| “ | You need to spend less time online. Okay? If there’s a problem we’re gonna know about it. The authorities would tell us! | ” |
Madison Clark, also known as Maddy or Miss C, originally from Alabama, was a guidance counselor at the Paul R. Williams High School in El Sereno, prior to the zombie apocalypse; she helped students prepare for their future. She brought up her two children after the death of her husband Stephen Clark in an accident. [1]
Biography
Background
Madison was described in the initial casting call as "a thirty-something single mom to two kids", and "looks like the girl next door, but there’s an edge to her".[2]
Madison had a troubled relationship with her father, hitting him during an argument at the age of 13. She attended college and worked as a bartender to pay for her student fees. Eventually, she meet and married Stephen Clark and got a job as a guidance counselor.
She was a single mother to her two children after the death of her husband Stephen Clark. She works as a guidance counselor at Paul R. Williams High School and is said to be popular with the students. One of the English teachers there, Travis, is her fiance. She had a miscarriage between the births of Nick and Alicia.[citation needed]
Like many others, the apocalypse brings up issues from her past that had been long buried, and that she now has to deal with. It has also brought out that "edge" in her; she is one of the people who can see the difficult decisions that are needed, now that the world is changing, though she's not always as quick to take those decisions.[1]
Personality
Her character is changing as time goes by. She puts down the headmaster (Art) of the school where she works, with some skill - after a slow start. She kills Celia Flores with little or no hesitation and no regret at all and was willing to expel the remnants of Brandon's Group from the Rosarito Beach Hotel until Travis made that moot. It may be that there is more in her past that will explain how easily she kills.
Season 1
Pilot
Main Article: Madison Clark/Season 1/Pilot.
Madison is immersed in the needs and demands of her family and job. Her son, Nick Clark, hasn't been home for a few days and, while this has happened before, Madison is concerned and reacts quickly when he turns up having been admitted to hospital.
So Close, Yet So Far
Main Article: Madison Clark/Season 1/So Close, Yet So Far.
Following directly on from the shocking events at the LA River Madison is forced to deal with the reality of some of the huge changes that are overtaking her and the rest of society.
The Dog
Main Article: Madison Clark/Season 1/The Dog.
The changes are brought much closer to home for Madison.
Not Fade Away
Main Article: Madison Clark/Season 1/Not Fade Away.
Nine days after the power failed, about a week after the events described in "The Dog", Maddy is adjusting to life in a "Safe Zone" controlled by the National Guard.
Cobalt
Main Article: Madison Clark/Season 1/Cobalt.
Madison has to make some difficult choices when trying to find out more about the National Guard's plans for the Safe Zone.
The Good Man
Main Article: Madison Clark/Season 1/The Good Man.
In the season finale, Madison is confronted with the reality of how much of the world she knew has already been lost.
Season 2
"Monster"
"We All Fall Down"
"Blood in the Streets"
"Captive"
Strand recovers in The Wheelhouse. Daniel tells Madison that they can use Reed’s relationship to Connor as leverage over Connor. They locate Connor’s base by scanning the radar for a cluster of five boats. Madison steers The Abigail north.
Luis orders Madison to turn the ship around, reminding her that they only have a small window of time to cross into Mexico. Madison refuses to abandon her family and asks Strand if she would’ve been better off leaving him in the water. Strand agrees to give Madison half a day to rescue Travis and Alicia.
In Spanish, Luis tells Strand someone is waiting for them and they need to go, but Strand says “he” would understand. Luis counters that he only has enough money for two people to cross the border. “Everything is a negotiation,” replies Strand, as Daniel listens in.
Daniel advises Madison to let Nick and Chris help fight Connor’s group and urges her to stop treating them like children. Madison ignores his advice.
Madison forbids Strand from sending Nick on any more errands. Strand argues that Nick knows how to survive and that he saw Nick’s potential within minutes of meeting him. Madison says Strand has never seen Nick in the throes of addiction and worries that Nick is using again.
Madison forbids Nick from pulling any more stunts.
Connor radios the Abigail and orders Reed to drop anchor. Madison tells Connor that they’re holding Reed and will trade him for Travis and Alicia. Connor agrees. After signing off, Madison hears a gunshot.
