping to pacify Celia, Nick bloodied himself up, went out and retrieved a zombified Luis. “What you see is my son,” she insisted. “Changed, yes, but no less my son.” And somehow, that was, in fact, what Nick saw. So Celia decided that he and he alone belonged there. What about his family? he asked. OK, they can stay, too, Celia said. But not Victor.


Naturally, Madison was ticked about Nick’s latest death-defying stunt. But he couldn’t understand why she couldn’t understand a mother wanting her son back. (Perhaps he didn’t get a good whiff of Zombie Luis?) At an impasse, he volunteered to go out again and come back with Travis. Off that argument, Maddie appealed to Strand to save Nick from Celia’s dangerous influence. Victor turned down her request — and pointed out that they weren’t friends, just two people who’d had a “useful arrangement.” Yet it was still clear that they had bonded. When she asked where he’d go when he was kicked out, he told her he’d head for the boat. “If there [still] is a boat,” he added. “You interested?” Alas, she couldn’t leave without Travis.

‘LOOK AT ME! I’M NO GOOD!’ | Speaking of whom… Out looking for Chris, Travis — his feet bloody since he’d left the hacienda in such a hurry, he hadn’t even grabbed shoes — came upon a house whose occupant offered him water and a pair of sneakers. But when the man lied about having seen Chris and tried to hustle Travis out, he deduced that there was someone hiding in the other room. Whad’ya know? It was Chris, holding the poor man’s little boy hostage! After Travis disarmed his son and saved the youngster, he tried to impress upon Chris that he wasn’t a monster. “You sure about that?” the teen replied. And, considering that he’d just held a gun on and tried to stab his dad, it seemed a valid question. Later, Nick tracked down Travis, who told him that Chris couldn’t come back, not in his current state. So Travis wanted Nick to go back and tell Maddie that he’d never found them.


‘WE DESTROY EVERYTHING’ | As night fell, Strand made his exit, cracking, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll hail a cab.” (Curiously, somewhere along the line, Alicia forgot that she and Victor had an antagonistic relationship.) When Daniel and the whole compound went up in flames a la Hershel’s barn, Victor turned around in his truck and picked up Madison, Alicia and Ofelia. Just then, Nick returned from his “unsuccessful” mission and wanted to know where Celia was. When his mom replied only that they had to get back to the boat, the junkie reeled. Celia “was right about us,” he said. “She knew what we are” — the real monsters. As such, he turned away from his mom and sister and ran the other way.

“Are you mad at me?” was Chris’ favorite question in this week’s Fear the Walking Dead. And, even if your answer wasn’t yes before you watched “Sicut Cervus,” it almost had to be after. Read on, and we’ll review the many and varied ways that Travis’ son screwed up and freaked out.

ADIOS, LUIS | After the episode began with the parishioners of a church near Thomas’ estate keeling over, bloody-eyed — and the priest telling Strand’s lover that it was Celia’s doing — we cut to the Abigail, where Travis admitted to Chris that Madison wasn’t sure that Reed had actually been infected when the teen shot him. Before Chris could finish insisting that Connor’s brother really, truly had been sick, Luis’ plan to buy entry into Mexico was set in motion. It did not go well. In fact, it went so disastrously that he wound up being killed by his contacts.

When the smoke cleared, the Abigail headed for shore, which seemed like exactly the kind of thing that Luis’ contacts should have wanted to prevent, right? But Strand theorized that they didn’t even bother giving chase because they figured that whatever was on land would do in the yacht’s passengers. (Mmkay.) Eventually making their way to the church at which we began the hour, the group was attacked by the zombified parishioners, giving Daniel a flashback to his time with the Junta and giving Alicia a chance to spot Chris standing back and doing nothing as a walker nearly got Madison. (See, Chris, that’s the kinda thing that gets people pissed off at you.)

HOGAR DULCE HOGAR | Arriving at Thomas’ place — which would have been a heaven on earth even if there hadn’t been a zombie apocalypse going on — Strand informed Celia that her son had been killed. Strangely, this didn’t bother her at all. As long as Luis wasn’t shot in the head, she told Daniel later, he’d “find his way back.” Meanwhile, Strand at last reunited with Thomas, who, sadly, had been bitten. Knowing that his days — hours, even — were numbered, Abigail asked Madison to “look after [Victor] when I’m gone.”

