That put our group of survivors at the truck depot down, but not out.
Morgan raced to the rescue with the only thing that could save them: beer.
Lots and lots of beer.
Ryan Green/AMC
That undid the deadly effects of the anti-freeze and brought the group back from the brink.
After going back and putting zombie Martha down, Morgan had yet another change of heart.
That sets the stage for season 5 of the show.
Ryan Green/AMC
How much fun is it to throw in these little references to the other show from time to time?
IAN GOLDBERG:Its a blast.
So much of this episode was the Martha-Morgan stuff and I want to approach this from both sides.
Lets start with the Martha side.
Why was she so obsessed with Morgan?
Martha is almost the cautionary tale of what could have happened to Morgan.
And they need to be honest.
Morgan has been in a place very similar to her when hes been in his Clear days.
And I think Martha recognizes that.
She knows that he will come back to help her.
Shes seen how dedicated he and the rest of the group are to helping people.
So Martha is essentially setting a trap for Morgan from the beginning.
And shes got one goal, which is to make Morgan strong.
Those are the only two ways that she believes he can be strong again.
And it puts Morgan in a very difficult position.
Why does she finally open up now about what happened to her husband?
And why does she pick Morgan as the guy to tell this to?
He says its one thing, she says its another.
So, you know, I think Dories probably right, Morgans probably right.
Its very much kind of a gray area.
But ultimately, I think Morgans reason for going to Martha is almost like a test for himself.
If he can save Martha, then he may think he can be saved.
He wont go to a dark place again.
So yeah, its a complicated fascination that he has with her on his end.
You all dropped a clue a few weeks back about the poisoned water.
We saw in episode 414 how far she was willing to go to kill those truckers.
And thats what she did here.
We saw that she put antifreeze in the bottles of water at one of Polar Bears truck stops.
It was really her way of making a statement about what happens when you try and help people.
Theres no better way to show that helping people makes you weak than putting antifreeze in the water.
Thats a pretty big high and low you served up there, and you totally had me fooled.
I thought that was going to be their big triumphant moment, but it didnt end that way.
ANDREW CHAMBLISS:Well, if we got you, then we did our job.
That was all about what weve been doing all season, about contrasting hope and hopelessness.
Okay, lets terminate the book on the Filthy Woman here.
We see her walking down the street as a zombie here at the end.
Shes left an arm behind.
Morgan finishes her off.
Howd she get out of those handcuffs?
IAN GOLDBERG: She wanted to get out very badly and she cut her own arm off.
It wasnt enough to have just a marker.
She wanted that to be there for all time.
I lose myself, and thats sort of symbolic of Morgan coming unstuck.
Hes moved past that trauma.
Hes no longer stuck in that place.
Martha, as we see, shes carved Strong onto her forehead.
Shes become a walker.
That was what her vision of being strong was.
She never became unstuck and I think thats the tragedy.
She became violent, dark, and it didnt have to go that way.
Lets pick up with what Ian was just saying there with what happens at the end.
But what I want to ask you about is what the others add on to that.
So, moving forward now, into season 5, what is it that this group is envisioning here?
What are they trying to build?
Thats very much is going to be what their mission is going forward.
Because of external obstacles, but also because of internal obstacles.
These are characters who still have a lot of work to do on themselves.
IAN GOLDBERG:Itll be a little bit of both.
They will be using Als tapes as a guide to find those people.
They are in short supply.
Do you see that moving forward again?
Or do you see more of a through-line in terms of this whole direction for season 5?
But, that being said, this is a show that likes to reinvent itself every eight episodes.
For moreFear the Walking Deadscoop, follow Dalton on Twitter@DaltonRoss.
