Fear The Walking Dead: Daniel Salazar voluntarily leaves over mental health issues as threat emerges

Daniel Salazar’s mental health issues forced him to leave his new home on Sunday’s episode of Fear The Walking Dead.

Much as he wanted to, the Salvadoran former soldier and CIA agent played by Rubén Blades found he couldn’t settle at Morgan Jones’ camp with his friends.

When a new threat endangered their survival, he became paranoid and aggressive, with apparent memory lapses.

Daniel during the season six episode titled Handle With Care ultimately decided to leave with Victor Strand [Colman Domingo], hoping for the best.

‘I have to go,’ Daniel told his comrades. ‘I can’t stay. It’s not safe for me to be here.’ Morgan Jones [Lennie James] protested that no one was upset with Daniel for his mistakes.

‘I’m not worried about me,’ Daniel replied matter-of-factly. ‘I’m worried about you.’ 

He then listed all the people he’d nearly hurt.

‘The last time these things happened in my mind, I set a whole place on fire,’ Daniel said, his eyes red as he recalled his season two ‘visions.’ ‘I can’t risk that happening now.’

Throughout the show, Daniel was evaluated by nurse June [Jenna Elfman], who’d been called back to camp to help.

She administered tests to determine whether Daniel’s problem was neurological or psychological, even as she admitted she was out of her depth.

Daniel said he’d started the day feeling hopeful as he witnessed the camp’s progress.

That morning, he’d put Traveling Wilbury’s Handle With Care on the record player and watched as people built buildings, fixed roofs, gardened and shared meals of hot soup.

‘If I hadn’t kept everyone in the dark about what we were doing, we wouldn’t have all been together,’ Daniel considered. ‘Some lies are worth the cost.’

The onetime barber was likely referring to his stint working for Virginia and her Pioneers, during which he pretended not to remember his survivor crew.

The role eventually helped end her reign and Daniel was able to reveal it had all been a ruse.

Despite that victory he still keenly felt the burden of his past life as a torturer and assassin, and feared that no one would ever really know him.

While he struggled, Morgan called on several key survivors for their help defending against the graffiti-wielding group believed to have decimated Tank Town.

He feared that they were back and might be targeting his new settlement.

Victor, Sherry [Christine Evangelista], Rollie [Cory Hart], Sarah Rabinowitz [Mo Collins] and others massed outside the settlement gates.

‘We should try to work together,’ Morgan implored. ‘Share information, pool resources, put our differences aside. Can we? Face this thing that threatens all of us?’

Everyone nodded, and vowed to work together as they figured out what to do.

It was decided that all weapons would be locked up inside the settlement, and only Morgan and Daniel would have access.

Victor handed over his gun and knife, and apologized to Daniel for not understanding his ruse at Virginia’s, saying, ‘the better man won.’

He even brought a peace offering: Daniel’s cat Skidmark, previously lost at Lawton.

Meanwhile, Morgan heard that Grace [Karen David] was having labor pains and set off to find a fetal monitor.

The camp’s leaders and newcomers gathered around a table to discuss their next moves.

Dakota [Zoe Colletti] recalled her mother Virginia saying the graffiti group was ‘laying low,’ as Sherry complained that she couldn’t be trusted.

Sherry then asked Wes [Colby Hollman] if he’d tried to blow up Tank Town, as rumored.

‘These people blew up Tank Town from the inside,’ pointed out Luciana Galvez [Danay Garcia]. ‘They became one of us without me even realizing it.’

‘Okay, so for all we know, they could have turned one of us, too?’ asked Charlie [Alexa Nisenson].

Everyone started squabbling, and Daniel grew quiet.

‘I didn’t want to believe that one of us was a traitor, but I had lied to everyone about losing my memory,’ he told June later. ‘We had all lied to each other at some point. And now, when we needed it the most, we couldn’t trust each other.’

