S04.E04: Buried

[raven]

Quote

Al's questioning uncovers some surprising truths about the group's past. John Dorie receives unexpected news.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Might be time for a dry board and marker.

 

To suss out all these timelines.

[nodorothyparker]

I kind of liked this one, as long as you don't think too deeply about the fact that they spent the entire episode driving around the middle of nowhere with Junky Nick's body bouncing around on the floorboard between them while the second timeline managed to splinter off into a third.

I finally got water slide walkers.  That goes a long way.

[Lamima]

Is this now the work of Gimple? I am thinking it is. Gawd he tries too hard to be "artsy" or as we used to say way back in the day..."that's deep, man". As the kids say now..."epic fail", man.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Lamima

[Christi]

I just cant with Jenna Elfman..reading about L Ron, Leah Remini's show etc...I dont know why any of these nutjobs get hired.  Doesnt EVERYONE realize that we are seen by them as Suppressive Persons, and they are far superior to everyone else.  Dont think I could be in the same room with her... 

Edited May 7, 2018 by Christi

[TVFan17]

If nothing happened to Madison and she did not die in the flashback timeline, then they are definitely going out of their way to try to lead us into thinking she did.    It seems like they are trying to make us think that all hell broke loose when the gang left Madison to stay behind at the stadium.  It seems like they are trying to make us think that The Vultures caused a ruckus because Strand brought his stash of goodies back to share with everyone else, and The Vultures probably decided to take everything for themselves, leading to chaos, mayhem, and Jenna Elfman not making it out alive, apparently.

While the whole 'multiple timelines' angle is kind of an interesting way of telling the story (especially if you miss the good ol' days of Lost and its wonky flash-forwards, flashbacks and flash-sideways stories), it is going to get really annoying and tedious if they drag out the 'where is Madison' mystery for more than another couple of episodes.  I certainly don't want to go through a bunch of red herring trickery only to find out that there is a twist and she is alive and romping through the flowers somewhere.     She has been acting way too perky in the flashback episodes -- and that can't last. 

[candall]

Quote

I oddly sort of like framing this all as a story that's being told in pieces. 

I agree, although I think they're motivated to compound the stories because the progress would not be interesting enough to keep viewers absorbed if told in linear fashion.

I appreciate they can dispense the deaths and betrayals at regular intervals this way, but yeow, there is still so much driving and background exposition chatter.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

If Madison is dead, they .might not reveal it until the MSF.

[WordsWordsWords]

I liked this episode.

I've been thinking at least since last week that Laura and Naomi were the same person.

I really liked the different "infected" they used on the show tonight. I did pick a bad night to eat guacamole with my supper -- I was spooning up the guac when the algae infected were onscreen. Good thing I have a strong stomach. *laughing*

We are meant to wonder which friend Victor was referring to when he told Al his friend was dead: Madison or Cole.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

How are the vultures showering? Poor man's Zac Efron looks pretty dapper and clean. 

How did they know in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, to find their arsenal of weapons and shizzle? Did I miss a marker or something? Dark scenes kill me. 

[JackONeill]

Many things bugged me about this show but it used to be that I cared more so I would list them fully, now I will pick just one:

The Big Bad (I don’t even know his name because he —the character — is so underwhelming) and Madison don’t seem to be at one another’s throats as the big bads on the, ahem, other show have been.

Okay, that might be a cool thing to do if handled correctly. But we seem to be heading for this major apocalypse of a battle, yet all I’m seeing is Madison casually strolling out from behind her walls to share wieners with lawn-chair guy. And they talk about mustard and relish, and the way things used to be, I kind of expect them to stop and pose for a Norman Rockwell painting.

I don’t feel the tension. Just don’t. 

Oh, one other thing: Does anyone else feel like Morgan really doesn’t fit here? Yes, it was mildly interesting to see him interact with Nick, but, now, well, no more Nick. No more lost puppy dog for Morgan to mentor.

[nodorothyparker]

I assume we're not going to know the end of the story on what actually happened at the stadium and who other than those sitting in the Swat truck lived or died until the MSF.  I've made my peace with that as I've been surprised as anyone to realize I'm actually liking this season for the most part.

