‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Season 6, Episode 2 ‘Welcome to the Club’ Recap: Crucial Decisions

Fear the Walking Dead is finally good again. I wasn’t so sure after last week’s excellent season premiere, but season 6, episode 2 gave a brilliant follow-up and setup to what many now call as the show’s return to form.

Remember when we spent weeks after weeks groaning, trying to predict all the goddamned ways that Morgan (Lennie James) and the Spectacular Help Parade would try to ruin our Sunday nights? It’s still fresh in my mind, but I can’t believe that it’s not a thing anymore. Maybe the quarantine did the show well after all? Still, I’m one of the multitudes of Fear fans who couldn’t believe it but who are also entirely here for this new albeit familiar flavor.

Titled “Welcome to the Club,” this week’s episode brings the focus back to our original heroes of Fear the Walking Dead as Strand (Colman Domingo) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) face a new task from Virginia (Colby Minife), the leader of the Pioneers. She wants access to a weapons warehouse in one of her outposts, and the only way Virginia could get them was to clear out the Walkers milling inside the warehouse. With the Help parade now separated, all that’s left for Strand and Alicia to do is to earn their keep. And what better way to prove that by impressing the wide-eyed maniacal leader of the misconstrued survivors?

Another subplot of Fear the Walking Dead Season 6, Episode 2, involves Daniel (Rubén Blades) seemingly not himself. It’s been a couple of weeks since their group was separated, and the former trained assassin reached his tipping point, losing all control. But it’s not until the end of the episode where we get to see an interesting reveal.

Oh, and by the way, “Welcome to the Club” also happens to be Lennie James’ directorial debut for Fear, and I couldn’t help but be amazed at the fact that he helped steer this great episode to the right path.

Now, off we go with tonight’s Fear the Walking Dead recap. But before that…

If you haven’t seen “Welcome to the Club” yet and don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading. This is a SPOILER-FILLED recap, and there’s no going back once you move forward. You have been warned.

Fear the Walking Dead 6X02 Recap

A Tricky (and Sticky) Situation

“Welcome to the Club” starts with Strand and Alicia on shit-cleaning duty. Marcus (Justin Smith), one of Virginia’s rangers, tried to force them to clean up his shit, but the two wouldn’t budge. A minor standoff begins, but Strand and Alicia’s asses are saved by a girl named Dakota (Zoe Colletti). Marcus decides to bring the matter to Virginia (apparently you can’t say no to a ranger’s demands), who then punishes them with the task of clearing out the warehouse.

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Earlier in the episode, a group of prisoners tried to do the task but were unsuccessful as the Walkers were drenched in sticky molasses. Most of them died in the process, except for one scaredy-cat named Sanjay (Satya Nikhil Polisetti).

Strand and Alicia arrive at the warehouse and has an awkward reunion with Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) and Janis (Holly Curran). I don’t know who the fuck Janis is (must’ve been part of the people Morgan rescued in the Season 5 finale, but who the hell cares anyway), but it looks like she is another recurring character. Left with no other weapon but a spear and Alicia’s weird machine gun sword, the duo is left with the tedious task of Walker cleanup (with a little help from the weaponless prisoners, of course).

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An escape is also off the table because rangers heavily guard the place. Strand doesn’t give a fuck about this, though. I mean, it’s the entire group of prisoners plus them against nine rangers? It looks like the odds are in their favor this time, even if weapons outnumber them. The plan is to take over the place and escape.

A truck arrives carrying a few more weapons for them to use in the cleanup job. But surprise, surprise, it’s just more sharp sticks and no guns. Oh, and a stowaway in the form of Dakota, who happens to be Virginia’s sister too. Happy fucking holidays, y’all.

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Dakota—now a Spectacular Help Parade superfan thanks to the videotapes she saw—wants in on Strand’s plan but warns them that Virginia will smite them once she learns about it. She also hints that the warehouse might contain some weapons so Virginia can use it against this one person she can’t seem to kill (Morgan, who else?). So Strand changes the plan—clear the Walkers, take control of the outpost, and use the weapons against Virginia. But as the plan shapes up, Dakota drops a minute detail about Strand’s deal with Virginia—pissing off Alicia.

Now, that deal isn’t as clear as how Strand describes it, but we all know that he’s a conniving motherfucker who would do anything to save his ass. “I gave her the MRAP to keep us together. I didn’t do it for you; I did it for me,” Strand says. “What we need to do to survive this, I can’t do on my own. Not without you. Not the way it should be done.”

