Captive
Directed by Craig Zisk
Having been kidnapped by Connor's group, Travis is placed in a jail cell while Alicia is treated to lunch by Connor himself. She looks around in confusion as he makes food and watches a skiing program that's playing on a nearby television.
After Connor tells her about his past work as a cook and how they discovered their current hideout, she asks to see Jack and her family. He tells her that Jack had a sense about her and she'd make a good addition to the group while Vida enters the room. The power goes out at that moment and he complains about it happening constantly before leaving through a nearby door to investigate it. Alicia begins to glumly eat lunch, but doesn't get far before Vida yanks the meal away from her and takes it with her as she leaves through the same door.
After they leave, Alicia attempts to make a break for it through the same door, but discovers it's locked. She runs through a series of nearby hallways and emerges on the top of a massive boat sitting in the middle of a harbor with other ships. Jack arrives on the deck and tells her she shouldn't be there, and they go back inside. Once there, she once again asks where her family is and he tells her to trust him. He promises that he'll look into the matter and tells her to be on her best behavior around Connor.
On the Abigail, Reed is tied up to a chair while Daniel attempts to clean his wounds. Reed continues to threaten the group, but Daniel calmly tells him that he isn't going back home. He goes off on a Motive Rant, but gets shut up once Daniel shoves an alcohol-soaked rag into his wound. Reed tells them that they're all going to pay once his brother arrives and cuts him loose, but Daniel contends that Reed is just a scared kid before leaving.
Outside the room, Daniel allows Chris to stand guard outside the room to ensure Reed doesn't try anything, then tells Ofelia in passing that he thinks Chris' mind goes to "dark places" before going up to the deck.
Upstairs, Madison tells Daniel that Strand will still need time to recuperate, and Daniel reveals that Connor and Reed are brothers. He also points out the location of Connor's group by showing a radar signal of five boats docked near the coast. They head north towards the signal, and Luis arrives and calls them out for not going south towards the Mexican border. She refuses to budge and says that she's going to get her family back. Strand defuses the situation by telling them they can do both, despite Luis' objections.
Luis asks how they're going to get everyone across the border, and Strand tells them he'll negotiate for everyone's safe passage, then pointing out that Thomas would understand his "obligation" to the group. Daniel tells them that everyone needs to take part in the attack and they hit Connor's group with the element of surprise.
On Connor's boat, Jack is telling Alicia that she'll be acting as a radar technician to find yachts and make contact with them, just like Jack did with her. While his back is turned, she uses the opportunity to pickpocket a knife from his back pocket, then agrees to do the work. Soon after, she is sitting with him tracking signals when Jack realizes that the Abigail is heading right for their location. Once Alicia catches on to Jack's surprise, she asks where her family is and he refuses to answer. However, he's eventually convinced by her pleading and decides to help her take a boat and find her family.
Meanwhile, Travis is in his cell and attempting to jimmy open the lock with a paperclip he found in a discarded book when the door opens and he sees... Alex. She reveals to him that Jake died on the liferaft by her hand to stop him from turning after his injuries became too severe. She rails at Travis for his group's actions, then tells him that she was the one who sold them out by giving the location of the Abigail to Connor and his men. She finishes by saying that she specifically asked for Travis to be taken when they were boarded. However, he eventually breaks through and makes a connection with her by bonding over their mercy-killings of people who were close to them. She tells him that part of their souls are gone before leaving. Alicia and Jack arrive soon after, and Travis implores them to go and leave him behind.
The Abigail arrives in the harbor as Strand tells the group to get ready to "knock on the front door". When Connor calls and tells Reed to drop anchor and power down the boat, Madison answers and tells him that Reed is safe, before offering a prisoner exchange. Below deck, Reed continues to antagonize Chris before Nick arrives and shuts the door. He asks if Chris is all right, and the latter responds by claiming that it's all his fault for allowing Reed and the others onboard in the first place.
