‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Season 4, Episode 7 ‘The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now’ Recap: Illogical Risks [SPOILERS]

Tonight’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead oddly ticks us off. The show has undergone a significant change in pace and storytelling, and it’s hard to tell how one episode will differ from the next. That said, episode 8, titled “The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now,” gives us a little bit of context as to what went down with the Vultures and Madison’s camp. Surprisingly, this is also the first time Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 featured action and a little bit of suspense, but it’s still not enough to fill in what Season 3 gave us regarding story and suspense.

And now, on with the recap.

The Onslaught

“The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now” opens with John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) struggling with his wounds from Alicia’s (Alycia Debnam-Carey) accidental gunshot in the last episode. John also remembers his time with Laura/Naomi (Jenna Elfman) at his riverside cottage. John drifts into unconsciousness in Naomi’s arms, and Morgan (Lennie James) runs over to help. Meanwhile, Alicia, Strand (Colman Domingo), and Luci (Danay Garcia). The trio gains the upper hand, so Mel (Kevin Zegers) runs off in an ambulance just as Naomi tries to gather medical supplies from it. Desperate to get back at Naomi, Alicia blows up the vehicle with a grenade launcher.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Alicia accuses Naomi of betrayal, despite her efforts to explain. The stand-off continues, and Naomi runs back to John and tells Morgan that she knows where they can get John patched up. Later, Luci finds Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) hiding behind a truck. She struggles to shoot Charlie and is distracted by another Vulture. When Luci looks back, Charlie is gone.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Al (Maggie Grace) records the entire predicament on her camera. Morgan asks her for help. Al considers this and ultimately jumps up her SWAT van to help John and Naomi. Alicia then confronts Naomi just as Al rides up in her van and brings out her big guns, prompting Alicia to back off. Naomi and Morgan carry John in, and Morgan sees Charlie running away. He catches up to her and manages to convince the kid to come with them. Naomi then tells Al to drive to the stadium.

It’s all Charlie’s fault

After getting the seeds from Naomi’s former camp, Madison (Kim Dickens) rebuilds the stadium as Nick (Frank Dillane) plants the crops. Douglas (Kenneth Wayne Bradley) radios Madison that they have a guest, who turns out to be Charlie asking for help.

Back in the van, Charlie asks Morgan why he decided to save her. To Morgan, the fighting has to stop, and it’s one small step that he can do to ensure that Charlie lives. Al asks Naomi what she did to Madison and her group. But Charlie takes the blame for herself. Meanwhile, Alicia and the others predict that Naomi is taking John to the stadium. They drive away in the truck that Naomi arrived in, but Alicia asks Strand to stop so she could talk to Mel as he crawls out of the destroyed ambulance. When Mel couldn’t answer any of Alicia’s questions, she kills him.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

In the Stadium, Charlie leads Madison, Nick, Alicia, and Naomi to Mel, who’s slumped over the driver’s seat, injured. Charlie said that Mel and his brother Ennis (Evan Gamble) fought, causing them to part ways. Mel got into an accident while avoiding an Infected on the road. After much deliberation, Madison agrees to bring Mel into the infirmary. Nick, however, thinks that it’s another trap by the Vultures.

Mel wakes up in the infirmary and warns Naomi and Madison that Ennis plans to destroy the stadium. Apparently, Ennis didn’t agree with Mel when he ordered the Vultures to leave. Elsewhere, Ennis fills up his truck with the Infected.

Later, Strand informs Madison that the Vultures took all of the Infected that were previously in the storage tanks where they found Naomi. Strand shows them a stack of white flags that counts the number of Infected. Based on the numbers, Ennis has an awful lot of them for an attack. Back in the infirmary, Mel fakes a cough and manages to break free from his cuffs. He points a knife at Naomi’s throat, demanding her to take him to Charlie. Naomi hits Mel’s broken ribs and manages to restrain him again. Mel urges Naomi to leave the stadium because the attack is coming soon.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Outside, Naomi comes up to Madison, who’s breaking down the shelter she made for Naomi. She tries to convince Madison to evacuate the stadium, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave the place that she built for her kids. Madison goes to the infirmary to confront Mel about trying to turn Naomi against her. She finally agrees to let Mel go, but without Charlie. She brings him outside just as her people were strengthening their walls. Madison orders Strand to open the gates and orders Mel to leave at gunpoint. Mel reluctantly gets in the truck with supplies and goes. Later, Nick tells Madison that he was actually afraid of being separated with her, hence his trauma of going outside. He then tells her that forcing Mel to leave was a wrong decision.

Trapped

That night, Alicia, Nick, and Luci inform Charlie that Mel was forced out. However, Alicia left a walkie in the truck so Charlie can talk to him. When Mel answers with coughs and weak breaths, Charlie begs them to help Mel. Alicia and Nick decide to help him but doesn’t inform Madison about it. Strand lets them out, but checks in on the radio.

Later, Ennis and the Vultures drive a convoy to the Stadium, with huge trucks filled with the Infected. Back in the Stadium, Naomi informs Madison that the infirmary is ready for the attack. At first, Madison thought she was leaving, but Naomi wants to stay and help.

Nick and Alicia finally see Mel’s truck on the side of the road. As they help him out, Nick sees the Vultures’ convoy and calls to Strand, informing him of the attack. They drive back to the Stadium using another road. Meanwhile, the Vultures’ ice cream truck arrives at the Stadium, and Madison’s people get ready for an attack. The truck spills oil all over the parking lot, and the massive convoy arrives. Alicia, Nick, and Mel arrive too, but the convoy surrounds them.

Richard Foreman Jr/AMC

Ennis and the Vultures release the Infected, covered in oil. The horde surrounds Alicia and Nick’s truck, just as the Vultures light up the oil trail with fire. Madison orders her people to get the irrigation truck out as she helps her kids. Luci and Strand join her. Alicia then radios over to Madison, apologizing for saving Mel, but insisting that it’s the right thing to do.

Back in the present. Al arrives at the Stadium in the SWAT van. She’s hesitant to go in, but Naomi assures her that the Vultures didn’t raid the infirmary as Ennis was afraid of going inside when the Stadium fell. Al rams the van through the stadium’s gate. As the dust settles, the group gapes in shock as a massive horde of Infected swarm around the SWAT van.

‘Fear the Walking Dead: The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now’ Overall Verdict

Fear the Walking Dead used to be a show that gave TWD fans a perfect substitute as they wait for the next season of The Walking Dead. Sadly, when Season 4 of Fear premiered, it was very much like it’s parent show. “The Wrong Side of Where You Are Now” is a prime example of an episode that was poorly written and full of absurd situations. Why didn’t Madison and her crew rain bullets on the Vultures when they arrived with the Infected? Why didn’t Alicia simply drive away from the oil spill to escape the incoming horde? Why the hell were they sitting and looking on?

I’ve always given Fear the Walking Dead the benefit of the doubt for a show that’s finally better than TWD, but tonight was just a very distasteful piece of TV content that deserves a new showrunner. With the summer midseason break coming along, it’s hard to stay optimistic about the show’s direction.

Fear the Walking Dead continues next Sunday, June 10th, with the midseason finale titled “No One’s Gone” at 9/8c on AMC.