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The Dog

"The Dog"
Director: Adam Davidson — Writer(s): Jack LoGiudice — Aired: September 13, 2015 — All images from the episode   prev   next

"The Dog" is the third episode of the first season of Fear the Walking Dead. It aired on September 13, 2015 on AMC.

This is the last episode of Season 1 to be directed by Adam Davidson (he directs the first three) and marks the first occasion the main cast are all together.

Title[]

The title of this episode, "The Dog", refers to the German Shepherd dog that turns up at the Clark's door but also appears to be a reference to one of the two Jack London short stories called "To Build a Fire". This story is the subject of Travis' English lesson in the episode "Pilot" that Maddy watches part of and that Art listens to from his office. (The dog is similar to the German Shepherd that was on the front lawn of the Cruz home in "So Close, Yet So Far".)

Synopsis[]

After they escape a riot, Travis, Liza and Chris have sought refuge with the Salazars; now, as they are forced to leave because of a fire, they see much more of what is happening. Madison defends her home.

Plot[]

Shutter Zombie FTWD SDCC2015 Trailer

Chris sees an Infected man looking directly at him through the shutters of Salazar's Cuts.

The episode opens with Christopher Manawa looking out through the shutters of Salazar's Cuts at the riot outside - now in full swing. He can hear helicopters, see people destroying property and then the eyes of an infected man looking directly at him. Chris is startled and calls out for his dad, his dad (Travis) is sitting in the shop behind him with Liza and the Salazar family. Travis asks him what he sees and reminds him that he's told him to stop looking. Chris mumbles something about a man outside and turns back to the window.

Alicia is looking out at the street through the blinds

Alicia is looking out at the street through the blinds; she's scared

At the Clark home Madison is getting some Oxycontin pills out for Nick. Alicia is looking out at the street through the blinds; she is scared and asking her mother what Mr Dawson "did to the Cruz's?" Madison puts her off. She gives the pills to Nick and he crushes them before taking them, saying that he knows best. He wants to know how many she's got and what will happen when they're gone. Madison isn't very sympathetic and tells him when they're gone he can "howl at the moon".

At Salazar's Cuts Travis is talking to Liza, he's saying that as soon as things settle down they'll go to Madison's. Chris wants just the Manawa family to leave and for them to be together. Liza starts to answer him but the noise outside suddenly escalates and Ofelia enters from the back of the shop saying that they are breaking in next door. Travis insists that they are safe and then offends Daniel by implying that there's nothing in the shop worth breaking in for. Daniel doesn't say anything right away, though he does tell Chris to put back an open razor that he'd picked up. Daniel gets up to tell Travis that there's "more than combs here", and then dismisses Travis' reply as him just trying to deceive Chris into thinking everything will be OK.

The Wall Is Getting Hot

Chris notices that the wall in Salazar's Cuts is much too hot

Chris interrupts what is turning into a tense conversation by calling his dad - telling him that the wall is hot. The two men check the wall, it's blistering with the heat, and immediately make arrangements to leave. They all group together by the door and Daniel unlocks it. Some young men rush in as soon as the door opens, forcing the group by the door to step back. As the rioters push their way in, the group leaves. Daniel is reluctant to leave with the rioters destroying his shop but Griselda pulls him, and he goes.

When Sergeants Attack

Chris sees this immediately they leave the shop.

Outside a policeman is being attacked by another policeman, a sergeant, who is biting his throat under his protective vizor. Liza and Travis pull him away. The Manawas hurry through the crowd followed by the Salazars, the Infected are mixed in with the crowd, attacking people; the riot police are advancing down the street but to no apparent effect.

Dad was always The Shoe

Madison distracts Alicia and Nick with a board game

At the Clark home Madison distracts her children with a game of Monopoly. Alicia tries a token "Really?" but Nick sits straight up. As soon as Madison says she wants to play as "The Top Hat", Alicia claims "The Car" and Nick "The Shoe". Alicia says that "Dad was always The Shoe", and Maddy replies that Daddy wouldn't mind. This is the first time we've heard them mention him. They go quiet for a moment but then fall into an established routine of gently squabbling over who gets to play with which piece and Nick saying he's going to wipe the floor with them.