Really loving the Morgan-John buddyship that's happening.  Part of it is how much I like Lenny James and Garret Dillahunt as actors, but there was a lovely bit of symmetry between how much it was clearly paining John throughout the longest drive ever that Morgan unequivocally intended to go off and wander the earth some more by himself and how Morgan didn't hesitate to scrap that to volunteer to babysit him when he was obviously not okay to the point of wanting to do his own walkabout after the Naomi=Laura reveal.  (Idiocy of leaving these two guys alone on the side of the road in the middle of the night aside.)  Those of us who have watched the mothership know Morgan's had mostly shitty one-sided friendships in the ZA, so I find myself hoping against hope that John won't be another for him.  It helps that the actors have a very easy chemistry with each other.  No, the Naomi=Laura reveal wasn't the most shocking thing ever as we've watched her try to bail on people who helped her out twice in the two episodes she's been in and she made it clear to Alicia that that's her MO when she senses things going bad, but now they have me wondering what exactly she saw beyond John's genial neediness that sent her running.

Frankly, I'm relieved to not have to watch Madison engage in endless dick measuring with the big bad.  There's something disquieting about just how low key these guys are being letting the residents come and go with little pushback, particularly since we know we're watching the survivors of whatever did eventually happen there.  I'm sure the whole infinitely patient lawn chair/RV hipster vibe they're giving off is at least partially responsible for why we saw each of our survivor characters ignore their instincts to cut bait on the whole mess and go back.  They haven't attacked us.  They haven't really done anything to us at all except make it harder to scavenge supplies.  How bad can they be?

Framing all of this with the multiple timelines as Althea trying to piece together the story is a little precious, sure, but it's working for me.  If it keeps any of the characters from disappearing for weeks at a time until we've forgotten why we're supposed to care about them while also preventing us being stuck for 40-plus minutes with one character doing one thing, I'll take it.

[econ07]

How can the vultures so nonchalantly approach communities with their guard down, sitting in lawn chairs, and not have gotten burnt.  You would think lawn chair guy would have been hit by at least one sniper in the dozens of communities they have approached, and then the rest would have decided to be more cautious ... kind of like Terminus did.  And the dude Nick killed was was way to relaxed to not have been killed earlier.  Dude, keep your guard up a little and some druggie teenager won't get the jump on you.

And how can they send their "daughter" (the one who shot Nick) into these communities  before knowing anything about them. Ya, in this case she came out unscathed.  But out of the dozens of communities, how many times has she been beaten, molested, or even tortured.  I would think after a few bad canary in the coal mine incidents, she would have a good case of the jitters and shakes, and definitely would not think fondly of her adoptive father.

Edited May 7, 2018 by econ07
type

[notcreative enough]

Maybe Strand should have waited a little longer before he showed his potential boy toy his secret stash. 

So there very bad day was the day they all decided to stay. I guess the vultures get tired of waiting and attach. 

Did Morgan just shame them into burying Nick? All they cared about was the weapons they seemed to have had time to stash. 

I don't think Madison or Naomi are dead. They are probably hold up together somewhere and John and Morgan find them. Or the head hipster has them. Either way I can't see them telling us that one of the new characters is dead before they show us she is dead. Maybe the 4 og characters went on Nick's veggie field trip to come home to the stadium in ruin. 

Are we ever going to find out what happened to Daniel? 

[oakville]

I am very impressed with the show reboot. I never liked Nick. I liked this episode. Madison vs Zac Efron is good. It's much more interesting that Negan vs Rick. I am shocked that someone looked for maps & a library!. Nick was at least talking about finding seeds & fertilizer.

I don't know if Madison is dead or not, but she is less annoying this season than in the previous 3 seasons.

I like Strand's decision to come back to the stadium with the supplies.

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

See, after reading all the comments, now I have to go back and watch this again...i am so confused & hungry for a wienie

.

[CloudySky]

Madison and Strand have gone through such big character changes, it was a huge relief to see some of the classic Strand with the getaway plan. It was a great way to prove his point to Paul (?) and of course he got the confirmation that the golden hearted good guy cannot deal with his bad side. That and the fact that it was the syrup rather than the rock that got him to turn back to camp was a bigger plot twist than the Naomi reveal for sure!

Upon first watch with infinite commercials, the episode was slightly annoying because we didn't find out what we really wanted to know. But upon rewatch I enjoyed it a lot more and have accepted that this is how this half season is gonna be.

The water slide was fun. I liked how they dedicated time to show us how Alicia lost her classic knife for her new weapon. I didn't expect the twist with the buried guns, that was cold!

