AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead
6×15: “USS Pennsylvania”
Directed by Heather Cappiello
Written by Nazrin Choudhury & Nick Bernardone

* For a recap & review of 6×14, click here.
* For a recap & review of the Season 6 finale, click here.
Teddy and Dakota are becoming closer. She tells him about the community Morgan’s been building. She talks about her mother, too. Teddy tries to speak to Dakota’s true nature, excusing all the bad things she’s done in order to bring her over to his side. He sees her as a kindred spirit; one killed his mother, the other tried to kill her mother but didn’t succeed. Either way, it’s an unhealthy relationship. Teddy’s grooming her to be part of a death cult, and to indulge her inner desires until they meet their end.
They’re gearing up the crashed boat with its missile system; that’s where Riley comes in.

Back at the community, Morgan’s picking up his would-be executioner’s blade again.
Sometimes brutal things must be done. Plus, the gang are all back together right now, ready to fight as one.
And they’ve made it to the submarine.
Morgan gets the hatch on the submarine open, then he prepares to head down inside.
He meets a zombie as soon as he gets down there and it nearly chomps him. June’s good aim keeps Morgan safe from harm. Though it could mean there are more dead crew members shambling around in the sub’s belly. Grace heads down to help Morgan out and they carefully move through while keeping an eye on the radiation’s levels. She determines it’s safe down there, so the others make their way in, as well. Morgan thinks there may be tragedy ahead in that submarine, so he tries to have a talk with Grace about the tragedy she experienced, but they don’t get much time to chat. When everybody makes it down into the sub, they take a better look together.

They soon hear more zombies, and Luciana confirms there were 150 crew members on board the sub. Oh, mercy. And the only way to get to where they need to in there is to go through the zombies in the silo. They’re worried about firing off shots, especially in case Alicia’s down there somewhere. Morgan wants to go in and start hacking his way through the sea of undead meat, all on his own. Strand and John Sr. aren’t letting that happen, neither are the rest. So the friends open the hatch and head into the terror that lies beyond it. Walkers emerge from every which way of the shadows as Morgan starts to slash his way forward. This is where they discover the missiles. They also hear more zombie noises right above them.
When Grace gets ahold of them through the comms system, Morgan also gets a call from Teddy. Then John Sr. talks to Teddy for the first time in many decades, which rattles the psycho a little. Sr. tries to get a location on Alicia but he won’t get answers from Teddy, who reveals his plan to kill himself and his followers. Teddy thinks Morgan has been leading his own cult in a way. Then he has to go because they’re ready to power up.

In the meantime, Morgan’s slipped away from the group in the sub. He’s more convinced than ever to go it alone, not wanting to put anyone of his friends in danger. He’s stopped by Strand, who refuses to let his friend do this by himself, and Morgan reluctantly brings him along as they head deeper into the sub. Victor tries talking Morgan down but the latter’s sure he’s only been leading people the wrong way. Things get nasty when the two men run into a zombie, noticing the radiation ahead is off the charts. Grace tells Morgan the radiation past there will kill him if he tries to go inside. There’s another way to go, but Morgan thinks there isn’t enough time. He’d rather go through radiation and perish from it later. But Strand convinces him otherwise and the head up a nearby ladder.
Deeper into the ship there are more dead crew members, some reanimated and some fully dead a second time. And the power’s continuing to turn on, the ship slowly coming alive. Strand and Morgan find nothing now except a “dead end“—in more ways than one. Although Morgan does notice a picture of Riley, knowing it’s him who’ll be the one to help get those missiles in the air.
That’s when Strand turns on Morgan, knocking him into a group of walkers and sacrificing him to get through to the next part of the sub; OH MY GOD! He makes it a ways before he’s caught at the end of the gun by Dakota. She calls to the rest of the ship and tells them they won’t stop what’s about to happen. She tells Strand that the world is better off “without assholes like you.” Then she pulls the trigger, but Morgan hits her in the arm, deflecting the bullet into Strand’s shoulder; more than Victor deserves after what he just did to Morgan. Just another thing for Strand to be haunted by and try to atone for at a later date.

Riley’s got the systems up and running, readying the submarine to fire off its missiles. When Teddy tries to call to Dakota he gets no answer. Then they see a red light flashing, because Morgan’s on the other side trying to get the door open. So Teddy and Riley begin the process of activating the missiles using their keys. They start their countdown, as Morgan makes it into the control room. It’s too late. The sub shakes and groans, then a missile fires into the sky. Where’s the missile headed? It’ll be dropping warheads all over the nearby area.
Morgan and Strand let Riley and Teddy go, considering the worst is done. Morgan tells Victor to leave, too.

Now, they wait for the fallout; dark pun intended.