With just four stories left to play with, it might seem perverse to slot in a bottle episode at this point in Fear’s endgame. Particularly an episode that focuses on the existential angst of Dwight and Sherry, both still locked in grief following the death of their son Finch. But while Sanctuary does little to advance the final reckoning between Madison and Troy (neither of whom appear here), and is marred by some hamfisted melodrama in the closing act, it does at least include the novelty of a return to the now-abandoned headquarters of Negan and the Saviors.
Dwight is wandering, bereft and lost when he is interrupted by the arrival of Jay, a diabetic man desperate for new supplies of insulin. Raiders who killed his community’s chemist have stolen his medication. Convinced he needs to make amends for his past failings, Dwight agrees to retrieve the insulin even after he discovers the group is holed up in the dilapidated remnants of Sanctuary.
Forced to kill one of the gang by throwing him into the furnace, a wounded Dwight escapes and is found by Sherry, June and the young Dove. When Dove is shot by a raider patrol, her only chance of survival is surgery – which means June and the others must reach Sanctuary before the hunters return and hope they can find the equipment they need amongst the raiders’ haul to save Dove.
The script by David Johnson and Justin Boyd justifies Sherry’s and June’s hunt for the missing Dwight on the grounds of his indispensability. He is, June suggests, an asset that PADRE cannot not survive without, as he’s the frontline commander that all of the community’s stolen children trust. While there’s not been much evidence so far of Dwight’s ability to inspire or rally other people, he does at least share a characteristic common to other Fear leaders, which might make him a good candidate: the ability to disappear, abandoning all responsibilities, when suffering personal distress.
In other words, it’s not really credible that the fate of PADRE pivots on Dwight’s return. However, what might convince Dwight that he could make a difference is the news he receives about his leadership peers – Madison is now missing in action, leaving the woefully ill-suited Strand to deputise. But there will be zero chance of Dwight recognising his own worth to PADRE if Dove dies on his watch.
It’s that dilemma that sends the group back to Sanctuary, with the clock ticking – as Dove deteriorates and their enemies close in. Director Phil McLaughlin gets a good visual impact from the rebuild of the Sanctuary set, a place now suffering the effects of neglect in the years since Negan’s rule. Momentary flashbacks to the time of the Saviors provide unwelcome reminders of past horrors for both Sherry and Dwight as the group find the business of surgery far more complex than they’d hoped.
This segment is the episode’s strongest, as June recoils from the idea of being a hands-on medic, Sherry and Dwight fumble their way through her instructions, and a distressed Dove reminds them all of their poor track record in keeping patients alive. To up the ante even further, gunfire attracts a mini-swarm of walkers who begin hammering on Sanctuary’s flimsy walls, bringing down structures and shaking the foundations.
From here on in, things become much more melodramatic, with uneven results. Sherry and Dwight clash over who is best placed to sacrifice themselves to draw walkers away from Sanctuary before Sherry (who’s become a surprisingly effective warrior) takes on the undead alone. That leads to some credibility-stretching action sequences, as Johnson and Boyd lean heavily into sentimental dialogue between characters battling waves of walkers.
As Dove’s vitals worsen, the Sanctuary’s furnace, once a site of disfigurement and torture for Dwight, is given a new status as a metaphorical haven and a place of recovery and renewal. The idea is sound enough, but it’s rendered without any subtlety by McLaughlin, who opts instead for the most overwrought symbolism.
There is, though, a consistent narrative threaded through the events of Sanctuary and fewer arbitrary character and plot U-turns than in most comparable episodes. Austin Amelio responds to the increased focus on Dwight’s angst with what’s arguably his best performance in the role to date. But this all still feels like a sideshow to the main event. Only a coda featuring an unrepentant Strand hints at the wider looming conflict, which – with just three episodes remaining – must surely now take centre stage.
New episodes of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD – SEASON 8 premiere on Mondays on AMC in the UK
Read our previous reviews of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD below:
Season 8, Episode 1, REMEMBER WHAT THEY TOOK FROM YOU
Season 8, Episode 2, BLUE JAY
Season 8, Episode 3, ODESSA
Season 8, Episode 4, KING COUNTY
Season 8, Episode 5, MORE TIME THAN YOU KNOW
Season 8, Episode 6, ALL I SEE IS RED
Season 8, Episode 7, ANTON
Season 8, Episode 8, IRON TIGER
