AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead
8×10: “Keeping Her Alive”
Directed by James Armstrong
Written by Nazrin Choudhury & Calaya Michelle Stallworth

* For a recap & review of 8×09, click here.
* For a recap & review of 8×11, click here.
June and the gang go to see Strand about Tracy, and naturally he’s not willing to listen to anybody else other than himself. She accuses Strand of being the reason John’s father died, along with all sorts of other bad stuff. Victor doesn’t want to “throw stones.” He says taking Tracy is a way to prevent Troy from attacking. He claims to have changed, yet June wants proof. He also says he wants to keep his promise to Alicia. But neither June, nor Dwight are prepared to believe until they see action. Victor’s starting to think there may not be a way out of this without proving himself to them. Or, at least he’s going to play along for now, like always. Until he sees something that benefits him best. Frank is worried, letting Victor go off with June and Co., but his husband assures him: “You know me, I‘ll figure something out.” And now, off the gang go to bring Tracy back to Troy.

Victor’s still convinced all this is a bad idea. He says he has “issues” while he considers Troy “a sociopath on a revenge tour.” He thinks going to Troy is a terrible idea. June has a radio chat with Troy, introducing herself. She lets Tracy talk to dad over the radio waves. June tries to deal with Troy, but he’s not in a dealing mood considering his daughter was kidnapped. She says if they stay at the hotel, her people won’t bother his people, and she tells Troy that Madison’s gone, which means Troy should have no beef with PADRE. Is it all too convenient? Troy’s amenable to June’s suggestions, however, Victor is still positive this is a bad idea.
So Strand hauls Tracy’s blindfold off, meaning she now knows where the island is, and then Tracy takes a dive off the side of the boat, too. Strand runs for it, tearing out the boat’s wiring along the way and diving into the water. He manages to get to shore and help Tracy not get chomped by walkers. He also notices a familiar necklace on the girl. Hmm.
In the forest, Madison turns a boombox on, playing “Live Wire” by Mötley Crüe, then she goes about bashing in a load of zombie heads with a sledgehammer. She’s interrupted by Strand and Tracy. She’s insistent on helping Alicia be at peace, like she did for Nick. But she doesn’t know where to go. Strand then explains that Tracy is Troy’s daughter. He thinks the girl is Madison’s “best shot” at finding whatever’s left of Alicia after noticing the necklace he once gave to Alicia around Tracy’s neck. The only thing is Strand’s telling lies, but Tracy calls him on them all in front of Madison, so there’s no bullshit here. Victor all but pleads with Madison to help, and she finally agrees, if only to help protect Tracy and to hopefully find Alicia’s remains.
After a while, Victor, Tracy, and Madison get a visit from Luciana and Daniel. The whole Tracy situation doesn’t thrill Luciana, who doesn’t want to get the blame for what happened with Troy’s daughter. Luciana wants to send Tracy back to her father, but Daniel says it’s pointless because Troy already knows and he’s going to come for the girl regardless. Daniel doesn’t trust Madison nor Strand, either. So he offers to go along with them to find Alicia’s body, which will give him a chance to figure things out from the inside instead.

Things soon go sideways, as they typically do, after Madison and Strand realise Daniel isn’t with them on honest terms. And it winds up with Victor getting tossed to the roadside suddenly. Madison wonders what Daniel’s up to, but he says it’s all about finding Alicia. On the road, Victor fights with a horde of zombies only for ole SWAT truck to come flying by like old times and take out the dead. It’s not Alicia in there like Strand thinks for a second, it’s another woman, and she ushers Victor into the truck out of zombie trouble. The woman’s name is Ada and she has a couple friends along for the ride. Ada knew Alicia before Troy killed her: “She passed through all of our lives.” The women in the truck dress like Alicia and they keep her alive by continuing on the work that Alicia was doing. They’re all grateful for Alicia and the things she did for them. Ada remembers Strand from years prior at the Tower, where her and her father were turned away. Alicia was eventually the one to save them after the Tower burned, too. After Strand hears about what Troy’s done to Alicia and others, he calls out across the radio to Troy in hopes of stopping anything horrific from happening. At the same time, Luciana and Troy meet for a chat. Luciana has lots of people to back her up, including Strand’s people. She says Troy should give himself up. Then Troy calls to Strand and asks him to help with his daughter.
Madison goes to the location where Tracy leads her and Daniel. It’s a frozen swampland. The girl claims this is the place where her father led the herd, which is now stuck in place. Madison’s sceptical at first, though Tracy seems genuine. It fast comes to light that Tracy is only lying. She tried leading Madison to her own dead, zombified mother so that Madison would get a nice chomp. She blames Madison for her mother’s dead, and she says Madison killed her own children with her logic that nobody’s gone until they’re gone. This changes everything for Madison now. She thinks it’s time to kill Tracy. Goddamn! Daniel ties Tracy to a tree next to a walker while Madison questions the girl about Alicia again. Madison doesn’t care what the child says and she’s about to push the walker into Tracy when Victor finds them, urging Madison to think about what’s happening. Tracy ends up running off, still tied up, into the frozen walker woods. Alicia’s group of lady friends offer to help Madison with PADRE, insisting they don’t need to risk their lives for the girl.

The good news: Troy’s men are depleted to nothing. The bad news: Troy still “his army” of the dead that he’s been leading around for ages. Madison meets Alicia’s friends, who’ve already seen and heard her on the tape a long while back. She doesn’t care about the tape, but Strand tries to explain that she’s losing herself. Victor doesn’t want Madison to become a monster the way he once did, but she is fiercely intent on going off on her own to handle things with Troy, even though everybody tells her this is the wrong way to do it. Madison wants to finish what she believes she and she alone started a decade ago at the dam.