7.10: Fear the Walking Dead - Mourning Cloak

ctg

weaver of the unseen
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When Charlie shows up at the tower unexpectedly, Howard recruits a young Ranger in training to determine the reason for her visit. As they journey beyond the tower together, Charlie's true motives are revealed
 
So I was already spoiled that Charlie's going away, and I really didn't wanted to watch the episode, because one by one, they are opting out. Fear has a problematic score record, and it's not doing anything good for the series. It has gone too long and to be frank, they need to shift the sights to something new instead of dragging their feet on the issues.

In this episode, it was only highlighted by Victor's hubris. By his demand for the pretty things, a rare butterfly for his collection that doesn't really have a purpose. There are a lot of things in the Fear that could be cut away, but no, it doesn't happen.

Charlie wanting to live a normal life in the Victor tower was just too much. She claimed that she didn't want to live out there, fighting for her life, when the fact is that nothing is safe in there. I hated that our former people were supporting on Victor's man turning Charlie to a spy, so that she could live in the tower.

13-year-old girl, doing adult people work and living in the nuclear wasteland, while dreaming for a world that's not there. Kirkman's world is so bleak and dangerous. It is not a fun place to live. Yet, somehow I liked seeing the romance blooming between the two young ones.

It was so sweet, bowling, horse riding, sharing stories about the families. It felt right and also wrong. I hated that the butterfly boy couldn't find his balls, and be the man, instead of waffling around like a baboon. If only God had blessed him with a brain.

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"Why doesn't Strand keep sending people to the Pit?" Stalker woman asked.

The Butterfly Boy couldn't answer as he knew nothing, about anything. The Pit is what we saw at the end of last episode. The biggest nuclear crater ever created by a single warhead that wasn't a Tsar Bomb.

I know I asked you guys to guess why it made me giggle? It was the size and the fact that zombies had gathered there, like in the Fallout games. The 'most hottest' place in Texas. Not that it wasn't hot already, for being so far down in the South. Why indeed Strand would keep sending people out there?

The Stalker Lady under the mask made me think about Alicia's mum being the survivor. She could have organized those people the same way Alicia did. And for a moment I thought it was her, but when the whole gang went down in a narrow back alley, it was obvious that wasn't her. But I'm not willing to give up on that theory, for a mum and a daughter to be like each other.

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It amazes me of how capable Charlie is for barely being a young lady in puberty stage. That pick kit is a custom one with wooden handles and you'd have either paid a lot, or be a professional, who has known how to handle the break-in business for all their life to make the customization. The only problem is that those handles are also too long for her hands. So it's a fake, serious kit.

But if you looked closely the whole break-in procedure, especially with the lift, you must start to wonder about why she didn't show this side of her before. A burglar girl, instead of a survivor, who killed Nick.

I get that Morgan could have thought her a lot of those things, for being a character with a somewhat shady past. But for Morgan to send her out on a sabotage mission ... man, I just couldn't believe it.

When she spilled her beans to the Butterfly Boy, I was tearing my hair, but then I understood that it was her hormones and that blossoming romance between the two, who was throwing a wrench into the proverbial gears.

I hated him for leaving Charlie in a dire, because he wanted to be one of Victor's rangers. And to be honest, I wasn't cheering for him either, when he came back to rescue and told that he'd abandoned his family. In my eyes, it wasn't a glowing remark on the boyfriend book. Quite the opposite. A cowardice is a pattern that one can break by being a heroic person. By fighting against the demons.

Her dropping like a stone because of the radiation, felt a bit cheesy way of going out. What happened to the blue stuff that they'd been taking for anti-radiation? According to Jude, "Given the amount of exposure she's had, she should make the most of every day." WTF does that mean?

Well, at least the boy lied about Charlie's true motives and because of it, he made it to be one of Victor's rangers, while Charlie got kicked out from the Victor tower. At least they got a perfect date night in the Butterfly room.

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He got me believing that he'd turned his coat. Old fox, a booze house, master strategist. "There's only one way this can change, and that's if I can get in Strand's ear," Dorie Sr claimed. " Anyone can listen to reason. They just need the right voice telling it to 'em. I thought it could be Howard. But now, it's gotta be me."

Jude was right not to not believe Senior's plan. It sounded like a text book adventure into the La-La-land. Yet, like a drunken man, he insisted while looking completely sober. "It has to," he hissed. I was waiting for him to add, "It's the only way," before he left the scene.

With Victor out of the house, why they didn't take down Howard and his people?
 
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I would much prefer to share favorite elements of a show than criticize it, but FTWD hasn't given me much joy lately.
Were they still struggling with COVID restrictions when these single-character episodes were made? Even if so, why Charlie?
Charlie's 15 minutes of fame were over when she killed Nick. At least a major character returned to the spotlight last week with Alicia and her feverish imagination.
How was this most recent plot developed? Ali, a never previously seen wannabe ranger, is put in harm's way because Victor needs a specific butterfly added to his collection. While on this improbable errand, he meets Charlie.
Let the teenage chemistry begin.
I found neither Charlie's mission to Strand's tower nor her whirlwind romance with Ali to be believable. When Ali's love-driven, idiotic mission to cut the tower beacon for Charlie ended with his becoming walker fodder, the only emotion I felt was a sense of relief.
FTWD really needs to get its act together – and by that, I mean reunite all the main characters, and move forward. Assuming that happens, does anyone think that conquering Strand Tower is going to be the solution they think it will be.?
 
