“Ring around the Rosie.  A pocket full of posies. Ashes, Ashes. We all fall down. “

While this has passed as a seemingly innocent nursery rhyme, the song actually is said to date back either to the late 1340s, when the Black Plague swept through Europe, killing a third of the population, or the 1660s, when the same catastrophic plague hit London and wiped out 60 percent of the city. Children living in a state of such horror, the thinking goes, developed a macabre story with sing-along lyrics that they acted out on the streets of the plague-stricken cities.

Ring around the rosie

The plague usually emerged in the form of a rash, with rose-colored bumps surrounded by red rings all over the victim’s body. Children join hands and move in a circle as they sing, giving the lyrics a double meaning.

A pocket full of posies

According to folklore, those afflicted would try to hide the stench of their illness by carrying flowers in their pockets.

Ashes, ashes

Most believe this refers to “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” as the representation of death. It could also refer to the fact that victims’ houses were burned to the ground in an effort to stop the plague.

We all fall down.

Typically, the children fall over at the end of the song, perhaps reflecting the terrible death toll the plague took on people. If you read this history, you can see how fitting it is to include such a song in an episode of a show like Fear The Walking Dead. People are dying — the world itself is dying. In fact, the zombie virus has become the new Black Plague, except far worse.

Many TV series have incorporated this nursery rhyme, but unfortunately, by doing so, that usually means people will likely die by the end of the hour. Fear’s inclusion of this morbid song is no exception, with death and despair knocking by the end of the episode. And, while this macabre theme may seem like just the thing viewers of this show crave and would enjoy, the fact is the episode felt like mere “filler” with only a handful of scenes serving any real purpose and moving the plot forward.

OUR GROUP WRECKS HAVOC WHEREVER THEY GO

Thinking back to the show’s mothership, The Walking Dead, remember how every time Rick and his group showed up at a new community, death and destruction always seem to follow them. Most recently think about Alexandria. These people had been getting along fine since the beginning of the apocalypse, and then, when Rick shows up, all hell breaks loose and over half of the safe zone’s population is now dead. Well, the writers of FTWD have decided to recycle that general theme because a small group of survivors is left in ruins after just one night with Travis (Cliff Curtis) and Madison’s (Kim Dickens) merry band.

With what we assume are pirates hot on their trail, the group decides to hide out and lay low on a nearby island, with Salazar and his daughter remaining on the docked Abigail, primarily to keep an eye on Strand. Here they encounter a survivalist family — George Geary, his wife, Melissa, their older son, Seth, and their 2 small children, Harry and Willa. While you would think someone like George would be very protective of his family and very distrusting of other people, he immediately takes a liking to Travis and allows them to stay the night with the hopes that the pirates will drop their pursuit and be gone by morning.

During their stay, Travis unfortunately learns the truth on just how widespread the destruction is. George breaks the news that San Diego has been bombed by the government just like Los Angeles, and in fact, A-bombs have been dropped all along the West Coast. Basically, the entire coast is in ruins. It’s not much better inland either, with reports that Utah, Colorado, and other states have been completely destroyed. Very useful information, considering that Strand indicated that he thought San Diego was safe and they were supposedly heading there.

While Travis is getting all buddy-buddy with George, Madison slowly becomes friendly with Melissa and finally realizes that Melissa purposely turned on a light when she saw their boat approach the dock. Why? Because she wanted someone to find them. Melissa loves her husband, and she knows he is doing everything he possibly can to protect them. But, the reality is the island just isn’t safe. Even though they are building a fence along the shore, ferry accidents and people dying on the mainland are causing more and more walkers to wash up everyday. Melissa realizes they are only delaying the inevitable and that eventually they will be overrun. She appears to have accepted her own fate (especially given she has MS and couldn’t possibly leave), but wants to give her 2 small children a chance. So, in a mother’s desperate plea, she begs Madison to take Harry and Willa with them.

While all of this is going on, Nick (Frank Dillane) is just hanging out with the 2 young kids and basically acting like a kid himself. Since when did Nick get to be so good with children! Playing video games with Harry. Playing an innocent game of “house” with Willa and her dolls — dolls that Nick learns represent the family’s former neighbors, each with a red dot on their foreheads mimicking a bullet hole. Very morbid and very creepy, but very realistic games by children who have not been sheltered from the truth about our grim world. A true lost of innocence in a world on the verge of collapse. Even so, all is great, at least until Nick falls back into his old habits and becomes the old, addict Nick once again. Before we know it, Nick is ransacking the Geary’s house looking for drugs. While he is looking in George’s office, he opens a globe and finds a zip-lock bag full of pills. At this very moment, Willa walks in and Nick immediately puts the drugs back, but at this point, my heart sank and I knew.

