Fear The Walking Dead Season 2 takes our increasingly shrinking crew of survivors to the ocean after Los Angeles has been overrun by the infected. As everyone finds their sea legs, they will discover that life on the water can be just as dangerous as life on land.
Here’s a look at what happened last season and what’s to come.
Warning: Spoilers and rough waters ahead.
Who is Strand?
We don’t know much about Victor Strand other than he is rich and mysterious AF. We first meet the well-dressed closer in the makeshift military hospital when he trades his diamond cufflinks to prevent Nick from being quarantined away. Strand knows the soldiers are leaving via Cobalt and sees Nick as a man of talents. When he and Nick make their move, he leaves all the other penned up people behind as they are no value add. During their escape, Strand barely reacts when encountering the infected; he even stops to retrieve his cufflinks back from the guard he bribed earlier, the same guard who was his ride and is now being eaten alive. After leaving the hospital, Strand takes Nick and company westward to his cliffside mansion complete with a backup generator, amazing ocean views, and most importantly, his yacht Abigail docked just offshore. The survivors are headed aboard Abigail in Season 2, but as Strand is a man of self-preservation, his yacht invitations will likely come with some obligations.
The Family That Slays Together Stays Together
Season 1 explored the definition of family — is it blood or bond? It’s a balance of both for this group, and they’re all a little worse for wear because of it.
The Clarks/Manawas/Ortizes
These three families are connected by teacher Travis Manawa, and it isn’t until the end of the season that his steadfast morality is challenged. After sparing the life of tortured military reservist Andrew only to have him come back and shoot Daniel Salazar’s daughter Ofelia in the shoulder, Travis finally snaps and lets out his pent up frustration onto Andrew’s face. Later at Strand’s beachside mansion, Travis’ ex-wife Liza Ortiz reveals she’s been bitten during the escape and pulls out a gun. After a teary goodbye, Travis is the one that pulls the trigger, killing the mother of his son to protect the rest of his family.
Travis’ wife Madison Clark has killed at least one infected (principal Arty) and turns a blind eye to Daniel‘s torture of Andrew because it results in useful information about where Nick was being held. She’s not afraid to make hard decisions to protect her family.
Alicia Clark, a model overachieving student, is given a hard dose of reality as she witnesses her infected boyfriend about to turn and her former friendly neighbor turn and attack her. It could’ve been the teen angst, but she admits to stepbrother Chris Manawa, “You can’t save everyone.”
Drug-addicted Nick Clark finally feels at ease in this new chaos-ridden world, his survival skills as a heroin addict translating well to the zombie apocalypse. The biggest mystery with Nick is why he is still wearing the senior citizen members only jacket he stole from his elderly hospital roommate in the pilot episode.
Young Chris is an optimist who started to reconcile his estranged relationship with Travis, but it’s going to be one step forward, 10 steps back when he finds out the death of his mother was at the hands of his father.
Liza, poor Liza, fakes it until she makes it as a nurse, saves Nick and Strand at the military hospital, and bravely fights off a number of zombies, only to find out she’s been bitten in the process. She’s seen what happens to the infected and selflessly sacrifices herself before she can turn.
The Salazars
The Salazars were brought into the picture when Travis, Liza, and Chris sought refuge in Daniel’s barbershop after riots broke out on the street. It turns out Daniel’s expert razor skills are not just from his years of being a barber, but also from his years of being an experienced torturer in El Salvador back in the ’80s. He puts those set of skills to good use by peeling away the layers of skin on Andrew’s arm in exchange for information about Cobalt. He then turns into the Pied Piper of walkers, unleashing an entire arena’s worth of the undead and casually leading them straight to the military hospital’s front door. While Ofelia was appalled to learn of her father’s violent past, she may be a little more forgiving now that her soldier boyfriend used her as target practice. RIP Griselda, who seemed like a nice lady but died after getting her leg amputated and then really, really died when Liza shot her in the head with a cattle gun.
Strand
The closest thing Strand seems to have to family is his Benjamins. But in the season finale, he picks up and look at a photo on his dresser before packing it with his belongings — could it possibly be Abigail’s namesake?
Open Water
Strand and his merry group of seabound survivors are not likely to be the only ones that set sail. Coastal California is littered with sea vessels of all sizes and aspiring sailors, and Abigail will run into at least a few of them. Not all boats are created equal, however, and being a superyacht with survival friendly amenities also makes Abigail a super target to external parties. Internal threats loom as well — here’s a group of near strangers who are all emotionally and physically exhausted, stuck in close quarters for an indeterminate amount of time. Tensions will flare (just look at Big Brother, all 17 seasons of it).
Even the largest ships can’t stay on the water forever. At some point, they will have to dock to refuel and replenish supplies. Season 2 will alternate between sea and land as the survivors explore possible areas for safe harbor. Let’s also not forget about….
Zombies
Right, the other villains of the show. We know zombies can’t swim due to decomposition and scientific stuff. But they can beach comb, wade, and float. If we’re getting really creative, they could probably use a raft of other floating zombie bodies to steer themselves out to sea. The point is, walkers are a still a threat, and one that may not be far off, now that Travis’ deadly gunshot has likely drawn some unwanted undead attention to their location. Also note, Abigail is parked some distance off the shore; the gang still needs to actually get themselves out to the boat.
It’s still the early days of the infection and while we know Los Angeles has fallen, we don’t quite know how widespread the infection is. There have been hints that other cities have met a similar fate. It looks like zombies are now the fastest growing minority group, which bodes poorly for that whole seeking safe harbor thing.
New Victims Faces
Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462, essentially Sicks on a Plane, was a web series set on a commercial flight heading from Los Angeles to Phoenix on the onset of the outbreak. In the final episode, we see a crossover with Fear the Walking Dead as Nick looks up at the sky to see the plane — diverted back to LA and now carrying two dead infected passengers, one about to turn, and a broken window — flying erratically and very low to the ground. At least one character will survive (bets on knitting needle stab-happy Charlie or boy-band hair sporting teen Jake) to appear on Fear the Walking Dead Season 2, but it is unclear how their storyline will fit in. They were also on their way out of the burning zombie wasteland that is now LA, so how mad are they going to be when they crash land right where they started?
Other new characters include Veronica Diaz as the intelligent and deceptive Vanessa, Arturo Del Puerto as the guarded and spiritual Carlos, and Dougray Scott, in an undisclosed recurring role. True to its predecessor, The Walking Dead, no one in the show is truly safe, so we’ll see which old and new faces make it through the season.
Are you ready for zombies at sea? Fear The Walking Dead Season 2 premieres on April 10 at 9 p.m. on AMC.