Travis picks up Griselda as you would a child

Downtown the two families are pressing on trying to find a way out of the fighting. Young people are climbing up scaffolding and jumping up and down at the top. The families, with some others who are caught up in the riot, work their way through scaffolding below as quickly as then can. The Manawas and then the Salazars with Griselda at the back. The Fire Dept are using a high pressure hose pipe to try and control the crowd. The water jet knocks over the scaffolding with several people on it, and traps Griselda underneath it. Both families turn back to help, Daniel and Chris lift the debris and Travis picks up Griselda as you would a child, he puts her in the back of his pickup. Chris and Travis get in the front and the others in the back. Travis does a 3-point turn so enthusiastically he knocks over a motorbike. He accelerates away, rioters banging on the truck as it gets out of reach. The police advance, and the fighting continues. Griselda is being cared for in the back of the truck by Liza as her husband holds her and Ofelia speaks to her. She has a nasty wound on her right foot and Liza calls out to Travis that they "need a Doctor".

The game of monopoly is going quite well

The game of monopoly is going quite well though, the Clarks are relaxed and laughing as they play, Nick wins something and gloats a bit, Madison says that she's crushing them - etc. The mood is broken when they hear something like a gunshot but the game continues after a few moments. Madison takes her move, then Alicia asks how long they are going to wait for Travis? Madison replies that they can go to sleep soon but Alicia says that she can't sleep while she's waiting for someone to come home, that she's having a major case of deja-vu right now. Nick and Madison avoid answering her.

They pass an abandoned ambulance

And abandoned ambulance, all doors open and on fire.

In the pickup the radio is telling Travis and Chris that "eleven states have declared a State of Emergency and have requested the assistance of the National Guard". As they approach the hospital they pass an abandoned ambulance at the side of the road, back doors open and trolley half out. The Infected are wandering around, one still wearing his white Doctor's coat. People are running and yelling, sirens wailing and lights flashing. It's a chaotic scene that stuns the two families. They hear screams and drive slowly past a policeman running with the crowd carrying an assault rifle.

A policeman running with the crowd carrying an assault rifle

A policeman, running with the crowd and carrying his rifle

Another policeman waves them on, they pass more men with weapons, policemen. They're shooting and killing what look like some patients from the hospital who are in night clothing and gowns. In the back they crouch down and take what cover they can, Travis drives on and they leave the Hospital behind, smoke is coming from the roof of the building as it goes out of sight. Travis asks Liza where to next and Daniel says that all of the hospitals "will be the same", he asks Travis to take them home with him and that he will call his cousin - and that they will be gone in the morning. He and Travis bicker, both keeping score about who is indebted to who and each blaming the other.

Chris and Travis are silently watching whole sections of the city go dark as the power fails. They all go silent and watch as a massive power failure throws the city into darkness, block by block. The apparent scale of what is happening has suddenly expanded in their eyes, it has gone from a terrifying but localised riot until it covers the entire city.

There's still power at the Clark home for the moment and Nick is asking again what they will do if Travis doesn't return. As he says that it's been 6 hours the power goes out. Madison, determinedly normal, insists on the rule of "loser puts the game away" and makes Alicia go and do it. Nick presses harder once Alicia is out of the room, Maddy tells him that Travis will be back, to be with his family here, Nick replies that maybe Travis has already gone to be with his family.

An Infected Peter Dawson shambling his way across the road

An Infected Peter Dawson coming from the Cruz house across the road

Alicia interrupts them to say that it's happening again and they look out at the street. Whatever "it" is, it's not visible when they look outside. Nick says that the need to get away from the windows and tries to convince his mother that they "need to tell 'licia what's out there" - but Madison refuses. A noise at the patio window makes them jump and, when Nick looks, it's a dog asking to come in. Nick appears to know the dog, (it looks like the dog that was with the Cruz family in the episode "So Close, Yet So Far") Nick lets it in, the dog is covered with blood that's not his; it dog barks at the front door. looking out they can see an Infected Peter Dawson shambling his way across the road, he appears to be coming from the Cruz home opposite. You can still see the remains of the bouncy castle and balloons behind him.

