‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Season 2: Should Travis Leave Chris And Return To Madison?

Episode 10 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead saw Travis and his son, Chris, on the road and battling conflicting ideas on how to survive in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. So, should Travis and Chris separate?

Spoiler alert: This article discusses Season 2 and 3 of AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

In Episode 10 of Fear the Walking Dead, Travis (Cliff Curtis) and his son, Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie), are trying to survive in the apocalypse. Travis made the decision in the Season 2 mid-season finale to separate from his partner, Madison (Kim Dickens), in order to help his son out. Chris, while definitely an asset when it comes to killing the infected and making quick, brutal decisions, could also be considered a hindrance with his mental state being questionable at present. Travis decided the best thing to do would be to split up and branch out with Chris in order to keep him separated from humans for a while. It seems likely that he was hoping Chris would eventually mellow and become more of a pacifist like his father. As Fear‘s showrunner, Dave Erickson, pointed out in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Travis “very much planned on surviving, scavenging, perhaps finding a place to camp out for a while, but his hope was that Chris would turn a corner and get to a place where Travis could bring him back and reconstitute the family.”

This separation, of course, didn’t last for long. While scavenging for supplies in Episode 10 of Fear the Walking Dead, Chris came across a group of young men, Brandon (Kelly Blatz), Derrick (Kenny Wormald), and James (Israel Broussard), who seemed just as eager to live in the new apocalyptic world as Chris. While Travis lives in hope the old world will eventually be restored, Chris is happy battling it out in the new world without rules. This new group was exactly what Chris was looking for.

Then, finding a farm, Travis just wanted to settle down. Chris and his new gang, on the other hand, just wanted to have fun. When Travis realized the farm still had a human tenant, however, he wanted to move on and leave the owner alone. This idea was shot out of the water when Chris decided to rashly shoot the farmer rather than negotiate.

So will this be the final straw for Travis in regards to his son?

According to Erickson, Travis certainly feels a “certain degree of guilt and definite obligation” in regard to protecting his son in Fear the Walking Dead. This will see Travis try to bring Chris back to a place that makes his father comfortable. So, regardless of how Travis feels about Chris shooting the farmer in cold blood in order to protect his brand new friends, it doesn’t seem likely Travis will desert his son anytime soon in favor of returning to Madison.

While Episode 10 of Fear the Walking Dead ended with Chris shooting the farmer, fans will have to wait until Episode 13 to find out more about Chris’ reasoning in regards to the shooting.

“In episode 13, we’re going to return to this story and we’ll get more of Chris’ thinking and the reasons he feels it was justified, and it really becomes something of a morality play where Travis has taken him away, has decided to abandon the rest of his family because he thinks he can save his son.”

Erickson also revealed that Travis will “spend one more episode and perhaps more trying to salvage this kid that he can still remember going camping with and still remember who he was before the divorce.” However, Erickson did reveal that the Chris Travis knew before the apocalypse is “completely gone.”

Regardless of how the story will play out between Travis and Chris, it is known that Travis and Madison will meet up again at some point in Fear the Walking Dead. While this reunion may not occur until Season 3 of Fear the Walking Dead, Dave Erickson did tell TVLine that Travis and Madison will be in different places, emotionally, than when they parted ways in the Season 2 mid-season finale.

“When Travis reconnects with Madison, he’s going to be in a much different place emotionally, she’s going to be in a much different place emotionally, and, by the end of the season, they will be closer in some strange, bizarre way than they’ve ever been before.”

Could this statement indicate Travis will eventually have to leave Chris to fend for himself? Only by tuning into AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead will reveal all.

What do you think Travis should do in Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead? Let us know your thoughts and theories by commenting below.

Season 2 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead returns Sunday, September 11, with Episode 11 (entitled “Pablo & Jessica”) at 9 p.m. ET.

The official synopsis for Episode 11 of Fear the Walking Dead is below.

“Alicia and Madison work to unite two competing factions. Nick draws upon skills from his past to take on a new role at the Colonia.”

[Image via Richard Foreman, Jr./AMC]