Chris walks down the hall with a gun and tells Ofelia that Reed was about to turn. The group finds Reed dead in the cabin with his face blown off.
Madison comforts Chris. They overhear Luis complain that the trade is now dead. Chris realizes that he just destroyed any hopes of getting Travis back peacefully.
Following Daniel's plan to use a zombified Reed; Madison prepares the Zodiac. Nick insists on delivering Reed to Connor but Madison refuses to let him go. She leaves with Reed in the Zodiac.
On the pier, Madison hands Reed over to Connor. Connor’s men release Travis. Connor removes Reed’s hood and is immediately bitten by the Infected Reed.
Alicia escapes onto the ship’s bow and spots Madison and Travis on the pier. Jack corners her.
Madison sees Alicia on the ship deck.
Jack begs Alicia to stay with him and asks if she really wants to live with the kind of people who abandon survivors like Alex. “I’m sorry,” she says and jumps into the water. Madison and Travis rescue her in the Zodiac and return to the Abigail.
"Sicut Cervus"
At sea The Abigail approaches a Mexican flotilla that is guarding the border.
In The Wheelhouse, Luis prepares to meet with his military contact on the flotilla guarding the Mexican border and pay for their passage. Strand sees military officers approaching in a boat. Concerned that a second officer is coming as well as Luis’ contact, he orders Madison to hide everyone below decks.
From the engine room, Madison’s group, that is everyone aboard except Strand and Luis, listen to the conversation between Strand, Luis and two officers from the Mexican flotilla, Daniel translates for the group. Gunfire is heard after the officers insist on searching the boat to make sure no Infected are aboard.
When the lights go up and the engines start again, Madison’s group charge upstairs. Strand steers the Abigail toward the Mexican coastline, as they near the coast the flotilla stop firing on them, abandoning the two officers who boarded The Abigail, Strand says, to Madison, that this is because the flotilla think that whatever is on land will kill them anyway.
On land, Strand leads Madison and the group inland, they go inland far enough for some members of the group to be asking Strand if it's much further. They find a pile of dead parishioners in front of the church, the bodies are being eaten by a dog. Strand spots Thomas’s truck and calls Thomas’s name, he runs around in panic looking for Thomas and calling out for him. The group fight off a herd of infected parishioners who arrive because of the noise.
Madison is overcome by one of the Infected and is fighting for her life. Chris starts forward to help but then watches her struggle from a few steps away and does nothing, he doesn't appear to be frozen with fear, he just watches. Alicia screams at Chris and steps in to save Madison herself. The group piles into Thomas’s truck and leaves. Nick doesn't move until his mother calls him.
Strand drives them to the Abigail family's gated estate where the gate opens automatically as the car approaches. Inside the gate people are calmly working in the vineyard and near the main house, Celia, Luis’ mother, greets them.
At the main house in the kitchen, Nick tells Celia that Luis asked for her when he died. Celia calmly explains that the dead have always walked amongst them. “The only difference is now we can see them,” she says. Madison overhears their conversation and later warns Celia that Nick is impressionable.
Madison brings food to Thomas and Strand in their room. Thomas asks Madison to look after Strand when he dies, she doesn't refuse exactly, but she stops short of promising to care for Strand.
Madison confers with Travis about Chris and worries that Chris is sick. Travis defends Chris and angrily wonders why Madison won’t offer the same support to Chris that he always gave Nick. They argue and end up sleeping apart; Madison decides to sleep in Alicia’s room for protection while Travis sleeps with Chris.
That night, Chris enters Alicia’s room where Alicia and Madison are sleeping and says Alicia’s name. He picks up a knife from the bedside table, as he does so a gunshot wakes Madison and Alicia. The women see Chris holding the knife and Alicia screams at Chris to get out; he runs outside.
"Shiva"
She is present when everyone runs to Thomas’s room, where Strand has just shot Thomas in the head. Celia screams at Strand for shooting Thomas instead of allowing him to turn. Celia forbids Strand from burying Thomas and attacks Strand when he declares that Thomas wasn’t her son. Celia orders Strand and those he brought along with him to leave by the next day.
Madison tells Nick and Alicia to quietly pack supplies so that they can flee to the Abigail and escape Celia’s clutches. Alicia refuses to return to the boat. Nick defends Celia.
