‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Season 4, Episode 1 ‘What’s Your Story?’ Recap: An Interesting Journey [SPOILERS]

Morgan Jones’ (Lennie James) life has always been tough. He lost a child, recovered, and then lost another one close to him—his post-apocalyptic mentor. For everything that Morgan has been through, one would think that he’d develop a strong resilience against these things, but turns out, it doesn’t. Tonight, in the season premiere of “Fear the Walking Dead,” we pick up right where we left Morgan off from “The Walking Dead’s” Season finale, “Wrath.”

His journey to self-awareness and discovery was full of highs and lows. When losing so much of your people proves to be more weight than you can handle, you’re bound to break. In “What’s Your Story?”, Morgan once again begins his journey to recovery—even if that means leaving his friends in Atlanta.

A new friend

“What’s Your Story” begins with a lone camper, John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) noticing a presence near his camp. As he goes on a monologue of how excited he is to find someone else with him, a Walker appears from the bushes. Morgan follows after the Walker, killing it.

We flashback to Morgan’s days in the dump, where Jadis/Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh) used to live. Jesus (Tom Payne). Carol (Melissa McBride), and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) try to convince him to return to them, but Morgan wouldn’t budge. Finally, after Rick, Morgan leaves.

Morgan arrives at another abandoned subdivision, and the voices of his colleagues plague him. After a day of trying to figure out what to do, Morgan decides to run, farther than he did before. He then comes across a bunch of parked cars and hot wires one. Surprisingly, it’s on a full tank. Morgan drives until the fuel runs out.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

He then continues his journey, even coming across a group of survivors, but avoiding them entirely. What follows is a montage of Morgan surviving on his own. Morgan finds another used car and uses it until the tires burst. He’s now in an abandoned town, where he also spots a man grasping for his breath. Morgan notices a bite mark on his leg, so he leaves some bandages and alcohol for him. But the man shoos him away, so Morgan moves on. His journey then ends back come nightfall, where he kills the Walker and hears John talking.

“What’s your story?”

John introduces himself and offers Morgan food and shelter for the night in John’s truck. Morgan obliges but leaves as soon as John is fast asleep. As Morgan wanders, he sees an abandoned tent. Then, a group of thieves knocks him out. Morgan bargains his food for his freedom, but the men won’t accept it. John then comes out of nowhere, shooting their leader Leland’s (Clint James) gun out of his grip. But it’s still not enough to save Morgan, as more men come out of the shadows, flanking them.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

An enormous SWAT armored truck arrives driven by a woman. She sees Morgan and John on their knees and offers Leland and his men some food in exchange for them both. When Leland refuses, Althea shows off the massive machine guns fasted to the side of her tanker. Leland lets Morgan and John go with her.

As they drive away, the woman introduces herself as Althea (Maggie Grace). John asks what her previous occupation was before it all happened, but Althea answers Vaguely. Morgan asks to be dropped off, but Althea refuses, saying that they both owe her.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Althea parks the truck and lets them out. Apparently, she’s a journalist, and she wants to film the life in the post-apocalypse. The next day, Althea interviews John’s about his story. It turns out that John had a wife named Laura, but they got separated. John had been alone since. Althea then interviews Morgan, but he sees no point in filming the entire thing. Morgan offers to pay for what he owes through food, but Althea has none of it. It’s his story that she wants. Still, Morgan doesn’t want to answer her questions. He leaves, with John following suit.

John then notices a parked car. They’ve been ambushed by Leland and his men again. He points his gun at Althea and demands to take the truck. Leland’s men order John and Morgan to surrender, but John disables one of them. Morgan then joins the fight. Seeing the upper hand, Althea punches Leland in the face and tries to get to the driver’s seat of her truck. Leland throws her out of the vehicle and climbs inside. Althea then dangles the key in front of Leland, throws it away, and runs. Leland tries to search for it but get bit by a snake.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Morgan takes out one of Leland’s men, and sees one on the rooftop, shooting at John. A bullet hits one of the empty houses, and Walkers file out. Seeing John’s predicament, Althea comes to his rescue by killing one of the Walkers. Morgan climbs up the roof to disable the shooter but gets shot in the leg in the process. But it doesn’t stop him. The two engage in a brawl, with them both crashing into the house. Walker gang up on them and eats the man while Morgan runs out. He grabs a Walker—who happens to have a grenade on it—unclips the explosive and throws both the Walker and the grenade into the pile of Walkers eating the man, causing an explosion.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Althea and John catch up to Morgan just as he leaves the house. They make a beeline for the truck, but Leland rams the door on Althea as she tries to climb in. The Walkers also get closer, so Morgan and John fend them off while Althea fights Leland. John then shoots Leland. Althea wrestles away from him as he falls, then the Walkers eat him. Althea climbs back up in the truck and uses her built-in machine gun to clear out the Walkers surrounding Morgan and John.

Althea thanks John and Morgan, and John emphasizes that he didn’t want to kill anyone. When they drive away, Morgan tells them that they call the undead “Walkers” back in Atlanta. Althea reminds Morgan that he still owes her, so Morgan finally lets her do the video interview. Althea pulls over, and Morgan gives her his backstory.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Morgan tells them about Alexandria, the battle with Negan, and how he lost so many people that he loved. They won, but he lost many, prompting Morgan to run away. He also tells Althea about King Ezekiel and his tiger, Shiva. But halfway through the interview, Morgan has enough of the questions and asks for Althea’s backstory and why it’s so important for her to ask strangers about their story. Morgan then thanks them for their help, and leaves. Althea then demands Morgan to tell her one real thing about him. To which Morgan replies, “I lose people, and then I lose myself.”

As Morgan walks along the road, he spots the same car where he left the bandage and alcohol for the man on the side of the highway. He then sees a Walker from afar and notices that it looks familiar. So Morgan goes after it, but a pair of Walkers on the side of the road go after him too. Due to Morgan’s injured leg, he falls, but John rescues him. John then tells Morgan that he’s wrong about choosing to be alone. Morgan then follows after the Walker, and John offers to help him. As Morgan catches up the to Walker, he sees that it’s the guy who was bitten earlier. Morgan then kills it.

Later, Morgan buries the man’s body, and they leave, once again in Althea’s truck. Along the way, Morgan tells them both that he’s staying with them only until his leg heals. They then see a girl in the middle of the road, so they check it out. As Althea offers help, the girl turns out to be Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). It’s an ambush. Nick (Frank Dillane), Strand (Colman Domingo), and Luciana (Danay Garcia) emerge from the bushes and tells Althea, John, and Morgan to drop their weapons.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

“So what the hell’s your story?” Althea asks as Alicia holds a knife to her neck.

‘Fear the Walking Dead: What’s Your Story?’ Overall Verdict

This is what most of us “The Walking Dead” fans have been waiting for. Over the years, the showrunners have been cryptic about a possible crossover between the two hit zombie shows on AMC. And now that it’s finally here, the “Fear the Walking Dead” premiere solidifies the undeniable connection between the two worlds. It’s not entirely separate after all, and FTWD finally caught up with TWD’s current timeline.

“What’s Your Story?” almost looks as if a reboot of the show, what with Morgan and new characters like Althea and John. It’s exciting to see these characters meet each other, and one can’t help but think of a time when Rick finally meets Madison—if that is bound to happen soon. Nonetheless, “Fear the Walking Dead’s” newest season embodies the thrill and exhilaration that “The Walking Dead” once had, and Morgan is definitely a welcome addition to the crew.

“Fear the Walking Dead” continues next Sunday, April 22nd, with “Another Day in the Diamond” at 9/8c on AMC.