Fear The Walking Dead recap, season 4 episode 13: Blackjack

On the latest Fear The Walking Dead, the storm’s aftermath was explored yet again, this time, on Luciana’s end. At the same time, we learn who’s been delivering those supply boxes around the state mile markers.

“Blackjack” picks up almost exactly where the last episode of Fear The Walking Dead left off. June (Jenna Elfman) is trying to reach Quinn on the walkie-talkie and Tonya Pinkens’ character has the zombified Quinn tied down in Althea’s tank. Pinkins’ character hasn’t been given an official name but she’s listed as “Filthy Woman” on IMDB and other press sites.

Before the Filthy Woman makes her introduction, June attempts to reach Quinn several times. Every attempt is met with silence until the sound of walker moans begin coming through. The sound worries June, then the Filthy Woman picks up. She starts telling June and the others that what they’re doing is wrong, explaining how their actions are making people “weak.” The woman goes on to threaten Morgan and the others in not so many words. Of course, Morgan doesn’t let her get to him.

After Morgan’s ragtag group becomes acquainted with the Filthy Woman, the next scene shifts focus to Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) and John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt). They wound up on a small island after the storm and have struggled to find a viable way off. John also learns early on that there’s another obstacle standing in his way, an alligator.

Despite finding this dead-eater in the waters surrounding them, John and Victor create a makeshift boat to get over the span of water. John crafts a whole plan to distract the savage predator and it sounds legitimate, but the plan requires Victor’s help.

Since John still doesn’t have full mobility, he can’t do all the running and jumping that he’s used to. So when John sees a truck washed up on a nearby encampment, he recruits Victor to help him. Victor isn’t easily swayed by John’s plan, but eventually comes around. When he does, Victor has a bit of a task ahead of him.

More from AMC

• Why is Fear the Walking Dead no longer streaming on Max?
• Interview with the Vampire season 2 release updates, strike delay, and more
• How many episodes is Carol on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon?
• Orphan Black: Echoes release updates, trailer, cast and what else to know
• Dark Winds season 3 release updates, cast, and more to know

With the truck on its side, inches away from sliding down an embankment, Victor takes every precaution not to move it. However, Victor catches a glimpse at a bottle of wine and can’t help himself. Victor reaches for the bottle with a walker inches away from grabbing him. He can’t quite reach it but keeps attempting to. After a few foolhardy attempts, the walker gets ahold of Victor’s arm and drags him in. They tussle for a moment and the truck slides off the embankment as a result.

John rushes to the scene, hoping Victor isn’t seriously hurt. He gets to the truck and sees that Victor is a little banged up but he’s okay. The walker sitting beside him, not so much. Victor also managed to keep that wine bottle he was eyeing from breaking on the way down.

As for Luciana, she’s still searching for Charlie. When we see her, Luciana is using the book Charlie left behind to track the girl down. The girl’s book came from a public library so it wasn’t too difficult to find. Unfortunately, Charlie wasn’t in the library.

After some time searching the area, Luciana notices that a walker is banging on a car window nearby. It’s obviously attracted to something inside, possibly a person. Luciana approaches to investigate.

When she closes in, Luciana takes down the walker without too much of a fight. She then opens the car door to find Clayton (Stephen Henderson) sitting in the driver’s seat. His legs pinned under the wreckage, Clayton can’t move. He introduces himself and thanks Luciana for helping him. Clayton then asks why she would even stop, much less risk her life for a complete stranger. Luciana explains to him that “she has a lot to make up for,” Clayton attests to the same.

With them now acquainted, Luciana tries to help Clayton out of the car. She gets a jack with the intent to pry him out but it becomes apparent quite quickly that the car is holding Clayton together. When reality sets in, Clayton makes a special request to which Luciana obliges.

Back on John’s end, he gets busy stripping the downed truck for parts to fashion a makeshift raft. He gets what he needs, puts all the pieces together, and makes one last effort to convince Victor into joining him. And with a little prodding, it works.

Shortly after, Victor and John are off. They have a distraction set up on the nearby shore and walkers are being lured towards it. Everything appears to be going according to plan, except the battery powering John’s distraction dies out. At that point, the walkers lose interest and walk away.

Once the walkers are out of the water, the alligator’s attention goes straight towards John and Victor. They’re barely halfway through the watery trench when the alligator begins slamming itself into the bottom. John and Victor become wary of its attacks, hoping that it will go away, but the animal keeps assaulting them.

Eventually, the alligator’s attack tears a hole in the raft. Victor begins to panic and tells John that they need to swim back to their shoreline. John objects, believing they can make it across before the alligator can reach them. Victor knows he’s wrong and jumps out of the raft, swimming back. John is reluctant to join him but fears Victor is right so he returns to the nearby shore.

Luciana’s journey leads her down a search for beer. Clayton’s dying wish was to have one last beer and she does everything to make that happen. Luciana searches high and low but finds nothing. She gives up, telling Clayton over the radio that she couldn’t find anything. Clayton isn’t upset or too disappointed, he’s just surprised that Luciana would go to such lengths to help a stranger out. It’s then that Luciana finds what she’s looking for.

In a box sitting on the side of the road, Luciana finds some familiar writing on the box. The writing says “take what you need, leave what you don’t.” It’s one of several that Morgan dropped off and the box has a single beer sitting in the bottom. Luciana is so happy with her find, she rushes back to Clayton.

When she gets back, Clayton is thrilled with Luciana’s find. He begins to drink the beer then finishes explaining how he decided to help people when the world ended. And as it turns out, Clayton was the truck driver responsible for delivering those supply boxes to each mile marker. He tells Luciana all about it, as well as the location for several other warehouses he has supplies stored in. Luciana never gets to tell Clayton that his boxes served their purpose but he found out in his own way.

It isn’t long after Clayton finishes his beer that he breathes his last. Luciana buries Clayton nearby then picks up the radio to thank the person who left them. At this point, she still doesn’t know Clayton dropped them off.

Luciana finishes her thanks and is about to walk away when Morgan contacts her on the radio. They talk for a moment and are quickly reunited with one another.

On the truck, she gives Morgan the journals Clayton left her. They read through them and finally come to the conclusion that Clayton was the guy driving the truck. It’s a somber moment but also revives the hope that Morgan seemed to have lost.

Not long after, Charlie and Alicia can be heard on the radio. They manage to reach Morgan, all thanks to the boxes left by Clayton. Without it, Alicia and Charlie wouldn’t have known what channel Morgan was broadcasting on. But since it was there, everything came together.

Things are looking good for Morgan’s group but then the situation takes a turn for the worse when the Filthy Woman shows up again. She’s threatening Morgan, and this time, she’s close by.

Moments later, she rides up in Althea’s truck. The Filthy Woman says one more cryptic line to Morgan over the radio then opens fire with the machine guns on Al’s truck. The scene cuts to black shortly after, ending this week’s episode of Fear The Walking Dead.

Fear The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC. Season 4 Episode 14 “MM 54” airs September 16, 2018.