The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 7, Episode 14, "Divine Providence," which aired Sunday, May 22 on AMC.
Fear the Walking Dead's newest episode, "Divine Providence," is by no means perfect, but it has its highs that the show has been lacking for some time. "Divine Providence" is a trip down memory lane for Alicia Clark, Victor Strand and Daniel Salazar, who are currently the only Season 1 characters left on the show (without Madison, who's still yet to make her reappearance).
"Divine Providence" still has the flaws that is putting Fear the Walking Dead in the gutter. The episode thankfully doesn't jump around in time like The Walking Dead has been wont to do in Season 11, but Fear the Walking Dead definitely knows how to jump around the plot. To put it simply, one minute Alicia and Strand hate each other, the next they're teaming up, and then it's back to hating each other again. There's also Daniel who's just waving a gun around and being the token old guy who has a bad memory, which is a disservice to his character.
It's understandable why showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg came to the conclusion that Strand and Alicia would ultimately become temporary allies. Strand and Alicia have known each other since the beginning of the apocalypse and most of their journeys have been shared. Christine Evangelista, who plays Sherry, even said in an interview with CBR that Alicia's choice to fight Strand isn't one out of desire because of the love they have for one another. The destination is fulfilling for both of their characters, but the execution is lacking some depth.
There's no build-up to Alicia and Strand making amends in this episode. Neither of them really contemplate on how they got here, and they make up when Strand understands that Alicia might not be getting better. It makes sense why Strand flips a switch, considering he proclaims Alicia's the closest thing he has to family, but Strand has seemed pretty fine with being free of Alicia this season. His sudden desire to see her live and saying that he built the Tower for the both of them completely ignores his entire character arc this season.
Be that as it may, the two do share sweet moments that make the episode more tolerable than usual. Seeing Strand break down and finally shed his skin is a reminder of what the show should be at its core: the survivors who built relationships out of nothing, coming from different backgrounds and experiences. The emotional scenes between Strand and Alicia punch the gut harder than the one of Alicia and Morgan saying their farewells because there's more history between the former that can't be left unspoken.
On the flip side of things, there's Daniel, who also has moments of contemplation that drives the show back to its roots. Daniel finally has to muster up the fact that Ofelia is gone, and his moments of recollections include brief but hard-hitting flashbacks of Ofelia that keeps the nostalgic factor alive. Daniel's story these past couple of seasons has been flat and colorless to say the least, but the sentiment of his deepest regrets is sort of there.
It's pretty telling how most of Season 7's best moments include the core three Season 1 characters that are still alive. Of course, it's obviously all setting up Madison's return, which makes her the fourth Season 1 OG to be hanging on by a thread. But let's not get hopes up for Fear the Walking Dead to be making any smart changes after this -- Morgan's returning in next week's episode by the looks of the Episode 15 promo, so it's back to the ever-positive "Morgan and Friends" show.
New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead air Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and are available to stream a week early on AMC+.