Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Fear the Walking Dead season 8, episode 2.Fear the Walking Dead showrunner Ian Goldberg has opened up about PADRE's risky decision involving their search for a cure to the zombie virus, and what it means for the show moving forward. In Fear the Walking Dead season 8, episode 2, PADRE Lieutenant Shrike allows a severed Walker head to bite Finch, Dwight and Sherry's son. Shrike's mission is to force June to continue experiments she'd been doing for PADRE in hopes of curing the Walker virus with radiation.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Goldberg explained the importance of Fear the Walking Dead's virus cure storyline and PADRE's experiments on bit people. He also elaborated on the possible consequences of Shrike's decision to let Finch get bit. Check out what Goldberg had to say below:
[The experiments are] a very big part of it. We see some of it starting to play out in this episode, and in the following episode it takes on a whole new resonance. But in the plus column for PADRE, in terms of the kids that grow up there, is that 'Yes, we take you away from human connection. We separate you from your parents, but we have your best interests at heart and we will keep you safe.' And these experiments seem to be a bit at odds with that philosophy.
The fact that Shrike is willing to literally lay a bite on Finch, this innocent kid, for the sake of this experiment — and we all know how walker bites work — that's probably not going to work out very well. But she's willing to take the risk. And as we get further into it, we see that there is some more moral and emotional complexity there in terms of why PADRE wants to do this. Whether they will be effective or not is a question that you have to keep watching for. But it certainly deepens the complexity of what PADRE is up to.
Will Fear The Walking Dead Introduce A Walker Virus Cure?
Fear the Walking Dead's use of radiation to try and cure the Walker virus isn't the first time The Walking Dead universe introduced the idea of a cure. The Walking Dead saw Eugene Porter trick the core survivors into making a journey toward Washington, DC with him under the guise of finding a cure, only to reveal he was lying to them so he could survive. While not a cure, The Walking Dead: World Beyond revealed the CRM are working to accelerate Walker decay using fungus.
With Finch bit on the shoulder, the only way Dwight and Sherry's son can survive is if June somehow finds a way to properly treat him using radiation. June will have to abandon her anger at PADRE, including collecting PADRE fingers in Fear the Walking Dead's seven-year time jump, to make sure Finch can survive. However, since every other patient under PADRE and June's care died due to the heavy amount of radiation necessary to treat the virus, Finch might not make it out alive.
However, if the radiation can cure Finch, it may also confirm Alicia's survival in Fear the Walking Dead season 7. It would also open up the idea of a possible permanent solution to the Walker virus being perfected elsewhere in The Walking Dead world. While it seems Finch may not make it out of Fear the Walking Dead alive for now, his radiation treatment could still make for a shocking turn of events in The Walking Dead universe.
Source: EW