What does that even mean, Strand?

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Despite Alicia’s qualms about Strand’s plan, they move forward with it. Sanjay is tasked with setting the Walkers loose as they file towards Strand’s group, weapons ready, and all thanks to a makeshift cattle chute.

Initially, it seemed as if they’d got it under control. But when the horde grows thicker, Strand’s group is almost overwhelmed. Charlie almost became Walker bait, but Dakota was quick to save her. This prompts the rangers to intervene and discover that Dakota is fucking around the warehouse. Great, now Virginia knows her sister is there and is on the way to get her.

With the plan seemingly going haywire, Strand decides to use the Walkers to their advantage. The chute gives, and the Walkers spread throughout the warehouse, trapping Alicia and a few prisoners. The Walkers also overtake the rangers while Strand escapes to safety with Dakota. This is the moment when Strand returns to his twisted ways. As soon as all hell broke loose, Sanjay pussied out and hid inside an RV. With the man proving useless to Strand, he uses Sanjay as a distraction and food for the Walkers, ultimately helping Alicia clear out the horde using the dead rangers’ guns.

With the warehouse cleared of Walkers and rangers, it’s time for them to get what they came for before Virginia arrives.

But again, surprise, surprise… the warehouse ain’t worth shit ’cause it’s empty. No weapons, no artillery, and no thing-you-can-use-against-Virginia.

As Virginia arrives at the scene and reveals the real reason why she brought Strand there. “The thing I’m looking for ain’t here. It’s you, a true leader. And from what you did here today, each and every one of you, you are the key. This is how we survive,” Virginia says. “Congratulations, Victor. You just formed us an army.” She then gives Strand a key to wear as a patch, signifying his promotion as Virginia’s second-in-command.

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It all ends with Strand easing up to his newfound position and doing what he does best—screwing over the people that care about him. He ships Alicia and Charlie off to an undisclosed Pioneer outpost and reveals that he needs to forget who he was before so he could “save” them from Virginia. So it’s basically “fuck everyone and fend for me” all over again. But here’s the thing—this is good because it’s how we saw Strand in the first three seasons of Fear the Walking Dead. He’s back, people! Our resident asshole is back!

“I don’t know who you are.”

Daniel’s side of the episode is an interesting thing to watch. He’s now the Pioneers’ resident barber after getting a blow to the head so forceful that it gave him selective amnesia. Daniel wanted to see where his cat, Skidmark, was and got so out of control that the Pioneers had to respond violently. Now he’s a shell of the man that he once was. Even as Strand and Alicia tried to tell him to “drop the act,” it seems like Daniel lost his memory for real. I mean, in which plane of reality did we ever see Daniel FLINCH from Strand?

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The only thing that Daniel could do for Strand was to offer him a St. Christopher’s Medallion, which symbolically protects its bearer from the burden of burdens. Ooooooh, voodoo shit.

That night, after Strand and co. came back from their warehouse excursion, Charlie plays a song that Daniel taught her, which seems to reawaken Daniel’s memory momentarily. But here’s where things get weird. As Daniel gets whisked off to a new Pioneer outpost, he “pretends” to forget his good scissors and has his ranger get it for him. While waiting, Daniel whistles Charlie’s song and someone whistles it back.

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It’s revealed to be the “dead” Morgan, and Daniel suddenly regains his memory to welcome his old friend.

So the question is—was Daniel putting up a well-played act all along, or did Charlie’s song help him remember?

‘Fear the Walking Dead: Welcome to the Club’ Overall Verdict

Epic and satisfying on all fronts, tonight’s Fear the Walking Dead episode really set the tone of season 6’s new and improved narrative. If y’all would remember, Season 4 started off strong only to shit on everything they did right and kill off the Madison and Nick. Season 6 plays off of that good intro but keeps it faithful to the pace this whole time. Even with our characters separated, the show still feels self-aware and sets up something big in the coming episodes.

“Welcome to the Club” played all of its cards well and is a worthy follow-up to “The End is the Beginning.” I guess it’s safe to say that the show has been redeemed and is finally bringing back the elements that made us love it in the first place. Strand is back to his asshole ways. Morgan is in the best shape we’ve seen him since The Walking Dead’s “Clear.” Alicia is once again being set up for a brand new moral dilemma.

Oh, what a time to be a Fear fan again.

Fear the Walking Dead continues Sunday, October 25th, with “Alaska” at 9/8c on AMC.