We see a pretty sunrise over the hills, and hear happy Mexican music in the background. We see a long deserted highway, and it’s got to be the one that Nick hiked along near the end of last season, only this time we see Daniel limping along the road. Once he’s off the main road, he ends up in an area that looks like the outskirts of La Colonia in Tijuana where Nick met Luciana.
Daniel is looking for water as he limps through the deserted town. He’s very weak. Subtitles tell us that the song in the background has the lyrics “she had to lose sometime”.
Daniel hears the gurgling/growling sound of walkers and stands stock still against the side of a truck. Then he sees a small (but just as deadly) group of walkers shambling toward him. He doesn’t move and none of them see him. At the last moment one of the walkers turns around and sees him, so he is forced to run/limp away as best he can. As an aside, this female walker’s denim cut-offs paired with black tights were definitely on-trend, if we assume Fear the Walking Dead begins sometime around 2010-ish.
Anyway, our on-trend female walker chases after Daniel, but he can’t move much faster than she can. He starts to hide under a car, but she grabs his foot and tries to bite him. A dog starts barking and the female walker gets distracted by it and abandons Daniel. Daniel starts to laugh. We can see his burned hands and neck.
credits
Daniel is unconscious for some amount of time until the gurgling of another walker awakens him. He can barely see what’s going on since he’s so week. The walker is killed by a human who we can’t see. The human pulls Daniel out from under the car. He tries to calm Daniel down. He tells Daniel he’s looking a little shaken. Efrain asks Daniel his name and Daniel says his name. Daniel is insane for water at this point, he’s that thirsty. Efrain says he’s got good news and bad news. Efrain can get him water, but he has to walk. Efrain carries him to a safer area inside a little mall area. Daniel runs to a large decorative water fountain, but it’s dry.
Then the fountain comes on and Daniel greedily drinks from it. Every Tuesday at 5pm the water flows and it’s a little miracle, explains Efrain. Daniel’s leg is severely burned. Efrain drives Daniel on a three wheeled bike through the walkers in a shopping area. They go up some concrete stairs to avoid them. Another human watches their approach, and they all meet up. Daniel tries to walk, but he screams out in pain. They tell him to be quiet so that they don’t attract the walkers. Just then a truck drives by – the occupants are patrolling the area, and they are armed with some very large guns. Daniel falls unconscious again.
Daniel’s saviors determine that he needs antibiotics. They need to clean his leg because his pants are melted to the flesh of his leg, and his leg is infected. Daniel regains consciousness. Lola tries to make him as comfortable as possible. Should they cut off his leg? They’re not sure. Daniel tells Lola that she needs a steady hand to peel back the skin – a call back to when Daniel tortured Andrew in Cobalt from the first season. He needed a steady hand for that too. They give Daniel a lot of alcohol and Lola sings a song she and Daniel both know so that Daniel can be a little distracted from the pain that is to come. They sing as they prepare to cut off the pants – and the infected skin. Once they get going, Daniel can’t help but scream in pain.
When next we see Efrain and Daniel, Daniel is recovering from the surgery on his leg and they are outside scavenging. As Daniel is going through all of the lost belongings scattered around, he finds a photo album and leafs through it. A walker shambles up and Efrain stabs the walker in the head with a large nail.
Efrain claims he used to be a priest, among other things, but now he’s found his calling. Killing and burning walkers to send them on their way. They continue to walk down the street collecting usable items. They make it inside a safe house, light candles, and munch some snacks.
Daniel says that Efrain has been very kind to him, and asks when he last had a professional cut his hair. He then gives Efrain a very nice haircut and Efrain thanks him. He says it’s been a long time since he saw himself.
Efrain tells Daniel that something is rotting inside of him – and he’s not talking about Daniel’s leg. Daniel says that he’s not a good man. Efrain asked what’s he done and Daniel replies that he has killed 96 people. Efrain comments that “that’s not what’s weighing on you, right?” As another aside, this was the moment where I realized that a lot of this episode is in Spanish. I guess my Spanish must be better than I thought because I was able to track a lot of the dialogue and I wasn’t reading all of the subtitles. It was natural that Daniel and Efrain would be speaking in Spanish to each other – still. Nice touch, Fear!
Daniel tells Efrain that he and his wife left El Salvador to move to L.A.. He says he never told his daughter, Ofelia, about himself. Efrain asks if Ofelia is who he’s looking for, and Daniel nods yes. He says he was trying to protect her, but his mind wasn’t right. He awoke in a fire, and that his wife was calling him, and he was trapped. The ceiling collapsed, he fought and got out, but then he collapsed. When he came to, no one was left alive. All burned.
Efrain asks “What are you saying, Daniel?”
Daniel states that he doesn’t know if he burned Ofelia alive. Yikes. This is a heavy burden, indeed.
Daniel begs to be forgiven. Efrain says “easy old man. I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that there is no one left in this world to judge you.” The bad news is that Efrain didn’t tell him the bad news – because he fell asleep and started snoring. Daniel leaves in the night with one lantern.