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I found neither Charlie's mission to Strand's tower nor her whirlwind romance with Ali to be believable. When Ali's love-driven, idiotic mission to cut the tower beacon for Charlie ended with his becoming walker fodder, the only emotion I felt was a sense of relief.
Me too, man. Me too. :ROFLMAO:
Assuming that happens, does anyone think that conquering Strand Tower is going to be the solution they think it will be.?
I was kind of surprised that it hasn't happened already. What is keeping the Dead away, regularly supplied snack bags?
 
Howard threatens to do the same to Charlie but backs down when June reminds him Strand's Tower needs someone with medical training. Accepting blame for failing to stop Charlie from going inside the building, June makes her a promise: "No matter how much time you have left, you will live to see Strand go down. I will do everything I can to make sure that happens."

On AMC+'s Fear the Walking Dead: Episode Insider, showrunner Ian Goldberg confirmed Charlie will soon succumb to radiation poisoning.

"Charlie and Ali connect right away for one simple reason: they're both young people in the apocalypse. They had to grow up way too fast," Goldberg said. "Neither of them have been able to have this kind of connection, you know, that sort of first love, butterflies in the stomach kind of feeling. And Ali helping her learn how to bowl is huge for her because it makes her feel like a kid, it makes her feel alive. It's not just surviving. She's actually living."

Goldberg added, "I think Ali recognizes as well that even though Charlie came to the tower with some negative intentions from his perspective, ultimately, it was all because she wants to have this normal life. And that's why Ali turns around, because he understands Charlie in a new way."

After Charlie's diagnosis, their talk about the butterflies is "front and center at Ali's mind, because he's realized Charlie's a bit like that butterfly now," Goldberg explained. "She is someone to him that is beautiful and is going to have a very short life because of her radiation exposure. So I think him freeing the butterflies is an act of wanting to show her how much he cares about her, but also because it really is a metaphor for Charlie."
 
I get the majority don't like this episode but I did.

Morgan was wrong to use Charlie, she is still a child at the end of day. OK one more capable than a lot of adults, she's a spy, a killer but she is what the world made her.

The raiders? For survivors they died very easily.
The whole storyline was kind of lame, Ali and Charlie, love struck teenagers, Charlie collapsing, Ali turning traitor because he wanted a happily ever after, it was pretty unbelievable.
I enjoyed seeing Charlie again, who Howard really is. June finally realising that living in the tower with Strand is not the answer. What it has done is set things up for Strand's downfall. Dorie senior, Grace, June and Wendell working on the inside to bring him down.

If Strand had been there I don't think he'd have sent Charlie to get the elevator parts, he'd have worked on winning her over. Strand had a good relationship with her, without Morgan he'd have felt there was a chance to turn her against the others.
 
I get the majority don't like this episode but I did.
The whole storyline was kind of lame,
But isn't that exactly why people don't like it? And it seems to be "lame" every week, which is a problem. Then you begin to wonder, is it worth continuing to watch it or not?

a rare butterfly for his collection that doesn't really have a purpose.
A huge and obvious McGuffin if ever there was one.
Ali, a never previously seen wannabe ranger
While on this improbable errand, he meets Charlie.
I liked seeing the romance blooming between the two young ones.
But he wasn't given a very big part was he? The whole point of this episode seems to be only to give a reason for Charlie to be written out.
why Charlie? Charlie's 15 minutes of fame were over when she killed Nick.

It beats me! Also, if she really wanted freedom she has had a number of opportunities after running away not to come back again, but to stay well away.
Charlie wanting to live a normal life in the Victor tower was just too much.
for Morgan to send her out on a sabotage mission ... man, I just couldn't believe it.
Both seemed improbable.
Morgan was wrong to use Charlie, she is still a child at the end of day.
Unless she really is a master lockpicker and safe cracker, aged 13?
you must start to wonder about why she didn't show this side of her before. A burglar girl,
she is what the world made her.
But that would have made a better story for her. Not, "I just want to live a normal life, and to do it inside Strand Tower" but instead, "I'm a criminal and this is the only life I know. I'd never make it as a farmer or a fisherman."

does anyone think that conquering Strand Tower is going to be the solution they think it will be.?
I was kind of surprised that it hasn't happened already. What is keeping the Dead away, regularly supplied snack bags?
If it were me, I'd get as far away from that region as I possibly could, as quick as I could. It will always be a sick place with the radiation. Morgan has travelled right across the USA. He knows you can survive elsewhere. He doesn't know about the Civic Republic yet. So, staying there makes no sense at all as far as his character is concerned. The others, well, I'd take my chances and leave as well. It can't be any worse.

Where has Strand gone anyway? So far away that he can't be contacted on the radio?

If Strand had been there I don't think he'd have sent Charlie to get the elevator parts, he'd have worked on winning her over.
I think so too. Is that the reason he wasn't there?
 
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Where has Strand gone anyway? So far away that he can't be contacted on the radio?
Still unknown, and it wasn't told. I know some of his disappearances is because of his director role, but in storywise, he has a lot of holes. But you'll get to see what he's up and what happens to Charlie in next episodes.
 

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