Original subtitles

I've been thinking about everything Virginia said about the people that

the messages.

I heard her tell Ranger Hill that they went underground.

Death, destruction, decay.

What is happening to the world isn't new. The world's been breaking down

its inception.

The sun spending its nuclear fuel. The planet spinning farther and farther off

its axis.

The continents drifting apart.

Ice sheets receding and melting.

Forests withering and burning.

Everything's winding down, including us.

Death is inevitable.

It simply is.

But from this death comes new life.

Our decaying bodies feed the soil, and the soil in turn feeds the plants, and

the plants in turn feed us and all the creatures that sustain us.

It's the way it's always been.

It's the way it always will be.

People look around the world up there and see death everywhere they gaze.

But that's not what's really there.

If they looked hard enough, if they truly looked with open eyes, they would

life.

But it's not their fault they don't know how to open their eyes.

It's not their fault.

They're seeing the way they always have.

Even after all.

Even though now is the after.

We know the truth.

They don't.

We can see.

They can't.

So it's incumbent upon us to help them be unafraid of what's to come.

Do you know the truth?

Can you see?

Can you help them be unafraid?

Sabrina, hey, hurry up. We have new arrivals. They're going to be hungry.

Sorry, I was trying to be like Teddy.

And did you?

Not yet.

You will.

Who are the new recruits?

Some survivors the patrol saved from a herd of boasters.

He said he says they're in really rough shape.

How are we looking?

They're on their way down.

They can check.

It's okay.

I know you've been through a lot.

You can come out. We're not going to hurt you.

Welcome to the holding.

I think you're going to like it here.

Are you sure this is the place the girl was talking about?

Yeah.

Why are you recording?

For Teddy.

Who's Teddy?

He's the reason that we're all here.

Is he here now?

His presence is always with us.

He's dead.

No, he's very much alive.

If you cannot see, I will guide you.

When you cannot walk, I will carry you.

You know, you're lucky we found you when we did.

I'd like my weapons back.

No outsiders are allowed to carry down here.

We learned that lesson the hard way.

What were you doing on the road?

Um, scavenging, you know.

Where'd you come from?

A place we're never going back to.

And why's that?

Doesn't matter.

Teddy will be interested in the path that led you to this place.

I have found you.

And I will help you see the truth.

People look around the world up there and see death everywhere they gaze.

But that's not what's really there.

If they truly looked with open eyes, they would see life.

How many people live down here?

Are there lots of leave?

What do you do for food, water, power?

I was in a place like this once before.

I don't think you're ever in a place like this.

How can you be so sure?

Because there is no place like this.

Because there's never been a place like this.

How long does it take them to break down in there?

Just a couple months.

We take the bones out once the flesh is gone and we make meal for the chickens.

And it's safe.

Do you prove the growth from this? This is how all living creatures have been

decomposing for the beginning of time.

This is what would be happening if those posters weren't wandering around up

there. Three posters?

Dead.

We can come back to that one.

Food, water, power.

Impressive.

But it also feels like... like you're preparing for something.

We found you at the right time.

I was going to let Teddy tell you when you returned so you could figure out if

you wanted to stay or not.

I don't see any reason you shouldn't know now.

We're closing up the door soon.

For good.

For good?

Why? So we never have to go topside again.

This is the new way. That was the old.

This is where life will begin again.

How many people live down here? Are they allowed to leave?

Are we allowed to leave?

They are in hard questions.

Come on, you gotta give me something.

You know, I'm more interested in what you have to say.

There's one question.

In particular, I'd like to ask... What is it?

Can you see?

It's the simplest one there is.

When you look at it, what do you see?

You're joking, right?

No. Take a good look.

Tell me exactly what you see.

I see a walker that should be in the ground.

Anything else?

It's okay.

Nobody gets it on the first try.

What's troubling you, Alicia?

Be honest.

Teddy will know if you're not.

Why would he have something to say about how I feel?

Because he'll look into your eyes and he will see the truth.

He sees it in a way no one else can.

Not even you.

Your answers, they'll go a long way toward earning favor with Teddy.

I don't understand. What kind of test is this?