Madison and the others hear a gunshot upstairs and rush down to see what happened. It is revealed that Chris shot Reed in the side of the face due to the latter supposedly turning. When they rush in, they see Reed's body and reel in shock. When they think their plan has been ruined, Daniel comes up with an idea. Reed turns soon after, and Daniel puts a bag over his head.
While Madison preps the speedboat to go, Connor has Travis tied up again and motions for Jack to go and get Alicia. As Madison arrives at the tradeoff spot with the undead Reed, Alicia goes to find Travis and is stopped by Vida, who tries to put her into the jail cell. In the ensuing scuffle, Alicia shoves her into the jail cell and locks it before running off.
At the tradeoff point, the exchange is made and Travis is given over to Madison. When Connor takes the bag off Reed's head, the walker bites him and he screams in pain. Reed begins to attack Connor's men while Madison and Travis run for the boat.
Alicia reaches the top of the ship at the same time and sees the others escaping. Jack arrives up top and tries to convince her to go with him instead, but she ignores him and leaps off the ship into the water. Madison and Travis pick her up in the Zodiac and they flee from the carnage as Jack stares on regretfully...
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Reed claims this about his father, and that his brother eventually got revenge by slicing open their father's Achilles heel.
- Affably Evil: Connor, who makes lunch for Alicia and is seen as A Father to His Men.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Daniel figures out that Connor and Reed are brothers within seconds of hearing a vague statement from the latter, then immediately shows Madison the location of Connor's group by pointing out that they'll likely be the group of boats docked near the coast.
- Badass Boast: When Daniel is interrogating Reed:Daniel: In my time, I've known men who inspired fear. Do you know what they have in common? They never say how frightening they are.
- Blatant Lies: Chris claiming that he had to shoot Reed because the latter turned. They find out soon after that this wasn't the case, and are forced to improvise during the hostage tradeoff.
- The Bus Came Back: Alex, who returns as a member of Connor's group.
- Bus Crash: Jake dies off-screen between episodes, with Alex being forced to Mercy Kill him after his wounds became too severe.
- Chekhov's Gun: Chris shoots Reed with the latter's gun, which he pocketed after the latter boarded with his group in the previous episode.
- Commonality Connection: Travis makes a connection with Alex over their respective mercy-killings of people who were close to them.
- Continuity Nod:
- Daniel allows Chris to stand guard outside the room where Reed is being held, but tells him not to "go running off" like he did at the crash site of Flight 462.
- Strand also points out that he "obligated" Madison by allowing her to enact a rescue plan, just like Thomas said to him in the flashbacks from the previous episode (and what Strand himself said to Nick in "Cobalt").
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Alex calls out Travis and the group for abandoning her and Jake to the elements and forcing her to Mercy Kill Jake herself. As Travis and Strand rightly pointed out, she kept the wounded Jake alive despite his serious injuries and deteriorating condition, to the point of killing several other able-bodied survivors to protect him. This was what motivated her to sell out the Abigail and its crew to Connor's group in the first place.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It's hinted that something in Daniel's past is affecting him, as he hears a familiar voice telling him to "take the gun" multiple times.
- Death Glare: Chris stares daggers at Reed as the latter tries to analyze his family and threatens him.
- Developing Doomed Characters: A lot of backstory and characterization is given to Connor, who seemed to be built up in the previous episodes as the Big Bad of the marauders. He's seen as A Father to His Men, is charismatic and charming towards his underlings and discusses his past as a former cook who amassed a larger group and took over a harbor. However, he's killed at the end when Reed attacks and bites him several times.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Alex's hair goes from straight and tied up to wild and curly now that she's joined Connor's group.
- Face–Heel Turn: Alex, who joined Connor's crew after Strand cut the rope to the lifeboat she and Jake were on.
- Food Porn: The opening sequence of Connor making lunch for Alicia.
- For the Evulz/Evil Is Petty: Vida steals Alicia's lunch after Connor made it for her himself.
