‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Finally Reveals Logan’s Motivation — And Who’s Really in Charge (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Fear The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 13, “Leave What You Don’t.”]
Plenty of Fear The Walking Dead fans assumed Logan wasn’t the head honcho in his group of baddies. In the midseason finale, he seemed as though he was just another member of his squad, rather than the one controlling it all. In a way, those fans were wrong… but in another way, they were also right.
“Leave What You Don’t” finally answers the question of what’s really motivating Logan—and who’s pushing the villainous trucker’s buttons, so to speak. The answer is certainly unexpected. And speaking of unexpected things, Alicia and Strand receive a distress call that ties together Logan’s past and the group’s future.
Logan: A Brief History
The episode opens with a bit of Logan backstory. Earlier in the apocalypse, it seems he and Polar Bear were working together. Their partnership reaches an abrupt and unpleasant end when Polar Bear suddenly stops responding to Logan, leaving him unable to save a woman trapped in a truck stop. Full of remorse, Logan collapses, sobbing, on the road outside the building, where he meets a group of people on horseback, who promise him they have a way for him to help others and they can get him “from yesterday to tomorrow.”
This is more important than it seems. Alicia and Strand intercept a transmission from a woman who needs help… at the exact same place Logan tried to reach in the opening. They head off in her direction, but before they get there, they run out of gas.
Sarah’s Regrets
At the oil fields, the groups have a standoff. Logan eventually forces the group to work for him by bartering their help for the children’s safety (the kids from 5A? They’ve been making gas for Morgan’s group and have been at the oil fields this whole time). The kids leave to go to the rendezvous point, and the rest of the team remains. Despite his threatening demeanor, Sarah keeps trying to reason with Logan. She tells him he should stop before he sets in motion something that can’t be undone, and she expresses her regret at the role she played in Polar Bear’s death. Instead of changing his mind, Logan tells her he should thank her—it was her treachery with Polar Bear that led him to where he is today.
Logan really tries to get the oil fields producing, but the fire burns too high, and it attracts walkers. The dead start raining down from either side of the cavern, and the groups are left with no choice but to retreat. Dwight, Luciana, Wendell and Sarah make it to the truck safely, but Logan’s not so lucky. He’s still trying to turn the walker-powered mechanism, but his people won’t assist him. “We have a contract!” he yells, to no avail, as he’s surrounded by walkers.
Prolonging the Inevitable
At the truck, Sarah hesitates. Her guilt about Polar Bear has gotten the best of her, and she can’t let the same fate befall Logan. She runs back through the fire, smoke and walkers and saves Logan’s life, pulling him into a shelter. He’s not too grateful. Instead of thanking her for saving him, he tells her she’s only “prolonged the inevitable.”
Their situation grows even more complicated when the radio in the shack rings out with the woman’s calls for help. Logan picks up and talks to her, and suddenly realizes she’s in the same place he once was. She says there’s too many walkers for her to kill, but Logan has a different plan: He tells her to use the gun on the floor, which only has one bullet, and implies she should kill herself before the dead have the chance. She thanks him, saying, “It’s better this way,” and then snarls and gunshots sound.
Wes Saves the Day
Except… that wasn’t the woman’s gun. As it turns out, Wes was in the area and got there just in time to save her from the walkers. Alicia and Strand arrive soon after, and Alicia seems happy to see him while he appreciates her tree art. Meanwhile, the woman says something pretty interesting—she was apparently escaping a group of people, and a man in particular. Alicia reassures her, saying that she’s with them now.
Back at the oil fields, the whole group manages to fight back the dead and Logan and Sarah emerge from the shack safely. She seems to have changed his mind about helping people, and Logan starts to deliver a speech to his people about how they can still follow Polar Bear’s philosophies, when… out of nowhere, he’s shot in the head. Then the rest of his men all fall, gunned down by a group of people on horseback.
Luci’s Noble Sacrifice
Those people then ride into the cavern and appraise the remaining survivors, all members of Morgan’s group. They offer them a chance to join them and say some pretty foreboding stuff; Their cause is apparently spreading rapidly, and they’re building a new world. June declines for the group, telling the leader, a red-haired woman, that they’ve seen what these people do to groups who stop being able to provide for them. Weapons are drawn on both sides, and it looks like things are going to go south, fast.
Then Luciana steps up. She says she’ll go with the horseback group, and since she knows how to make the gas, they’ll be able to achieve their goals with her. At first the rest of her pals are resistant to this, but she convinces them, and they’re left with no choice but to drive away as she remains with this group of new baddies.
Other Observations
- Man, this show really wasted Logan. And it’s kind of pulling a Game of Thrones Season 8 now, what with how it’s changing its villain with only a few episodes to go, and introducing yet another villain with this woman’s mysterious old group. Either this storyline carries over between seasons, which seems unlikely, or these next eps are going to feel pretty rushed.
- That said, Luciana’s finally getting something to do. That’s nice. It’s still hard to reconcile who she was in Season 2 with who she is now, but at least Luci will have a role beyond standing in the background and echoing what everyone else says.
- Alicia and Wes feels forced, but oh well. It was somewhat obvious they were going to go this route.
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