How Much Danger is Alicia Really in on ‘Fear The Walking Dead’?
Alicia was exposed to a high dose of radiation
Here’s hoping this doesn’t matter this season, but just in case it does, it’s worth recalling that Alicia got a good amount of radioactive walker blood in her mouth last season. No one really knows what that means or how it’ll affect her life expectancy going forward, but Season 5 mostly just shrugged it off after Grace reassured her that she wasn’t in immediate danger.
Something in the power plant could help
This would make for an exciting midseason finale, though it might also be a little expensive for AMC’s budget. What if there is something that can save Alicia, but it’s in the middle of the melting-down plant? Who would go and get it? (Grace and/or Morgan, probably.) Could they get out in time? It’d be a race against the clock that could prove suspenseful in a way the show hasn’t been so far in Season 5.
Grace might have another way
For someone who says she can’t help anyone who gets exposed to radiation, Grace doesn’t seem too terribly worried about their safety. She tells Morgan she can’t be sure how much radiation he was exposed to, but the tone of their conversation is calm—she’s not panicking or telling him he was an idiot to come back for her.
Maybe she’s not worried because Morgan didn’t swallow any walker blood. But even so, it’s possible she knows another way to stop the spread of Alicia’s radiation poisoning before it becomes lethal; after all, she did work in the plant. Why wouldn’t she have used that method on herself? Unclear, but maybe Alicia wasn’t exposed to as much radiation as she was.
The whole thing is a fake-out or ends up being irrelevant
As many have pointed out, if Alicia was exposed to some level of radiation, it wouldn’t necessarily kill her right away. Depending on the amount in the walker’s blood, it might not affect her for years, so this storyline might end up being a learning experience about “making life matter” rather than ending with Alicia’s death. Or… might the walker not have had radiation in its blood, anyway? It’d be a silly and illogical plot twist, but the show could very well have Grace analyze Alicia’s blood and find nothing wrong. Then Alicia has learned the value of helping people without the horrific consequence of an early death, which seems like the kind of moral lesson the show would feature.
There’s another place with supplies
The way this show uses deus ex machinas, it’s entirely possible that next episode, a miracle cure that heals both Alicia and Grace will be introduced; Last season, everyone was miraculously cured of antifreeze poisoning through the power of beer. This season, the problem of non-working planes was solved through the power of a beer-shaped hot air balloon. While it wouldn’t be as exciting as someone making a potential suicide run into the power plant, a last-minute solution to Alicia’s problem seems pretty likely.
The CRM people can (indirectly) help
The show isn’t done referencing CRM, and apparently, the supplies that were dropped are still on the side of the mountain, since Al and June found fuel for the plane there. Might a cure for Alicia’s radiation poisoning be with the rest of the CRM stuff?
Alicia’s on the poster for the season’s second half
AMC revealed the Comic-Con art for both TWD-franchise shows, and Alicia’s on the poster (doing her best impression of Arya Stark, it seems). Why would she be on the promotional material if she won’t make it past midseason? It seems likely she’ll survive at least to the season finale, by which time her problem will either be solved, or she’ll succumb to radiation.
Alycia Debnam-Carey might’ve wanted out
If the radiation poisoning is really the end of Alicia’s story, it’d probably be because Alycia Debnam-Carey asked to be written off the show, much like Frank Dillane did in Season 4. As Walking Dead fans know, contracts don’t last forever, and sometimes the actors who play beloved characters choose not to renew them. Given how much of a fan-favorite Alicia Clark is, it’s doubtful the showrunners would write her out of their own volition—but if she’s soon to join her mom and brother, it’ll certainly be tough to say goodbye.
[WARNING: This post contains MAJOR spoilers for Fear The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 7, “Still Standing.”]
Well, I guess we need to talk about Alicia Clark.
After last season’s bloodbath of the Clarks (RIP, Nick and Madison), many assumed Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) — the last remaining member of the show’s original main family — was safe. Certainly Fear wouldn’t get rid of even more of the core characters that existed before the Morgan crossover, right?
As of Sunday’s episode, that conclusion might be just plain wrong. In fighting a horde of walkers on a bridge, Alicia got some nasty undead blood on her face and in her mouth… blood tainted by nuclear radiation. The show’s been emphasizing that Grace doesn’t have any more get-out-of-radiation-free cards, so whoever gets exposed now, the consequences are supposedly dire.
It’s hard to believe, though, that Fear would go through with killing off yet another fan-favorite Season 1 character. Here are some reasons we’re not too worried about Alicia Clark and ways she could survive—and one reason it really might be the end for her.
Fear the Walking Dead, Sundays, 9/8c, AMC
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