We hear a disturbance at the old couple’s house in the Broke Jaw compound. Russell rises from his bed, lights a lantern, and sees his wife standing at the window. He asks Martha if she’s alright. She’s far from alright – she’s a walker. She growls at him. He says her name in a sad voice. He opens his arms to her, and she comes to him and goes for his neck – but to no avail. Her dentures are in a glass by the side of the bed. Side question – if she had been able to bite him with her dentures, would that have caused him to turn?
Russell leads Martha in one final dance. She continues to try to bite his neck as he holds her. He carefully puts a gun to his head so that he can kill them both with one bullet. He pulls the trigger which causes a cascade of events. They both fall over dead, his body hits the bedside table, which causes the lantern to fall, which causes a huge fire. The cabin begins to burn down.
“That kiss will live in my heart….” Lyrics from When I Grow Too Old To Dream. This song plays over the –
credits
Back to the conflagration. People are yelling “fire” as they attempt to put out the fire at Russell and Martha’s house. Madison and Nick race out to help. They don’t know where Alicia is. Jake yells that he needs more water. People work to quell the fire.
A little girl says that the two old people are dead now. She’s very matter of fact about it, as the adults around her cry.
Jeremiah shows up and tells Jake to stop. “They’re gone”. Save the water and let the cabin burn. They all do as Jeremiah tells them, and let the fire burn itself out.
Next morning, as Madison and the militia crew load up their truck for their search party, one of the guys asks if Madison is up for the challenge of looking for the missing people. He calls her “sweetheart”. She takes offense and lets him know that she can take care of herself.
Alicia and Nick walk up to the truck to talk to Madison. Madison notes Alicia’s “morning-after-the-night-before” look and calmly tells Alicia that if she’s going to party all night, she’s going to pay the price the next day. Nick and Alicia are skeptical of Madison going off with Troy. Madison goes anyway – she wants to understand these people, and get them to trust her. Going off on this rescue party is the best way to do that. Troy wants Madison to sit up front with him, and she does so. Off they go.
Jake recites bible verses to Alicia at the mess hall. Alicia is in a bad mood (thanks to her hangover), spills coffee, and is snarky to Jake. Gretchen comes up to Alicia, and tells her about Russell and Martha. It turns out Russell was one of the four founders of Broke Jaw Ranch, so it’s a big loss to the community.
Nick brings breakfast to Luciana. Eggs, bacon, and toast with real butter. Butter that someone churned. Luciana is impressed. Nick is distressed about the deaths of the old couple. Luciana finds it beautiful – they were together until the end. She tells Nick that it’s time for them to leave this place. Nick doesn’t want to. She accuses him of not wanting to leave his family. She says she knows people in Mexicali. Nick says “you knew people in Mexicali.” He’s right about that. Luciana says she can’t live here. Who can blame her? Broke Jaw seems like a sea of white, conservative, religious people who probably would never have spoken to her pre-apocalypse.
Meanwhile, on a city street, Daniel and Strand are sitting quietly in Strand’s Maserati convertible while walkers meander around in front of them. It’s almost like the walkers have their own crosswalk. Strand says they have to sit still and be quiet until the walkers pass. Once the walkers move along, they can go. They’re searching for Ofelia. Strand is surprised that Daniel left Lola alone unguarded at the dam. Daniel has faith in her.
Daniel wants Strand to drive through the band of walkers right now. They discuss. Strand hesitates, and I’m sure he’s remembering that Maseratis do 185. Finally, Strand starts up the car, and they zoom on through the group of walkers.
Alicia walks up to Jake’s cabin where he’s writing at a desk. He’s happy she’s here. She didn’t know about the fire and the deaths (since she was in the basement getting drunk), and so apologizes for her earlier bad behavior. He asks if she needs something. She states that they’re never going to be normal again, are they? She laments about all of her former plans, things she was going to do, etc. and that will now never ever happen. He asks if she’s okay, and she passionately kisses him.
Meanwhile, Troy’s group sees an overturned prison truck, with prisoners in orange jumpsuits. Madison pulls out her gun, but Troy says no guns – too loud, and not enough sport. Everyone brings out their axes, knives, etc. Off they go to kill the walkers by the truck. They begin to kill the walker criminals and the walker cops. Madison’s axe gets caught in a walker and she becomes overwhelmed. The guy who called her “sweetheart” shoots one of the walkers in the head with an arrow. With that walker out of the way, she’s able to drive a metal post into the other walker’s head. Finally the walkers are all dead. Troy says it’s a beautiful thing, and it all took under a minute. Short work. Madison has won respect of others.
Nick goes to the wreckage of Russell and Martha’s house and picks up a photo of the old couple when they were young. Very sad.
Alicia and Jake get dressed after having sex. Jake thinks it was something more than it was, but Alicia is somewhat cold about the whole encounter, and is ready to leave. Jake hands her a copy of Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, but she’s not interested. She used to be interested in poetry and art, but what’s the point now?
Nick is scrubbing the burned cabin. Jeremiah says it was once his home. It was the original building on the property. Jeremiah says that this place was too humble for wife #2 so he gave it to Russell and Martha.
Nick hands Jeremiah the photo of the young Russell and Martha. Jeremiah picks up their burned gun and states that it was a work of art. Nick is unconvinced. Guns are for killing people.
Jeremiah says every house needs a gun. They discuss Troy and Nick. Jeremiah says Russell and Martha saw him when he was at his worst, when your soul leaves and everyone knows.