I will be soooo surprised and shocked if it turns out Naomi (and Madison) are really dead. I'm almost dreading finding out they're not because all of this will seem like a huge waste of anger and death for nothing. What the frick happened at that stadium??

All in all a very enjoyable season! I look forward to every episode and am willing to be patient and ride this mystery out.

[Bongo Fury]

So I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the antagonists for the current season aren't psychotic evil villains. As portrayed so far the Vultures are a group of people who feel that a fixed settlement is not a viable solution to long term survival in the ZA. Rather they feel that nomadic scavenging is a better way to go. They also appear to be somewhat of neatness freaks as they round up and entrap any walkers in any area they pass through. And they appear to be scavengers extraordinaire, cleaning out shelves completely and even taking the lightbulbs (as a aside, WTF are they doing with light bulbs, they can't use them in their cars or busses). As part of their nomadic scavenging, they also appear to size up any fixed communities they encounter and those they deem imminently doomed, they evangelize their lifestyle and offer the residents a chance to join them. So overall, they aren't evil bad guys. Major buzz kills lurking around a community they anticipate dying, but I guess that's why they call themselves Vultures. Like much of this franchise the Vultures don't stand up to logical scrutiny, but it's an interesting change from the BIG BADS that have become SO repetitive. 

 

I'm just pessimistic that the writers can connect the story from what we have seen so far of the Vultures, to the vitriolic reaction our protagonists (the not so good guys) have towards them now. What is it with the V's that we haven't seen yet that could elicit this reaction? What? Oh, yeah. Silly me, I'm expecting consistent writing and a logical story progression. From a Gimpfest. Ah ... nevermind ... nothing to see here ... I'll show myself out ... sorry for wasting your time.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Bongo Fury

[Lamima]

Vultures seem evil to me in that they use that little girl, Charlie, to go into places which could be unsafe and they dont care. Also he said he convinced his family and community to stay put, that they'd be safe but then he got out while the place burned to the ground. Seemed to me he was pointing out to Madison that he purposely did it....letting her know he cares about nobody (is evil) so she needn't think he will join her community as she was trying to convince him.

Whole premise is stupid as they are nomads, travelling gypsies, but as pointed out last thread....gas is on shortage and really actually should be gone by now. So their whole lifestyle is nonsense. Stupid Gimple.

If he is faking us out about Madison maybe being dead....and she isn't....what the eff. Another Glenn under the dumpster. Maybe Morgan and John will find Madison and Laura under a dumpster.

[raven]

12 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

There's something disquieting about just how low key these guys are being letting the residents come and go with little pushback, particularly since we know we're watching the survivors of whatever did eventually happen there. 

I think the show is doing a decent job of building some ominous suspense as to what happened.  I do wonder if it was something other than a big firefight between smug lawn chair people and Madison's group.  The leftovers now traveling with Althea are being awfully cagey about everything.  Of course it could just end up being the usual shoot em up.

I thought Madison was dead but now I'm on the "main characters think she is dead but she really isn't" train.   Then again, if they find her alive, they'll be happy and we can't have that.

I like Morgan and John remaining behind, though John's way of speaking is starting to bug.   Even with the new people, the show has a leaner feel.

The zombie water slide was fun.  More like that, please.

[TVFan17]

3 hours ago, Lamima said:

Vultures seem evil to me in that they use that little girl, Charlie, to go into places which could be unsafe and they dont care. Also he said he convinced his family and community to stay put, that they'd be safe but then he got out while the place burned to the ground. Seemed to me he was pointing out to Madison that he purposely did it....letting her know he cares about nobody (is evil) so she needn't think he will join her community as she was trying to convince him.

Whole premise is stupid as they are nomads, travelling gypsies, but as pointed out last thread....gas is on shortage and really actually should be gone by now. So their whole lifestyle is nonsense. Stupid Gimple.

If he is faking us out about Madison maybe being dead....and she isn't....what the eff. Another Glenn under the dumpster. Maybe Morgan and John will find Madison and Laura under a dumpster.

Regarding the bold section above -- that was how I interpreted it as well.    I thought that his revelation was supposed to be the main hint (clue) to us and to Madison that he is a bad guy, and that we can expect to see him being evil in the near future.

