Fear the Walking Dead: Alaska (Episode 6.03)

Thus far, Season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead has produced two intriguing bottle episodes -- the season premiere (revealing Morgan's fate) and last week's emotional rollercoaster (revolving around the trio of Alicia, Strand, and Daniel).

However, Sunday's "Alaska" may feature this season's most powerful narrative to date.

Though the episode begins with Morgan gifting supplies to Rachel and her newborn baby (also named Morgan), his promise to return with Grace and the remainder of his people will have to wait until later in Season 6.

Indeed, this week's episode focuses primarily on the journey of Dwight and Al, who have set out to examine locations where "things have gone south", reporting back to Virginia to help her organization avoid similar mistakes.

To make their task more bearable, the pair create a grim game for themselves -- snatching licenses out of the wallets of fallen walkers and trying to collect as many states as possible.

It's worth noting that while Arizona, Montana, and Tennessee seem to be fairly common finds, Alaska remains elusive.

After Dwight saves Al from a rather creepy, embalmed walker, the pair bond over bad beers and lost loves. 

Upon learning that Al is monitoring Isabelle's movements via walkie, Dwight sets out to help reunite his friend with "the person who makes her feel alive".

Just outside of their destination (a large building referred to as a drop site), the pair finally snag an Alaska license off of a walker -- they also find a wall painted with the slogan "The End is the Beginning" (which happens to be the name of Fear's Season 6 premiere).

However, making their way towards the roof immediately proves difficult, as their path is blocked by a horde of walkers, rats carrying the Bubonic plague, and a potential threat from two new survivors -- Nora and Lee.

Dwight and Al quickly learn that Nora and Lee are but a small sample size of survivors trapped in this building, many of whom are suffering from the Bubonic plague.

Al believes that somebody intentionally made these survivors sick -- perhaps the very person who spray painted the aforementioned message in the building's lobby.

However, despite Dwight's pleas to find medicine for the infected, Al returns recklessly to her mission -- she must make it to the rooftop at all costs, even if it means busting open a wall and climbing through plague-carrying rats.

Unfortunately, when the pair emerge from this sequence, Dwight seems to be sporting a rash on his neck -- the Bubonic plague has infected him and symptoms will likely emerge within days.

Suddenly, Al's mindset is completely altered -- she wants to search for Cipro to cure Dwight, who remains determined to help her reunite with Isabelle.

The pair share a touching moment in which Dwight assures Al that he wouldn't say anything if ever reunited with Sherry, he would simply hold her as tight as possible.

However, when Al finally makes it to the rooftop and watches a personalized video from Dwight, she is unable to follow through with her mission -- instead, she sends up a red flare and confidentially radios Isabelle to inform her that the drop site is infected with the Bubonic plague.

Before heading to another drop site, Isabelle offers her beer in return for this helpful piece of information -- Al tells her it's good to hear her voice, as there aren't many people left.

In a stunning turn of events, Al heads to retrieve the beer and stumbles across a large quantity of Cipro that will prove instrumental in curing the building's remaining survivors.

She also shares a pair of intimate moments with her apocalyptic friends.

Nora admits that she cannot remember her colleague's faces when they were living -- thus, Al gifts her the Alaska license plate (which belonged to Nora's friend, Mark) and promises to lead the survivors to a better place.

Meanwhile, when Dwight asks Al why she abandoned her opportunity to reunite with Isabelle, she tells him that tapes were all she had left of her real brother -- she didn't want to leave her new brother (Dwight) behind.

If you haven't seen this week's episode yet and have somehow made it this far, now's a good time to stop reading...

"Alaska" ends with a major plot twist, as Dwight hears Sherry's voice on the radio before tracking her down in a reunion that has been promised to The Walking Dead fandom for the past three years.

Where do Dwight and Sherry go from here? Will Al be reunited with Isabelle later in the season?

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