We're just trying to gauge how much you have left to learn.

This feels like a trick.

You're a skeptic.

We like skeptics.

Why's that?

Because when we win you over, it means that you're a true believer.

You ask everybody to do this?

No, you keep answering my questions with questions.

What kind of stuff do people say?

What are you looking for them to say?

There's no right or wrong answer.

I don't know. I just see an eater.

Look closer.

Who painted these?

Why do you ask?

I used to be a painter.

What did you paint?

All kinds of things.

I started out copying my brother.

You have a brother?

I had.

You were close?

His name was Nick.

Bobby. My brother was my best friend.

I wanted to be just like him.

Why are you asking me about my family?

As Teddy says, our survival is dependent on it.

Each generation gives way to the next.

You're looking at him like he's reminding you of something.

My mom, she...

She grew crops in the place where it used to be.

What happened to her?

He gave her life so we could live.

Her end was your beginning.

Anything?

Yeah, they're good at nothing shit.

We have to get them to trust us. We need to get Teddy to trust us. Anyone seen

him? He's out on a run.

Yeah, I'm sure he's plastering his reductive bullshit wherever he can find

space. He's got to come back at some point.

He will. So in the meantime, we do what we came here for. Find out everything we

can. Virginia need to know why she was scared to listen to them. Then we get

hell out of here before they had us in the condo suit.

It took a long time before we find out.

The others have returned.

It's time for you to meet Teddy.

Do we miss lunch?

I'm starving.

Where's Teddy? He sent us ahead.

Be back later.

That's not him.

No.

That's Derek.

Derek?

Wes?

Wes? You're alive?

What the hell, man?

Oh, you're a love.

So are you.

We found our way in.

I've spent the past, I don't even know how long, thinking you'd been torn to

pieces.

You could have just drank your damn coffee black that morning.

Were you seriously mad that I went looking for some creamer? No.

Yes, I don't know.

I'm sorry, Wes.

I really am.

I found the condensed milk.

A whole crate of it.

But when I came out of the grocery store, a herd was coming down the road.

I got cornered. I couldn't get to my bike. I ran into a shed. It collapsed.

The eaters were clawing at the wood on top of me. I tried to get out, but it

too heavy. I don't know.

I guess I just passed out.

I thought that was it.

But when I woke up, I was here.

Did it save you?

Just like they saved you, topside.

Why didn't you come looking for me?

I did.

But you were gone.

So was my bike.

I couldn't stick around.

And there's no chance of driving the damn thing. She purrs like a kitten,

Yeah, not anymore.

Wait, what happened? You don't want to know.

Seems like you're running with some good people.

Yeah, things have been a little bumpy lately, but we're headed in the right

direction.

You're still painting.

Just trying to help people see what I see. What is that?

You are...

painting those messages on tree trunks. Stuff like, if you're reading this,

you're still here, and you're a novel.

That wasn't going to change anything. We meant well, but it didn't really mean

anything.

Teddy, he helped me see that.

But now, what I'm doing here, it means something.

What exactly are you doing here, dear?

I'm not sure you're ready for that. When will I be?

When you see like I do.

I got a shift in the garden.

I'll catch you at dinner.

Come on.

Be careful, Wes.

It's not going to hurt me.

What about Tanktown?

What they did to everyone? What they did to you? He doesn't know about that.

Do you ask him?

There's no way he would do something like that.

When people are desperate, they start believing in things.

They start doing things they never thought they would.

But Derek's different.

But you can't see.

You see me.

And I will help you see the truth.

Light.

Darkness is false.

What did your brother say?

Not much.

He said he wouldn't tell me until I could see like him.

He's probably waiting to see if he could trust us.

You know, maybe these people aren't the threat that we thought they were.

No, listen to me, all right? Maybe it wasn't about us. Maybe it was about

Virginia. Maybe they were trying to take her out just like we were, or maybe

Virginia was just trying to make us...

paranoid on her way out.

We've known this is about more than just reading you.

More of the people? What happened in the tower?

They set that up.

Well, there's one way to find out.

How's that?

I asked him.

How are you guys settling in?

Good. Good.

