Shiva
Directed by Andrew Bernstein
In a flashback, a man walks through the trees and approaches a boy, who is staring at the bodies of adult men floating in a Salvadoran river. A voice says, "Take the gun, Daniel..."
Daniel wakes up with a start after hearing a gunshot. Ofelia wakes up as well and fearfully asks what's happening. He tells her to grab her things and move. As they run outside, she begins to complain of not feeling well and doubles over. When she rises back up, Daniel looks on as she begins to peel skin from her own face. He recoils in horror...
...and finally wakes up for real. He hears shouting in the background and goes to Thomas' room with everyone else to investigate. They find Strand, still looking on in despair after having mercy-killed Thomas. Celia comes in and blasts Strand for not honoring the Suicide Pact he had with Thomas, and slaps him across the face in response. She then turns to Madison and tells her that everyone were fools for following Strand to the estate. She tells the group that she wants them all gone the following day.
Outside, Travis walks up to Alicia and tells her that Chris is nowhere to be found. She refuses to help and says that Chris attempted to stab her in her room. Travis claims that Chris wouldn't do such a thing and storms off. He eventually discovers him walking through a field, and when Chris sees him, he takes off. Travis follows in response.
The next morning, Daniel is shown to be undergoing signs of Sanity Slippage and stares at everyone around him with wild eyes. He sharpens a credit card on a stone and stuffs it back in his pocket before walking off.
Madison goes to Nick and Alicia and tells them to subtly pack as many supplies as they can carry. She tells them that they have to get back to the boat, but Alicia refuses and says she doesn't want to go. Madison says that Celia and her staff aren't their friends and that they need to get their heads right because it's dangerous. Nick says he can talk to Celia and convince her to let them stay, but she tells him not to under any circumstances. She claims that Travis and Chris will be back shortly before walking off.
Travis spends several hours looking for Chris and finds the body of a walker who was stabbed in the head with the latter's knife. It is revealed that Chris used this as a distraction and runs off in another direction. He eventually finds more dead bodies before hearing noises inside a nearby structure. Upon stepping inside, he discovers a man inside who nearly attacks him until he explains what he's doing there. The man says he can't speak English and allows him to rest. Travis pulls off his socks, revealing that his feet are bloodied and cut-up.
Madison is talking with a member of Celia's staff when she hears some commotion and goes outside to investigate. They discover Nick once again covered in blood carting in Luis, who has turned and been restrained. Madison stares in shock as Nick transfers him to Celia's men and walks inside. He looks on as Celia tells her other workers that Luis has moved on to the next stage of life before having him carted off to the wine cellar with the other workers. Afterwards, Celia congratulates Nick on bringing him back, and he successfully lobbies her to let the rest of his family stay. She then tells him that Strand won't be allowed to remain on the property. She tells him that life isn't an apocalypse, but the beginning of life itself, before he leaves.
Nick is cleaning the blood off himself when Madison arrives and asks what his fascination is with the dead. She points out that something changed in him when he fought the dead on the beach, and asks what happened. He tells her about his experience coating himself in blood and walking among the dead, and claims that he didn't feel fear and wouldn't die.
Outside, Strand is digging a grave for Thomas outside when Daniel arrives and begs him to stop. He claims that the land and house is unholy, and that Thomas will come back in some form. Strand ignores his pleas and continues to dig as Daniel leaves. Soon after, Madison arrives and asks him what he's done to her son. Strand accurately lays out the rationale and circumstances that led Nick to reject his mother's influence, and tells her that he exploited an advantage to get Nick's help.
At a nearby table, Ofelia is drinking a glass of water when Daniel arrives and pulls her up. He tells her that they have to go and that her mother is waiting for them at the gate. Ofelia senses something is wrong and tells him everything will be alright, but he begins to yell that the house is evil. A group of Celia's men arrive and see what's happening and attempt to restrain him, but he pulls out the sharpened credit card and slashes one of the men across the face with it. He gets beaten down and dragged off while Ofelia begs for them to leave him alone.
Celia holds a funeral service and mourns Thomas, claiming that he was like a son to her. She finishes by saying that the world has changed and the "real work has begun". As the onlookers throw dirt on the casket, Celia tells Strand that it's time to leave. When a pair of her men begin to walk up and hustle him out, Strand holds up a shovel and says he isn't done yet. She tells him to say his final goodbyes and leave as soon as possible. She then goes to Ofelia and tells her that she wants to help Daniel.
