AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead
8×09: “Sanctuary”
Directed by Phillip J. McLaughlin
Written by Justin Boyd & David Johnson

* For a recap & review of 8×08, click here.
* For a recap & review of 8×10, click here.
Dwight takes a little trip down memory lane. We see him looking at an old photo of himself, back when his face wasn’t scarred, and Sherry. He remembers Daryl telling him: “You go out there and you make it right.” Clearly, everything that Dwight’s been through has haunted him. It’s hard to escape the shadows of your past, even if most of the world’s dead. Soon, Dwight hears a noise outside and there’s a flashlight shining through the window. He grabs his gun to go hide, then somebody quietly makes their way through the door. Dwight has the man at gunpoint; his name is Jay and he says he was robbed by somebody. Jay’s a diabetic and someone stole his insulin. But Dwight doesn’t believe that somebody still has insulin. Apparently Jay was with someone who could make insulin, however, someone killed the guy, and now he’s without the remainder of his insulin supply. Naturally, Dwight thinks it’s all a setup, that it’s too much of a coincidence for this to happen now. Jay begs Dwight for help, and Dwight seems prepared to do that. Maybe it’s his way of buying back a piece of his soul.

Where does Jay lead Dwight? Back to the place Dwight and the Saviors used to called the Sanctuary. He’s even more convinced now than ever that Jay’s tricking him, or that somebody’s using his past against him. Jay pleads with Dwight, he believes they’ve both lost important people and that Dwight understands his plight: “If we don‘t help each other, what are we even doing here?” This seems to push Dwight towards deciding to help. Then it’s not too long before Dwight is back within the walls he used to know so well, back inside the place that turned him into a monster just like Negan. At every turn there are memories coming back to Dwight; each room is another part of his life. The dark irony is that life was, for him, better back then, yet he was also forced to be monstrous to sustain that life. Truly bittersweet; the bitterest, too. Dwight can hear Negan’s voice calling out to him. He’s suddenly interrupted by a man with a gun. Dwight manages to toss the guy into a nearby fire, but there are still other men in the guy’s group coming for him. He actually gets clipped by a bullet before running.
Once Dwight gets back to his place he discovers Jay’s already died and turned into a zombie. So he has to put his very new friend down. It’s a bit of a blow to Dwight’s already wounded soul. He yells out like he’s talking to Daryl. He begs Daryl to return and kill him, like he says Daryl should’ve done all those years before. But we know that Mr. Dixon’s not going to show up. Moments later, a truck arrives from which Sherry emerges, along with June. A perfect time for Dwight to pass out from blood loss.
After Dwight comes to he’s being stitched up by Sherry while June gives medical pointers. June can’t do much considering she has a busted hand. Dwight explains there are men looking to kill him. Then June and Sherry explain they need Dwight to help with Troy, who’s seeking to settle the score with Madison. They generally fill Dwight in on how things have changed since he left. They need Dwight because he trained all the young folks, but he insists June can do it all herself without him. Dove briefly says her piece to encourage Dwight. Still, Dwight’s torn up emotionally and believes he only gets people hurt. The situation with Jay didn’t help, either. Sherry wants their son’s “life to mean something” but Dwight just doesn’t agree this is the way to ensure that. And nothing’s going to change Dwight’s mind currently.

When everyone wakes up later, Dove’s nowhere to be found. She comes flying back in with their truck but she’s injured and there’s a bullet hole in the windshield. She’s taken a bullet in the side; it’s lodged in her. The people who shot her were the friends of the guy Dwight burned back at the Sanctuary. Before the group can get out of there, the angry men arrive with their guns. One man steps out front to speak with Dwight. He claims to have “top notch medical supplies” back at the Sanctuary. June asks what the men want in return. They say they want Dwight. When he’s about to give himself over, he’s stopped by Sherry, who starts firing at the men. Sherry wants to go to the Sanctuary and slip in/out before the men can get back there. They do have a vehicle after all.
It isn’t exactly a lovely trip back to the Sanctuary for Sherry, but it’s a necessary one. At the Sanctuary, a man with a gun fires on the group and Sherry puts him down. Probably best to not hang around too long. The group gather what they need, then June takes what time they have to work on Dove’s wound. It also gives Dwight and Sherry more time to argue over things. He’s sure nothing good will come from all the bad, though she thinks the opposite. That’s when she decides Dwight doesn’t “get to give up” and locks him in his old room rather than let him go off to clear walkers, potentially in a suicidal haze. Yet it’s not a good idea for Sherry to go alone, but she does it, insisting that Dwight’s more important in the fight for PADRE than she is, and it only takes a minute for Sherry to find herself in a bad, bad situation.

June manages to get Dwight out in time for him to go save Sherry. But when June gets back to Dove she finds the latter attempting to dig the bullet out herself. Dove doesn’t think anybody’s going to help her even though June says that isn’t true. Meanwhile, Dwight and Sherry kill walkers while they continue arguing. They’re both kind of in the same headspace emotionally. They each want to give up, yet they’re clinging on, if only for each other. They don’t get a chance to rush off and help June because they’re interrupted by the Angry Man Brigade coming home. Things start to go haywire, as zombies crash through flimsy parts of the Sanctuary. So the place is beginning to fill up with dudes and walkers. June and the crew grab their supples to head out quickly right as the building starts to cave in at certain spots. They get onto the factory floor and find they’re surrounded. But the walkers give the men’s group trouble, and then the building starts to collapse even more around everybody.
Dwight realises that the fire’s out so he and the women step into the empty furnace while the walkers rage outside. Another chance for everybody to talk things out. Dwight’s starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel rather than darkness. So is June, who prepares to do whatever she can to help Dove. Eventually once things calm down in the factory, the group emerge and find debris everywhere, along with a few zombies whose heads weren’t smashed in during the building’s collapse. Dove’s resting after the impromptu surgery, but all went well, thankfully. Then Sherry and Dwight notice a finch perched above them singing.

We hear Troy over the radio while Strand begins to hear screams from a young girl. Victor’s had Troy’s daughter taken. Naturally the girl is scared, so Strand tries to be as nice as possible. He tells the girl he wants her to help him “save PADRE.”