Fear the Walking Dead season 5, episode 6 review: The Little Prince

Fear the Walking Dead now has all hands on deck in an effort to travel back home and out of harm’s way.

Althea is back with Morgan and company and, with the orphans joining as well, the mission is now to rebuild a dismantled plane and fly back to where they came from. Little Dylan got the idea to fix the plane from the book he is reading, The Little Prince. Along with the original members planning to return, Alicia needs to convince the kids to come with them, while Morgan hopes to save Grace from her doomed fate. And John helps Dwight search for Sherry before departure.

The main obstacle is that Morgan’s plane has engines but lacks a propeller, whereas Strand’s plane has propellers without engines. They are many mountains apart. While Morgan, Alicia, and Althea are working out their options, Grace radios that the nearby nuclear power plant will have another meltdown if the generator is not replaced.

Morgan brings Grace the generator from the truck stop. She puts on her hazmat suit and tells Morgan there is one more in the back of her truck. When he checks, Grace admits that she lied and locks the car door; she doesn’t want to risk Morgan’s life at the nuclear plant and instead aims to give them more time before an inevitable nuclear meltdown.

Dwight spills his Sherry story to John when they are out looking for her. John spots a note from his wife that Dwight missed the first time around. Because of a storm (most likely from season 4), Sherry has taken a different route, and Dwight can finally get back on the right track. They find her car outside one of the houses she stayed at and John opens a letter that she left for Dwight, conveying her wishes that he stop looking for her. John, wanting to preserve Dwight’s hope, keeps the note to himself.

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When Strand is brainstorming with Sarah and Charlie about how to reach Morgan and Alicia, Charlie takes a closer look at the magazine picture of the late Jim (they keep one hanging to honor his sacrifice). Charlie notices that the giant beer bottle on the cover is a hot air balloon. Strand radios Luciana when he and Charlie are floating toward them with the propellers.

Strand’s triumphant moment is ruined in two ways. First, when Alicia goes to show the kids the balloon, she sees that Annie has left with them all. Then, the balloon runs out of fuel and lands in the contaminated zone. Now on foot, Strand and Charlie are surrounded by nuclear zombies. Alicia goes after the kids, while Morgan makes his way toward Strand.

Weekly Walkaways

• Apparently, motivational words to young adults don’t always work. Both June and Alicia speak thoughtfully to Annie, with Alicia interpreting Annie’s parents’ final message to mean the kids should stick with the group. Alicia even gives Annie car keys so she can make her own decision, which backfires in the end.
• After Althea promised Isabelle that she wouldn’t tell anyone about her helicopter and her people, Al almost slips to June. June knows more happened with Al during her separation from the group then Al is willing to tell. At this point, it doesn’t seem like any harm would come from Althea speaking about her episode with Isabelle.
• This week ends with many characters making courageously selfless choices. Grace buys time for the others and intends to die at the plant. Both Morgan and Alicia don’t think twice about rushing into the danger zone to save Strand, Charlie, and the orphans. And while John’s choice has less to do with courage, he still makes a tough decision to lie to his friend, instead of crushing his dreams.
• The MVP of “The Little Prince” is Annie simply because Bailey Gavulic delivers one heck of a gloomy and emotional monologue detailing how her parents were contaminated, and that she had to have her last conversation with them on the other side of a door. Annie fights back tears when telling Alicia how her parents said they were going to get better, when they all knew that wasn’t true.

Fear the Walking Dead returns next week with “Still Standing” on Sunday, July 14th at 9:00 p.m. ET on AMC.