Back at the small house, the man gives Travis a pair of shoes and tells him his son went east. Travis gets ready to leave, but realizes that there's an English-language book on the ground and the man's son, Ramon, isn't home. He asks the man if he speaks English, and then notices shadows moving under a nearby door. The man whispers that someone will hurt his son if he doesn't leave. Travis barges through the door and finds Chris holding Ramon hostage with a gun. Chris rails at him and tells him to leave him alone, but Travis defuses the situation by tackling him and knocking the gun out of his hand. Chris runs outside and Travis follows in pursuit, and they get into a brief scuffle. Chris tells him he's a monster, and Travis says that he should have done something to help but didn't know how to.
Nick finds Travis and tells him to come back for Madison's sake. However, Travis declines and says that his son still needs him and they need time to sort out their issues. Despite Nick's reluctance, he agrees to tell his mother that he couldn't find them, and leaves them to talk.
Celia goes to visit Daniel, who is restrained in the generator room of the estate. She tells him that she's seen the way he looks at her and says that she knows hatred when she sees it. As Celia talks to him, he begins to hear the voice of Griselda whispering to him in the background. Celia continues to talk with him, telling him he's afraid of himself instead of the dead. As Griselda's voice tells him that he can find absolution, Celia tries to get him to kill himself and join the other walkers in the wine cellar. She urges him to confess his sins, but he tells her that he has nothing to say. She leaves, and soon after, an apparition of Griselda appears in front of him. The apparition and Daniel get into a conversation, and she asks if he loves her. She accuses him of not finding her body, and then says that he hasn't admitted all his sins yet. He reveals that the memory of shooting a man in the Salvadoran river still haunts him, and she says that he was a victim of the military.
In Celia's room, Madison comes in and attempts to sway her decision to make Strand leave. However, the latter refuses to budge. She tells her that Strand killed her son, then calls her out for trying to poison Nick's mind. Celia asks her to open her eyes to the new world, and Madison says that she "wants to understand".
The pair go down to the wine cellar, where Celia opens the gate and looks on in happiness at the undead Luis and the other walkers while talking about how she still loves them despite their state. Seeing what's happening, Madison slowly backs up from the gate as Celia asks what she wouldn't do for her children. Madison replies, "Nothing," and locks the gate. She walks off as Celia looks straight ahead and begins to cry.
That night, Strand is escorted to the gate by Celia's staff and waves Alicia goodbye before it closes behind him.
One of Celia's men, Jorge, goes to find Daniel and bring him some food. He unties one of Daniel's restraints and allows him to eat one-handed, but Daniel drops the spoon while feigning tremors in his hands. When Jorge bends down to retrieve it, Daniel headbutts and flips the chair over him before undoing his other restraint and making his way down to the wine cellar, while Griselda's voice urges him on.
He arrives at the cellar and unlocks the gate, then walks inside as Griselda tells him that they'll be together soon. He pours a trail of gasoline and dumps out the contents in front of him, then watches as the walkers inside stalk towards him. He ignites the fire and stares in amazement as Griselda walks towards him, arms outstretched...
Outside, Strand sees what's happening and quickly runs to the pickup truck. Nick also arrives back at the estate and sees it bursting into flames, then breaks into a run.
Madison runs to the generator room and calls out for Daniel, but only sees Jorge unconscious amid the smoke and flames. She runs back out and reunites with Alicia and Ofelia, while Strand drives up in the truck and tells them that they have to go. Madison sees Celia's men fleeing in the distance, then sees Nick walking by himself. When she approaches and tells him they need to leave, he tells her that he won't be coming with them and says that Celia was right about the group. He claims that they destroy everything they touch, and walks off. Madison is dragged back to the vehicle by Strand, and they watch as Nick, still covered in blood, disappears into a crowd of walkers...
Ofelia breaks down and Alicia stares out in shock as the truck drives off...
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: Travis spends several hours looking for Chris without wearing shoes. When he's forced to stop and rest, his feet are shown bleeding and blistered.
- All There in the Manual: The online Story Sync supplement claims that both Celia and Daniel are dead by the end of the episode. This was quickly proven incorrect, as the Talking Dead aftershow confirmed that Daniel is still alive.
- The Cameo: Patricia Spindola (Griselda Salazar), who appears as a hallucination seen and heard by Daniel at several points throughout the episode.
- The Cavalry: Strand comes back to rescue Madison, Alicia and Ofelia as everyone is fleeing from the burning Abigail estate.
- Cliffhanger: Daniel and Celia are presumed dead, while everyone else is forced to flee the burning estate and Nick walks off on his own, covered in blood, with a pack of walkers.