Nick gets decisive and is off to get the gun, a shotgun, from the Tran home over the fence at the bottom of the garden. They all go out the back, leaving the patio door open and the dog still inside, barking at the closed front door. They climb the fence at the back into the Tran's back garden. The garden is a complicated covered maze, Japanese water and wind ornaments can be heard as they follow Nick through the maze to the back door. He knows where the key is (under the mat) and they go in, calling for Susan and Patrick as they do. The house is empty, dark and silent. The lights flicker back on and Madison and Nick search for the weapon. Alicia looks at the pictures on the wall while Nick finds it and the shells.

Travis tries to fend off

Travis tries to fend him off

They hear the dog barking again and, looking out of the window, Alicia sees someone go into the Clark home through the open patio doors. They hear the dog, aggresive at first but then whimpering and silent. Travis chooses this moment to arrive back and they rush to warn him. Travis goes into the dark house, calling for Maddy. Liza and Chris follow him in. Maddy races through the maze to get to him before Travis encounters Peter. Travis goes in the lounge and sees Peter Dawson eating what is left of the dog. He tells Liza and Chris to get out and infected Peter hears them, gets up and walks towards them. Travis talks to him and tries to fend him off but falls backwards. Infected Peter is on him at once and Travis has to fight to keep him away.

A pair of feet under the swing door

A pair of feet, where she just came in

Maddy, Nick and Alicia are climbing the fence back from the Tran's garden. Madison takes the weapon and Nick asks Alicia where the shells are, she goes back for them. He says to leave it but Alicia is already on her way back into the house. Travis manages to get out from under Infected Peter but, unsurprisingly to us, Peter keeps on coming. Alicia is back in the room where the shotgun shells are and picks them off the floor. She pauses when she sees an empty pill bottle on the table, the only thing out of place in the house. She also sees a pair of feet under the swing door in the hall, where she's just come in. As the swing door starts to open she runs past it and out.

Daniel Doesn't Hesitate

Daniel doesn't hesitate

Madison comes in with the shotgun and Travis continues to fight Peter, telling Madison to put the gun down. Madison hesitates, Daniel doesn't. He takes the weapon from her and shoots Infected Peter in the face from about 2 metres. Peter keeps on coming, his face a ruin. Daniel steps up close to Peter and fires again with his last shell at point blank range blowing away half of Peter's head and, finally, putting him down. Travis and Madison are speechless with shock, Liza is watching from the back of the room and is just as shocked. Daniel hands the shotgun back to Maddy and Chris goes outside to vomit. Travis looks at Madison numbly and asks "What did you do?"

Alicia is running the wrong way through the maze trying to get back home with the shotgun shells from the Tran's house. She goes the wrong way, has to double back and is attacked through the wall of the maze by an Infected Asian woman. Alicia screams as she breaks free and this attracts Madison's attention inside the house. Madison runs out back giving the (now empty) shotgun to Nick as she goes. Alicia has made it 1/2 way across the fence but the infected woman is trying to pull her back. Chris wants to help Alicia, he gets to her and helps pull her all the way over the fence but Alicia kicks him in the face in her panic and making his nose bleed. There's some shouting and pushing while they sort themselves out. Chris isn't happy that Alicia didn't realise he was saving her and goes inside. They look at the Infected woman through a gap in the fence and recognise her as their neighbour and friend Susan Tran. Infected Susan growls as she reaches through a gap in the fence trying to get at them.

She's not sick, she's dead

Madison's friend Susan after she'd become one of the Infected. She used to care for Alicia and Nick when they were small.

