So Close, Yet So Far

"So Close, Yet So Far" is the second episode of Season 1 of AMC's Fear The Walking Dead. It aired on AMC on August 30, 2015 at 9/8c in the USA and on September 7, 2015 at 9pm in the UK exclusively on BT TV.

Synopsis
"While Madison struggles to keep Nick from crippling withdrawal, Travis ventures out to find his son before the city of Los Angeles falls".

Plot
Art patrols the empty hallways of the high school, radioing to another member of staff. He seems to hear a noise and checks behind him, before continuing on his patrol.

Alicia walks down a quiet street and looks for her boyfriend Matt at his house. She finds the place in disarray and gasps when she enters the living room.

Fleeing the site of their run-in with Calvin, Travis, Madison and Nick speed home in the truck. They hurridly decide they should evacuate to the desert. Nick tunes the radio and hears a news report describing "a massive spike in (Police) Officer related shootings in the last 48 hours." He bemoands the apparent lack of attention people are paying to the situation. Travis leaves a voicemail for Chris, telling him there's an emergency and urging him to call back. Madison calls Alicia and learns that she's with Matt, who is home alone and sick with a severe fever. Madison urges Alicia to stay away from Matt until they arrive.

At Matt's house, Madison and Travis find Alicia wiping Matt's brow, refusing to leave his side despite the possibility of infection. Travis finds a large bite on Matt's neck, and he speculates with Madison over how the infection spreads. Madison insists that they leve and call 911. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Matt urges Alicia to leave with her parents as his parents are scheduled to return later that day.

Nick meanwhile rifles through Matt's bathroom drawers, desperately looking for drugs.

Chris boards a busy city bus, ignoring the phone call from Travis. Later on the bus hits a traffic jam, and Chris witnesses an ambulance bypassing the traffic. A man runs onto the bus and announces that police shot a homeless man "twenty times" up ahead.

Travis, Madison, Nick and Alicia arrive home. Mrs. Cruz, a neighbor, invites them to her daughter's birthday party and notes that they were receiving cancellations of invites from people due to the "bug" that is going around. Travis sees another neighbor urgently packing his car while coughing.

Inside, Nick insists Madison tell Mrs. Cruz about the virus. “I'm about to step into a world of shit,” Nick tells Madison, warning her about his upcoming withdrawal symptoms.

Unable to reach Liza or Chris by phone, Travis leaves for Liza's house to pick them up. He urges Madison to go to the desert without him if necessary, promising to catch up later. Madison refuses and bids farewell.

Travis gets through to Liza and says that he's coming over. Liza hangs up on him, angry that he's reneging on their custody settlement and trying to take Chris on a non-designated weekend. Stuck in traffic, Travis notices a cop loading his trunk with bottled water.

Chris joins a mob that is building as they approach the scene of the shooting. He sees an EMT worker treat a cop with a bite wound. As the crowd gathers at the crime scene, Chris whips out his video camera and begins filming as the mob yells at the cops for shooting an unarmed man.

Nick writhes on the couch in the throes of withdrawal while Madison unsuccessfully tries to reach his doctor for a methadone prescription. Desperate, she leaves the house and orders Alicia to stay put.

Madison drives to the high school and grabs a bag of OxyContin from a supply closet filled with items confiscated from students. Tobias appears, catching her by surprise, and asks for his knife back - to which Madison complies.

Nick's condition worsens and he begins to vomit. Outside, Gladys is heard crying. Alicia leaves the house to check on Matt but Nick pleads with her to stay, saying Matt will kill her. "You don't know what it makes people do," Nick pleads. She runs back inside when Nick has a grand mal seizure and starts to choke on his own vomit.

Travis arrives at Liza's house and tells her about the virus, saying it makes people violent. He calls Chris from Liza's phone. Chris answers but quickly hangs up, telling Travis that he's part of a protest. Travis and Liza figure out Chris' location after seeing news coverage of the shooting on TV.

Nick thanks Alicia as she scrubs vomit from the floor. "I hate you," she says. Outside, Mrs Cruz and her family can be heard singing Happy Birthday for Gladys. The power begins to fail inside the house.

