Fear The Walking Dead: 5 burning questions left after “The Hurt That Will Happen”

Like most episodes of Fear The Walking Dead, “The Hurt That Will Happen” left us with more questions than answers about the current plot. Continue reading for a breakdown of tonight’s episode.

In Season 5, Episode 2 of Fear The Walking Dead, the survivors learn that the dangers they’ve been warned of are all too real. Morgan and the others were somewhat skeptical of the warning signs which cautioned travelers of the radioactive zone nearby but now they know the signs weren’t lying.

Warning! Spoilers for the latest episodes of Fear The Walking Dead follow. Read on at your own discretion.

The reason that they come to this conclusion is Grace (Karen David). She arrives and introduces herself just in time to save Morgan (Lennie James) from contaminating himself with radioactive particles released by walkers. This might not seem like a big deal when every kill in the zombie apocalypse is a potential biohazard, but considering the permanence of radioactive elements, contamination could lead to an epidemic. We’ve already seen the results of one camp that was unaware — imagine what would happen if radioactive walkers began traveling all across the country.

While the radioactive dilemma is still prevalent — and one that’ll be dealt with throughout Season 5, there were a few other subplots left unaddressed in “The Hurt That Will Happen” — several of which could factor into next year’s The Walking Dead/Rick Grimes movies.

In lieu of that, we’ve compiled a list of questions that are bound to be on fans’ minds following tonight’s episode. Check them out below.

5. Is Grace telling the truth?

The most obvious and pertinent debate is over whether or not Grace told Morgan the truth about the nuclear reactor. Grace explained that she used to be head of operations at the facility where nuclear materials were stored. She and the facility’s employees supposedly kept it running after the zombie outbreak but the location has since gone under.

What’s peculiar is that Grace is the only one still left alive. She mentions that the facility’s other employees became infected, died, and then escaped but Grace fails to explain how is it she survived. Could it be that Grace ran away in cowardice or is something more sinister hiding behind her apparent good intentions? Our guess is Grace played a hand in her comrades’ deaths.

The reason as to why is Grace appears to have immense knowledge of the situation, and her traps make it seem like she’s been at the job for a while. Grace points out that the facility consisted of 60 or so survivors, which doesn’t seem like a huge number of walkers to get rid of. And when they’re mostly corraled in one area, it shouldn’t require so much effort. But since Grace is tracking various subjects down — some of whom started new encampments nearby — it gives us the impression there’s a part of the story that Grace is neglecting to talk about.

4. Where is the rest of Daniel’s group?

Tonight’s episode reintroduced Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades) to the story but we’ve yet to learn how he survived his ordeal at the dam or how he made it to El Paso, Texas. More importantly, audiences haven’t met anyone from Daniel’s new group.

During the entire time that Victor (Colman Domingo) and Daniel converse, no one else is introduced. Fans were probably expecting to meet at least a few of Daniel’s new comrades, though they had to make do with Skidmark — a cat that likes to lick his own butt.

What’s interesting here is that Daniel might be teamed up with characters TWD fans are already familiar with, namely Dwight (Austin Amelio). He hasn’t shown his face yet but will at some point, and it makes sense for Dwight to appear alongside Daniel. There is, however, a chance Daniel has joined a group who’ll become the series’ new antagonists. That would explain their absence in “The Hurt That Will Happen” but we may be completely wrong about Daniel’s new friends.

3. Who is responsible for hanging Walker Decorations?

Morgan’s group encountered the first set of decapitated walker heads on the road out of their crash zone and now more are popping up. Fans suspected that Annie (Bailey Gavulic) and her friends could be behind the scare tactic but since they don’t possess the resources or the manpower to coordinate such an endeavor, we can rule them out.

Additionally, Grace’s group can be taken out of the running too. Grace mentioned that she’s backed away from the roadblocks of linked walkers for fear of what else might be behind them. It’s not a radioactive zone but Grace hasn’t dared to enter the territory.

There are two other groups who could be behind the incidents, though our money is on Logan (Matt Frewer). He doesn’t seem like the type to utilize such a divisive tactic but Logan has already made it clear that he’s well-versed in how to survive the apocalypse. He’s also one of the only people who knew Luciana’s location when the most recent line of walker heads was strung up. Therefore, it’s most likely Logan scaring people out of the area. Of course, we should remain open to the possibility that Dwight had a hand in the scheme — he is familiar with how to use walkers as weapons, evidenced by his time with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) on The Walking Dead.

2. Has anyone else been accidentally contaminated?

Now that the threat of radioactive contamination has been confirmed by Grace, the rest of Morgan’s group could be in serious danger. Most of them were on the plane that crashed and the remaining members of their group ran into a walker roadblock on the outskirts of the radioactive zone. This means the rest of Morgan’s friends might have been inadvertently infected.

No one has encountered a mutated walker like the ones killed by Grace but that’s just what we’ve seen on-screen. Both Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead have used off-screen sequences to include shocking developments in the ongoing story so it goes to reason that a similar ploy may be used to explain how one or more of them became contaminated. Let’s just hope no one too important dies from radiation poisoning because a majority of fans would be upset to learn that John Dorie (Garrett Dillahunt) or Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) fall into said category.

1. Is Luciana in more danger than we think?

Despite receiving medical attention from June (Jenna Elfman), Luciana is still recovering from the plane crash. She wound up with a metal pipe lodged into her shoulder, forcing June to perform an impromptu surgery to save Luciana’s life. June did so successfully but Luciana falling unconscious in “The Hurt That Will Happen” has us fearing the worst.

SUBSCRIBE TO HULU NOW: Plans start at $5.99/month!

One might attribute Luciana’s collapse to weakness from recent injuries but what if she has internal injuries? Luciana emphasizes that she can’t feel much in her damaged arm, pointing out the possibility of nerve damage. This isn’t deadly or concerning but the darkened color around Luciana’s wound combined with her collapse gives us the impression that her injuries are more severe than once thought. We’ll have to wait until Season 5, Episode 3 “Humbug’s Gulch” to find out the extent of her injuries but at least Luciana is safe for the time being.

Did we miss any other important details? Let us know in the comments section below.

Fear The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC. Seasons 1-4 are currently streaming on Hulu. For more on Fear The Walking Dead, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Account @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.

(Source: AMC)