Fear the Walking Dead
“Fear the Walking Dead” Season 2, episode 2 saw Nick (Frank Dillane) discover a dark secret hiding amongst a group of new survivors his family encounters on the high seas. AMC

After an impressive and downright intriguing premiere episode last week, AMC’s companion series returned for another episode tonight to show even more dangers for the survivors at sea. “Fear the Walking Dead,” Season 2, episode 2 titled “We All Fall Down,” proved that no amount of preparation can make people ready for the new world order.

The episode opens with the group dealing with the aftermath of their shocking discovery at the end of last week’s episode. When Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) and Nick (Frank Dillane) jumped off the Abigail to inspect a sailboat that had been destroyed, Strand picked up a signal on the radar indicating that a faster vessel was coming right at them.

As if things weren’t bad enough, the ledger from the downed ship holds some seriously bad news. While Madison (Kim Dickens) is chastising her son for jumping overboard, he counters by asking if they’re still even trying to save people. Travis interrupts and calls everyone to the helm where he informs them that the previous ship went to the military outpost in San Diego and discovered it burned down. Strand (Colman Domingo) seems to be in denial about his Plan A needing a Plan B, but recognizes that they’ve got more immediate problems.

With the faster, presumably armed, vessel closing the gap, their plan to stay away from the coast has to be altered. Strand looks at the map and finds a cove nearby that he thinks they can hide in to lose their new enemies on the radar. However, Travis (Cliff Curtis) notices a similar cove nearby that also plays home to an island with a wildlife preserve. Arguing that means a ranger’s station and potential supplies, Strand reluctantly agrees to go to Catrina Island.

Ending their time on the water relatively quickly, episode 2 moved to the shore where Strand says he will stay behind and watch Abigail. Daniel (Rubén Blades) offers to stay and keep him company, clearly fearing that the mysterious yacht owner will leave and abandon them. Meanwhile, Travis, Nick, Madison, Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Chris venture to a house that they saw had lights on briefly. Travis calls out to the people inside and discovers a small family living there. A husband, wife, little boy, little girl and an older boy.

The father of the family, who calls himself George Gary, lets them inside and offers them drinks and information. He splits off with Travis to reveal that he’s been in contact with several rangers stations throughout the country. His reach only went as far as Colorado, but he knows for sure that San Diego, as well as every other major outpost within range, have either been destroyed or gone dark. Similar to what happened in Los Angeles, he says that the military is bombing most of the major cities to avoid the outbreak spreading to those that have escaped. He tells Travis that the reason he isn’t evacuating is because he believes a man has a special relationship with the land he and his family occupies. It’s weird, but Travis seems to respect it.

Meanwhile, Madison is in the kitchen talking to George’s wife, Melissa, who seems tense but she can’t figure out why. When she gets a minute alone with Travis, she confesses that she believes Melissa turned on the light on purpose. Travis wonders if Gregory is the only one in the family determined to stay at the house. The core group returns to Abigail to spend the night, and even Nick and Alicia, who spent most of the night with the family’s young child hearing about the medicine they take to stay together, believe something fishy is going on.

Fear the Walking Dead
“Fear the Walking Dead” Season 2, episode 2 characters Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) bonded over their mutual distrust of the new survivors they encountered in “We All Fall Down.” AMC

The following day, Chris follows the family’s eldest son, Sef, to a fence along the shoreline of the island. Apparently the family stays alive by systematically killing all the walkers that wash up on shore. It’s later revealed that the other side of the island holds a tourist town that likely has about 100 zombies in it. If they figure out that the family is there, all will be lost.

Meanwhile, Nick goes wandering through the house looking for pills to satiate his drug addiction. However, he only finds a stash of pharmaceuticals that the dad was hiding in a globe, and he immediately recognizes them as some kind of poison. He knows his pills well after all. He reveals their existence to Travis and Madison at the exact right time.

Madison spent the morning in the garden with Melissa. She asked her point blank if she turned on the lights the previous night in an effort to signal them. The wife breaks down and admits that she doesn’t see a future here for her two young children and wants them to go with the survivors on the Abigail, even though George would never allow it. Once Nick tells her and a reluctant Travis about the father’s apparent plans to kill his family, they agree. Sadly, this sets off a chain of events that turns the island-dwellers on their heads.

Strand sees on the radar that the enemy boat has given up on them for now, so he wants to leave immediately. Travis and Madison are discussing how to care for the two young children when the little boy comes downstairs and reveals that the little girl had taken too many pills. Melissa and George rush upstairs and the grieving mother has just enough time to hug her daughter’s body before it reanimates and she takes a big chunk out of her neck. George gives away Harry before staying behind to die with his wife and daughter.

Back on the boat, Strand is distracted and Daniel takes the opportunity to search his quarters for clues as to what the mysterious man is really up to. In a locked chest hidden under a seat, he finds maps to Mexico, other survival equipment and a loaded machine gun. From there, the episode cuts to Strand, who is on the phone with a mysterious caller saying that he’ll meet up with him or her by sundown now that “it’s all clear.” It turns out that Strand has been lying to the group after all, the question now becomes: why does he insist on having them there?

Before Daniel has time to confront Strand, the others return with the boy. Strand argues that taking a child is a bad idea since they’re “by definition dead weight.” While he debates the subject with Madison, the eldest son boards the boat. Apparently everyone forgot about him, but he’s not about to let these strangers take his brother away. Thinking that he’s honoring his father by keeping him on their land, he holds them all at gunpoint and quietly exits the ship. Once they’re both on the dock, the crew members of the Abigail can only watch as the two brothers kill their mother, who is now a walker, and stay behind on the dangerous island alone.