Ouroboros

"Ouroboros"
Director: Stefan Schwartz — Writer(s): Alan Page — Aired: 24 April 2016 —    prev   next

"Ouroboros" is the third episode of the second season of Fear the Walking Dead. It aired on 24 April 2016 on AMC.

Synopsis

“	Madison confronts Strand about his mysterious destination. Meanwhile, Nick, Alicia and others inspect wreckage from a plane crash.	”
	— Official Synopsis

“	Bad luck to steal from the dead. Should not be joking about it.	”
	— Daniel Salazar, "Ouroboros"

Plot

Flight 462 has landed… either in the ocean and bounced up onto the beach in pieces or vice versa. Either way, there's wreckage, bodies, survivors and the infected both in the water and on land. Alex finds Jake hanging onto some floating wreckage; his face is badly burnt. They both make it onto a life raft where there are already two other survivors, both men. They argue about Jake, saying that it would be kinder to kill Jake rather than let him linger on in agony. Alex refuses to kill Jake and one of these men later tries to kill him when they're all asleep, Alex wakes and kills the man with a knife.

Back at The Abigail, Strand makes another call to a stranger. The Abigail comes to a halt after some very bad noises from the engines and Travis dives in to investigate. He discovers one of the dead with its arm blocking the water intake that cools the engine, once the intake in unblocked on the outside Travis works on the blocked filters in the Engine Room.

Alicia spots wreckage, mostly luggage, from Flight 462 on the beach and after some discussion the group decide to raid it for supplies with Daniel leading the young people (Nick, Alicia and Chris) on land. Daniel reveals Strand’s plan to head to Mexico to Madison, and asks her to confront him about it. Nick and Alicia sort through the wreckage while Chris explores the inside of Flight 462 alone. He only finds the dead who strain to reach and bite him until a man he'd thought was dead turns out to be still alive and says "Help me." Chris tries to help him, but the man's too badly hurt. The man asks Chris to kill him and, with some difficulty, Chris does.

Madison confronts Strand about Mexico and he eventually explains he’s planning on taking them to a house in Baja that is secure and has food and water. On land Nick helps Daniel choose the right medication for Ofelia while a traumatised Chris puts the dying man on the plane out of his misery by beating him to death with a metal bar. Daniel searches for Chris while Nick discovers a medicine bag. Travis continues to work on the boat while Madison fills him in on Strand’s plan.

A panicked Alex runs over the hill and meets Daniel, telling him to run from the horde of the dead just behind her. Nick stumbles down the hill and immediately gets attacked by an infected that becomes stuck in a pit. He stabs it in the head while another walker falls off. Alicia finds Chris while Daniel uses the walkers as target practice. Madison spots the horde of infected and orders Strand to move the boat closer to shore.

Alex, Alicia, and the rest take out the walkers as Travis finally fixes the boat. Nick arrives, covered in blood, and saves Alicia. In the process, Nick realizes that the blood he's covered in acts as a disguise and allows him to walk among the infected. The group makes it back to The Abigail (with Alex and Jake) and Madison fills everyone in on the Mexico plan.

Over Strand's objections Travis and the group give Alex and Jake water and tow their raft behind The Abigail. Strand appears to go along with this but, as soon as he can, he cuts the tow-line and sets them adrift out at sea.

Cast

Main

• Rubén Blades as Daniel Salazar
• Cliff Curtis as Travis Manawa
• Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark
• Kim Dickens as Madison Clark
• Frank Dillane as Nick Clark
• Colman Domingo as Victor Strand
• Lorenzo James Henrie as Chris Manawa
• Mercedes Mason as Ofelia Salazar
• Michelle Ang as Alex

Guest

• Dan Donohue as Michael - Liferaft
• Brenden Meyer as Jake

Co-Starring

• Jonathan Goldstein as Alan
• Gary Kraus as Ian - Liferaft
• Regen Wilson as Tom - Liferaft

Uncredited

• Joe Giles as "Crab Infected"

Crew

• Casting by Wendy O'Brien-Cabrera
• Main title theme by Atticus Ross
• Music by Paul Haslinger
• Edited by Tad Dennis
• Production Designer Bernardo Trujillo
• Director of photography Patrick Cady
• Produced by Avram Butch Kaplan
• Consulting Producer Brian Buckner
• Consulting Producer Brett C. Leonard
• Producer Alan Page
• Producers Pablo Cruz, Arturo Sampson
• Co-Executive Producer Andrew Bernstein
• Co-Executive Producer David Wiener
• Co-Executive Producer Kate Barnow
• Executive Producer Robert Kirkman
• Executive Producer David Alpert
• Executive Producer Greg Nicotero
• Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd
• Executive Producer Dave Erickson
• Written by Alan Page
• Directed by Stefan Schwartz

Trivia

"He who eats the tail."

• The title of this episode "Ouroboros", is a word that usually means "Infinity". It is the name of an ancient symbol of a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name comes from Greek; (oura) meaning "tail" and (boros) meaning "eating", so - "he who eats the tail". The symbol and the name's been used a lot in fiction. A version of the name "Uroboros", is the name of a virus from the game Resident Evil 5. A game about zombies.
• This episode marks:
  • Michelle Ang's first appearance as Alex and Brenden Meyer's as Jake.
  • Alicia Clark's first zombie kill.
  • The first time Christopher Manawa's had to kill a living person.
• The director of this episode, Stefan Schwartz, also directed the Season 1 Finale, "The Good Man".
• Some of the long shots on the beach were shot using a drone flying out over the sea.
• Michelle Ang's entrance as Alex, running over the sand dune towards Daniel Salazar had to be done in one take so that the sand wouldn't be marked by her running. Oh, or by the zombie horde following her.
• The location was a beach near Baja in California, I wonder if they left the aircraft fuselage etc. Is anyone close enough o take a look?

Video Gallery

Sneak Peek Episode 203 Fear the Walking Dead Ouroboros

Next on Episode 203 Fear the Walking Dead Ouroboros

Stills Gallery

In a parallel life: Jake chilling on the Abigail (from Michelle Ang's Twitter account)

Jake and Alex in the liferaft