Fear the Walking Dead Episode 212 Recap: Pillars of Salt

On AMC‘s Fear the Walking Dead Episode 212, Francisco leads his wife Ana and child through Colonia. They are quiet, sneaking past a sleeping guard and those who are ill. They slip through a loose panel in the fence, and wait in the bus while Francisco kills a zombie, drags it inside, and camouflages himself and family. (They sure don’t shy away from the zombie camo in this show.) Ana warns her daughter it is not safe for them there anymore, and they have to be calm and quiet. They leave unnoticed. As they make their way down the road, a speeding truck makes them hide. Marco’s gang gets out and starts to question them. Francisco offers them his supplies if they just let him go. Then the gangsters recognize Francisco and demand their oxy from him. He doesn’t have it, so the gangsters take the whole Francisco clan back to the supermarket.

Back at the Colonia, Reynaldo alerts Luci that Francisco is gone, and he is not going out to deliver the oxy without him. Luci brings this information to Alejandro, who is furious. He wants Luci to keep it quiet. He instead preaches to his community that what lies beyond the walls is worse than death – it’s a wasteland. “Death will not take us as long as we stand together, have faith in each other.” He is trying to scare the community into subservience – and it seems to work. The congregation is dismissed, and Luci tells Alejandro that she and Nick are going to take Marco the oxy. Alejandro refuses to let them leave, even though they need the water and Marco was expecting them today. Alejandro wants them to stay, so they stay. Nick is upset, but Luci wants to “serve” Alejandro. She has always trusted him, and she is alive because of him.

Nick talks to Reynaldo privately about making the delivery to Marco. Reynaldo doesn’t want to go against Alejandro’s wishes, but he is afraid that Marco’s gang is going to come looking for them. He agrees to go out with Nick tonight. Killing time while waiting for night to fall, Nick goes to the high point in the Colonia and looks out over the town. Way off in the distance, he sees someone watching the Colonia: Marco.

Over at the hotel, the little community is coming together. They start farming, fortify fences, fish, and get the generator running. Alicia even takes surf lessons from Hector. Alicia, Madison, Elena, Oscar, and Victor are having a little impromptu meeting about what the rules should be in their new paradise. There is a knock on the door, and Victor answers. Without saying a word, Ilene stabs him. “You took my daughter.” She leaves. The group rushes Victor into the room and gives him first aid. Oscar’s brother has some medical training, but he doesn’t have the supplies he needs. Ilene missed all his organs, but he is losing a lot of blood. The local pharmacies and hospitals have been raided, but Elena knows a place. Ilene is currently being guarded by other guests in a locked room. Madison decides that Ilene should remain a prisoner indefinitely, and vows that anyone who raises a hand to another person will be kicked out. “That’s the only way this will work.”

Elena, Madison, and Oscar head off in a van. Elena begs Hector to come, but he refuses. On the drive, she explains what the trouble was about. Hector’s brother, Antonio, chose to stay with his gang – Marco’s gang – rather than come with his blood relatives. They arrive at the warehouse and Elena asks to see Antonio. The women are allowed to enter; Oscar must wait outside. They meet Antonio, who looks a little ill, and offer him a trade: a cooler full of fresh fish, packed in ice, in exchange for medical supplies. He agrees, but says Marco will want more ice. While he goes to gather the supplies, the ladies hear yelling. The yelling is coming from Marco, who has separated Francisco and Ana from their child, and is trying to get information out of them about where his drugs are. Elena translates for Madison and says they speak of a gringo with ratty hair. Combine that oxy, and Madison knows they are talking about Nick. She rushes to the “interrogation” room and begs to know the gringo’s name. Ana and Francisco refuse to say a word, and Elena pushes Madison out before they are both killed. Antonio warns his aunt not to come back.

Alicia cares for Victor while they wait for medical supplies. She expounds on a previous statement, that she “raised herself.” Her mom had her hands full with her brother and her dad. Victor points out that now she has her mom all to herself, but Alicia didn’t want it like this. Besides, she isn’t so sure her mother “sees” her.

Madison, Elena, and Oscar return with the supplies after dark, and Oscar rushes them to Victor. Suddenly the lights in the hotel come on, despite the fact that they vowed not to turn them on at night. Alicia rushes to find Madison has turned on the lights. She explains, somewhat manically, about the “gringo” who she is certain is Nick. Alicia is mad, and Madison tries to explain that “your child is always your child.” Alicia has to remind her that she is also her child. “I’m here. Why isn’t that enough?”

The lights do catch someone’s attention: Travis. He heads towards the hotel – and he is alone.

Also: We check in with Ofelia, whose story is mostly told in flashbacks this week. She stops at a restaurant on the beach called Poco Cielo, which is where her boyfriend proposed to her and asked her to move to New Mexico. She was excited for the proposal, but was worried about leaving her parents. She siphons some gas and gets back in the truck, where she sees a cross necklace. She flashes back to returning home from a weekend with “the girls” (she couldn’t even admit to her mother that she was with a guy) and asked her mother about what drew her to her father. They survived a violent, bloody place together, and came to the United States for Ofelia. “We didn’t want that life for you. That is love,” mom told Ofelia. In the present, Ofelia kisses her cross, say she understands now, and drives off. She is heading to the United States.

You can watch a preview for next week’s episode, titled “Date of Death,” using the player below.

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