Takes a little while to get used to not knowing if it's day or night, but the

food makes up for it.

You're Alicia, right?

Yes.

Wes tells me you pulled him through a rough patch after I left.

Oh, I mean... Yeah, he helped me out, too.

Get out of my way.

What is it?

Nothing. Just gotta go topside for a bit.

Make sure you try the rhubarb pie.

What the hell was that?

You know where Derek's bunk is?

Yeah.

Let's get dessert tonight.

Anything? Just the paint.

You hear that?

What the fuck?

I don't know how, but come on, he can come back any time.

No, there's gotta be something.

Where the hell did he get these?

What are they?

Something they shouldn't have.

Does it mean something to you? Yeah. Long story.

What?

It was about more than just Jenny.

Your brother, everyone here.

They're trying to do as much damage as they can.

You don't know that?

These coordinates?

That's Tanktown.

That doesn't mean anything.

This does.

Logs of when Virginia was sending people to Tanktown.

They were keeping track.

Other settlements, too.

I'm not saying Derek knew you were there.

But he knew what they were doing.

I'm... I'm sorry.

Terry thinks these people are helping him see things more clearly, but they're

not.

I have to make him see what's really going on.

How are you going to do that?

We have to get him out of here.

You did it.

Did what? Those places.

You set up the attacks on them.

How do you know? Doesn't matter.

Why did you do it?

You won't understand.

You're not ready. Why not?

I told you.

Because you can't see.

But it's okay.

I couldn't see either.

Not until I met Teddy. How did he convince you killing people was the

thing to do?

We have to start over.

And we can't do that until everyone and everything up there is gone.

Does that include me?

What are you talking about?

I was at the oil fields.

I hit with shrapnel.

I never felt such pain in my life.

Well, I almost died.

I lost friends, people I cared about. I didn't know. And if you did, would that

have changed anything? I would have gotten you out. But you still would have

done it.

You would have killed those people.

It's what Teddy wants.

Man, I don't give a damn about what Teddy wants.

What the hell do you want, man?

People.

Died, Derek?

You killed them. What do you think about that?

Good people, innocent people. What you did, you did, Derek, kill them.

All right, I know you. I know you. And this, it ain't you.

It ain't you.

Those places up there, they're about how we used to live.

This, this is how I want to live now. The place I'm from is not about the

It's about how things are going to be. And Morgan, though, he's not like this

Teddy.

He won't make you do anything you don't want to.

Morgan?

Yeah, Morgan Jones.

The guy who started it. I think you'd like him.

What about Virginia?

She's dead.

And Morgan.

He helped us bring her down.

Where is it?

Are you going to come or not? Where is it? Does it matter?

These people aren't helping you see, Derek. They're blinding you.

You're lost.

You're so lost, I know you probably won't come with me.

Do the things that you did.

I'm your brother.

All right? You just got to trust me, man.

You want a new beginning?

You can have it, man. We both can. All you have to do is come with us.

If they catch me trying to leave, they'll kill me.

They'll kill all of you.

Then let's not get caught.

If we can get out of the city, travel up the main roads, they won't find us.

We need weapons, food.

Dwight and I had an emergency drop a few miles south of the city when we were

working for Virginia.

What's in the bag?

Maps, coordinates, places we were there planning to hit next.

You're bringing them.

So nobody else gets hurt.

Wait, Alicia!

Sorry, Wes, I can't take the chance.

What are you talking about? Not after what happened with Dakota. Let's go.

Wes, let's go. I'm not leaving.

We can't trust him. Just because you got screwed over by Dakota and Strand

doesn't mean my brother's gonna do the same. We gotta go.

That's enough of what's happening, okay? It's not the same thing.

We have to be careful.

We can come back for him, but right now, we have everything we need to take them

down. We know where they are, and we know the places that they're gonna hit.

let's go, okay?

You're not going anywhere.

What are you doing to it?

What the hell is this?

It's embalming equipment. They hit the funeral home.

You won't decay.

You won't return to the earth. You won't be part of our new beginning.

It doesn't have to be like this.

Just tell us where we can find Morgan Jones.

How do you know Morgan?

Where is he?

Where's the place he set up?