The meeting was suddenly rocked by an explosion, and everyone ducked for cover.

The noise attracted zombies, and Daniel opened the weapons storage to see what they had to defend themselves, only to find that guns were missing.

He sensed the explosion had been intended to draw the dead to them and leave them defenseless, also noting that it had damaged their radio antenna.

Worried, Daniel sent Grace to a fishing cabin in the woods, where he felt she’d be safe.

He subsequently sent Charlie there after Rollie found her searching through his stuff.

A multitude of zombies entered the camp and the survivors tried to fight them off.

Shots rang out and killed the zombies, with Victor at the other end of the gun.

Daniel said he’d let the zombies in so he could find out who took the weapons, and was now sure it was Victor, though Victor denied it.

Daniel cautioned the others against conspiring against the group.

‘Whichever one of you is working with him, I warn you: The betrayal of those closest to you comes with a cost. It’ll come back to haunt you. There will be consequences,’ he warned.

Privately, he conceded, ‘Morgan left his ax at the gates before entering this place. I thought I could leave the man I once was outside, too. But that was not an option.’

Infuriated, he entered the cell where Victor was held and fired at him.

‘I don’t need to remind you that you can survive a shot in the face,’ Daniel blared, still aiming at him. ‘What you don’t know is what it does to you later.’

He pulled a prosthetic piece out of his cheek, and his skin deflated.

‘You’ll wince every time you take a sip of water,’ Daniel relayed. ‘You will eat soup for the rest of your life. You will learn to hide the pain when you talk. You will wheeze at night when you breathe. But mostly, you will never forget who did all of that to you.’

‘You have to forgive me,’ begged Victor, who’d shot him years before.

Gunfire erupted outside and Daniel walked out to find Morgan amid a zombie pile.

‘What the hell happened here, Daniel?’ Morgan asked, his SWAT vehicle behind him.

Seconds later, Daniel was radioing Morgan, who asked if anyone had found the weapons and said he was almost at Grace’s shack.

Victor asked Daniel why he cared so much about people he barely knew.

Daniel explained it to June later, saying that Morgan’s camp could be a place where he didn’t have to lie about his past anymore, like he had with his daughter Ofelia.

After a while, Morgan radioed Daniel and said Grace wasn’t at the shack at all.

They found her in the woods with Charlie, and both women swore Daniel had told them to venture to a local cavern, not the shack.

Luciana then radioed Morgan and told him they’d found the weapons in Daniel’s shed.

‘Somebody moved them there,’ Daniel insisted, but Luciana said she’d had to break his lock.

‘Somebody’s trying to make me look bad,’ Daniel protested. ‘They’re trying to make us go against each other.’

Morgan asked him if he was sure he knew what was going on, and Daniel looked frightened.

‘Are you okay?’ Morgan queried. ‘Are you feeling alright?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Daniel said, looking scared. ‘It’s confusing.’

Morgan had June speak to Daniel, and she reassured him they’d figure it out.

She tested his cognitive skills, asking him to draw a clock and recall words and he did fine.

June felt his problem was psychological, brought on by anxiety over impending loss.

‘You know, you spend your whole life giving people a reason not to trust you and then one day you cannot even trust yourself,’ Daniel admitted. ‘I deserve this.’

Morgan spoke to several survivors outside and noted that he’d seen graffiti tags on a water tower 10 miles away, which could mean that the artists were near.

Dakota wondered if Virginia’s comment about laying low meant they were underground, possibly near Dallas.

Luciana and Wes set off to meet up with Althea and Alicia, who were halfway there.

With everyone distracted, Daniel tried to slink out of town with his horse.

He told Morgan he was heading to the warehouse, and Victor asked him to come to Lawton, where they could keep an eye on him.

‘I’m not doing this for you,’ Victor affirmed, as they saddled up. ‘I’m doing this for Ofelia, so you can live an honest life.’

Fear The Walking Dead will return next week on AMC.