In fact, it seems like the writers and show runners are purposely trying to make The Vultures seem toned down and not causing mayhem left and right, only to try to shock us later when they suddenly decide that they are tired of playing nice and  begin wreaking havoc on the stadium.   In other words, they are not starting right out of the gate with bashing people over the heads with baseball bats, or tying them to chairs to be killed by walkers, but they will do something evil very soon.    They will see that Strand brought in the treats for everyone, and they will try to take them all for themselves, which will lead to everything somehow going to hell in a hand basket.  Maybe they will set fire to the stadium, leaving everyone to think that Madison and Jenna Elfman are dead.

I wonder if Madison is thinking that they won't do anything too horrible because they have young Charlie with them.  If she thinks that, she will be proven very wrong.  Not only will The Vultures do horrible things with Charlie around, but Charlie herself will probably do horrible things (before she eventually kills Nick).

[FishyJoe]

Why was Naomi/Laura's bag with the cache of weapons? And nobody even bothered to open it up after she died?

And it seems like a machine gun would be pretty useful as the other show demonstrated, but they just left it there. And if there was a machine gun and medical supplies, it seems like there would have been a lot of other useful stuff. And why didn't the zombies bloat like all the other zombies found in water? 

[Haleth]

The naysayers of their group were right though that feeding that many people at the stadium was going to be impossible.  Once the crops failed and scavanging was bringing in little it would make more sense to split up and go separate ways.  What was the idea Nick and his girlfriend (whose name I can't remember) came up with?  Were they planning on trying to farm again?  How long would that take to support dozens of people?  And what if the crops fail again?

Still, I think I'd rather watch crops grow than go another round of war with bad guys who want to take everything the good guys have.  Wash, rinse, repeat.

The water park escapade was fun.

I'd be really surprised if Madison was dead.  Of course it surprised me that they killed off Nick.

[JackONeill]

WARNING: Ramblings Ahead!

Anybody have an idea for what the time gap is between “the stadium” and the appearance of Morgan, Maggie Grace, et al?

It’s interesting , as many have commented, that the SWAT vehicle is still running. I suspect that’s merely for the writers to get the characters positioned in the right place before we come to our typical (for the Walking Dead universe) screeching halt and everyone has to walk.

Which leads me to ask: Do we have a sense where the stadium is and where the SWAT vehicle is? It can’t be too far because Nick’s team ran across them.

My feeling is that all the key players are roughly in the same area. After all, John has to hook up with his long-lost love, and he and Morgan are on foot.

But I am confused because you would think that when Nick ran into the SWAT team it would have been farther away from the stadium.

Oh well. I’ll just go with the flow. This show is real lean when it comes to explaining things—like how everyone survived the dam explosion.

But I have this fear that just as the main story picks up speed, we’ll jump back in the past for a stand-alone story devoted to the dam explosion.

Oh, and how in the world did Luciana find Nick??!!? Maybe she pinged his cellphone. (Hey, it works on NCIS.)

[nodorothyparker]

The book Nick and Luciana were doing the open a page and point method to make a decision with was an atlas of the U.S. Southwest.  That was the point she was trying to make with her part of the story she was telling Althea, that they should have taken whoever was willing to go and go to that spot on the map to start over instead of going with Madison's interpretation that they would be going there to scavenge and come back.

11 hours ago, raven said:

I think the show is doing a decent job of building some ominous suspense as to what happened.  I do wonder if it was something other than a big firefight between smug lawn chair people and Madison's group.  The leftovers now traveling with Althea are being awfully cagey about everything.  Of course it could just end up being the usual shoot em up.

I think so too.  Part of me randomly wondered when either Alicia or Luciana was talking about how people didn't "make it out" if they didn't burn the place down, either intentionally or as an accidental byproduct of a more standard firefight.  Or maybe that's a too on the nose reading after the story about how the brothers convinced the rest of their family not to flee a fire that killed them all.

[MostlyContent]

53 minutes ago, JackONeill said:

Anybody have an idea for what the time gap is between “the stadium” and the appearance of Morgan, Maggie Grace, et al?

No.  I was hoping all of you would know.  lol

I think FTWD was only two-three months into the walkers before the time jump.   They were in the stadium for a year.  So maybe a year before Morgan etc?  

It's really difficult to add up the days when the mothership's last season comprised only a month or two.  

