AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead
Season 2, Episode 7: “Shiva”
Directed by Andrew Bernstein
Written by David Wiener

* For a review of the previous episode, “Sicut Cervus” – click here
* For a review of the next episode, “Grotesque” – click here

The mid-season finale is here! What will happen? Who will survive, AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM?
We open on a flashback from the life of Daniel Salazar (Rubén Blades). In the jungle, a boy comes across bodies strewn through a dirty pool of water. This is Daniel as a little boy. Someone tells him to take a gun.
Then he wakes, he and his daughter Ofelia (Mercedes Mason) get out of bed quickly at the sound of a gunshot. She’s not well, though. Not well at all.
And then Daniel wakes from a dream within a dream. Outside there’s commotion. We’re back over with Strand (Colman Domingo) after he’s put Thomas out of his misery. Then in a fit, Celia Flores (Marlene Forte) rages at him. As well as at Madison (Kim Dickens) a bit. Everyone is slightly in shock. Nick (Frank Dillane) offers his condolences, but ultimately Ofelia doesn’t want to hear much.
At the same time, Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) tries to tell Travis (Cliff Curtis) about what Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) did. Though the loving father, a bit dumb because of it, refuses to listen. So many things happening. Even worse, Celia has kicked everybody out. Every last one of them. Now, the search for a new place to settle begins.
Travis goes after his son, who leads him on a bit of chase out away from the house. An ominous opener.

 

Out and about Travis picks himself up a knife from a corpse. In the distance, his son watches and maneuvers around. Back at the house, Madison tries to get her kids in gear so that they’re not totally unprepared when the time comes to start leaving.
Travis comes across a man in his house. At first they’re at odds, but things smooth out. With his foot in bad shape Travis rests a moment. It’s nasty, too. Definitely needs to get patched up.
Most impressively, Nick brings back the zombified Luis. This buys them brownie points with Celia. He understands them, in some way. Or at least he’s able to empathize. And perhaps that’s a unique quality in any world, our real world, let alone the zombie fucking apocalypse. Celia doesn’t want the others around, though allows Nick to stay. He isn’t going to stick around without his family. She eventually agrees. Aside from Victor; he must go.

Celia: “This is not the apocalypse. This is our beginning, Nicholas. The end of death itself. Life eternal.”

 

While Strand goes on with burying Thomas, Daniel advises not to, as the ground itself is infected. Everything there is infected, Celia, her walkers. Very seriously, Daniel says not to put him in the ground on that property. Paranoid? Who knows any more.
Madison notices Nick is different lately, especially since getting out of Los Angeles. He seems to have a fascination with the zombies. He relates Celia’s hope to be back with Luis to his own mother’s desire to have him back, when he was using. Although his view of walking amongst the dead is a bit naive, a bit too confident (scaring me at the mid-season mark), there’s part of him I understand, as a former addict and alcoholic. Part of his rebirth has now become inexplicably tied to this walking out into the undead hordes.
Daniel and Ofelia end up at odds with the guards at the house. He pulls a knife and things get serious. Simultaneously, Strand is told he can’t stay, though it doesn’t bother him much. And as Madison gets a bit emotional about it, he reassures their supposed friendship, or whatever it’s been, was only means to an end.
Travis finds there’s somebody in the man’s place where he rests: Chris is hiding in a room, with a gun, and a little kid. Whoa. This young man is losing his god damn mind.
At the house, Celia says some words while Strand buries Thomas in the ground. Then she tells him to get out. However, he wants to bury Tom fully, throwing on the dirt and all. Ofelia worries for her father. They’ve got Daniel stashed away somewhere. Turns out they’re apparently worried about his recent behaviour.
Back to Chris – he thinks Madison and Alycia believe him to be a “monster” even though his dad disagrees. The son runs off before his father runs him down. Chris even tries to stab his dad. “Look at me,” Chris pleads with Travis: “I‘m no good.”
Then there’s Daniel. He finds himself tied up, being monologued to death by Celia. The poor guy is a haunted man. All those years ago he was clearly forced to do awful things, as a boy. Now, as a man, those memories plague him. Eternally. But even in the face of Celia and her brand of madness, Daniel holds strong. He is one of the toughest bastards out there. He sees a woman afterwards: his wife. He really is starting to lose it.

 

When Nick, soaked in blood, finds Travis, the father and son are not going back. He says Chris needs him, and can’t be with the others. Not now. Seriously? C’mon, Travis.
“You‘re makin‘ a mistake,” Madison says right after the last scene. Perfect moment. Though she says it to Celia, talking about Strand, it works perfect because that’s exactly what her husband is doing, as well. As far as Celia goes, she runs a tight ship. Won’t seem to budge much. Madison pleads to understand how Celia sees the undead.
Meanwhile, Daniel falls apart. The vision of his wife, the one speaking to him earlier as Celia spoke. He sees her, flashing back to his past as a boy; the bodies, the water, all that horror. He was forced to kill his “first victim” that day: “No, my love. The first victim was you,” replies his dead wife.
Then once Celia shows Madison where the walkers are kept, as the former talks about what a mother wouldn’t do for her children, you can almost see it coming. It’s just as intense, either way. She closes the gate behind her, leaving Celia inside with the zombies. Awaiting death.
WOW! MADISON! YES! Fuck that Celia. They’re taking the place for themselves. Or is that wishful thinking?

 

Daniel goes full bad ass and gets himself out of the chair to which he was tied. His wife’s still talking to him. But still, he’s… okay, for the time being. Also, Strand is being escorted out. “Don‘t worry about me, I‘ll hail a cab,” Victor quips, as the gate closes him out and Alicia waves from the distance.
Resident bad ass Daniel heads in to where the undead are kept. He pools a load of gasoline around their cage. In between the zombies, he sees real people. Maybe some victims, people he knew. Then his wife is there, too. He lights the match and lets the place go up. He stands in the middle of it all. Is Daniel going to die in there? Well the whole place starts to go up. The work Madison did is worth nothing now. Everything is on fire. Daniel is no more, obviously. Kills me. Nick and Travis are nowhere to be found, though we know the former was planning on staying away with Chris.

 

When Nick arrives, he isn’t happy. About Travis not coming back, about their group being destructive. He turns around then walks back into the zombie masses. Strand piles the rest into his vehicle before taking off. They leave Nick in the distance, the smoke, by himself. The group is all split up.

Great mid-season finale. I’m not going to be surprised if Daniel decided to bolt last minute and somehow made it out, there’s no definitive answer on him. Although, it’d be emotional if he were gone. Maybe Ofelia’s character, through tragedy, could grow more. Regardless, a lot of fun. Can’t wait for the show to return later in the year. Stay with me, fellow fans!