The storm is underway as AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead season four episode 10 kicks off. Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) makes it to a house, seeking shelter. It seems deserted but there’s a lot of bedding on the floor. She discovers a walker in the kitchen and quickly dispatches him before hearing another. Down that one goes just as another approaches.
Alicia clears the house and places the dead walkers outside, duplicating the layout of a family photo she spots on the fireplace mantel.
Outside, the hurricane sends debris streaking through the air. Telephone poles are on the verge of toppling.
After drying off, Alicia collects the family photos and tosses them outside next to the dead bodies. She then searches the flooding basement for a way to secure the front door which won’t stay closed.
After hammering wood in place, she turns her attention to lighting candles and grabbing a bite to eat. As she’s hunting for a can opener, a noise upstairs requires her attention. She looks out a second-floor window and spots a walker impaled on a tree limb. She calls out to whoever might be inside the house, telling them she just wants to be left alone.
Finally, Alicia finds the source of the noise. Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) has been hiding in a closet and Alicia screams, ‘Why are you here?! Did you follow me? You can’t be here!”
Alicia quickly packs her backpack with canned goods, grabs the family’s car keys, and runs outside in the pouring rain. The car door is stuck closed and she knocks herself unconscious when she finally manages to pry it open.
When Alicia comes to she’s back inside the house, alive but stiff and sore. Her backpack and weapon are beside her, and she runs upstairs to pound on Charlie’s bedroom door. She demands to know why Charlie rescued her and why she won’t speak.
Frustrated and angry, Alicia continues to speak through a closed door. She reminds Charlie it’s her fault that her mother and everyone else she cared for are dead. Charlie led those killers to the sanctuary her family and friends built. Alicia gets emotional as she talks about Charlie shooting her brother and how he slowly bled to death knowing that Charlie – someone he tried to save – killed him.
Charlie sits on the bed, alone, tears in her eyes while listening to Alicia.
Alicia reveals the dilemma that’s currently tearing her apart. “I can’t send you out there, but if you’re in this house with me I will probably kill you,” says Alicia. “I don’t know if I want to kill you, I just know that I probably will.”
Alicia, voice breaking, admits she’s trying to be as good as her mother and believe what she believed. As she talks, we see Charlie removing a handgun from her backpack. Charlie finally rises from the bed and approaches the closed bedroom door as Alicia says, “You may be a kid, Charlie, but you know what you did. And that makes you garbage. That makes you a waste of a person.”
The powerful scene continues with Alicia, voice dripping with hatred, telling Charlie she’s worse than the walkers who kill people. Alicia hopes Charlie lives a long life and is forced to always remember what she did to all those innocent people who just wanted to help her. She also warns Charlie that her actions are something she will never be able to make up for.
Alicia returns downstairs and chops up furniture to use for firewood. A storm window comes loose, and Alicia’s forced to brave the weather to try and secure it. While she’s outside, she notices Charlie has covered the dead bodies in sheets.
Back inside, Charlie goes through the family photos she’s retrieved from the rain. She dries each one off as Alicia returns and yells at her about covering the bodies. Alicia also demands to be told the reason why Charlie refuses to speak. Charlie remains mute, and then Alicia asks if she knew the people who owned the house.
Alicia makes Charlie follow her outside to secure the storm windows. Charlie does as told, handing Alicia nails. They notice walkers approaching, drawn by the hammering. Alicia and Charlie hammer the front door in place, but the walkers can see them through the window.
Charlie refuses to give Alicia her soaking wet coat until Alicia screams in her face. When she finally takes it off, Alicia finds the gun in her pocket. Alicia can’t finish the sentence as she realizes she must be holding the gun Charlie used to shoot her brother, Nick.
Alicia holds the gun inches from Charlie’s forehead, ready to shoot. Her eyes show no sympathy for the young girl who caused the death of her mother, brother, and so many others. Alicia finally manages to say, “I told you you couldn’t be here. I told you I didn’t want to be around you.”
Charlie cries as Alicia, who’s barely managing to control herself, asks if Charlie’s there to kill her. She believes Charlie wanted to get her before she could kill Charlie.
Alicia sends her from the room, and Charlie flees back upstairs.
Charlie looks through the family photos again. She then opens the window and stares at the walker in the nearby tree. The wind travels through the house, alerting Alicia.
