AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead
8×07: “Anton”
Directed by Danay Garcia
Written by Nazrin Choudhury & Justin Boyd

* For a recap & review of 8×06, click here.
* For a recap & review of 8×08, click here.
A boy called Klaus (Julian Grey) scores a goal on the soccer field. Nearby there are solar electrical panels. There are also pretty nice apartment buildings with great apartments inside. And guess who Klaus’s father is? Victor Strand. He’s got a partner now named Frank (Isha Blaaker). They speak German, too. They’re living at “an oasis for the disposed,” more formally known as a hotel. It seems that a load of German tourists got stranded when things went bad, so they stayed and made a home. Victor, Frank, and Klaus welcome an old man who happens upon their community and they show him around the grounds. Life’s pretty good there. They’ve even got schnitzel!

Somebody turns up in rough shape at the hotel that day and it’s an old friend of Victor’s that he certainly wasn’t expecting to see: Madison. An unexpected reunion for both of them, really. Madison questions why Victor is there and why he’s being called by the name “Anton,” but it’s a huge shock for Strand, and it takes a second before he can even react. He hugs Madison closely. She never thought she’d see him again, and vice versa. When Klaus and Frank come back into the room, Madison tries to reveal the truth about ‘Anton’ yet Victor plays the role he’s put himself into and denies everything. Perfect timing for Strand because Madison passes out due to her respiratory issues. Needless to say, Madison’s claims have the community leaders talking when Strand and his little family meet with everybody. There’s soon chatter on the radio; it sounds like Daniel, maybe. This is more reason for Victor to try convincing his friends not to talk with the person on the other end. Klaus is intrigued by what Madison told them, so he pushes to help Madison. He wonders what Anton’s so afraid of and why.
When Madison wakes up she’s tied, though she has oxygen. She’s being waited on with soup by Klaus, who has questions about Madison’s claims of his father being Victor Strand. The boy notices Madison’s wrist tattoos for her kids, both of whom she believes are dead. She’s getting a sense of Klaus and the morals that ‘Anton’ instilled in him. She asks about his mom. Apparently mom and dad split up “before the world changed.” They never saw each other after that. When Strand shows up he gets grilled by Madison, but chatter on the walkie draws him away. Some men are looking for Madison, however, Klaus immediately says there’s nobody named Madison there. The group are led by someone who apparently knows the ‘real’ Madison. They’re not leaving without more reassurance, and eventually Strand decides to give Madison over to them. Except when they go looking for her she’s gone; so is Klaus. The men claim Madison’s taking Klaus to PADRE. Strand believes Madison’s headed on the Marsh Light Tours route judging by how she tore off the map prior to leaving.

Also, it’s definitely Daniel on the radio. He soon arrives by boat, which spooks the men searching for Madison. It also has Strand feeling some kind of way. He runs off instead of sticking around to welcome his old pal, and Frank runs after him, wondering why ‘Anton’ isn’t concerned for Klaus. Strand insists they go looking for a raft nearby. He’s soon questioned more, in English now, by Frank. He isn’t so eager to talk, but Frank urges him to tell the truth. They’re interrupted by finding the raft where Strand stashed it a long time ago. Victor asks Frank to go back to the hotel. He doesn’t want his man in danger. Frank gets distracted with a zombie, giving Victor a chance to flee. But he gets free of the walker and continues asking ‘Anton’ for answers. Strand saves his husband with a bad ass sword and, thankfully, they get moving. That night, they talk a little more. Frank talks about how he thinks maybe Madison reminds Klaus of his mother. He tells Victor about his wife and coming out to her. He says he’ll extend ‘Anton’ the same understanding that his wife did for him: “I‘m sure it‘s forgivable.” Yet ‘Anton’ keeps on refusing to tell the truth and says he’s “not that man.” He’s running away from himself. He doesn’t want to remember all the things he’s done, especially not the things he did to those he once called friends.