Madison says that she's sick, but Nick says that she's not sick, she's dead. Alicia immediately thinks of Matt, her boyfriend, and panics. Madison comforts her as Travis turns to Nick and asks him why wold he say that? (It's not clear whether Travis means "Why would you say that in front of your sister?" or "What the hell do you mean by that?" but the first seems more likely)

What's wrong with that man Dad

What was wrong with that man Dad?

In the bathroom Chris is looking at his bloody nose in the mirror, Travis comes in to check on him and Chris, eventually, lets him help. It's not broken. Chris looks very young as he asks his Dad what was wrong with Peter Dawson. Travis doesn't answer this well and tries to protect his son, he says that people are getting sick but that they will all be ok. Despite this, Chris and Travis seem more comfortable together than they have since the start of the series. Liza is looking after Griselda's foot injury and asks for pain killers. Travis replies that they only have aspirin and tells Daniel that the phone is in the kitchen if Daniel needs to call his cousin. Daniel says that he's already called him and that he will pick them up in the morning. Ofelia and her mother exchange glances as he says this, Griselda shakes her head slightly and Ofelia leaves it.

My cousin is coming to pick us up

With a glance, Griselda tells her daughter not to say anything for the moment.

Madison wants to leave right now, Travis thinks the morning is the right time. They argue about what to do for the best, Travis persuades her, just, that waiting until light will be safer than setting out in the dark. She tells him to "take care of Peter", to remove his body and the dog's, in other words. Travis rolls Peter's body up in the rug and drags it out the back, watched but not helped by Daniel. Daniel wants Travis to burn the body to stop the infection from spreading. Travis refuses, saying that they don't know that, and that Peter deserved better.

It's true what you said, they don't die

It's true what you said, they don't die, they just keep coming back

Liza, is doing what nurses do before and after everything else they do - she's washing her hands. She tells Travis that what he said was true, that the dead don't stay that way. He tells her that she's doing a good job with Griselda. She's grateful for the faith he has in her, that she says he's always had in her, but sees more problems with Griselda's injury than Travis has even considered. She tells him that he can't fix everything and it sounds like an argument well rehearsed, over many years. Travis says that he's relieved. He says, perhaps a little tactlessly, that he "thought it was going to be awkward having two wives in the house." and walks away, it seems their moment of reconciliation was just that, a moment.

Papa, we need help

Ofelia tries to persuade her father to accept more help from Travis

The Salazars are in Alicia's room. Griselda is on the bed with her foot on a pillow. Ofelie wants to go with the Manawas and Clarks. Daniel disagrees, saying that it is not a time to be in someone else's debt if they're not family. Ofelia reminds him that she knows he doesn't have a cousin in the US and Griselda tries to shut it down by asking her to sleep. Ofelia doesn't let that happen and presses on, she tells him that she thinks they should leave tomorrow with the others but neither of her parents give an inch. Ofelia leaves the room and her parents smile, not in an unkindly way, at one another as the speak about her.

He had to

Madison: "He had to."

Madison is looking out of the window and we can hear the wind ornaments from the Tran's garden. Travis asks her where the pills have come from, she tells him they're from the school but doesn't tell him about having to kill Arty. She tells him that she's kept enough to get Nick to the desert and given the rest to that woman. "Griselda", Travis says. He calls Madison a "smart girl" and says he's sorry for having to bring them back but that he had to, because they'd taken them in, and sorry for what Daniel did to Peter. He looks deeply shocked when Madison says "He had to."


Don't let Travis do it

Madison: "Don't let Travis do it, it would break him."

Later Liza is getting a glass of water from the kitchen and sees Madison looking out of the window at the back garden. It looks as if she's drinking something a lot stronger than water. She reaches out to Maddy, saying that they need to suport each other for the sake of the children. Madison breaks in and says that she needs something from Liza. She talks about Susan Tran, whose infected and reanimated body is still pushing dumbly at the fence outside. She tells Liza that Susan has care for her children while she went to work and looked after her when her husband died. Liza says that she sounds like a good friend. Maddy nods and agrees. Then she says that if ever she, Madison, ends up like that she needs Liza to "take care of it", not to let Travis do it. Liza looks at her and, finally, gives the tiniest of nods before walking away. Maddy stays there, looking out of the window at what used to be her friend growling and pushing at the fence, over and over.


