AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead
7×13: “The Raft”
Directed by Gary S. Rake
Written by Nazrin Choudhury & Nick Bernardone

* For a recap & review of 7×12, click here.
* For a recap & review of 7×14, click here.
Sherry’s at the shoreline doing a supply run, or so she says, when she gets a call from Dwight about an SOS on the “Dark Horse channel.” She wonders if it may be a trap, but he thinks it’s worth it to offer the help. Dwight has to go now, he can’t wait for Sherry; the woman who called is in pretty bad trouble, going deeper into the forest as zombies crowd around her. Luckily, he arrives in time to help the woman, and Sherry shows up to give him a helping hand he needs badly, as well. The woman’s named Maya. She came on a boat searching for her child so she isn’t exactly used to what’s happening there on land with the radiation and all. She’s heard about the Tower via Strand’s message. Sherry advises not to go to the Tower, whereas Dwight says that if Maya wants to go she should go; Dwight’s worried they’re going to lose the war against Strand, believing it’s a better option for someone with a kid to go to the Tower. That’s when Morgan calls over the radio, “coming in hot” with a massive horde of walkers on his tail.

Sherry and Dwight need somewhere to dump a bunch of walkers. They meet up with Morgan on the road. Morgan explains that the walkers moving away from the Tower gives them a chance to infiltrate the place, at least if they can do it before Strand has time to draw more walkers. Their meeting’s interrupted by gunfire from one of Strand’s rangers. So they have to avoid dying by bullet while simultaneously trying to keep most of the horde together. Morgan hands the baby over Dwight and Sherry for the time being while he deals with the horde, who gobble up the ranger and then start following him along the road.
Sherry and Dwight come upon another gunman. This time it’s Wes. They’re in a standoff. Wes wants them to hand over the baby, but Dwight and Sherry aren’t willing to do that. He’s angry for believing in “something better” and killing his brother because of it, but nobody ever asked him to kill his own brother, he did that himself. Wes talks too much and Sherry fires her gun, spooking his horse, which topples him to the ground. The couple continue on their path leaving Wes behind.
While Morgan is leading the horde he sees a car explode. He runs to hide and gets sneaked up on Alicia. She blew up the car to save him from the zombie horde, but Morgan explains what’s been going on. Quite the reunion. And lots of shit, as usual, going on. Alicia wants to go back to the sub and Morgan’s determined to go to the Tower. She doesn’t think they’re ready to go at Strand just yet, though she helps Morgan anyway.

The presence of a baby with Sherry and Dwight makes her feel weird. He’s trying to make “dad jokes” and amuse the baby. She feels like they’ll never have a family in the post-zombie apocalypse. The fact she’s feeling this way shows how much she’d like to have one. The family anxiety is broken up by a call from Luciana at the sub: they’re evacuating because there’s a radiation leak in the engineering compartment. Bad time for Sherry and Dwight on the road with Baby Mo being pursued. Also not a great time for Dwight to figure out Sherry was preparing the emergency raft in the morning. She wants to get Dwight away from everything, worried he’ll become the man he was back with Negan and the Saviors.
While they talk, they’re found by Strand’s rangers. Dwight offers to hand over the baby and make a deal, now that Sherry has no faith in his morality. Except it’s smoke and mirrors to lure the rangers in, and Dwight gives Sherry time to escape with the baby, shooting two of the rangers then wrestling with Wes. It isn’t long though and the couple find each other again up the road. Among a bunch of rubble they notice debris from the Franklin and they’ve found the bunker where Alicia was once locked up by Teddy. Before they do anything else, Sherry has to tell Dwight something important: she may be pregnant.

Along the road, Morgan and Alicia keep the zombie horde moving. She’s been ill, obviously, and she’s having lots of bad dreams, too. Yet she’s still standing strong right now. Morgan tells Alicia about the crater with all the other zombies trapped in it, so that’s where he plans to take the horde. She again says they’re not prepared to battle Strand. Then Morgan plays a message from Grace on the Walkman. Grace wants Morgan to leave and go with the baby, far from Strand and the Tower, so if Morgan can’t take the Tower tonight he’s leaving. A long shot, but a shot.
Dwight and Sherry get into the bunker beneath the Franklin. She tells him she hasn’t checked the pregnancy test yet because she knows that if they’re going to have a baby it’s going to push him to go into the Tower, to do what’s best for the child. She doesn’t want him to turn into somebody else again and lose the parts that’d make him “a good father.” But Dwight assures her things have changed. He and Sherry are about to check the pregnancy test when they hear noise, likely the rangers coming for them.

Elsewhere, Alicia and Morgan find the crater but see somebody’s let out all the radiated zombies. No point in funnelling all those new zombies into the crater if they’ll just walk out again. This means the plans have to change all over again. Sherry wonders if a fire alarm in the bunker will be heard above ground, lighting a match to test the theory. Morgan and Alicia can hear it outside, deciding to lead the walkers into the bunker. Thankfully, Dwight and Sherry are already working their way through a tunnel to find a way out. The walkers begin to head down into the bunker, running into the rangers along the way and chomping down. Only problem is, with all those walkers above the ground is shaky and the tunnel starts to cave in, putting Dwight, Sherry, and Baby Mo in serious jeopardy, trapping them. With nothing else left to do but await fate, Sherry decides to look at the pregnancy test, discovering it’s positive. This makes Sherry determined to burrow her way out of that tunnel.
After a lot of hard work, Sherry, Dwight, and Baby Mo make it through to the tunnel’s other side, greeted by Morgan and Alicia. Dwight tells them about the sub’s radiation leak, then they think about how else to transmit via the radio; one answer is Strand’s antenna. Right now they head for the raft at the shoreline and meet up with all the others from the sub, too. Alicia’s determined to face Strand while Morgan decides to go with Baby Mo on the raft and get far away from there like Grace asked him to do.