We hear a gurgling walker and Daniel asks if the walker is hungry and then he beats him. But then, in the darkness, the largest walker we’ve ever seen looms over Daniel. Daniel smacks him hard, but the walker keeps on coming. Daniel sits on the ground and raises his arms to the sky. He prays to holy Mary, mother of God – and the walker is hit in the head by a bolt of lighting! Since his head (and brain) were fried by the lightning, he keels over, dead. Daniel is knocked over as well.
Two guys are doing clean up work. They flip a coin, heads or tails to see who has to deal with the dead in a sewer tunnel. They find a dead guy, and joke about it – but it’s Daniel and he’s not dead. Lola, who is present, asks “Daniel?” The group hide him.
Turns out they’re at Gonzales dam. It was taken over by the new president – Dante, perhaps? And he’s the one who distributes the water. He asks Lola how much control she has over the water. JC and Daniel are introduced. Daniel is the new janitor, says Lola. She wants clean water, with no dead to contaminate it. She tells JC she wants to do her job. Daniel helps the others clear out bodies from the sewers. They pull a walker out of the sewer tunnel, and Daniel shoves a metal post in his head.
The workers are eating in the work room and Dante strolls through. Everyone stands up except Daniel. Shades of Dwight and the Saviors bowing to Negan. JC hovers over Daniel, and asks why he didn’t stand up. Daniel ignores him and continues eating. JC puts his finger in Daniel’s food. I can’t tell what he’s eating, but it looks gross. Daniel stabs JC with a fork. Daniel tells Dante he was just eating. Dante asks Daniel his name and where he’s from. He has Daniel’s number. Dante taunts Daniel by asking “Sergeant Salazar? Lieutenant Salazar? He looks sombra negra. Damn it JC. You gotta read!” He knows that Daniel was trained by the CIA, and wants to know how many communists Daniel killed. Daniel says he lost count. Dante tells people to move over as they have a guest. Everyone looks at Daniel.
Daniel and Dante continue to discuss. Dante says this may be the apocalypse, but it isn’t communism. Daniel doesn’t know what Dante wants him to say. Daniel wants to know if Dante can lend him a jeep – he’s looking for someone. Dante wants him to stay – he’ll give Daniel a place of stature. And he goes to shake Daniel’s hand…
Daniel is in the large truck with the armed guys who we saw at the beginning. I thought they were searching for Ofelia, but it looks like they might be looking for the water thief. They come upon Efrain’s and the mall area and ram their way through a wall. Too bad, that safe spot is now no longer safe from walkers. Daniel says nothing.
They all patrol by the dry fountain. Daniel looks around, but no one is there. Daniel notices the ticking clock. It’s almost 5pm. The fountain is about to come on, and water begins to dribble out. Then we hear the “agua, agua”. And they find Efrain and Lola. Daniel says the men were going to discover the water in the fountain so he outed them to save the water.
Lola says that if she stops the water flowing they will all die of thirst. And Daniel says they will find her and he won’t be able to help her.
She says Dante is right – this is the perfect place for him. He’s a thug. Daniel says he warned her.
Daniel looks around the dam. He sees people lining up for water – and then he sees Strand – and the confrontation from last week. It’s the same action, only seen from Daniel’s perspective.
Again we see Daniel giving water to Strand as he sits in his cell. Daniel says he’s Strand’s guardian angel, Strand replies that he’s his angel of death. Daniel asks if Ofelia is alive, and Strand says that she is. He says they thought Daniel was dead – “we all did”. He tells Daniel that Ofelia is at the Rosarito hotel. Daniel is practically tearful. He asks Daniel to spring him and he can take him to her. “Ofelia is waiting for you.”
That finishing touch by Strand was a bit too much, and Daniel now doesn’t believe that Ofelia is alive. Daniel calls Strand a son of a bitch and that he’d say anything to save his life. Daniel says that Ofelia is dead, so is her father, and so are you. Strand says that Daniel owes him, but Daniel walks off.
Daniel is present when Dante is beating someone. It looks like Efrain.
Dante asks who is helping him. Daniel looks around and tells Efrain that if he talks they will kill him and then her. If you don’t talk, Daniel will kill him. But he will do it fast. Efrain says those options are not options. Daniel asks him to forgive him. Efrain asks, again?
Daniel beats Efrain. Efrain is tied to a chair and so can’t defend himself. Daniel yells at him to confess. Efrain says he has nothing to confess. Dante tells Daniel to keep beating Efrain. He’ll talk. Daniel picks up a a spiked hammer and walks toward Efrain. Lola runs to Efrain and tells Daniel to stop. Efrain says “no, my girl.” Lola hugs Efrain. Daniel drops the spiked hammer.
At the dam, they have bags over their heads. Dante says let this be a lesson – when you steal from this dam – when you steal from me —
Daniel walks over to them and sets the first man up to throw him over the side. Daniel throws him over. Strand says – ‘Jesus’. Daniel goes to Lola and walks her over to where she will be thrown over. Dante asks if Daniel is ready. Instead, Daniel shoots the guards and throws them over. He aims the gun at Dante, and shoots him too!
Lola, Efrain, Strand are left. Daniel cuts off Lola’s bindings. He asks her to forgive him, kneels down, and give her his gun. She doesn’t shoot him, but instead offers him her hand.