We know it's not out of Virginia settlements.

All right, who's first?

Brother thought you'd be more cooperative.

Wes!

Answer him.

He will kill you. What the hell, Derek?

Alicia was right.

You were playing us.

Only when you said you were with Morgan.

You were playing us, too. I was trying to help you.

To get you out of here. I don't want to leave.

I told you.

What I'm doing here, it means something.

What is it?

I'm trying to understand.

This, this is where you need to be.

Without any idea what to do or what it means, that's when I saw the truth. I

believe you can see it too.

Let's go find out.

Tell me what you see.

I need to ask one question first.

You had people at the oil fields.

They had to have been reporting back to you. That's the only way you could have

pulled that off.

Did you know I was there?

People of people, Wes.

Now tell me what you see.

I see someone who's just

like him.

Someone who's still walking even though he's dead inside.

That's exactly how I felt.

I wasn't talking about me.

Please.

I loved you, man.

I

loved

you.

What the

hell?

Do it.

Let her go.

Where's Eric?

I'm sorry.

Me too.

Back away.

You're the one who convinced me people are capable of doing more than they've

their own skin.

We're not going to get back at them.

We don't have to.

Get it open.

Open.

We've got a couple minutes to talk.

Alicia!

Hey, Al. Get it open.

They're all embalmed.

They'll be there.

We can do this.

Their jaws are wired shut. We just have to be fast.

What the hell was that about?

Open it! Get in there!

Keep going! We're almost there!

Keep pushing!

Keep going!

Yeah, we need a dissection!

We need to take this lift down.

Bombing fluid's flammable.

It's in there!

No, no, no, it's in here too.

Let me do this. No, you need to get those bags to Morgan.

Alicia. You said I made you believe people could do more.

They can't.

Let's go.

We can't just leave her.

She might not. We don't know.

The rest of them?

Something got away.

How many?

It's hard to say.

All we could see was fire.

You said they were planning something.

Something big.

Big enough to keep them down there for a long time.

Morgan, they knew who you were.

They were trying to find you.

Any idea why?

I don't.

Whatever they're doing, it's not going to happen. We'll stop them.

First we got to do what we can for Alicia.

Hey, do we have any gas left?

No, but the horses are fed and watered.

I want to help.

No.

I wouldn't be standing here if Alicia didn't stick her neck out for me.

I'm the reason you went there.

Just let me finish what I started.

For Alicia.

For all of you.

Appreciate what you've done, but we're not there yet.

So we start with the parking garage. We track whoever's left from there.

Hey. You alright?

The places they were targeting, I don't think they were after Nora and her

people. These maps have drop sites all over the region.

If they had a chopper, they could take out a lot of people.

The beer lady?

I have to find her.

Warn her.

Who knows, maybe they can help us.

Meets Chasner.

Milwaukee.

I actually thought I lost your lady.

Look, I get it.

If you don't check in with me every couple days, I'll come looking for you.

Why are you keeping me here?

Our decaying bodies feed the soil.

The soil, in turn, feeds the plants.

Out of death springs new life.

For most.

Not for you.

Now you, we're going to preserve exactly as you are.

How many closer?

Get her ready.

I have a feeling Teddy won't want to do this himself.

Go a lot faster if you cooperate.

Would you give us a moment, please, Riley?

So you're the king of the crazies.

And you are Alicia.

I never gave you my name.

Your voice.

Oh, I've been listening to you.

Riley made a... a recording when you first arrived.

Back off.

You know, if I meant you harm, we would not be having this conversation.

Now, you gave yourself up so your friends could escape. Is that right?

They left you.

I made them.

They obliged.

Some family.

You know, family should be sacred.

It is, after all, the beginning of each and every one of us.

Question. Did you sacrifice yourself because you are noble?

Or because you're punishing yourself for something?

Or perhaps you're just following in the footsteps of your mother?

Look, I don't care what you think or what you say.

Whatever it is, Let's just get to it. It's all right. I'm a bit of a mama's

myself.

Now, I think there's a lot we could learn from each other. I'm not buying

this shit you're selling.

Okay?

What's next? Do you want to kill me?

It's not going to happen.