Elsewhere in the hacienda, Chris was shocked to learn that Alicia was angry that he’d almost let her mom get bitten. “I froze,” he swore. “That’s it.” However, if she didn’t believe him and was determined to spread around “this lie” about him not stepping in to save Madison… What? He’d what? “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he replied, officially crossing the line from troubled to creepy. Natch, Alicia informed her mom of Chris’ threat, and Madison ran right to Travis. “I think he’s sick,” she said. So “help me help him,” her fiancé begged — just like he had helped her with Nick. Trouble was, Chris’ illness and Nick’s addiction weren’t the same to Maddie. As a result, the couple bunked with their kids that night instead of with each other.

A KISS BEFORE DYING | “The world was never good enough for you,” Strand whispered to Thomas as the Grim Reaper neared. “Let it go.” And Abigail might have, were it not for one thing: “I don’t want to leave you.” (Sniffle.) Maybe, Strand suggested, he could go with his lover. Thomas scoffed that that was a “very Shakespearean” notion, but Victor was dead serious. After all, Celia would watch over them. What?!? Before we could ask the question twice, we found out what he meant when Daniel spied a child dropping a dog down a chute into the cellar. Turned out, the youngster’s zombified mom was down there, along with a bunch of other undead “family” members waiting for their dinner. Celia was running a walker B&B!

Bless their hearts. Even though it’s the end of the world on Fear the Walking Dead, Chris and Alicia were still indulging their guilty consciences in this week’s episode — in the former’s case, with bloody disastrous results. (Emphasis on the bloody.) Who wound up worse for wear, thanks to Chris’ attempt to make up for his mistake? Read on and find out!

‘WE CAN’T BRING JUST ANYBODY’ | Early on in “Captive,” Jack scolded Alicia for sneaking onto the deck of Connor’s boat (which turned out to be at a marina). The smitten teen didn’t want his potential girlfriend to get on the boss’ bad side. “He can be a little… ” Jack explained. (And we never did quite find out what “…” meant.) Whatever, Alicia replied more or less. All she wanted to know was whether her family had been dropped off safely on shore.

Aboard the Abigail, when a badly injured Reed wasn’t warning his captors that Connor “might be a little bent” when his kid brother didn’t return with the yacht or describing what he’d do to Ofelia once he got free, he was bragging that his sib had a dozen men and five boats. (Hardly Negan-sized numbers, but respectable for this early in the apocalypse.) Upon learning that intel, Daniel was done “treating” the hostage. However, Chris, dying to help after letting Connor’s crew on board in the first place, offered to stand guard. Fine, said Daniel. Just “do not engage.” (Cue the engaging in 3, 2… )

‘I DID WHAT YOU MADE ME DO’ | On the bridge of the Abigail, Luis couldn’t believe his ears when Strand (slowly recovering) backed Maddie’s plan to retrieve her family before heading to Baja. Even if they succeeded in getting Alicia and Travis back, Luis reminded Strand — in Spanish, pointlessly, since Daniel was present — he only had money for two people, and “they” charged by the head. (Hmm… )

The family drama at the center of “Fear the Walking Dead” got some external threats to really amp up the tension in recent days, as Jack, the mysterious voice Alicia connected with in the Season 2 premiere episode, finally made his appearance.

After his ominous “See you soon” sign-off, the passengers of the Abigail probably shouldn’t have been surprised that they were immediately held at gunpoint once Jack (Daniel Zovatto) brought his crew, including the sadistic Reed (Jesse McCartney), aboard.

But according to the actor playing Jack, the character is just doing what needs to do to survive, like everyone else on the show. “He’s not a bad guy, he’s not exactly Jesus Christ but he’s a guy who needs to survive,” Zovatto told TheWrap.

Zovatto also discussed how he handled playing the mysterious voice on the radio, whether Jack and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) are still playing each other, and whether we could see Jack abandon his crew and join up with the Abigail group.

