‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Season 4 Finale Recap: Episode 16 “I Lose Myself”

Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 episode 16
Lennie James as Morgan Jones in ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ season 4 episode 16 (Photo Credit: Ryan Green/AMC)

AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead season four episode 15 ended with the group of survivors finally fully reunited. Morgan (Lennie James) continued to suggest they head to Alexandria since the hurricane damaged so much of the surrounding area. An injured Martha (Tonya Pinkins) escaped from the back of the van and appeared to have recruited Jim as her latest walker-on-a-stick. And speaking of Jim (Aaron Stanford), the group has decided to name the beer they plan on brewing from Jim’s recipe, Jimbo’s Beerbos.

Season four episode 16, the season finale, begins with Al (Maggie Grace) being chased through the streets by a horde of walkers. She can’t find an unlocked car to hide in and winds up trapped with walkers on both sides. Fortunately, she escapes inside a parking garage and locks the door behind her.

Al grabs a walkie-talkie from a police car and puts out an urgent message to Morgan announcing her location. All she hears is static in reply and then nothing as the battery seems to go dead.

As fate would have it, parked just beyond the cop car is a fully stocked news van. She loads up the camera and other supplies and then hotwires the cop car. She drives it to the front of the hospital and while looking around, Martha approaches with Jim on a stick. He snarls and Al, armed with a rifle, demands to know where everyone went. She wants her tapes and her van back, and Martha replies by saying she likes Al. Al, according to Martha, doesn’t make people weak.

Al repeats her request for her van and tapes, and Martha wants Al to pass on a message to Morgan. Al refuses and Martha sics Jim on her. Al shoots Jim in the stomach and then blasts the head off another nearby walker. When she returns her attention to Martha, Martha hits her across the face with a metal pole.

Al comes to and she’s with June (Jenna Elfman) and John (Garret Dillahunt). She’s confused, and they explain they heard her message, went to the garage, and then figured out she returned to the hospital. She was in the street when they found her.

John confirms they’re all there and will be heading to Virginia. Even though Al didn’t listen to Martha’s message, it doesn’t matter. Martha recorded a video to Morgan, threatening to make him strong when they next run into each other.

That night they relax around a fire and Morgan tells them about Alexandria and the other communities. They’ve found a few cars to use for the ride, and Morgan wants to stop back at the truck stop and pick up supplies so they can leave them along the road as they drive.

Everyone heads to bed except Morgan who stays up and watches the tape over again. John interrupts one viewing and reveals he thinks Morgan’s going to run off again. John believes Morgan is going to try and find Martha and help her, but he reminds his friend that Martha doesn’t want any help. Morgan explains Martha’s got it into her head that dying and turning is the only way to become strong.

Morgan thinks he can convince her that’s not true, and John volunteers to go with him. Morgan turns him down and gives John directions to Alexandria. He’s sure he must take this task on by himself.

Morgan promises John he’ll meet them in Alexandria, with or without Martha. As Morgan’s leaving, John says he’ll wait at the truck stop for two days. He truly doesn’t believe Martha will allow herself to be caught.

Morgan briefly pauses to look back and John lifts his hand to say goodbye.

Morgan hits the road, speaking to Martha via the radio. He wants to show her another way to live. Martha replies, telling him she’s at mile marker 54.

The group minus Morgan makes it back to the truck stop where he originally met Wendell (Daryl Mitchell) and Sarah (Mo Collins). The electricity works and they look around at all the supplies. They brew some coffee and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Strand (Colman Domingo) check out a map.

Alicia wonders if they’re really going to Alexandria, and Luciana says they need to find another reason to live.

June and John wander around the store, and June confesses she thought John wouldn’t like her if he knew who she really was. He claims he’s always known her. “It doesn’t take a whole day to recognize sunshine,” says the hopeless romantic. June smiles and confirms she knows who she is now. They kiss, touch noses, and John holds her face.

Morgan comes across Jim locked in the rear of a squad car. He lets him out and then puts him out of his misery with a swift poke to the forehead. He closes Jim’s eyes one final time and as he’s kneeling next to the body, he spots Martha not far away. She’s face down in the grass and isn’t moving, but she is still breathing.

Morgan turns her over and assures her he can help. He leads her over to the cop car and puts her in the back seat. Morgan’s determined to get her help, but she responds by attempting to kick open the door. He wonders why she was at that particular spot and assumes it’s where she lost someone.

John reaches out to Morgan over the radio and Morgan replies but John can’t hear him. Sarah explains John’s putting out a strong signal because of the transmitter, but Morgan’s signal can’t reach them unless he’s close.

Al works on her van which is running but needs some fluids. Strand asks her for help loading the boxes when she gets a chance. He turns away as two walkers approach and Al thinks she can take care of them. As she fumbles for her knife in its holder, she becomes ill and falls to the ground. June sees what’s happening and yells and, fortunately, Alicia comes out of the truck stop in time to shoot them.

They head back inside as the noise has drawn the attention of other walkers.