While Nick is explaining to Travis and Madison that the drugs he found are hardcore and that he believes George is about to Jonestown his family, Harry walks down the stairs and says there’s something wrong with Willa. Oh shit, here it comes! When they get upstairs, Melissa rushes to her daughter on the bed, but it’s already too late. The globe that Willa had found Nick with was open and most of the pills gone. Of course, all of us know what’s about to happen next. Within just moments, Willa reanimates and with her mother unwilling to let her daughter’s lifeless body go, she is devoured by the little girl as George, Travis, Madison and Nick look on with horror.

We really can’t be sure what happened here. Harry says that Willa “took her pill,” — the same pills that Willa had mentioned to Nick that supposedly could keep them all together as a family. Or, it could be that Willa was simply curious as to what Nick had found when she walked in on him earlier, and she thought the pills were only candy. Either way, this family has been destroyed in less than a day after Travis’ group showed up.

SALAZAR AND CHRIS — THE TWO MVP’S OF THE NIGHT

As I had mentioned, I thought most of the episode and the group’s encounter with the Geary family were primarily filler and did very little to advance the plot. But, there are 2 exceptions, one of which is Salazar (Ruben Blades) and his ongoing investigation into Strand (Colman Domingo). With the boat docked and everyone else on the island, Strand too decides to venture inland — to make a phone call, we learn (uh, how did he do this? A satellite phone, perhaps? I assume all cell service is down).

Salazar takes Strand’s absence as an opportunity and manages to break into the guy’s safe, which turns out to be full of automatic weapons and maps. Strand had been saying they were going to San Diego, but one map suggests they may actually be heading for Mexico. Hmmmm. Could Strand possibly be some kind of arms dealer? Or worse, a human trafficker? Either way, I’m sure whatever he’s mixed up in, it’s shady as hell, and he’s about to pull the rest of the group into his scheme.

The 2nd exception comes at the very end of the episode, and in my opinion, also serves as a major foreshadowing. With how foolishly Chris (Lorenzo Henrie) acted in last week’s episode, fighting his Dad, going for a swim in waters we all know are not safe, I had the haunting feeling Chris was about to become walker bait. Now, after this week’s episode, I’m not so sure. Chris got some pretty good lessons on how to kill walkers from George’s older son, Seth, helping him clear the walkers along the fence. And, surprisingly enough, he didn’t seem a bit uneasy about putting a pitch fork through the undead’s skulls. This is what you have to do to survive, and Chris doesn’t appear to have a problem with it at all.

Then, we have that final scene. Seth goes to the boat to retrieve Harry, and as they turn around to walk back to the house, their mother, Melissa, appears as a walker and drenched in blood. Of course, Harry doesn’t understand and just wants to run to his Mom, but he’s stopped by Seth. Seth has been taught well by his father and knows what he has to do. So, in a terribly heart-wrenching scene, he tells Harry to turn around and wave to the visitors who are now leaving. And, with Harry smiling and waving as the Abigail is pulling away from the dock, Seth shoots his mother in the head.

If you look at Chris, you can tell he is moved by this. Some may say he simply sees what Travis and Madison have been saying along — killing someone who has been infected or who has turned is truly an act of mercy. However, I actually saw more. Seth and Chris had gotten close in this episode, with Seth teaching Chris basic walker survival skills. So, my theory is Seth is a stand-in for Chris, with this scene foreshadowing Chris having to put his own father down later on. Now, that’s not to say that’s what I hope will happen — in fact, the contrary because I really like Cliff Curtis as Travis. But, I have a bad feeling this is where we’re heading. Let’s just hope I am proven wrong.

All in all, a decent episode but not quite on par with last week’s premiere in my opinion. Most of the hour felt like it was dragging, with my almost falling asleep at one point. But, we did get some backstory on Strand thanks to Salazar, even if it was only a small bit. And, we do now have one person on board — Chris Manawa — who at least knows something about killing walkers. This, I’m sure, will come in quite handy as things are about to get much, much worse I’m sure.

Fear The Walking Dead  airs on Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

Critic Grade — B+

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