Those would Stop something

Daniel teaches Chris about the shotgun

In the house Daniel is telling Chris about the shotgun and its ammunition, showing him how to load it. Daniel is smiling as he teaches Chris, Madison is there and gives Daniel coffee while he talks, she approves of Chris learning this. Travis is not at all pleased when he comes in and send Chris away. "The more the boy knows the safer he'll be", Travis talks to Madison "You know how I feel about guns" but Daniel answers him anyway "The gun doesn't care how you feel about it." Travis cuts him off, he doesn't want to hear Danial saying that.

Weak

Daniel delivers his verdict on Travis. "Débil"

Madison says that the car is packed, that she has one more thing to do. She takes a hammer and goes out to the back garden where the body of her friend Susan is still trying to get through the fence. She feels that she should Put Down the body of her friend but can't bring herself to do it. Travis comes out and persuades her that she shouldn't, that it's not her call. He takes the hammer from her, Daniel watches from the house and calls him[1] weak. The Spanish word he uses could also mean "feeble", or "lame duck".

They finish loading the cars, Nick wants more pills and she gives him two. He finds out that Griselda has the rest and complains that Griselda's a stranger.

Good people are the first ones to die

Daniel: "Good people are the first ones to die"

In Alicia's bedroom Griselda is lying on the bed as Ofelia looks out the window. She can see that the rest are about to leave and is worried about that. She argues with her Father about what to do, switching between English and Spanish. She finishes by saying in Spanish that her mother needs the nurse (Liza) and that these are good people. He answers in English (so that Griselda cannot understand?) that the good people die first.

Her head explodes from a round shot by a National Guardsman

Susan is shot, just in time to save her husband

Alicia finally comes out of the house and the two families pull off the drive. Two Chinook helicopters are thudding around overhead. They drive through the housing estate and Maddy sees Susan's husband arriving home. She calls out to him but he can't hear her over the noise of the Chinooks and she goes after him. We see Patrick going through the house and hear him calling for his wife. He enters the back garden, where we know Susan is, and goes towards the maze, seeing her inside. He sees how bad she looks and holds out his arms for her, not understanding the danger. Maddy comes around the corner shouting to him and infected Susan reaches for Patrick her husband as her head explodes from a round shot by a National Guardsman. The garden fills with shouting soldiers.

The cavalry's arrived, it's going to get better now

Travis: "The cavalry's arrived. It's going to get better now"

Susan's body is taken away in a body bag as Travis and Madison are questioned about who lives in the house. The Guardsman, a young woman, takes the names Travis gives her. Madison goes around the back again, and speaks to two very jumpy Guardsmen whose first reaction on seeing her is to point weapons in her direction. She asks where Patrick is. She's told he was covered in the blood from an Infected person and the soldier asks if anyone else was infected. She says "No". He sees Peter Dawson's grave and asks what it is, she tells him that their dog died.

He and Madison watch as they load another body into a truck and paint FEMA marks on the houses.

Daniel and Griselda watch from inside the house. She says "What's happening?" and he answers: "It's already too late."

Deaths[]

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Co-Cast[]

Uncredited[]

Trivia[]

  • The air date for this episode was delayed for one week - so as to avoid Labor Day weekend in the US. The UK newspaper "The Guardian" didn't realize this and (very briefly) published their review of this episode by Brian Moylan a week before it was aired. Oops...[3]
  • When Susan came to Patrick, it sounded like the same song in the background that when Arty approached Madison
  • In the commentary for this episode on the Season 1 DVD, Nick Clark (Frank Dillane) looks at a plane flying through the sky, and Dave Erickson says, “Pay attention. That’s important.”. Erickson describes this as a "definite Easter egg"[4]

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References[]

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