Jack was introduced in a very unusual fashion. How did you approach playing him as just a voice?
I thought it was pretty cool, it was my first time doing something like that. It was a good exercise, because they shot the episode first, obviously. Alycia had to act by herself. So when I saw the footage, it kinda gave me a mapping ground of what the scene entailed and what needed to happen. It was the first for me, as well.

AMC has renewed “Fear the Walking Dead” for Season 3, the cabler announced Friday.

The third season, consisting of 16 episodes, will air in 2017. AMC has also renewed “Fear’s” live aftershow, “Talking Dead: Fear,” hosted by Chris Hardwick, which will air following new episodes of “Fear.”

The “Walking Dead” companion series premiered its sophomore season on April 10, delivering 8.8 million viewers in Nielsen’s live plus-3 measurement, making it the second-highest rated series on cable in the adult 18-49 demo, behind only “The Walking Dead,” and the #7 show on television, counting both cable and broadcast.

“Fear the Walking Dead” is executive produced by Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero, David Alpert and showrunner David Erickson and hails from AMC Studios.

“What Dave Erickson and Robert Kirkman have invented in ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ is to be applauded. Watching Los Angeles crumble through the eyes of our characters and seeing each make decisions and try to figure out the rules of their new world – it’s fresh, eerie and compelling and we’re all in for the ride,” said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios. “As Victor Strand observed, ‘The only way to survive a mad world is to embrace the madness.’ We thank the millions of fans for embracing this mad world and look forward to sailing far into the future.”

As was teased in the Season 1 finale of Fear the Walking Dead, Maddie, Travis, and their family and friends have taken up residence on Strand’s yacht. But while it’s giving them safe haven from the military bombing of Los Angeles, it certainly doesn’t promise to be safe — from zombies or the still living — for long.

Left Behind
The city is on fire (courtesy of those military bombings), Strand’s house is overrun with walkers, and even the beach below his fancy estate is becoming more populated by the dead with each minute — and the Clark/Manawa crew is reacting to the situation in diverse ways. Nick is acting as Strand’s right hand man, ferrying supplies to the yacht, and then returning to shore to get his family to the Abigail. And, as Strand seems to have an intuition about, Nick’s near-death experiences with drugs have left him with some survival skills that are valuable in this new world. Travis’s son Chris, on the other hand, is still not dealing with the shocking death of his mother. It’s nighttime, walkers ready to nosh on him are all around, and there’s a mad dash to get to that yacht, but all Chris can do is sit on the back, staring at his mother’s dead body. He won’t leave her corpse behind, either, so Liza’s body is among the things Nick, Travis, and Maddie quickly load onto the boat, while Maddie mostly also fends off walkers.

They make it to the Abigail safely, and look back to see their city burning.

San Diego, Ho!
Strand shares the basics of Project Abigail: the yacht has been prepared to travel 3,000 miles, possibly more. “We can survive on the Abigail for quite some time,” he tells his boatmates. Of course, there’s no promise of surviving harmoniously.

Like when Alicia, Maddie, Daniel, and some of the others spot a small boat packed with people. The people on board are yelling at the Abigailians to stop, but when Maddie asks Strand to halt and pick them up, he refuses. “I filled my mercy quota… seven people saved to date,” he tells her. “Be thankful.” 

Family Matters
Chris is the only one not witnessing the chaos on deck, because he’s in a room, sitting on the bed, staring at the body of his dead mother beside him. He finally comes out and shares a moment with Daniel, while the two of them fish off the side of the yacht. They give each other condolences for their losses, and Chris points out neither of them got to say goodbye.

— While listening to the radio, Alicia hears a Coast Guard message to anyone who might be counting on a rescue: “We have no assistance to provide. I repeat, there is no rescue by sea, land, or by air. They’re stopping. Forgive us.”

— Strand, when Nick asks what they’ll do if San Diego doesn’t work out: “I don’t know. The whole world is ‘I don’t know’ right now.”

— The song Jack is playing when he and Alicia first chat on the radio: David Bowie’s “Five Years,” the late artist’s tune about a future apocalyptic planet.

— Romance ahead? Nick has a little bonding moment with Ofelia when he offers her some advice about dealing with her wounds, namely to put ointment on the bandage and to use ice to numb the pain. “And vodka,” he says. “Lots of vodka.”