After Nick returns to the estate with an undead Luis, Madison confronts Nick about his fascination with the dead and asks if Celia told him to find Luis. Nick argues that Celia merely wanted her son back then offers to bring Travis back, as well. He tells Madison that the Infected will not touch him. “I will not die,” he declares.
Madison tells Strand that she’s worried about Nick. Strand is unsurprised that Celia was able to indoctrinate a young and vulnerable addict. He invites Madison to join him on the Abigail, but she refuses to leave without Travis.
Madison implores Celia to let Strand stay. Celia refuses and tells Madison that she must learn to accept the Infected just like Nick does. Madison asks Celia to help her understand. Celia takes Madison to the cellar and enters the cell to show Madison all of her infected present. Madison closes the gate, locking Celia in.
As Madison finds Alicia and Ofelia, a fire suddenly consumes the estate. Madison runs into the storage room and sees Jorge unconscious on the floor and leaves him in search of Daniel but leaves to save herself.
Strand pulls up in the truck and urges them to get in. Nick walks up to Madison and says he couldn’t find Travis. He suspiciously asks where Celia is. She doesn't answer. “She was right about us,” he says. “We destroy everything.” Strand forces Madison into the truck as Nick turns his back on her. They watch a blood-slathered Nick walk away untouched among the Infected as Strand and the women flee the compound.
"Grotesque"
"Los Muertos"
Madison, Alicia, Strand and Ofelia drive around Tijuana in search of Nick. Alicia calls the search futile and insists they return to the The Abigail. Reluctantly, Madison agrees.
They arrives at the shore and find the Abigail missing, stolen by the Mexican military Strand assumes. Alicia suggests they take refuge at a nearby hotel. Before they leave the beach where they landed, which still has the the Abigail's Zodiac sitting on the sand, using driftwood, they write a message for Travis and Nick, "Abigail Lost Head North."
They drive to the Rosarito Beach Hotel’s pier and assess the situation from afar.
Madison’s group pulls up to the hotel and enters the lobby through barricaded doors, behind them, unseen, an Infected watches them enter the hotel from another building and claws at a window. Strand rings the bell at the front desk to flush out any Infected. No reaction though, from either the dead or the living.
Madison’s group looks for supplies in the hotel ballroom.
In the hotel bar, Alicia and Ofelia leave to search the hotel rooms above for supplies, Madison tells Alicia "No" but she goes anyway. Strand offers to make Madison a drink.
The two drink martinis at the hotel bar.
After a while, Madison and Strand move on to Tequila, get drunk and tell each other their life stories, or part of their life stories at least. Madison tells Strand about the death of Nick and Alicia’s father Stephen Clark: he was driving home from work and his car drifted into oncoming traffic. Strand assumes he fell asleep but Madison explains that, despite what she told her kids, she thinks their father killed himself. She worries the same darkness lives in Nick.
Madison flings her glass against the wall, pours more drinks, then flings another glass. Strand bangs on an out of tune piano.
Across the street, a trapped group of Infected pounds on the door of a gift shop, provoked by the noise in the bar.
Infected begin to swarm the hotel bar, Strand eventually notices.
They fight the Infected and become trapped behind the bar.
"Do Not Disturb"
Madison appears in this episode right at the end, she opens a locked door to save Alicia from a group of the dead (as she did for Nick in "The Good Man"). She lets Alicia and Elena in, then hugs Alicia.
Killed Victims
- Art Costa (Zombified)
- Reed (Caused)
- Connor (Caused)
- Celia Flores
- 1 member of Connor's pirates
- Numerous counts of Infected
Trivia
- As of Season 2, Episode 10 ("Do Not Disturb") Madison is the only character to have appeared in every episode.
Appearances
| Season 1 appearances | |||||
| Pilot | So Close, Yet So Far | The Dog | Not Fade Away | Cobalt | The Good Man |
| Season 2 appearances | ||||||||||||||
| Monster | We All Fall Down | Ouroboros | Blood in the Streets | Captive | ||||||||||
| Sicut Cervus | Shiva | Grotesque | Los Muertos | Do Not Disturb | ||||||||||
| Pablo & Jessica | Pillar of Salt | Date of Death | Wrath | North | ||||||||||
Image gallery
.png "Captive (1).png (262 KB)")
