Episode Title: Ouroboros
Original Airdate: 4-24-16
This episode opens with passengers of Flight 462 surfacing in the ocean. Alex (not Charlie, as I stated in my “462” review yesterday, as that is how IMDb had her listed) finds Jake among the wreckage, but he’s badly burned. They share a lifeboat with two other survivors, who try to convince her Jake is dead weight and will soon die and turn. She ends up killing them when they try to kill Jake.
On the Abigail, Travis tries to fix the filtration system which has broken down and stopped the boat entirely. (I’m guessing this is what happened, as my broadcast was being interrupted by tornado warnings. I even tried to watch the encore episode, but the same scene was interrupted. What are the chances?) Madison spots the plane wreckage from 462. The kids insist on going to check out the luggage to find supplies and Daniel volunteers to go with them, since Travis needs time to fix the filtration system, which we learn is being clogged by the hand of an Infected who got stuck. Madison confronts Strand about Mexico, after Daniel told her what he found in Strand’s locked trunk. Strand claims there is fortified safe house and he’s taking everyone there.
On land, Chris goes through the plane’s wreckage and mercy kills a passenger who is severely injured from the crash. Nick accidentally falls into a pit with a half-buried (or perhaps just half torn, couldn’t really tell) Infected being eaten by crabs. After killing him, another one falls into the pit. Meanwhile, Daniel looks for Chris and sees Alex running over the nearby sand dune, yelling that the Infected are coming. Dozens of undead follow her and Daniel, Alex and the kids try to make a stand, but are losing. Suddenly, Nick appears covered in Infected blood, and fights enough of them to get everyone else safely back to the boat, discovering in the process that he is camouflaged. Back at the Abigail, Strand refuses to let Alex and Jake on the boat, but Madison gives them food and water and says they will pull their lifeboat behind them. After setting off again, an angry Strand cuts the line to Alex and Jake’s lifeboat, leaving them stranded out in the middle of the ocean.
We finally got a tie-in to Flight 462, but if they don’t bring back Alex (on this show or TWD), then I have to wonder why they bothered at all. I don’t see the point of making a fifteen-minute short, promise that at least one of the characters will show up during the following season, only to give her maybe fifteen minutes of screen time and then leave her with a bleak, unknown outcome. Why go through all that trouble? Though I was hoping to see more of Alex, that wasn’t exactly satisfying enough to justify the introduction. Here’s hoping they don’t waste whatever they’ve built for her. Besides, the show could definitely use a stronger female character.
Though it was incredibly stupid to let the junkie, the moody boy and the dumb girl leave the safety of the boat, it was nice to have a little action again. There hasn’t been much since the opening moments of the season, and that was short lived. Nearly everything about the beach wreckage was really good. I was convinced Chris would be the one to be in trouble going inside the wrecked plane, but the direction they chose was much better. Him killing a human (mercy kill though it may have been) will surely have an interesting psychological effect on him, especially considering everything else he’s recently endured. But clearly Nick is the Carl of this group, which is sad since he’s several years older. Him falling into the pit was such a throwback (intentional or not) to Carl nearly being bitten by the Walker stuck in the mud on the Farm. Of course Nick came out swinging, but still he should know better.
As for Strand’s “plan,” I’m still intrigued, but let’s hope it doesn’t take all season to get there. Obviously there is something very ominous going on, but they really don’t have much choice, despite gut instincts, unless they want to end up like Alex, only sans lifeboat. And I still have no idea what Ofelia’s purpose is. Please give her something to do or say that has nothing to do with antibiotics.
Overall, a pretty good episode if you can just accept certain characters being idiots by nature.
Channel: Superhero 