Fear’s Season 4, 11th episode – The Code, begins with Morgan looking for Alicia in the hurricane, to no avail. It is raining so hard he has to take refuge in the back of a transport truck. There are boxes inside with the words: “Take what you need, leave what you don’t” written on them and he takes a peanut butter protein bar, smiling as he bites into it.
The next morning, the storm has passed and Morgan disembarks from the truck, only to see a sign outside that says Flip-Flop Truck Stop, Mississippi. He walks inside the gas station calling out “hello”. No one answers.
A woman’s voice comes over a radio, looking for “Polar Bear”. Morgan tells her he doesn’t know any Polar Bear and that he is at a truck stop in Mississippi. She tells him to take what he needs and leave what he doesn’t. He flips a switch, the electricity comes on and he brews himself some coffee. The look of delight on his face as he takes the first sip is something many viewers could relate to. How long has it been since he’d had a cup of coffee? Then, he gets to use an actual toilet with actual toilet paper.
Morgan’s delight is short-lived, however, when he hears the sound of a gun cocking and a voice telling him to get out of the washroom. When he finally opens the stall door, there is a man sitting in a wheelchair, pointing a shotgun at him.
“All my life, people like you have been using stalls made for people like me,” he tells Morgan. Sheepishly, Morgan tells him he always liked those particular stalls because they felt like a “little apartment”.
A woman walks in a little while later and introduces herself as Sarah. She tells the man in the wheelchair, whose name is Wendell, to lower his gun. Morgan explains to them he is going to a community in Virginia (Alexandria) but must first help his friends, who are stuck in Texas. Just before Morgan leaves for Texas, Wendell tells him they have “a code. You gotta help people when they need that help.”
Morgan gets to a bridge and realizes he has a choice to make: keep moving forward and help his friends in Texas or turn around and go back towards Virginia. He chooses the latter route, radios Sarah and Wendell and tells them the bridge is washed out.
Believe The Unbelievable
As he heads back, writers expect viewers to suspend their disbelief when Morgan sees a man running through a field with his hands cuffed and a cloth bag over his head, walkers surrounding him. Are we really supposed to think some guy has been running around with a bag over his head and his hands tied behind him and just happens to be overcome by zombies right at the moment Morgan encounters him? It was about as plausible as last week when a zombie speared to a tree trunk fell onto a chain to unlock the cellar door and free Alicia and Charlie.
Despite this mind boggling scenario, Morgan saves the man, named Jim, who tells him he brews beer and had been kidnapped by people who wanted his recipe. Not finding this story far-fetched in any way, Morgan invites him to go to Alexandria with him.
When Morgan meets up with Sarah and Wendell again, Jim starts backing away from them. Uh oh, it looks like this pair of truckers are not what they appear to be. Surprise! Both men then have their arms tied behind their backs and are placed in the back of the cab.
The truck tires get stuck and they have to unload some of their supplies. Morgan and Jim wait behind the truck and when he offers to help Sarah unload, Jim’s binds are cut. Morgan remains cuffed. As walkers advance under the bridge, Jim inadvertently bumps Morgan down a hill towards them. He manages to haul himself up on top of a vehicle, as Sarah, Wendell and Jim watch from above. Sarah says she’ll help him if he gives them directions to Virginia, which Morgan gives them, but she tells him they’re leaving him there, just like he left his friends back in Texas.
It gets dark and Morgan is still on top of the car, surrounded by walkers. Although there was some dramatic tension in this scene, viewers could be relatively sure they weren’t going to see Morgan go out in this episode. He jumps off the car and spots a “Take what you need, leave what you don’t” box, scrambles over to it, gets a pen knife and cuts his bonds, ultimately freeing himself. He is then able to dispatch the walkers.
Walking up the road, he meets Sarah, Wendell and Jim again, who are there to get proper directions to Virginia. Morgan tells them he’ll take them there, but first, they’re going back to help his friends in Texas and they will be making stops along the way. Each one of them leaves a “Take what you need, leave what you don’t” box at a mile marker, including Jim, who makes sure to leave a bottle of beer in his.
The Next Big Bad
Morgan gets on the radio, hoping he can contact the original owner of the truck. He tells the owner they want to give the truck back and are heading to Texas.
Cut to a woman who hears the call. She is gleefully using a sharpie on the face of the man who looks to be the original owner of the truck, who is now a zombie. She tells him they are heading to Texas. Clearly, she’s going to be the new villain on the show and according to the previews, it looks like we’ll see more of her next week. Stay tuned.
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