Meanwhile Troy’s party is looking for the missing people from the Broke Jaw outpost and the missing helicopter. The camp ground where the party was supposed to be is gone – and so is the helicopter. Someone took them. Troy and company find 23 caliber bullets casings on the ground and they decide to go.
Troy is driving back and they’re listening to metal music. He asks Madison if she’s ready for what comes next. She says it was harder to see where Travis died than she thought. Troy says when you’re dead you’re dead. They then discuss the whole eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth philosophy – which Troy says is his calling.
Strand wants to know how Daniel made it out of the fire at the Abigail compound. Daniel says he was spared. He doesn’t know why, maybe the devil saved him. That Maserati sure is nice. Daniel wants to know how long before they get to the hotel. Strand spins a story that he left the hotel because he wanted to broker a deal with Dante. Of course he doesn’t mention that Elena kicked him out.
Jeremiah tells Nick that he’s not bad at this (contracting). Nick says his dad did a lot of carpentry, and building and Nick learned from him. Nick sees the militia guys patrolling the compound with guns at the ready. Nick and Jeremiah discuss how it is now us against them, with the them being the Dead. Nick thinks they’re all on the same side now. The Dead are worse, right? Jeremiah hopes that that is the case.
Jeremiah says you got to hit rock bottom before you can fight your demons. Jeremiah discusses Troy and his crimes as a kid. Jeremiah couldn’t change (fight his demons), not even for Troy or anything else – he wasn’t ready. As for today – Madison wants to stay at the ranch, Luciana wants to go, but what does Nick want? Nick asks what made Jeremiah stop drinking? Jeremiah says he was hunting deer one day, while drunk, and he almost shot his dick off. They laugh. (drunk)
Our posse drives up to the outpost, where they see clothes hanging on the clothes line. They burst into the house, guns drawn. Madison is outside searching. They turn corners, but don’t see anyone. There is blood on the outside walls and on the truck. The place seems deserted. Troy smells something, looks over and says “son of a bitch.”
They see a pile of burned bodies. They’re still smoking. Then they notice an old man sitting in a chair on some rocks not too far away. He’s got a crow on his shoulder and his head is split open in the back. The crow is pecking at his brain. Somehow the man isn’t dead, and keeps repeating lyrics from “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There” over and over. The way he recites the words make it sound like nonsense. This old man sitting in the chair is definitely not there. Madison gently puts a knife into his exposed brain and he is finally falls silent. She says they have to go now. A Native American man walks up to them and say,s “but you just got here’.
Troy knows the guy. They argue about what the Native American man did. The man tells Troy that he and his group are surrounded, so put down your weapons. They look around and see the snipers hiding behind the rocks and that they are, indeed, surrounded. They place their weapons on the ground. The man tells everyone to take off their boots – he wants those too. It’s time for justice. He wants his land back, which includes the ranch. He’s going to let them go and deliver that message to Jeremiah. Madison tells him that they need water so they can get back to deliver the message. She’s siding with the Ottos because the Native American man’s group killed one of hers – Travis. He admires Madison’s pluck, but tells her she’s bought into a bad deal with the Ottos.
Alicia is laying on the bed when Jake comes by. He wants to show her something. They go to a lake. He doesn’t think things are hopeless. The ranch was for the end of the government, it wasn’t for the end times, that is true. He believes they have to have art. Something has to matter more than guns. He’s trying to lift Alicia back up.
Strand and Daniel are back at the hotel, and it’s very dark outside. Strand says “there’s no gate, no guard, no good.” Strand is worried. He’s only been gone a few days, what happened to Elena and Hector?
Strand and Daniel get out of the car and go into the hotel. Strand says they should wait till daylight before further exploration. They hear walkers as Daniel rings the desk bell. Strand confesses he doesn’t know where Ofelia is. Daniel leaves Strand to fend off the walkers. Strand fights his way through the mass of walkers, but man, there are a lot of them. Daniel takes off in the car, and leaves Strand. Strand runs from the hotel.
Nick takes Luciana to a feast he’s prepared. There are candles everywhere, and it’s quite romantic. Then they sit outside and look at the sky. He tells Luciana Russell and Martha’s story. He tells her that Jeremiah told him their story, and he thinks it could be okay here. She doesn’t say anything, but kisses him.
Madison’s group are stumbling in the dark. They need to rest, especially since they aren’t wearing shoes any longer. Madison asks Troy if he wants people to follow him out of fear or respect. Troy pulls her aside and tells her that she’s overstepping. In response Madison continues to bait him by telling Troy that his mom didn’t love him. She then asks for a vote of who wants to rest. Most hands go up. Troy has the last word, agreeing to let them rest but if they don’t get up at first light he will leave them for the wasted. Madison is asleep and then there’s a knife at her throat. It’s Troy. She tells him he’s better than this. He decides not to kill her.
Nick wakes up at dawn and Luciana is gone, but has left a note for him. Troy’s group stumbles along the road in the early dawn. It’s full daylight now and Luciana has made it to the wall, while Alicia stands on the edge of a cliff. Troy and Madison walk together with their group following behind them. Alicia jumps off the cliff and into the water. She surfaces and smiles. Whether or not she decides there’s a a point to anything, she’s starting to engage in risky behavior. Jeremiah walks up to the burnt cabin and sees Nick. He gives Nick a beautiful antique gun with lots of scroll work on it. It’s probably the one that belonged to Russell and Martha.
Good song at the end – Killing Machine by Tony Crown.