- Heel–Face Turn: Jack, although this later blows up in his face when Alicia leads him on and escapes without his help.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Reed is shot by his own revolver, courtesy of Chris.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: According to Alex, Jake asked her to Mercy Kill him because he couldn't do it himself and didn't want to drown in the ocean.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Subverted. Travis tries to claim that Alex was forced to do this to Jake, but she throws it back in his face by countering she only had to do that because of the group's actions.
- Chris tells himself and the others that to justify shooting Reed. Madison, noticing how much this has affected Chris, supports him even though she doesn't believe Reed was "gonna turn"
- I Let You Win: Alicia and Jack run into this during their conversation about their first contact over the radio. Jack contends that she "reeled him in", while she contends that he was the one who did that to her.
- It's All My Fault: Chris holds this attitude about his inability to shoot when Reed and the others boarded the Abigail, which eventually results in him trying to make amends by murdering Reed himself. Travis also has this attitude when he finds out Alex, whom he forced to remain on her lifeboat, has joined Connor's crew.
- Just a Flesh Wound: Reed tries to claim this about his injuries to Chris.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Vida gets assaulted by her own weapon and locked in a cage after stealing Alicia's lunch and trying to prevent her to leave the ship.
- This also occurs to the heroes as well. Alex tells them that she decided to give up the Abigail's location in revenge for the group abandoning her and Jake on the lifeboat.
- My Greatest Failure: Travis holds this view about his inability to accept that the world has changed, pointing out that the experience over the last couple weeks along with Liza's death has taken part of his soul.
- Mythology Gag: The hostage tradeoff scene appears to be lifted from a similar scene from the main comic series' 119th issue, when Rick and the Alexandria residents trade hostages with Negan. The sequence in the show has a villain being surprised when his released hostage turns out to have reanimated that bites him on the arm.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Reed tries to claim that both he and Chris are "outsiders" before the latter attempts to kill him.
- Oh, Crap!: Connor gets this when he realizes that Reed has turned, just before the latter bites him on the arm.
- Prisoner Exchange: Occurs at the end of the episode.
- Rape as Drama: Reed threatens to rape Ofelia once he gets loose, but never acts on his threat due to Chris shooting him.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Daniel interrupts Reed's Motive Rant by shoving a cloth filled with alcohol into his wound, causing him to reel in pain.
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Spoiled by the Format: The opening credits reveal that Michelle Ang (who plays Alex, and was cut off from the group two episodes earlier) appears in the episode, thus spoiling that she's joined Connor's group. - Supporting Leader: Daniel, who steps up to lead the group while Strand is temporarily incapacitated and Madison is unsure of what to do. He eventually comes up with the plan to rescue Travis and Alicia by using the undead Reed in a hostage tradeoff.
- Tempting Fate: Reed continues to antagonize Chris, even while tied to a chair and suffering from a serious injury. This eventually results in Chris shooting him.
- Thicker Than Water: Discussed by Reed, who indicates that Connor is his "brother". However, Reed states himself to be an orphan, and his "brotherly" relationship with Connor is symbolic.
- Took a Level in Cynic: Alex, after being cut off from the Abigail and being forced to Mercy Kill Jake.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Madison calls out Strand for sending Nick out on a secret mission without her consent. However, the only reason any of the family still onboard the Abigail survived is due to Luis sniping off the other marauders, allowing the group to overpower Reed and take back control. Strand rightly points out that he's even arguing on her behalf to stall Luis and give the group time to rescue the hostages.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Madison calls out both Strand and Nick for their secret mission to find and bring Luis back to the Abigail.
- You Said You Would Let Them Go: Played with. Vida tries to force Alicia to stay in the jail cell because Connor has told her that "plans have changed" and he doesn't want her to leave. On the other side of the coin, Madison uses the undead Reed as a ploy to get Connor to release Travis, while Alicia escapes by her own means and swims over to the Zodiac.
Alicia: I'm sorry.
