Fear the Walking Dead 4.02 Recap and 4.03 Promo

AMC‘s Fear the Walking Dead 4.02 “Another Day in the Diamond” episode played with time and set a mysterious tone to the season as viewers tried to figure out what hell has befallen the characters between the season three finale and now. Next week’s episode will continue the integration of Morgan, Al, and John into the lives of the Clarks and their group. Check out the promo — and a sneak peek — for Fear the Walking Dead 4.03, “Good Out Here,” in the player below, as well as some behind-the-scenes looks at Episode 4.02 and let us know what you thought of the second episode of season four!

After the Fear the Walking Dead season four premiere successfully crossed Morgan over into this new world, 4.02 gave fans a glimpse into what our usual Fear characters have been up to during the massive time jump between the season three finale and when they catch up with Morgan. The episode also introduced two new characters: former ER and ICU nurse Naomi (Jenna Elfman) and leader of the Vultures, Mel (Kevin Zegers). After a tense first meeting, Naomi is rescued by Madison, Alicia, Victor, and Luciana and brought back to their camp – which happens to be a baseball stadium. Mel and his Vultures, on the other hand, camp outside, essentially waiting for their opportunity to scavenge the Clark’s new home.

As mentioned before, this season’s story plays out through the past and the present, revealing some answers while only bringing up more questions in an interesting, mysterious puzzle. We still don’t know what happened directly after the events of the season three finale and how Madison, her children, and the others reunited; instead, the episode picks up at least 365 days after the baseball stadium camp was established, where they have seemingly created a new way of life with a group of people. Including themselves and now Naomi, there are 48 people living “in the Diamond,” and it sounds like the past year has been a relatively quiet one as the group has worked on surviving together, maintaining the stadium and their supplies.

The Clark’s new way of life gets disrupted, however, when a young girl named Charlie shows up at their camp. It sounds like she has lost her parents and is too traumatized to tell Madison what happened. Madison starts building a space for Charlie in their camp, hammering away in the dugout before she, Alicia, Victor, and Luciana go on a run. As the group leaves, we learn that Nick has apparently not left the stadium since they set up camp there, his own trauma keeping him within the walls. When Luciana brings it up, Madison tells her: “You weren’t there when I found him, Lucy. He just needs to feel safe right now.” Since we are still missing details between the season three finale and when they set up camp at the stadium, fans are certainly wondering what Nick and the others went through before finding each other again.

As Nick tends to the community garden and bonds with Charlie, Madison’s group attempts to find Charlie’s parents while out on their run. Instead, they come across Naomi in an abandoned town where all of the food and supplies have been picked clean. They notice a flag with the number 457 and take note that the area is completely void of walkers. After Naomi confirms that she doesn’t have any kids when Madison mentions Charlie to her, the group saves the woman after she falls into an oil tank full of walkers. Back at home, Nick is starting to worry that his family hasn’t returned to the stadium yet, and despite his anxiety and PTSD, attempts to drive out for the first time in order to find them. Nick’s plan quickly goes awry as he begins having flashbacks to the explosion at the dam and crashes his truck after the walkers outside exacerbate his symptoms.

Madison and the others arrive and rescue Nick alongside community member Cole who is sniping the walkers from the stadium to keep them away from the others. After making their way back inside, Madison asks Charlie once more about what happened to the town she came from, but the girl remains silent. As Victor and another community member are pushing Nick’s truck back to the Diamond with Cole driving, Luciana, who is keeping watch in the sniper’s perch, spots something in the distance and tells them to get inside immediately. A caravan has arrived, and the group watches as a man hops out and gets on a bike, blasting a stereo in order to draw the lingering walkers to him. He effectively lures them into one of their trucks and then writes the number 12 on a cloth he leaves on the vehicle.

The rest of the caravan’s group pull out coolers and folding chairs and simply hang out in the parking lot. Madison comes out to confront the leader, Mel, who tells her they didn’t destroy the previous town. We learn that Mel and his Vultures do exactly as it sounds like: They scavenge camps and towns that have been abandoned or where others have died, and they have no problem waiting for one of those things to happen before moving onto the next camp or town. They don’t believe in setting down roots; they are always on the move. When Mel reveals that he knows Nick’s name as well as the weevil problem Nick is having with the community garden, we find out that Charlie is actually with Mel’s group and has been feeding him information.

Mel knows everything Charlie was able to report back to him, including how many weapons and ammunition Madison’s group has. Mel proposes they give up their supplies and even consider joining them, or the Vultures will simply wait for them to die before they take everything. Obviously, Madison refuses, saying that they have found a better way to live and they don’t want to be like vultures anymore. Mel warns Madison that she hasn’t “been tested yet.”

Madison is affected by Charlie’s betrayal, but she understands she is a child who was taken in by Mel and is essentially being used by the man to do his dirty work. She continues to build Charlie a place in the dugout and the rest of the group supports her and helps her build. As we switch back over to the present, it’s clear that the year of quiet at the baseball stadium has come to an end as we watch a now wild-looking Alicia, Luciana, Nick, and Victor holding Morgan, Al, and John prisoner as they search their belongings. Luciana finds one of the Vulture’s flags in Al’s trucks and thinks she is one of them, but Al denies it and doesn’t know what they are talking about. Alicia demands to know where Al found the flag, and they all pile into Al’s truck so she can show them, bringing the episode to an end.

The mysteries of what happened before and the jumps between past and present have created an intriguing nonlinear storyline in this season of Fear the Walking Dead, and it will be interesting to learn not only what happened to Nick and the others after the season three finale, but what Madison and the group went through before meeting Morgan and his new group of friends.

In season four of Fear the Walking Dead, we will see the world of Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and her family through new eyes — the eyes of Morgan Jones (Lennie James), joining the story from the world of The Walking Dead. The characters’ immediate past mixes with an uncertain present of struggle and discovery as they meet new friends, foes, and threats. They fight for each other, against each other, and against a legion of the dead to somehow build an existence against the crushing pressure of lives coming apart. There will be darkness and light; terror and grace; the heroic, mercenary, and craven all crashing together towards a new reality.