Fear the Walking Dead Recap: More Time Than You Know

There’s no time to waste in Fear the Walking Dead‘s “More Time Than You Know” episode. Grace (Karen David) is burning up from fever and losing blood fast after being bitten by a walker on her side. They can’t amputate, so it’s a race against time to get Grace to June (Jenna Elfman), who can treat the bite with the radiotherapy treatments that seem to have healed Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry’s (Christine Evangelista) zombie-bitten son Finch (Gavin Warren). The radiation helps to stop the infection and the fever, which will let the cancer-stricken Grace spend whatever time she has left with Morgan (Lennie James) and their daughter Mo (Zoey Merchant) before she inevitably succumbs to radiation sickness.

Morgan must get Grace to the train car that PADRE converted into a mobile hospital so June’s equipment can administer the radiotherapy treatments. But the train car has moved, and only Shrike (Maya Eshet) knows the location. She radios Morgan to make a deal: she’ll save Grace’s life if he clears the carrion from the shipyard where PADRE stores containers with resources to build new settlements across the country. Shrike was going to have her teenage prefects kill the thousands of walkers PADRE put in the shipyard to safeguard the future — but that was before she had leverage over Morgan.

Morgan thinks he can clear the carrion with help from Daniel Salazar’s (Rubén Blades) anti-PADRE parent army. But Daniel is wary he’s walking his soldiers into a trap, pulling out when Shrike orders they clear the shipyard by hand. “There’s supplies in these containers, supplies we need to rebuild the world,” she explains. “Fertilizers, munitions… One stray bullet and PADRE’s entire legacy goes up in smoke.” Morgan believes he can do it with Dwight and Sherry alone, but Grace doesn’t want anyone dying to save her. Morgan needs to be there for Mo, she says, and Dwight and Sherry need to be there for Finch. 

“I watched Jenny die from a bite,” Morgan says of his late wife. “I can’t do that again.” Grace tells him it’s not up to them, and she doesn’t have much time anyway. She tells Mo about her diagnosis. Even if they can treat the bite, she only has months — maybe a year — left to live. “That’s a lot more than a day,” Mo says. “I’m going to fight for every minute I can get with you.”

Morgan runs out of time to accept the deal, so Shrike orders her guards to eliminate Nightingale (Morgan), Red Kite (Dwight), and Starling (Sherry), and put down Heron (Grace) before she can turn and risk harming Mo or Finch. They’re going to find the train car to treat Grace without Shrike’s help, but Grace, growing weaker and her fever worsening, wants Morgan to take her to coordinates that lead to the repeater station she serviced for PADRE. Morgan wants to take Grace to the repeater station. Mo wants to find the train car. “I just got you both back,” Mo says of her parents. “I’m not gonna lose you again.” 

Dwight and Sherry break off to act as decoys and lead PADRE’s forces on a wild goose chase, giving Morgan and Mo time to bring Grace to the train car. When she comes to on a boat in the swamp, she reminds Morgan that the coordinates she gave him are inland. She doesn’t want Morgan and Mo risking their lives just for the chance to give Grace more time. In the seven years she was “Heron” for PADRE, Grace was planning for their future: scavenging supplies and collecting things to make a home. Somewhere they could live — together — and Mo would be safe. “If I’m not going to make it,” Grace says regretfully, “I at least wanted to give her a moment there. A moment for how it could’ve been for us.” 

Morgan assures Grace he’ll take her there after they’ve stopped the infection. As Shrike’s prefects chase the decoy Dwight and Sherry, a breathless Finch comes down with fever. He’s burning up. Dwight raises June over walkie talkie and reports that Finch’s bite is red and inflamed. The skin around it is hot, signaling to June that Finch’s infection is back. She’s holed up at Grace’s repeater station and can treat Finch there. Over walkie, June instructs Morgan to continue to the train car. If she doesn’t get there in time, she’ll talk him through Grace’s treatment over the walkie.

Morgan knows what this means. If Finch’s infection is back… June’s treatment doesn’t work. Grace won’t risk her family’s lives to save one that can’t be saved. Her response to the news: “I want to spend whatever time I have left with you.” Morgan recalls the carnival he came across with Mo after she escaped the island with Madison. If they can get there and block off the entrances, they can be there for as much time as they have left together. Mo doesn’t want to give up. “It’s not giving up, my sweet girl,” mom assures her. “It’s accepting how things are.” 

PADRE’s forces are closing in on them, so Morgan entrusts Mo with taking care of Grace as he leads them away. He’ll take the long way to the carnival and meet them there. “Thank you for understanding, my love,” Grace says with all the strength she can muster. “It’s what I want.” This isn’t goodbye. “I’m gonna see you soon,” Morgan reminds her. “I promise you.” He kisses her hand. She takes his hand in hers. Morgan smiles. She always liked when he smiles. Morgan gently pushes the boat off, telling Mo: “You look after your mom, okay?” 

