"You're Still Here" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of AMC's Fear The Walking Dead. It is the sixty-fourth episode of the series overall. It premiered on August 25, 2019. It was written by Mallory Westfall & Alex Delyle and directed by K.C. Colwell.
Plot
As Alicia struggles to find her new role in the convoy, she's drawn to mysterious artwork. A simple scouting trip is derailed when she and Strand are thrust into a conflict between desperate survivors. Meanwhile, Morgan and Al hit a roadblock.
Synopsis
Alicia studies another painted tree with the phrase "If you're reading this, you're still here" and wonders aloud where the person who wrote it is. A walker appears and she hesitates killing it, prompting Strand to save her at the last second. Alicia apologizes but he tells her he should have been closer. She looks back at the tree's message and asks Strand, "You ever get the feeling the universe is trying to tell you something?". Alicia claims the message gives her hope.
Suddenly, Wes radios them and asks for help, saying he has seen the tapes. They quickly locate him and load his motorcycle on their truck. Wes explains he had encountered a hostile group and Strand quickly deduces it's Logan. Wes tells them he needs to get back to his brother and they decide to help him.
Elsewhere, Morgan and Althea get attacked by walkers in a bank. After killing them, Al opens the vault thanks to an old interview she conducted with the manager. Inside, Morgan stabs another walker while Al locks her tapes in the safety deposit boxes to preserve them.
On the road, Wes tells Alicia she's probably wasting her time searching for the painted trees. She says she wants to meet the person responsible, but Wes is dubious. As walkers eat a dead bull, Alicia and Strand drop Wes off at the police station he's residing at and promise to load him up on gas. Suddenly, gunshots ring out from inside and an injured man sprints out, steals their truck, and drives away. Wes shoots at him and quickly runs out of ammo, which attracts nearby walkers.
They grab weapons from the police car and quickly realize they only shoot rubber bullets. Strand accidentally shoots tear gas at a walker, forcing everyone to flee inside. Alicia pours water on Strand's eyes and gives him a wet towel when his eyesight doesn't improve. She confronts Wes about the stranger and he explains his brother is dead and he was just trying to get back what the man had stolen from him. Alicia warns killing doesn't always help things. Shortly after, she radios Al to update her on the situation. She then tells Strand she wants to maintain her no kill rule for now.
Meanwhile, Morgan and Al run into Logan and his crew on the road. Morgan explains they're trying to help their friends but Logan says he won't move until they divulge the location of the oil fields. Morgan tells Logan he can help them but he declines. As they leave, Logan taunts to Morgan that helping other people won't make him feel better about not helping his wife and son. Morgan tackles him into the truck and holds his stick to his neck but Al stops him. Logan warns if he doesn't want people in his business then he shouldn't record it. Morgan backs off and leaves with Al.
Back at the station, Wes mocks Alicia's mantra to help people, saying he doesn't need some inspired speech. "The guy was an asshole, plain and simple. I just want what he took from me," he says. Wes then tells her his brother got attacked by a walker during a milk run and that he inherited his motorcycle. He explains shooting and killing is the way of the world now, but Alicia is still determined to help the man he shot.
Al radios her to update them on the roadblock. Alicia decides to find the man and Wes agrees to go with her. Outside, Wes uses the police guns to shoot the walkers blocking the entrance and lure the others away. Alicia finally gets the keys to a cruiser when a walker breaks through the glass on the front door. Alicia nearly kills it with a police baton, but Strand kills it with her pipe. Wes then kills the rest and the group leaves.
On the road, Al apologizes to Morgan for keeping his family's story on the tapes. He reminds her he did it to prove to others they can trust them. Al calls bullshit and says what they do defines them, not their pasts. Alicia radios her to say they found the truck crashed into a fence and the man re-animated as a walker.
Wes approaches to get his bag and the man turns around, still alive. He tosses Wes the bag and tackles him to the ground, trying to choke him. Wes grabs his knife and plunges it into the man's side. He asks the man where his manuscript is and he tells him in the bag. "It's really good stuff," the man says before dying. Wes puts him down as Alicia questions his decision to kill over a book. He tells her "people are people" and the man should keep the manuscript. "He died for it. He can keep it", Wes says sarcastically before walking away.
Later, Morgan and Al bury the man as Alicia flips through the manuscript. She finds the "If you are reading this, it means you are still here" phrase on the last page and realizes Wes had been painting the trees.
A while later, Alicia paints a bird on a tree as Wes finds the first tree he wrote the message on. A walker approaches and Alicia finally kills again. She returns to the tree to write "No one's gone until they're gone." Morgan admires it and Al says she'd like to hear more about his wife and son.
At night, Logan and his crew break into the bank vault. He wants to watch the tapes to find out where the oil fields are.
Other Cast
Co-Stars
Uncredited
- Trenton Rostedt as Logan's Crewmember
Deaths
- Derek (Confirmed Fate)
- Bleeding Man
- 1 cow
Trivia
- Last appearance of the Treehouse. (Archive Footage)
- While visiting the bank, Althea knew the combination to the safe from one of her previous interviewees, Clark as he was the bank manager.
- It is revealed Wes was the person painting trees throughout the area.
- Alicia paints "No one's gone until they're gone" on a tree as an homage to her mother's last words and a way to move on.
- Logan reveals that he was the one who came up with the phrase "take what you need, leave what you don't" instead of Clayton. However, he no longer believes in it, calling the phrase horseshit.
- One of Logan's crewmembers was left uncredited despite having a speaking line.