Fear The Walking Dead Recap: “Brother’s Keeper”
Alicia and Jake are feeling the strain of trying to keep order on the ranch. Jake is still weak from the anthrax. He questions Alicia’s motives for being with him. She has genuine feelings for him and tells him to go to Hell for suggesting that she’s got an ulterior motive. He asks her to go with him to his family’s cabin to start fresh, but Alicia, like her mother, plans to stay on the Ranch. It isn’t much of a ranch, anymore. Most of the cattle have died because of the water shortage. There will be enough beef jerky for years to come.
Then we have Troy showing up again like a bad penny. Exile seems to be just what he needed. Time to come up with a plan of revenge. He surprises Nick, popping up at his cabin in the middle of the night. He speaks of a “reckoning” headed toward the ranch. A beast like none ever seen. Troy says that he’s doing Nick a favor giving him a heads-up about the biblical proportions of the reckoning, and he’d like for Nick to make sure that Jake is there. He wants them to see his plan. He’s definitely a few eggs short of a dozen, and he disappears into the night.
In the morning, Nick alerts Jake that Troy is back and he has a plan for revenge. Jake and Nick set out in a pickup to find out what Troy is up to. Nick notices a huge cloud of dust in the distance. Jake pulls over, and the two jump out. Below in the valley, they see Troy with a rocket launcher. He’s deliberate with his shots; a horde of undead is following the explosions – right to the ranch. Jake has his gun drawn, ready to put his brother down like like a wounded animal. Troy manages to squeeze off one more shot before Jake is all over him, hitting him repeatedly. Troy’s shot is heard at the Ranch. Nick tries to warn Alicia over the walkie-talkie but the connection is poor. She did catch the word “horde”, and runs to tell Ofelia. Jake has his revolver pointed at his brother. Nick warns Jake that he will never recover if he shoots Troy. Jake pulls back the hammer and Nick jumps in and knocks Jake off of Troy. Jake tumbles down the hill, with a coming-out-of-nowhere walker tumbling after him. Jake is bitten on his forearm. He asks Nick to cut off his arm before the infection has a chance to spread.
Ofelia, Alicia and Crazy Dog try to figure out their next course of action. Crazy Dog isn’t ready to hand over the arsenal, but Ofelia convinces him. This is definitely a bullet situation. Nick is driving the pickup at breakneck speed trying to get ahead of the horde and back to the Ranch where Jake can get medical attention. Troy is in the truck bed, holding Jake against him. Jake, already weakened by the anthrax, is waxy pale and fading fast. The ranchers grab weapons and line up all of their vehicles, hoping to steer the horde away. Nick is forced to watch from the hilltop as thousands of the undead descend on the Ranch. Jake has died. Nick advises Troy to put him down. Troy feels that he was the one who was supposed to die. Nick tells him to kill himself if he wants to die. He drags Troy by the collar to show him what he has done. The ranch is overtaken.
Alicia gets the crowd safely into the storm-cellar-turned-pantry. The pressure from the horde has toppled a few vehicles in the blockade, and Alicia, Ophelia and Crazy Dog fight off as many walkers as they can, then join the other ranchers in the pantry. Tribe members and ranchers alike huddle together, united in their fear. On the hill, Jake is turning and Troy has to kill the thing that was his brother. There is no time for grief. Nick must find a way to save the Ranch, and he’s dragging Troy along with him. For better or worse.
Fear The Walking Dead airs on Sunday Nights at 9/8c on AMC
