A fight is coming on Fear the Walking Dead, and it appears that Madison is finally ready to fight. Now that Madison knows the group who killed Travis, she’s ready for a battle and out for blood. And she finally has a group that could be willing to fight with the right incentive. In “Red Dirt,” Madison manipulates Troy to get people to stay on the ranch. Meanwhile, Alicia gets closer to Jake, and Nick bonds with Jeremiah.
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Protecting Their Land
Madison, Troy and the group finally make it back to the ranch after walking back barefoot. Troy wants to keep their encounter and issues with the Indians private, but his friend Mike reveals everything that happened to the people at the ranch. Soon, people are worried that the ranch isn’t safe anymore because the Indians want it back.
Jeremiah regroups with his sons and Madison to find out what happened. While he’s not pleased, he tells Troy that they will not attack the Indians. Jake suggests that they just negotiate with the Indians, as they’ve done in the past. But Jeremiah just wants to let it be. He seems to have given up hope for his ranch, at this point, and Madison can see that.
Everyone’s Scared
Madison learns that one of the founding fathers of the ranch, Vernon, plans to take his family and leave. She tells Jeremiah this, but he doesn’t want to hear it. The next day, after putting out 20 fires that the Indians sent along the border of the ranch, Vernon tells Jeremiah himself that he’s leaving the ranch with his family. Jeremiah lets him go, but Troy runs after them. He tries to make them stay, but Jake eventually talks Troy down, and they leave.
After Vernon and his family leave, Madison tries a different approach to get people to stay and fight the Indians. She talks to Troy. She builds up his confidence enough to get him to gather his militia again. Troy gives a great speech on how they have to protect the ranch and keep the people safe.
A Big Lie
After Jeremiah goes on a bender at Nick’s new home on the ranch, he wakes up and they see Vernon’s horse along the fence. Jeremiah fears the worst, so he, Nick and Madison leave to see if they can find Vernon. They come upon the trailer, which has been shot up. They then have to kill the walkers that Vernon and his family have turned into.
Jeremiah and Nick realize that it was Troy who killed the family, not the Indians. At first, Madison doesn’t want to believe that Troy did it, but then she realizes it’s true too. However, back at the ranch, Madison gives a big speech about how the Indians killed their friends and family. She says that everyone is safer on the ranch. They need to stay, fight and defend their land and what’s theirs.
As people at the ranch adjust to realizing that they will be staying, Nick asks Madison how she can tell such a big lie. He says he’s not happy about the situation but understands why she did what she did. He also tells her to basically sleep with one eye open with Troy around, as he’s clearly a ticking time bomb.
Madison then goes to see Troy, who admits he lost control and killed Vernon and his family. Madison tells him he needs to control those urges. He needs to be a leader at the ranch because a fight is coming and he needs to save them.
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Working Another Angle
Even though Madison is working to build Troy up, Alicia is working on his brother, Jake. Now that she is in somewhat of a relationship with him, she seems to have growing feelings for him, despite what she tells her mother and herself. But while she’s falling for him, she’s also building up his ego, telling him that he should be the leader at the ranch. I imagine, at some point, the brothers, and possibly Madison and Alicia, will be butting heads about this.
I have to ask myself, what is Madison’s end game? I imagine she wants to be the leader of the ranch, and she’s just using Troy because she knows he’s vulnerable. But what is her goal after that? Will she just let the people of the ranch be, or will she turn it into some crazy militia? Madison is a tough cookie to crack. In the end, I know she just wants to protect her family. But how is taking over a ranch going to do that, when it’s clear that Nick and Alicia don’t want to be there?
It’s interesting to see Jeremiah start to crack. When we met him earlier in season 3, he seemed to have it all figured out. But with any community, the leaders crack under the stress of it all. And now that he has the Indians killing members of his community, he doesn’t know what to do when his people want to leave. It seems he doesn’t have much fight left in him, and he knows that his one son, Troy, isn’t going to be the one to take over.
The fight that is coming isn’t going to just be with the ranch and the Indians. It’s clear that’s going to be a fight within the Clark and Otto families too.
What do you think Madison’s end goal is? Is she really just trying to keep her family safe? Is she out for revenge for Travis’ death? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Fear the Walking Dead season 3 airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. Want more news? Like our Walking Dead Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of AMC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