Now you and the folks you came here with destroyed everything we have been

working toward. Years of work, sacrifices, literal, figurative.

You destroyed it!

Someone else in my position might find that unforgivable.

But I believe that if one lives by the sword, well, you know how the rest of it

goes.

For every ending brings a new beginning. What do you want?

To save you, Alicia.

I don't need saving.

I know you don't believe in that.

You're not.

Yet.

But you will.

Oh, I've been looking for someone like you for a long, long time.

Welcome to the holding.

I think you're gonna like it here.

This episode is called The Holding. The title comes from the fact that this is

what the community in this underground parking structure is called.

What we're gonna see in this episode is this entire ecosystem that exists

underground with a group of people that have loomed large and who we've gotten

little glimpses of here and there as their presence and their threat level

escalated. And now we're going to really peel back the curtain on them, see

where they live, see who their leader is, and see what they're really all

We have new arrivals. They're going to be hungry.

Sorry, I was trying to see, like, Teddy.

And did you?

Not yet.

You will.

Teddy has a very unique philosophy on the world, which is that from death

springs new life. And there's a kind of circularity to that, and in his mind, a

beauty to it.

When he has people that come to the holding for the first time, when he

bring them into the fold through himself or through his emissaries, sort of the

litmus test is showing them this walker that's tied to a tree.

What do you see?

And ultimately, it's like with any cult, an indoctrination method from Teddy to

get people to see his point of view.

What are you looking for him to say?

There's no right or wrong answer. To make sure that they're on board with

he believes in and what he wants to do.

The mural represents a couple of things. This saying of the end is the beginning

is something we've seen spray -painted, and we know that it is connected to this

group that Virginia was concerned about that attacked Tanktown.

Anyone know who our resident philosopher is?

That wasn't there this morning.

It's this group that has just loomed large for Morgan and the rest of our

characters ever since the beginning of the season.

You said they were planning something. Something big.

Big enough to keep them down there for a long time.

I think seeing that connection here, they realize, oh, these are the people

we've been worried about.

And there's just this interesting contrast to essentially we're in the

the beast with terrorists.

Did we miss lunch?

I'm starving.

Art is the way that we met Wes.

He was a painter. He inspired Alicia to do the same.

It was also, as we learn in this episode, his connection with his brother

Derek? Wes?

Wes? You're alive?

Art, in the context of this episode, when you look at it on the one hand, it

seems beautiful, but on the other, it's actually speaking to something much more

destructive. And Derek... who is this brilliant painter who used to paint to

inspire people and now using that same skill for Teddy's purposes, which are

darker. Those places.

You set up the attacks on them.

I think the group wants to trust Derek because I think any one of them would

give anything to have their brother still alive. So there is a compassion

But he has joined ranks with this very dangerous group.

Be careful, Wes.

It's not going to hurt me.

Luciana was part of a cult before, and as we see, her warning turns out to be

true about Derek as the episode goes on.

I'm your brother.

All right, you just got to trust me, man.

You want a new beginning?

You can have it, man. We both can. All you have to do is come with us.

If they catch me trying to leave, they'll kill me.

They'll kill all of you.

It's absolutely symbolic that Derek, who used to be an artist and someone who

viewed the world in a hopeful, constructive way, has joined up with

destructive cult.

And the very thing that he, you know, whether you say he worshipped it or he

just really believed in it, is the same thing that ends his life.

Yet there is sort of a tragic inevitability to that.

So you're the king of the crazies.

And you are Alicia.

I never gave you my name.

You're a voice.

Oh, I've been listening to you.

Alicia thinks Teddy is crazy and a lunatic, and she wants nothing to do

him. And she does not buy into anything that he's saying.

And she wants him dead. So they're at very different ends of the spectrum.

You know, family should be sacred.

It is, after all, the beginning of each and every one of us.

Question. Did you sacrifice yourself because you are noble?

Or because you're punishing yourself for something?

Or perhaps you just...

following in the footsteps of your mother. Petty has a very unique role in

for Alicia to play. We will find out what that role is as the season goes on,

but this is just him recognizing the initial spark in her of something he's

looking for for a long time.