They’ve made it to Strand’s tricked out yacht, but now what? Because as the early survivors of the zombie apocalypse find out in the Season 2 premiere of Fear the Walking Dead, the water is not safe from walkers, and it’s certainly not safe from other survivors who can immediately see the benefits of a luxury yacht in the apocalypse.

FTWD showrunner Dave Erickson talked to Yahoo TV about the sophomore season premiere, including why Nick is emerging as the unlikely hero in his family, how the Clark and Manawa fams and their friends are only beginning to find out just how bad the apocalypse is, and how long we’re going to wait to find out what’s really up with Strand.

Nothing like jumping right back into the action.

Yeah, there’s not much of a break between the finale and the premiere, and that was largely for two reasons. One, we wanted to make sure we were introducing the boat effectively. We didn’t want to do a larger time jump, because I think the actual arrival on the Abigail was important. The other thing, the premiere is sort of steeped to a certain degree in the grief that comes from the loss the family has suffered… part of that loss is seeing your home destroyed. We see the beginning of it at the end of Season 1, and as they make their drive across Los Angeles and down the L.A. River, it seems very barren, much like a wasteland. I think seeing the combination of Operation Cobalt, and seeing the fact that there is no home to go back to ever, that was something we wanted to make sure we hit effectively.

It also emphasizes how, especially since the events of Season 1′s penultimate episode, they’ve had no time to stop and think. They just have to react constantly to everything.
You’re right, and I think it’s interesting, because in terms of the apocalyptic education at the ending of Season 1… some of our characters believe that they’re dead. Some of our characters get to the point where they realize the only way to deal with the dead is to put them down. We were relatively insulated, I think, but exactly at the moment when we began to understand what we were dealing with, with the affected, the National Guard arrives. We spent two episodes behind a fence, I think hoping that things are going to be repaired, and assuming that they were, because there was still a level of faith and trust in the institutions. I don’t think we got the first blast of the true scope and scale until the finale, and now I think, although we understand what the walkers are, we’ve not been in tune with the fact that the world is gone. I think that’ll be part of the puzzle for Madison and Travis, and Nick, and Alicia, and everybody as we move forward: figuring out how bad this is, how extensive is it.

… we don’t know. And we won’t know until October’s Season 7 premiere.

The good news: Daryl is alive. Or, he was, anyway…

The Walking Dead Season 6 finale, “Last Day on Earth,” revealed that Daryl Dixon did not die at the hand of his old nemesis Dwight in the penultimate episode of the season.


But then he, Michonne, and Glenn are brought into an episode-ending semi-circle in which the rest of their loved ones — including Rick, Carl, Abraham, Sasha, Maggie, Aaron, and Eugene — were captured by The Saviors and lined up and introduced to The Saviors’ big bad leader, Negan, and his barbed wire-covered baseball bat, Lucille.

And in a terrifying, intense, stressful scene that leaves Rick and his friends shaking with fear and about to visit “Pee Pee Pants City” (as Negan so irreverently puts it), Negan explains that Rick’s group will not continue to resist The Saviors’ demand for half their stuff. Instead, they would begin handing over 50 percent of everything, pronto.

Also, there’s a little matter of punishment. Negan tells the group that one of them is gonna meet the business end of Lucille — over and over again — and, just like in the comics, he begins a game of Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe to choose who will atone for the group’s refusal to play by Negan’s rules.


Again, there’s a little bit of good news: as Negan prepares to kill the “winner” of Eenie, Meenie, he instructs the rest of the group not to say anything. They can blink, they can breathe, they can cry, but they can’t say anything. If they do, he tells his men, Carl’s one eye should be cut out and fed to Rick. So, good news, both Rick and Carl would seem to be safe from Lucille. For now.

As to who did get several Lucille whacks to the head, we don’t know, because just as Negan started swinging, the camera switched to the point of view of the victim, complete with splashing blood and an incredibly sickening noise that sounds like, well, a baseball bat slamming into a melon. Or a human head.

So, tell us, TWD fans … who do you think is on the receiving end of that bat, i.e., who will we be mourning after the Season 7 premiere next fall?