Finally, Klaus is reunited with his dads. But Madison isn’t doing so great. Victor goes to another stash of supplies. This makes Frank all the more suspicious since ‘Anton’ has suddenly started digging up all kinds of hidden shit. They don’t have any time to go on arguing since a) Madison is in need of help and b) the men searching for Madison aren’t that far off in the woods. Strand’s whole new identity is wearing thin with his loved ones. So he tells Frank to take Klaus home while he takes care of things. He promises he won’t be far behind them, then Frank and Klaus leave together, albeit reluctantly, in the raft. Strand wants to prove to his new family that he’s still the man they know and love.
Back at the hideout, Strand’s helping Madison, who wakes up curious about what her old pal’s next move will be since she doesn’t trust him as far as she can throw him. He says he’s genuinely trying to help. He and Madison head out into the night, as he goes on insisting his name’s Anton. She wonders if he’s going to kill her or give her up any minute, but they don’t have much time for talk anymore after the men hunting her show up out of the darkness. Madison doesn’t even recognise the men, but they recognise her, and they also don’t care for Strand much, nor his appeal for her. The men want to find PADRE with Madison’s help.
That’s when zombies are drawn out of the dark forest by all the noise.

Gunfire erupts and zombie growls fill the air. Madison and Strand get separated from the men, but it’s not exactly safe territory. They go for cover again, attempting to block themselves off using a bunch of chairs and overturned bookshelves, though the zombies are filling the place up. Madison uses up her bullets, so Strand calls over the radio for his family. Great time for a potential final chat. Madison asks what Strand did to get here, what led him here. He says he “was ruthless.” He says he betrayed Alicia. Then when he tried to help people later, he couldn’t be trusted. And later, a lot of people were dead. “I hated Victor Strand, so I killed him,” Strand says. He became Anton to be the person who Alicia thought he was, as if to make amends. Madison tells Strand that Klaus seems like a good boy. Strand says that his whole “everyone deserves a second chance” mantra, the one he passed down to Klaus, came from Alicia’s hopefulness about people. Madison admits to the mistakes she made with PADRE and how people are now in danger because of everything she’s done. Over the radio, Klaus tells Victor that they’re being overrun by the undead. And then the men searching for Madison gun their way back to her and Victor.

The men have Victor and Madison hostage, then they reveal the man leading them is none other than Troy Otto, an old face from Fear the Walking Dead past. Troy was surprised to hear Madison’s voice over the radio a while back. This episode gives us a second shocking reunion. Troy shows off his fucked up eye to Klaus, as we’re given a quick flashback to Madison cranking him in the head with a hammer. He’s lucky to have survived. And he’s certainly not happy about being left for dead down in Mexico, nor is he thrilled about having lost his family, which he blames on Madison and Strand alike. Troy wants “a home,” and he wants to take the one Madison has; if she doesn’t help him he’s going to bash Strand’s head in with a hammer. He says that if Strand isn’t enough, he’ll bash a bunch of other heads in, too. This is when Strand admits to Frank his real identity. In case he dies, he doesn’t want to die having kept that secret from Frank.
Suddenly, Daniel, June, and a small army arrive to break the scary party up. Daniel forces Troy to drop the hammer and takes control of things. He isn’t ready for a reunion with Strand, though. He’s surprised to see Troy and says next time he’ll be sure that Troy’s actually dead. For now, no violence. But for how long? Madison continues to talk about what she’s building, to keep “something bigger alive.” Troy then claims that he murdered Alicia. He kicks a bag over to Madison and tells her to have a look inside. Despite Strand and Daniel trying to pull Madison away she looks in the bag and finds Alicia’s mechanical arm. She doesn’t know what it is, so it isn’t immediately obvious. Troy says he lifted the arm off Alicia’s corpse when he killed her. Madison wants to smash Troy’s head in again, so Victor stops her. Troy keeps on trying to get inside Madison’s head before they part ways, asking her what she’s actually fighting for, especially if her kids are dead. But Troy says he couldn’t put Alicia down, that he wanted her to experience the wandering he did in Mexico. He says maybe they’ll find each other again, or maybe not. Is a zombie Alicia out there shambling through the wasteland?