In the school cafeteria, Madison helps Tobias stock up on canned food. Tobias states that soon, the infrastructure of civilization will fall apart. Madison remains hopeful, insisting that the growing crisis will be contained. They're wheeling a cart of food through the school when they hear a growl on the audio switchboard, followed by the blaring of the school’s metal detector. As they attempt to make a hasty exit, they run into Art, who has turned. Not believing what she's seeing, Madison approaches her boss and tries to reason with him, but he lunges at her.

Tobias gets between them and stabs Artie but is unable to pierce his skull with the knife, and is overpowered. They're thrown down the stars and Artie lands on top of Tobias. Madison rescues Tobias by bashing Artie in the head with a fire extinguisher and she and Tobias flee together.

Travis and Liza find Chris at the increasingly volatile protest as workers in hazmat suits and riot police show up. An infected woman wanders onto the scene and the police open fire, sending the mob into chaos.

Travis, Liza and Chris flee onto a street in the midst of a full-blown riot. A barber, Daniel Salazar, is shooing his last customer out when Travis begs him for shelter. Daniel is reluctant, but his wife Griselda motions to allow them inside. As mayhem descends on the street, Daniel lowers the shop's metal shutters. Travis thanks him, and meets his daughter Ofelia. When questioned by Liza as night descends, Travis explains that victims of the virus don’t die. "They come back," he says. Outside, fires ignite amidst the sound of smashing glass, the yelling of the rioters and police sirens.

Madison drops Tobias off at his house. She offers to let him stay with her until the crisis ends. Tobias declines. "This doesn't end," he says. Matt's parents have returned (via a car in the driveway with the trunk lid still open) but there is no explanation of what transpired. City power to multiple districts begins to fail and highways are jammed with traffic attempting to flee the city.

Madison goes home and gives Nick two pills. While washing her blood-soaked jacket in the bathroom, she breaks down in tears. Travis calls to tell her he's marooned and again urges her to go to the desert without him. The phone connection fails as an explosion and gunshots are heard outside of the barber shop.

Madison and Alicia hear a scream outside. They watch as Mrs. Cruz is attacked by the now reanimated Peter Dawson in her front yard. "Don't look," Madison says, drawing the shades. Alicia starts to run outside to help, but Madison blocks the door.

At Salazar's, Griselda lights prayer candles while her family and Travis's gather together.

Co-Stars

 * Noah Beggs as Peter Dawson
 * Stormy Ent as "ND Woman"
 * Howie Lai as "Bystander"
 * Darcy Laurie as "Protester"
 * Marcia Moulton as "Woman"
 * Kevan Ohtsji as "LAPD Uni 2"
 * Christopher Pearce as "LAPD Uni 1"
 * Andrea Savo as Joanna Cruz
 * William Stewart as "Protester"

Uncredited

 * Everton Miller as "Paramedic"
 * Jeff Kent as "Hazmat Worker"
 * Daryl as "Homeless Man"
 * Unknown as Gladys Cruz
 * Unknown as Mr. Cruz
 * Unknown as Officer Gonzales

Deaths

 * Matt Sale (Alive, Confirmed Fate)
 * Art Costa (Alive and Zombified) 
 * Peter Dawson (Alive)
 * ND Woman (Zombified)

Trivia

 * First appearance of Ofelia Salazar.
 * First appearance of Daniel Salazar.
 * First appearance of Griselda Salazar.
 * First appearance of Peter Dawson.
 * First (and last) appearance of Joanna Cruz.
 * First (and last) appearance of Gladys Cruz.
 * First (and last) appearance of Mr. Cruz.
 * First (and last) appearence of Gonzales.
 * Last appearance of Art Costa. (Alive and Zombified)
 * Last appearance of Matt Sale. (Alive)
 * First (and last) appearance of the ND Woman.
 * Around 30 LAPD officers were used during the filming of the riot scenes in the streets of Los Angeles.
 * The song used at the end of the episode is "Wait for me" by Moby.

Goofs/Errors

 * When Alicia is cleaning up after Nick has his seizure, she takes off her gloves before saying "I hate you", however in the next wide shot, she has her gloves on again.