Althea’s Gambit
Fear The Waling Dead returns this week with another standalone episode, one that takes a closer look at Althea in one of the better episodes of the season. While there isn’t much in the way of plot development, the background we receive for Althea is certainly welcome, as is the small bites of background for the shadowy group in the radiation zone. The episode begins with Althea running from her captor. She runs through the woodland but winds up caught again. Her captor is no stranger to this it seems and she asks Althea for her camera but she refuses vehemently. For her troubles, Althea finds herself tied up in a car but manages to attract a zombie to come over, dragging barbed wire behind him. After killing the walker, she uses the wire to cut her binds and escape. She happens upon the helicopter we saw last episode and attempts to communicate but her captor finds her again, this time pointing a gun at her face. Althea tells her she just wants to know her story but the captor is having none of it, forcing her out of the cockpit. Eventually, they come to an agreement, with Althea nicknaming her Happy, and set out together. On the way, they come across zombies on the road and quickly put them down before watching their car being buried under rubble. From here, we learn a little more about Althea’s fascination with her camera as well as some teasing glimpses of what these armoured people are all about. Realizing they need to climb, they rock climb up the mountain face, after retrieving Al’s camera and after killing a zombie make it to the top. They talk at the top of the cliff and from here, the two share memories and stories before Happy eventually confesses that her name is Isabella, greeting Althea properly with a kiss. Realizing she can’t kill Althea, she lets her live and they go their separate ways. Althea regroups with the others where she tells them her last name and takes one last look in the direction of the helicopter, now long gone, and heads off with the others. On the surface, you’d be forgiven for thinking this episode was nothing more than filler. While there isn’t much in the way of plot development, the standalone episode featuring Althea is certainly a welcome one and really helps add some background to her character. These sort of episodes do tend to take a back seat from the big threat of the season, but given one of the best episodes last year was the standalone featuring John Dorie, the same is actually true here too. The episode itself is admittedly pretty slow but it’s actually a welcome one here, in a season of tumultuous quality. I doubt this is the last we’ve seen of Isabella though and the ending certainly sets up a promising series of events to follow in the coming weeks.
