You know what AMC? I think I hate you. Thanks for breaking my heart like that.
And, let this episode of Fear the Walking Dead be a lesson to all the characters left that they should never get involved with anyone. Nor should they continue to give guns to teenage girls.
To say I’m not happy is an understatement.
Episode 8, titled “The Door,” opens with John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) trying to end his own life. The only problem is that the undead keep turning up at his doorstep, and he has to dispatch of them first.
So, right from the start you know sh*t is going to be heavy in this episode.
John Dorie finds Morgan and Dakota
In between attempting to commit suicide, John also manages to bump into Morgan (Lennie James) and Dakota (Zoe Colletti). This should be a good thing because we all know that Morgan has been in that dark hole that John is now and is filled with the sort of motivational speeches that should fix John.
Except Morgan is injured and Virginia’s (Colby Minifie) Rangers are about and it’s all they can do to get back to John’s cabin in one piece.
Once there, Morgan goes into overdrive trying to heal John and get him to join them at their new location before taking on Virginia’s mob. However, John is so bereft of all that has been thrown his way in Fear the Walking Dead that it looks like there is no coming back.
Even though John will not go with them to the new location, he will help them get there. He offers them a car, but the Rangers manage to locate them before they can leave and that results in one dead Ranger — as well as an entirely unfixable car.
Lucky for the story, though, John just happens to have another car lying around, but it needs fixing. This sounds like a solid plan to all involved, and the episode lifts just a little from the doldrums in order for John to bond with Dakota.
The bridge of no returns
Apparently, there is only one road that they can take in order to get safely to Morgan’s new community. This means crossing a bridge and a barricade of walkers.
Using the world’s dumbest plan and a couple of doors attached to the front of their truck, they drive into the horde of walkers
The likely scenario is that the undead will easily bombard the vehicle, overwhelm John and Morgan on the tray, and quickly become a human smorgasbord for the undead.
What actually happens, though, is a zombie gets stuck under the truck, followed by a lot of tricky engine work by John. And Morgan manages to kill walkers even though he is severely injured. It’s okay, though, because it all works out somehow, and they are just left to dispatch with the stragglers.
Dakota has one character trait and it sucks
It is here that the few worrying comments made earlier by Dakota come to the foreground and culminates in John discovering that she was the one who killed Cameron.
If you don’t remember who this guy is, all you need to know is that his death led to the death of Janis, which John feels responsible for and is one of the reasons why he ended up back in his cabin and trying to end it all.
It is also here that Dakota’s true intention is revealed. All she really wants is for her sister to die.
Sure, we all want that.
However, Dakota has developed this hate during the zombie apocalypse and after witnessing Virginia do all sorts of horrible things to people. So, to say that Dakota’s psyche is damaged is an understatement. To be honest, she is skipping gleefully down the path leading to crazy overlord territory.
Likely, that is the real reason she wants her sister dead as well.
Also, can people stop being so trusting of teenage girls who have been manipulated by unhinged leaders? Because, once again, AMC has decided that it is time to kill off a fan-favorite character by means of a girl and a gun.
Honestly, you can stop doing that now AMC.
But, this is no quick death for John. Oh no, fans really have to suffer with with one.
First, Dakota shoots John. Then she pushes him into the river where he has one last look at a picture of his father and decides — finally — that today is not the day he will die. Swimming back to the surface, he climbs onboard a door and does his best Titanic impression as he clings to life and floats down the river before Dakota can shoot him again.
Morgan finally works out that Dakota has been a queen b*tch right from the beginning. Like, from when Virginia left him for dead, and someone miraculously saved him.
If you thought it was Madison (Kim Dickens) who saved Morgan all those episodes ago, you thought wrong. It also means that AMC was messing with the fanbase when they issued that spoiler alert with Madison’s name on it prior to Episode 8 airing.
Instead, it was Dakota and it was only because she wanted someone to kill her sister.
Now, this puts Morgan between a rock and a hard place. Sure, he should take a lesson from Carol’s (Melissa McBride) handbook and take Dakota to a nice spot to look at some flowers.
However, this is Morgan, and he’s not going to kill some girl because of his “all lives are precious” bull***t. Mostly, though, it’s because he knows that Grace (Karen David) is alive and carrying his child. If he kills Dakota, Grace dies as well.
June finds John Dorie
Morgan starts planning like a war is going down after this. He radios ahead and tells his tentative community to get ready and to bring in all the backup they can because Virginia is likely headed their way.
Meanwhile, Virginia is waiting at John Dorie’s cabin because Morgan revealed the location earlier in an effort to keep John from killing himself. She’s brought June (Jenna Elfman), which is handy because Morgan lets them know that an injured John is floating down the river right about now.
June rushes out to look for her husband and sees him lying on the door. It doesn’t take long for the makeshift raft to end up onshore, and it is then that June sees that John is dead and turned already, so she has to put him down.
It’s horrendous and devastating.
And, frankly, I’m not sure why AMC keeps doing this with Fear the Walking Dead. John was literally the only good character left in a show that seems to kill off everyone. Although in an interview that Dillahunt did with Entertainment Weekly, there is the suggestion that John’s death may have been at the actor’s request.
Many fans have turned away already because there just seems no point to any of it anymore. Honestly, if I wasn’t recapping Fear the Walking Dead, I am pretty sure this would have been the last straw for me. I am at the point where I cannot get emotionally attached to anyone anymore because what’s the point? They’re just going to die anyway.
Fear the Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on AMC.