PADRE
Written by Ian Goldberg & Andrew Chambliss
Directed by Michael E. Satrazemis
Directed by Michael E. Satrazemis
"I can't be the person you need me to be. I don't know how much longer I have left. I thought it was long enough to find PADRE."
— Alicia Clark
Alicia enlists Morgan's help to search for a new home for her people, but Morgan soon learns the search is more complicated than he imagined.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: All the struggle and fighting during the episode to follow Vasquez to PADRE is for naught as he is simply drawn back to the Tower.
- An Arm and a Leg: Alicia was forced to amputate her arm when she was bitten by Vasquez, and replaced it with a prosthetic that incorporated her own bones.
- Call-Back:
- Alicia’s time since “Mother” is shown in flashbacks.
- This episode heavily calls back to the season premiere since Will returns in flashbacks and Senator Vasquez is shown, albeit as a walker. Strand’s decision to kill Will also comes back to bite him.
- Continuity Nod:
- Morgan tells Alicia that he too once thought walkers had echoes of their past lives, but when he failed to put down his undead wife Jennie, she later bit and killed their son Duane.
- Despite this, a few walkers throughout the franchise have shown the tiniest flicker of retaining who they once were. Jenny Jones did come to her old house and try to use the doorknob (though this has since been chalked up to Early-Installment Weirdness); Merle Dixon as a walker seemed to recognize his brother Daryl in the main show’s “This Sorrowful Life”; and Simon’s walker in “Worth” was notably more aggressive than other recently reanimated walkers, meant to be portrayed (per his actor's word) that there was a tiny bit of Simon still left in him.
- Gone Horribly Right: Strand killed Will to ensure Alicia would want nothing to do with him. At the end of the episode, Alicia seems willing to consider a deal with Strand, only for her to find the reanimated Will and declare war on the Tower. Even though Strand clearly regrets his decision since he genuinely wants Alicia back with him, he got exactly what he wanted from killing Will.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: The Stalkers led by Alicia are revealed to have been former members of Teddy’s Doomsday Cult, but for now, they’re allies of Morgan’s group.
- Immediate Sequel: The flashbacks with Alicia pick right off from where Teddy left her in “Mother”.
- Mythology Gag: Alicia’s arm prosthetic strongly resembles the metal arm prosthetic worn by Rick Grimes in the post-“All Out War” era of the comics.
- Ship Tease: While we know Will had developed feelings for Alicia, she’s shown to have become fond of him too, though we don’t get concrete information as to whether or not she genuinely reciprocated.
- This Means War!: Finally convinced that Strand will never be a faithful ally, Alicia declares war on the Tower, intending to take it for her and Morgan’s groups.
- Zombie Infectee: A strange case that’s Played With. Despite having survived a week since amputating her bitten arm, Alicia believes she is still dying due to still suffering from an infection. Will points out it could’ve been from a myriad of things besides the walker bite, and despite the franchise never having shown anyone surviving more than a day, tops, Alicia insists she believes she is dying.
"Then we're going to war!"
