The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 8, Episode 4, "King County," which debuted Sunday, June 4 on AMC.
It's been a while since The Walking Dead universe stepped back into Georgia. In Fear the Walking Dead Season 8, Episode 4, "King County," Morgan Jones returns to his roots to put down his zombified son, Duane, and end that haunting chapter of his life.
Morgan arrives alone in King County, Georgia, to take care of some business that has been stirring him since Mo unveiled graffiti marking his deceased wife and son's name in the Season 8 premiere. He's not in a great state of mind, talking to people that aren't there and the house that he left his zombified son in. Even though he's traveled all this way to accomplish this task, he can't bring it upon himself to open the door to see his son. He's too troubled by the memory of him hesitating to kill his zombified wife, Jenny, which indirectly led to her killing Duane.
To prove to himself that he can kill walker Duane, he goes on a murder spree with the walkers eating skunks in the street. The smell rubs off on him, creating an odd running gag throughout the episode about bad he reeks. A PADRE truck drives into town, which at least deduces that PADRE is not in Louisiana like previously assumed, but in Georgia. Otherwise, it would've been a real trip for Morgan to get to King County, and PADRE likely doesn't have the gas to drive across three states. Grace has been following Morgan, believing he asked her to come through a coded message, but he didn't send it. In fact, it was Mo who sent the signal and hid in the back of the truck.
Morgan begs them both to leave because he thinks it will endanger them. There's also reason to believe that he doesn't want the two people he loves the most to see him at his lowest. But if there's one thing that Mo has consistently been throughout this season, it's persistent. She's not going anywhere; she has a newfound motivation to take down PADRE now that she knows Daniel has an army to help them and wants Morgan to help.
Dwight and Sherry arrive with two PADRE soldiers to collect them. Like most characters this season, Dwight and Sherry have changed at the flip of a dime; they're incredibly hostile toward the trio after having just accepted June for all her mistakes in "Blue Jay." They do have an excuse, though -- Shrike is keeping Finch hostage, who still hasn't succumbed to his walker bite. Plus, they're still not exactly happy that Morgan ratted them out to PADRE all those years ago. The theme of doing anything for your child bleeds through now more than ever.
Dwight attempts to make a deal to help everyone: he's willing to let the trio escape and find walkers that look like them to trick PADRE into thinking he killed them. But Sherry and Morgan both think that PADRE won't buy it, and it'll risk Finch's life. Morgan, Grace and Mo manage to escape but run into a mini-horde or walkers. They hide in the house that he and Duane stayed at with Rick Grimes in the pilot episode of The Walking Dead. The memories are as clear as ever to Morgan, still remembering where the rifle is hidden along with oil lamps.
At night, Morgan teaches Mo a trick to eliminate the skunk smell. He tells a heartfelt story of how Duane's dog Mitch got sprayed by skunks, and the only solution was to bathe her in tomato soup to mask the smell. Mo asks if the world before the outbreak was nice, and it's telling how much PADRE has hidden from her. She doesn't know anything about pre-apocalyptic society and is bothered by Morgan and Grace kissing. She's never seen people kiss or show any type of affection before and likely thinks it's a weakness. But she's at least getting comfortable calling them "mom" and "dad."
Dwight and Sherry find the house and converse with Morgan through walkie-talkies. Grace tries to reason with Morgan to make the deal, begging him not to repeat the past with her and Mo. Sherry really wants to make this easy for Morgan so he, Grace and Mo don't get hurt. She gives away that Shrike thinks Morgan's in King County to find something to use against her -- weapons, people, anything to attack. He tells them the truth, but their son is first. They shoot a flare to attract walkers to the house, and Mo finds something troubling upstairs. There's more "CLEAR" graffiti on the walls, which confuses Morgan. He doesn't remember coming here after Duane died, but he did admit that everything after his death was a blur.
Morgan leads Mo and Grace out of the house by using the rifle Rick gave him to kill the walkers. But he begins to see Jenny in his scope and can't kill the walkers in front of him. He's doing the one thing he didn't want to do: repeat history. His inability to kill the walkers gets Mo trapped by walkers, and she's stuck in the house again. Dwight and Sherry trap Morgan and Grace again -- this entire episode would be 15 minutes shorter if there weren't so much reiteration of events -- and finally bring Morgan into the house where Duane is. But Duane isn't there. Jenny is, but the other walker is just some random guy.
The soldiers feel like they've been tricked and inform Shrike that Duane isn't here. Shrike wants Morgan dead, but Dwight and Sherry have too much history with Morgan to let that happen. They knock out the other soldiers, allowing Morgan and Grace time to help Mo and escape. On a call with Shrike and Finch, Dwight asks his son to use the "Chimney Sweep" he learned in class. Finch, who is more than half Shrike's size, miraculously knocks her unconscious. They plan to meet at the dock to escape from PADRE.
Meanwhile, Grace tells Morgan that she's dying from the radiation she was exposed to years ago. One of her final wishes is for Morgan to move on from the past and help Mo, who is stuck in the house engulfed in flames. In the attic, Mo finds the zombified Duane, who Morgan brought back after his death. Morgan finally gets past his fear of his failures and shoots Duane to save Mo.
Morgan buries Duane and Jenny and insists he has more things to take care of. He hasn't learned anything here, has he? But while it seems like a happy moment where a family is reunited and ready to spend however days they have left together, Mo gets attacked by a walker. Grace pulls the walker off but gets bit on the abdomen. The family rushes back to PADRE to give Grace a chance at survival with June's treatment, as Finch reunites with his parents to start a new life.
New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead premiere every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on AMC and release early on the previous Thursday on AMC+.