[Wouldofshouldof]

On 5/7/2018 at 8:07 AM, nodorothyparker said:

Really loving the Morgan-John buddyship that's happening.  Part of it is how much I like Lenny James and Garret Dillahunt as actors, but there was a lovely bit of symmetry between how much it was clearly paining John throughout the longest drive ever that Morgan unequivocally intended to go off and wander the earth some more by himself and how Morgan didn't hesitate to scrap that to volunteer to babysit him when he was obviously not okay to the point of wanting to do his own walkabout after the Naomi=Laura reveal.  (Idiocy of leaving these two guys alone on the side of the road in the middle of the night aside.)  Those of us who have watched the mothership know Morgan's had mostly shitty one-sided friendships in the ZA, so I find myself hoping against hope that John won't be another for him. 

When John revealed that he had been a cop, I pictured Morgan thinking, "Yeah . . . I know another former cop . . . I'll just be getting on my way now," lol.

[JackONeill]

3 hours ago, Wouldofshouldof said:

When John revealed that he had been a cop, I pictured Morgan thinking, "Yeah . . . I know another former cop . . . I'll just be getting on my way now," lol.

I noticed that. But surely (and don't call me Shirley) TPTB can't be drawing such a close parallel. Because the other cop, you know from—ahem—the other show, also uses a six-shooter. 

That would be too much of a coincidence . . . right?

[jane1978]

So where is Charlie now? We saw in one of the flashbacks she usually drives with her "daddy" who Nick murdered. Then she shot Nick and ran off. So is she still lost somewhere or was she able to return back to the Vultures? 

The waterslide scenery was a clever fun idea to watch, but I see no reason why would the characters risk going up to it when they could easily climb up the barricade. It just seemed so much easier.

So, everybody decided to stay? That was predictable, because otherwise we would have another "we separated, something horrible happened and we ended back together" side stories we already had for most of the characters. 

Maddison is either dead, or atleast everybody believes she is dead but we will eventually discover she was just kidnapped, or she did the unthinkable and switched the sides for the Vultures, maybe doing some kind of secret deal with them to save the rest of the family we don´t know yet. 

So I hope this season will be more than Ali collecting stories why driving finishing with some lame showdown with the Vultures. So far they still didn´t give us any reason why everybody is so afraid of them. And why is it they are always first everywhere now, when Charlie is no longer able to spy on Maddison? 

[Bongo Fury]

On 5/7/2018 at 7:01 PM, Lamima said:

Vultures seem evil to me in that they use that little girl, Charlie, to go into places which could be unsafe and they dont care.

IMO, the Vultures have clearly been watching the stadium crew for a while and only sent the little girl in after they knew the group was safe. She went in to get the fine details on the group and she did a great job of it, so it clearly wasn't her first spy mission. They obviously care for Charlie, I see no reason to believe that they'd cavalierly put her in jeopardy. She is a valuable member of their community and is not someone they would allow to be harmed.

 

21 hours ago, TVFan17 said:

In fact, it seems like the writers and show runners are purposely trying to make The Vultures seem toned down and not causing mayhem left and right, only to try to shock us later when they suddenly decide that they are tired of playing nice and  begin wreaking havoc on the stadium.  

It seems to me that the Vultures clearly did not wreak havoc on the stadium people. Witness the reaction the dude had towards Nick last week, it was casual and consistent with what we have seen earlier. If they had attacked the stadium and killed the people there he wouldn't have been so relaxed towards Nick, he'd have been much more cautious or even taken up a defensive posture. From what I'm seeing, the 'good guys' are pissed at the Vultures because they were right, the stadium was doomed. And they made the fall of the stadium even worse than it needed to be because their egos refused to admit that the Vulture were right and they stuck with the stadium to the point where it cost lives of their people. It's the smug attitude and the fact that they were right that is fueling the animosity towards the Vultures.

[Carl Malone]

On 5/7/2018 at 11:40 AM, econ07 said:

How can the vultures so nonchalantly approach communities with their guard down, sitting in lawn chairs, and not have gotten burnt.  You would think lawn chair guy would have been hit by at least one sniper in the dozens of communities they have approached, and then the rest would have decided to be more cautious .

This times 1000. The second he cryptically said we’re going to sit here while you die and then take your shit I would have thought well we’re going to have to kill them and take their shit first. But I think that about a lot of the characters on the show... basically anyone that talks weird needs to die in my mind. This is the apocalypse. There’s no need to be mysterious.

[Carl Malone]

These people are the worst scavengers ever. How has the stadium crew not picked all food locations clean already? Do they drive 20 miles out for one spot? It’s like they take what they can physically carry and then call it quits. When nurse lady and Alicia where at the water park one of them says “we need to take as much as we can” and they start stuffing their backpacks. I’m thinking to myself you need to take everything. Quit being lazy and do the fucking work. They act like they have to get back for supper.