Time passes. Grace wakes up to Morgan calling Mo over the walkie talkie. He’s at the carnival, but they’re not there. Grace realizes Mo is pushing her down train tracks on a handcar. Grace begs her to stop, but Mo is determined to save her life. “We don’t have time to stop! Every minute is going to count.” Grace knows PADRE is defending the train car. Grace knows Shrike’s prefects will take Mo back to the island. And Grace knows the treatment won’t work. Grace is right: Dove (Jayla Walton) and a pack of prefects are blocking the tracks. 

Elsewhere, Dwight and Sherry get Finch to the repeater station. A carousel painting decorates the shack made up like a child’s bedroom. Grace was preparing for a life after PADRE. Dwight is confident Grace will get it, and so will Finch. June and Daniel make it to the repeater station. Madison (Kim Dickens) and the parents are posted out front. 

Meanwhile, Mo pushes past Dove and the prefects. She tells them the truth about PADRE: there is no PADRE. He’s been dead for years, and his children — Shrike and Crane (Daniel Rashid) — are doing this because they lost their father. “I know how upset you were when you found out your mom was dead,” Mo tells Dove. “I don’t think you want me to feel that, too.” The prefects stand by and let Mo get Grace to the train car — but Hawk (Triston Dye) fires off a flare to draw carrion to the area.

Over the walkie, June explains that Finch isn’t sick from the radiation. His infection returned. June didn’t give him a high enough dose of radiation to kill the infection because she didn’t want to kill him. But Grace already has cancer, which means they can administer a higher dose of radiation without worrying about the effects. It just might buy Grace more time. 

June walks Mo through the treatment. The eight-year-old girl lines up the gantry, makes sure the guide light covers the bite and surrounding area, and goes to the back of the train car to give the radiation time to dissipate. If Grace’s temperature starts to fall, it’s a good sign the treatment worked. Dwight questions what that means for Finch. Grace had her infection longer than Finch when he was treated, so if she responds to this dose of radiation, it could work for him, too.

Morgan races through the woods to reach the train car in time. He radios a warning to the prefects: “Don’t you try and stop me!” Grace tells Mo her last regret: she wanted to take her to the repeater station and show her how things could be. But Grace is burning up with a 106-degree fever. June explains Grace didn’t receive the radiotherapy in time. “Even if she had gotten the treatment right after the bite,” June says over the walkie, “it might not have been enough. It hasn’t worked on anyone else.” 

Grace wouldn’t survive another dose of radiation. She won’t survive the fever. She just won’t survive, and Mo can’t accept that. “Enjoy the time you have, okay?” June over and out. 

Morgan races against time. He radios Grace. “It wasn’t meant to be,” she tells him. He’s going to do everything he can to make it there in time. “I love you so much, my darling,” she radios back. “Nothing will ever change that.” 

“I love you,” Morgan reminds her. “I’m not ready to let you go.” Her response: “Neither am I.” 

Grace makes Mo promise she’ll put her down when she dies. She doesn’t want to reanimate and hurt Mo. She promises. “All you wanted was to spend whatever time you had left with me and dad, and I took that from you. I took that from him.” 

Mo didn’t waste the time Grace had left. “You gave us more time, Mo. There was a time when things were really bleak.” She thinks back to the submarine where Grace and Morgan made a suicide pact as nuclear warheads detonated over Texas. “Your father and I were thinking of ending things. We came so close to doing it. Do you know why we didn’t? Because we heard you cry… you gave us a reason to live. You gave us more time than you know.” 

Grace’s time runs out. It’s not long before she reanimates and attacks Mo, who failed to keep her promise. Morgan makes it there too late to do anything but kill walker Grace. He couldn’t save Duane from zombie Jenny, but he saves Mo. 

The episode ends with Shrike arriving at the train car with her small army of prefects. She presents to him the axe that he wielded with such ferocity when he tried to escape PADRE seven years earlier.”I know the pain Wren’s in. The whole reason I’m doing what I’m doing is to prevent anyone else from feeling that kind of pain,” Shrike tells Morgan about Mo losing a parent. “She already lost a parent today. Please, don’t make her lose a second one.” 

Instead of killing Morgan, Shrike wants him to clear the shipyard. If they can rebuild the world, she tells Mo, “We can make sure no one else feels what you’re feeling right now.” Mo doesn’t want to feel this way. What she wants is to use what PADRE taught her to clear the shipyard with Dove and the rest of the prefects. Morgan begs his daughter to stay with him. She won’t survive the thousands of walkers safeguarding those containers. 

Shrike puts the axe to Morgan’s throat. “You’re not gonna kill me. Because you can’t,” he chuckles. “Because I don’t die! Everybody else does… but I don’t.” Shrike orders Morgan locked inside the train car and fires off a flare, drawing dozens of carrion from out of the woods. All that’s left for Morgan to do now… is Clear.

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead premiere Thursdays on AMC+ and Sundays on AMC. Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and follow @CameronBonomolo and @NewsOfTheDead on Twitter for more TWD Universe coverage.