- Continuity Nod: Daniel acknowledges and remembers his childhood memory of finding men taken away by the government dead and floating by a river. It is later revealed that this incident was his introduction to the Salvadoran military, as an older man gives him a gun and tells him to Mercy Kill a man who is still alive and floating in the water.
- Deadpan Snarker: When Strand is locked out of the estate by Celia's staff.Strand: Don't worry, I'll hail a cab.
- Dream Within a Dream: Daniel has a flashback within a dream, going back to a childhood incident where he made his first kill for the Salvadoran junta.
- Flaw Exploitation: Madison exploits Celia's beliefs and empathy for Nick to get the chance to lock her inside the wine cellar with all the undead she keeps.
- Heel Realization: Nick comes to this conclusion, claiming that the family were the ones who caused the estate to burn down. As a result, he refuses to go with the others and walks off, covered in blood, amongst the walkers as they drive away.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Nick says this to his mother, nearly word-for-word, while justifying why he brought the undead Luis back to Celia in exchange for letting the family stay at the estate.
- Idiot Ball: Travis goes out looking for Chris and spends hours walking around without shoes on, leading to him suffering from Agony of the Feet when he finally reaches the field worker's house.
- Impairment Shot: The camera slightly shakes during the scene where Daniel is questioned by Celia, symbolizing his Sanity Slippage.
- Incendiary Exponent/Kill It with Fire: Daniel lights the wine cellar on fire in order to kill the walkers, leading to it spreading and blowing up several generators that are on the property.
- Insistent Terminology: Nick refuses to acknowledge the undead as any term, and claims that they're still people and should be acknowledged by their names when Madison questions him.
- Mercy Kill: Daniel does this to an injured Salvadoran man in a flashback, at the behest of an older man who gives him a gun to perform the act.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Daniel's Sanity Slippage results in him setting fire to the wine cellar, which eventually causes the entire Abigail estate to burn down and everyone forced to scatter.
- Not So Stoic: Celia begins to cry after Madison locks her in the wine cellar, clearly realizing that she's done for and breaking her otherwise-calm demeanor.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Strand gives a blistering one to Madison, explaining in detail the circumstances that led her to lose control of her son and how he capitalized on Nick's addict nature to make him an ally.
- Sanity Slippage: Several characters begin to suffer from it.
- Chris (who claims himself to be a "monster") takes a young boy hostage and nearly kills him before Travis intervenes, and then tries to kill him as well. He claims that he's too far gone, leading Travis to stay behind with him to sort out their issues.
- Daniel begins to suffer from nightmares and eventually starts to see and hear a hallucination of his dead wife, Griselda. She convinces him to break free and burn the wine cellar down, claiming that they'll "be together soon".
- Nick buys into Celia's philosophy that the undead are the next stage of life, and refuses to go with the rest of the family at the end, instead opting to walk covered in blood amongst a group of walkers.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Played With. Strand is forced out of the estate by Celia and her staff, and tells Madison that he's planning to go back to the Abigail and sail to parts unknown. However, he runs back in once he sees the estate burning down and rescues her, Alicia and Ofelia before driving off.
- Shirtless Scene: Strand is seen digging a grave for Thomas, sans shirt.
- Shout-Out: The episode has several thematic ties to the main series episode "Beside the Dying Fire", including a place where walkers are being kept set on fire, a man rescuing several women in a pick-up truck, and everyone forced to scatter in different directions when their safe place is compromised.
- Spotting the Thread: Travis figures out that something is wrong with the field worker when he sees an English-language book lying on the ground, despite the latter's insistence that he doesn't speak English. This is what makes him figure out that Chris is holding the man's son as hostage.
- Trash the Set: The entire estate is set on fire as a result of Daniel's machinations and is seen burning down while everyone flees.
- Uncertain Doom: Celia, Jorge and Daniel are all last seen in the estate just before it burns down, with the former and latter unaccounted for and left in dangerous situations (Celia locked in with the walkers for several minutes, and Daniel standing in front of the growing fire while the walkers advance towards him).
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Celia is last seen trapped with the walkers in the wine cellar after being locked in by Madison. When Daniel comes down to the cellar, she is nowhere to be found, there aren't any remains, blood or clothing lying around, and she isn't seen among the walkers that advance towards him. Although some of them do appear to have been feeding very recently, it's unclear if they ate Celia or just her latest gift of livestock.
- Conversely, Daniel is last seen lighting the cellar on fire and staring in a daze as the hallucination of Griselda approaches. He is also not seen as the estate burns down and is presumed dead by Ofelia, who cries as they leave. However,
Word of God states he's alive.