Charlie approaches the walker and is just about to be bitten when Alicia grabs her and brings her back inside. Alicia realizes the gun wasn’t meant to kill her; it was meant so that Charlie could take her own life.
Alicia thinks Charlie might have the right idea, but she won’t let her kill herself. Charlie finally speaks. She wants to know why Alicia saved her, wondering if she did it just so that she will continue to suffer with the memories of what she did. Alicia admits she doesn’t know but she isn’t letting Charlie off the hook. Alicia doesn’t forgive her and she doesn’t see goodness in her. “Whatever it is you’re looking for, you’re not going to get it. Not from me,” says Alicia.
They settle in to eat and when asked Alicia replies that she’s from California and has no idea when the storm will blow over. It’s not something she’s ever encountered pre-zombie apocalypse. Charlie tries to make small talk about California, and finally Alicia realizes Charlie’s never even been to a beach. Charlie recalls how her family had plans to go to Galveston and spend time on the beach, but they never made it.
Later, Alicia wakes to discover Charlie’s no longer in bed. She finds Charlie working on putting the family photos back in frames. Alicia tells her to stop but she refuses, sure that if someone comes looking for them they’ll need these photos. Charlie says she realizes she’s a garbage person, but she has to do this.
Alicia finally tries to really reach the young girl, telling her the pictures won’t change the fact these people are gone. As they talk, the storm kicks into high gear. A window flies off and they seek shelter in the basement. It’s still flooding and to make matters worse, the wind is destroying portions of the house and making it impossible for them to escape the basement by taking out the stairs.
Alicia finds an alternate escape route, spotting cellar doors that lead to the outside. Unfortunately, they’re locked from the outside. They also find a small window, but Alicia can’t break the glass.
The water continues to rise, and the only option is to wait out the storm by standing on items in the basement. Their heads almost touch the ceiling as Charlie cries that she doesn’t want to die and become a walker. She confesses she saw her parents after they turned. She can’t remember what they looked like before they became walkers and she wishes she’d saved a photo of them.
Charlie asks if Alicia has the gun, frantically declaring she can’t end up like her parents. Alicia says she can’t kill her, screaming at Charlie that she won’t do it. Charlie’s sure they’re going to die and begs Alicia to kill her so she doesn’t turn into a walker. Charlie closes her eyes and remains completely still. Alicia places the gun barrel against Charlie’s forehead as she’s flooded with memories of the last moments of her brother and her mother’s lives. She dissolves in sobs as she, again, tells Charlie she can’t kill her. They clutch each other’s hands.
They hear something heavy fall into the cellar door. They’re able to open it and discover the noise came from the walker who had been impaled by the tree. By falling into the cellar door, he saved their lives.
After the storm passes, Alicia buries the family. Charlie wonders why Alicia did it, and Alicia admits she did it for the “people who could come back.” Charlie hands Alicia her zombie-killing weapon, but Alicia gives it back to Charlie to use to fend off the walkers.
Alicia sends Charlie out to find something while she places a family photo in a glass jar and then puts the glass jar by the graves. Charlie returns and says, “I can see her in you, even if you can’t. She’s there.”
Alicia confesses she left Morgan alone in the storm. She also admits she walked away from everyone. Charlie smiles and reminds her she’s good at finding things.
They head out in a car and Alicia tells Charlie to close her eyes. Alicia admits the beach is one of her favorite places to go and then paints a picture of what it’s like to visit the shore. Charlie listens, eyes closed. She pictures the ocean as Alicia explains what it feels like to touch the sand and enter the water.
Charlie becomes emotional as she pictures her mom and dad on the beach. She can finally recall their faces before they transformed into walkers. Alicia has given this young girl what she craved (and desperately needed) the most.
They make it back to Strand’s place and no one’s there. There’s been a lot of damage from the storm. Charlie calls out for Alicia when she finds the school bus that housed John and June heavily damaged and resting on its side. Alicia believes they’re gone, but Charlie insists they have to find them. “Charlie, things don’t get better and they’re not going to. They’re only going to get worse.”
A walker approaches and Alicia kills him. They then take off on foot.
More on Fear the Walking Dead:
- Fear the Walking Dead Cast Interview – Season 4 Part 2
- Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 9 “People Like Us” Recap
- Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 11 “The Code” Recap
- Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 12 “Weak” Recap
- Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 13 “Blackjack” Recap
- Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 14 “MM 54” Recap
- Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 15 “I Lose People” Recap
- Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 4 “I Lose Myself” Recap