[Carl Malone]

On 5/7/2018 at 11:52 AM, notcreative enough said:

Maybe the 4 og characters went on Nick's veggie field trip to come home to the stadium in ruin

That actually makes a lot of sense. It also explains why dead vulture guy wasn’t aggressive towards Nick. 

[nodorothyparker]

5 hours ago, Carl Malone said:

On 5/7/2018 at 11:40 AM, econ07 said:

How can the vultures so nonchalantly approach communities with their guard down, sitting in lawn chairs, and not have gotten burnt.  You would think lawn chair guy would have been hit by at least one sniper in the dozens of communities they have approached, and then the rest would have decided to be more cautious .

This times 1000. The second he cryptically said we’re going to sit here while you die and then take your shit I would have thought well we’re going to have to kill them and take their shit first. But I think that about a lot of the characters on the show... basically anyone that talks weird needs to die in my mind. This is the apocalypse. There’s no need to be mysterious.

Their shtick most likely works precisely because it seems so nonthreatening.  Despite what certain shows, ahem, might have us believe, not everybody wants to be a stone-cold killer to people who are just ... sitting there.  If they had come in guns a blazing shooting at our stadium crew, that would be one thing.  But they're just hanging out, doing the worst tailgating ever, telling an unpleasant story or two, and making threats that for all our stadium gang know they aren't going to have the patience to actually follow through on.  I mean, they're not even engaging in traditional siege tactics keeping Madison and company from coming and going.  I can see why the gang would assume that sooner or later they're going to get bored and go away if they can just wait them out.

[JackONeill]

I know the networks look at the ratings to see how their shows are doing. Well, they should look here. There is ONLY one page of comments for this episode of Fear The Walking Dead (and probably half of those are Chris Hardwick, pretending to be a nerd. Oh, wait, he doesn't have to pretend.)

[wrlord]

On 5/6/2018 at 7:11 PM, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Might be time for a dry board and marker.

 

To suss out all these timelines.

Really? There are only two.

[thuganomics85]

Lucky for Nick, having multiple timelines means that even though he's technically dead, he still gets to hang out on the show for a bit longer!  While I'm not a huge fan of the character, I kind of feel bad that only Morgan actually seemed to treat his funeral with any importance, as even his own sister and girlfriend seemed content to just drop his body in the whole they buried the stash in.  Cold!

So, Naomi is the mystery woman that John is obsessed with?  I wonder what all of that will end up being about?

I really don't see the show killing off Madison (or Naomi) after Nick's death this season, so I'm guessing the group either just thinks they are dead or something else happened that has gotten them so riled up.

[For Cereals]

I don’t understand why going north to get seeds and fertilizer is such a windfall.  I know there wouldn’t be a story but having seen all the different outposts fall, if someone comes in and says they want your place, why not just let them have it?  Especially if they’re going to let you come and go as you please.  With an atlas (as long as there’s someone who knows how to read one), pick a spot miles out and start smuggling your people there, go back and forth so as to not raise suspicion and then don’t come back.  If you’re hiding people and they send a scout, you’ll have the numbers to kill them to buy time to continue moving.  There have to be rental car places where there are cars with gas because no one wants that fee when they return the car, OTHER stadiums, race tracks, new home construction sites, or just be nomads since setting up camp never seems to work.

[oakville]

16 hours ago, For Cereals said:

I don’t understand why going north to get seeds and fertilizer is such a windfall.  I know there wouldn’t be a story but having seen all the different outposts fall, if someone comes in and says they want your place, why not just let them have it?  Especially if they’re going to let you come and go as you please.  With an atlas (as long as there’s someone who knows how to read one), pick a spot miles out and start smuggling your people there, go back and forth so as to not raise suspicion and then don’t come back.  If you’re hiding people and they send a scout, you’ll have the numbers to kill them to buy time to continue moving.  There have to be rental car places where there are cars with gas because no one wants that fee when they return the car, OTHER stadiums, race tracks, new home construction sites, or just be nomads since setting up camp never seems to work.

I find it strange that no one on the show ever went to a car rental agency or a car dealership. There would  many new cars to pick from with gas.

I am excited that it toook 4 seasons to have someone look for a map & visited a library. They are at least trying to farm as opposed to scavenging for a can of soup.