Fear the Walking Dead 406 – Just in Case
Just in Case flips back and forth between the past and present chronicling an unexpected turn at the Stadium and John Dorie’s quest to find Naomi. A lot of Naomi’s harrowing backstory is revealed and a twist in the episode’s final moments will certainly raise a few eyebrows.
John Dorie is a man of many talents, but his ability to wield a gun is absolutely at the top of the list. The latest dynamic duo on Fear the Walking Dead, Morgan and John, run across a dude affiliated with the Vultures and the pre-credits sequence reestablishes his feelings for Naomi as well as the level of trust he has for Morgan.
Drinking buddies Madison and Strand have a heart to heart that fills in a couple of the gaps of what happened between the flood and the Stadium. Their conversation is cut short when Naomi causes a minor ruckus at the gate. Naomi has a line on some resources that can help the community and after some chatter she heads out with Madison and Strand to track them down. Harboring more secrets than a heavily redacted FBI file and armed with sketchy loyalty, Naomi always has one foot out the door and has the uncanny ability to make Strand seem like a boy scout. She also carries a heavy dose of guilt and a return to her former stomping grounds at a FEMA outpost proves she’s one conflicted lady.
Strand’s contention that people don’t change is a sobering one but Naomi’s plight and Madison’s enduring faith in their survival reaps benefits for those at the Stadium. The truth surrounding Strand’s supply truck causes a small fissure in his relationship with Madison but also sparks a different line of thought in her. That coupled with a veiled threat from the Vultures moves Madison to ask Alycia to pack a ration of supplies and weapons just in case something goes wrong.
When the timeline shifts back to the present surprises abound once the Vultures and Clark crew come face to face once again. While the twist in the final act may not come as a total surprise, the fallout from it might be. The time shifting nature of this season is not something that always benefits the narrative. Seeing Nick constantly in flashbacks kind of negates the weight of his murder and the drip, drip style of revealing things in a non-linear fashion can be frustrating.
Essentially Fear is running both halves of Season 6 simultaneously so that Morgan and the new characters’ appearance can occur at the start of the season instead of in the middle of it. However, Nick’s death, Madison’s fate and the decisions characters make from the past into the present either remain unanswered or lose some of their impact. Whether the trade off works for Fear the Walking Dead’s benefit though is still up in the air.
