AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead
7×05: “Till Death”
Directed by Lennie James
Written by Justin Boyd & Ashley Cardiff

* For a recap & review of 7×04, click here.
* For a recap & review of 7×06, click here.
There are still useable things out there, like dragonfruit and other foods. There are also dangerous people, like the Dark Horses, better known as Dwight and Sherry, now outlaws on the road protecting people from thieves and other degenerates. The Dark Horses work by “a code.” They offer a couple thieves the chance to walk away without a fight, but the thieves refuse, which results in gunfire. That gunfire, of course, draws walkers. Thankfully it’s nothing Dwight and Sherry can’t handle. However, one of the thieves get away in the end while the other’s killed. Dwight and Sherry don’t want to kill anybody, they don’t want to “turn into him“; him being Negan. That doesn’t make it any easier to kill, even if they have to do it.

Dwight and Sherry go back to where they’re staying with others such as Briga (Ella McCain), Kim (Julia Barnett), and Kevin (Aaron Spivey-Sorrells). It’s a nice little group and they do their best to take care of one another. Briga keeps an ear to the radio hoping they’ll hear more about Padre. Kevin and Kim sit down with Dwight and Sherry, telling the couple they can’t wait any longer for more news about Padre; they have to think about Briga, they need a safe place to go. Dwight and Sherry have faith about Padre, whereas Kevin and Kim are having trouble keeping the faith, though they all agree to keep hanging on a bit longer together.
The next time Dwight and Sherry are out they come across a couple people who appear in trouble: it’s Howard and his people, springing a trap. Howard knows all about the Dark Horses; he was tasked to find them.
What exactly does Strand want from the outlaws?
At the moment he’s busy playing banana republic dictator at his complex, lobbing golf balls into the zombie horde. He’s surprised that Dwight and Sherry are the wasteland outlaws he’s heard about before. The couple aren’t thrilled to hear Victor isn’t letting everyone in, especially Grace, Sarah, and Morgan. Regardless, Strand has “a proposal” for the “ethical outlaws“: he’s tried to save someone called Mickey (Aisha Tyler), and she was hellbent on finding her husband, so he’d like the Dark Horses to go find her, seeing as how anyone else he sends comes back brutalised. In exchange for this service he’ll offer the outlaws residence in his supposed sanctuary. Yet Dwight and Sherry are deeply sceptical. They don’t see their “code of honour” reconciling with Strand’s new community. He asks them to think over the deal. Will they change their minds?

Dwight and Sherry think it’s possible Mickey’s looking for the same place they are, and that if they find her they might just find a way to locate Padre, as well. Mickey is tough one, though. It’s not going to be easy to deal with her, given she’s taken up hand-to-hand combat and she’s got guns for a long range fight. Dwight and Sherry are able to slip into her hideout because they’re skilled in this kind of thing. He tries talking with Mickey, who immediately puts him in an arm bar. She’s sure they’ve come to help Strand. The outlaws insist they only want to help her.
They all sit down for a drink together afterwards. Dwight eventually recognises Mickey; she and her husband were a tag team in wrestling, Dearly Beloved, once upon a time. The memories don’t seem that happy for her, even if Dwight is a massive fan. Everyone has bad memories in the post zombie apocalypse. Right now, the Dark Horses want to help Mickey get back to her husband Cliff. They know the pain of trying to find one another in a wasteland. Plus, a group looking for Padre? Better to have numbers.

Dwight, Sherry, and Mickey get on the road. Back at their shelter they find the place destroyed, and their friends are dead. Briga’s also been killed but left as a zombie, forcing Dwight to put her down. A tragic thing for the couple. But what happened? No matter what went down it’s making Dwight and Sherry reevaluate their code and everything they’ve been doing, whether any of it’s enough. The couple now want Mickey to think about going back to Strand’s community, and they think it’s best for them, too. Mickey knows Victor only wants to lock her up so nobody figures out how to escape his so-called safe haven, refusing to go back. Sherry likewise knows the truth. She isn’t willing to give up on what they’re doing, so she goes to help Mickey on the next leg of the journey, to find Cliff. The two women keep going down the road, bonding more as they go, particularly about their respective relationships and not giving up on those they love.
Sherry and Mickey eventually make it back to the Grapple Chapel, the country gym where the latter and her hubby Cliff had their own little wrasslin kingdom. Meanwhile, Dwight gets caught at gunpoint in the woods by the person who killed his friends in the bunker. He’s able to get the jump on his attacker by signalling his horse, who kicks the guy hard, allowing him a chance to get the upper hand. Worse, he sees pictures taken, including of his dead friends, and he knows Strand’s the one who ordered this to be done. The nasty side of Victor continues to get worse. And Dwight returns some of that nastiness by letting this man get eaten alive by walkers.

At the Grapple Chapel, Sherry suits Mickey up in armour, along with zombie guts, to help her get through the zombie horde and into the gym. Sherry stands back a ways with a gun while Mickey takes the unsettling walk through the walkers. A zombie with a knife stuck in its hand accidentally stabs Mickey and her bit of noise draws more of them. This forces Sherry to start firing, then to open a hole in the doorway. She rushes inside and Mickey joins her, but they’re out of ammo. At least they’re inside. Now they’ve got to keep the place from filling with the undead.

The women hold off the zombies long enough to hop into the ring so they can better manage things. Before that, Mickey finds her man Cliff zombified and it’s obviously difficult for her to accept. Sherry does the hardest part, killing Cliff, then she and the grieving woman have to deal with all those walkers. She urges Mickey to “keep going,” like Cliff wanted. Things get worse when the ring nearly collapses. This makes Sherry consider calling Strand. Right then, Dwight turns up and explains what he’s learned about Victor having their friends murdered. He and the women all know Strand isn’t the way to go. And so they fight, using ammo Dwight’s brought to the party. Great music moment with “Welcome to Jamrock” and we also get to see Mickey do a bit of wrasslin on the zombies, even tag-teaming with Dwight a little for the final kill.
Dwight and Sherry talk after it’s all over. He tells her he wants a family with her. She thinks they could do it, especially with the life they’re living, trying to be moral and good in spite of everything going on around them. Then they hear chatter on the radio which takes the Dark Horses back out on the trail, along with their new companion. They soon meet someone with a rifle on the road who’s been seeking the Dark Horses. There are more folks with guns nearby. They want to invite the Dark Horses to work with them: they’re looking for Padre.