Martha finally admits it was her husband, Hank, she lost at that spot. They were trying to flee the city when another car clipped her car. Her husband was injured but no one would help them. (We saw part of this story in an earlier episode.) She blames herself for not being strong.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 episode 16 recap
Daryl Mitchell, Danay Garcia,, Garret Dillahunt, Maggie Grace, and Colman Domingo in ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ season 4 episode 16 (Photo Credit: Ryan Green/AMC)

June radios Morgan telling him to hurry back. Everyone is sick and they don’t know why. They need help now. June begs for him to return to the truck stop and Morgan steps on the gas, racing back to help out. Martha moans in the back seat and asks him to pull over. Morgan refuses so she asks for the medicine he offered earlier. When he hands it to her through the little window between the front and back seats, she grabs his arm and twists. The car spins out of control and crashes into roadside boulders at a high rate of speed.

Martha gets out of the car and leans over Morgan, reminding him she said she was going to make him strong. She writes on his forehead “I lose people. I lose myself,” as we see his eyes fighting to stay open. He has a metal rod piercing his leg as he awakens. She’s obviously dying, but slowly, and wants him to kill her or she’ll kill him.

Morgan’s frantic. He wants to get to his friends, but Martha thinks he’s only scared because of what he did with the people back east.

As Morgan and Martha talk, June continues to call over the radio. Their condition is worsening.

Martha keeps demanding he kill her, as she’s just inches from his face.

Back at the truck stop, June’s sure they need to stay hydrated. As she grabs a water bottle, she figures out the bottles’ seals have been broken. They’ve been poisoned! She’s positive it was Martha.

June radios once again, this time telling Morgan that Martha poisoned the water. Morgan looks at Martha in shock, and she claims she did it before she knew Morgan. She finally admits she put anti-freeze in the water, but Morgan can’t get this message to go through. Martha assures him they’ll all die and there’s nothing he can do about it.

Morgan grabs Martha and begins chocking her as pictures of his friends’ faces flash through his head. He stops before he kills her and then pulls the metal bar out of his leg. He manages to stand up and then handcuffs Martha to the car. He won’t kill her, but he won’t let her kill anyone after she turns. She cries out, “It’s not supposed to be this way!” as Morgan hobbles away.

Morgan walks as quickly as possible through the woods, calling on the radio as he walks. He finally comes upon a car and hotwires it.

Back at the truck stop, Al watches her videos. She smiles and then tears stream down her face.

Morgan has to ditch the car when it runs out of gas. He stumbles and is forced to take a break. While on the ground, he makes another attempt at radioing his friends.

Al doesn’t hear it, but she reaches out to tell Morgan to pass on the message she’s coming for Martha. Morgan responds and this time Al can hear him. He tells them it’s anti-freeze and June knows ethanol will counteract the poison.

Fortunately, the tanker truck outside is full of it. Unfortunately, there are dozens of walkers right outside the door. However, the group seems absolutely giddy about the prospects of making it through the gauntlet to the truck.

They make their way to the door, loaded with weapons. They’re weak but determined. June and Charlie tap the glass away from the door as the rest of the group comes out guns blazing. Sarah falls but Alicia rescues her as Luciana and Strand make it to the truck. They can’t open the fuel line and now walkers have noticed them out in the open.

Al’s in her van and she takes out all the walkers with her big guns. The bullets pierce the truck and the gas pours out onto the ground.

June reports to Morgan they lost the ethanol and they don’t think there’s any left anywhere. They’re now too weak to search for it, even if it’s just in the parking lot. Morgan desperately tries to convince them to hold on as he slows down and is followed by a few walkers. He and John praise each other, trying to encourage each other to survive.

The radio goes dead and Morgan tosses it before being attacked by walkers. He puts them down.

Al records what she believes is her final video. She asks whoever finds her tapes to make sure they keep them safe and make sure they matter.

Sarah and Wendell wonder how many meat puppets they took out. Strand jokes about dying just when he gave up trying to drink himself to death. Charlie’s happy they got to see the beach, and Alicia mourns the fact she won’t get a second chance.

Suddenly, a truck is heard outside and Morgan busts in the door. He has a truck from Auggie’s Ale (Jim’s brewing company) and the alcohol should counteract the anti-freeze. As they drink Sarah toasts to Jim for saving them, again.

They drink and John warns Charlie that chugging beer is a one-time deal. She’s not allowed to get poisoned again until she’s 21. Charlie rolls her eyes and keeps drinking.

There are a lot of smiles all around as they feel better pretty quickly.

Morgan stands alone in the bathroom. He stares at the writing on his face and then scrubs it off. Once it’s gone, he continues staring for a while.

Later, the caravan is back on the road and they’ve made it to the wrecked cop car. Martha ripped off her own arm and has turned, but she’s only a short way up the road. She scrawled “strong” on her forehead, and Morgan ends her time as a walker with a quick thrust through the writing.

Morgan buries her under rocks and when he’s finished Wendell’s anxious to hit the road. He wants to head to Alexandria, but Morgan no longer wants to head in that direction. He’s decided he needs to stay on the road and take up Polar Bear’s work of helping people.

Using Polar Bear’s journals, they find the source of all his supplies. It’s a massive old denim factory that now holds everything Polar Bear rounded up. It’s in a pretty secluded area that’s defensible. Alicia wants to build this place into something more, just like her mother did. Al says she has tapes of people from all over this area and they can reach out to them to see if they need help.

Days later, the caravan’s loaded up and on the hunt for survivors who need help. Morgan uses the radio to tell people to hang in there. “We’re coming for you,” says Morgan with a smile.

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