Fear the Walking Dead Ep. 313: This Land Is Your Land
How does this sound as far as bad days go? Imagine being trapped in a bunker with a limited air supply, some desperate ranchers and a hoard of walkers banging on the door trying to make their way in. For anyone else it would be lights out but for the ever-resourceful Alicia Clark it’s just another day in the walker apocalypse. Things aren’t about to get any rosier for Alicia once it’s revealed that some of the ranchers inside the bunker have been bitten by walkers. Oh what’s a girl to do in these trying times? This Land Is Your Land thrusts Alicia into a leadership role as she must face her fears and lead the ranchers out of a hopeless situation.
There’s about two hours left of air before everyone in the bunker dies of carbon dioxide poisoning. Alicia reasons that if they remove the infected from the equation that will increase their survival time. Alicia confronts the crowd and asks the infected to step forward for the good of the group. After no one volunteers Crazy Dog decides to take things into his hands before he’s stopped by one of the ranchers. Ironically the rancher is suffering from a walker bite. After that brave admission, the infected slowly step forward one-by-one despite the pleas of their grieving family members.
As Alicia attempts to cull the heard, Ofelia and Crazy Dog take to the vents to try to fix the flow of air. The reality of the moment gets the best of Alicia as the weight of leadership and the blood on her hands overwhelm her. Fear hits Crazy Dog too when he finds himself in a tricky spot in the vents. Only Ofelia saves him from truly losing it and the brief moment of vulnerability provides some insight into Crazy Dog’s inner turmoil.
While Alicia and Crazy Dog struggle to cope Nick and Troy try to devise a way to save everyone. Their plan, though poorly executed does provide some blood splattering mayhem and is proof that Troy, on top of being absolutely crazy, is a terrible driver.
This Land Is Your Land is a tour de force episode for Alycia Debnam-Carey. Debnam-Carey’s performance deftly encompasses a multitude of emotions and features some kick ass action sequences as well. Although it’s been teased all season long this is the episode where Alicia grows up. Gone is the girl from Season 1 now replaced by an older, wiser and certainly more jaded young woman.
