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The road to hell was paved with good intentions on Sunday night's season five premiere of Fear The Walking Dead in an episode titled Here To Help.

Beloved characters striving to atone for their past mistakes were repeatedly greeted with hostility and horror - and tricked, attacked or abandoned by those they tried to aid.

Their journey started on a hopeful note. 

Season premiere: Morgan Jones set out to help people on Sunday's season five premiere of Fear The Walking Dead but was only tricked for his efforts

'I thought we were always on our own in this world. I was wrong,' said Morgan Jones (Lennie James), a repentant warrior who was undertaking an ambitious plane trip to save Logan, a man he'd only met over the radio, from walkers.

'This world can surprise you,' he added. 'But it's hard to know who to trust.'

As the episode opened, a flight Morgan was on crash-landed in a wooded area plagued with walkers, injuring his co-travelers Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Althea (Maggie Grace), June (Jenna Elfman), John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) and Luciana Galvez (Danay Garcia).

Aid mission: Logan tricked Morgan and his crew to driving far away from their stronghold

Still alive: June (Jenna Elfman) survived after their plane crash-landed in woods

The crash badly scared two boys, Max (Ethan Suess) and Dylan (Cooper Dodson), who'd been out shooting deer when they were confronted by 'growlers,' and their gun jammed.

Out of the smoke to kill those walkers strode Alicia, the group's de facto leader. She ushered the boys into the wreckage of the plane to keep them safe, just as Morgan ran outside.

'Where are you going?' Max asked him.

Two boys: The crash badly scared two boys, Max (Ethan Suess) and Dylan (Cooper Dodson), who'd been out shooting deer when they were confronted by 'growlers'

The leader: The group's de facto leader Alicia emerged from smoke after eliminating the threat 

'Make sure nothing out there gets in here,' said Morgan.

'What is something gets through?' Max wondered.

'If it's dead, shoot it.' Morgan offered.

Close call: June was unconscious as zombies were pawing at her but then woke up

Inside the plane, Luciana lay in agony, her shoulder pierced by a steel rod. Dylan was tasked with stanching the bleeding as the group waited for nurse June to show up.

June and Althea were passed out in the cockpit, waking only as walkers tried to grab them. With John's help, they managed to escape and go to help Luciana.

Alicia continued to decimate walkers with a machete despite a deep cut in her blood-covered hand. She hammered in posts and ran a string around them to trap walkers.

The journalist: Althea crash-landed the airplane after it lost an engine

Journalist Althea radioed her friend Victor Strand (Colman Domingo).

'We made it over the mountain, but we crashed the plane,' she said, then corrected herself: 'I crashed the plane.'

Althea asked Victor to go back to the denim mill the group recently called home and look for an interview tape she'd made called 'Skidmark.'

Violent encounter: Alicia used a machete to hack away at zombies

'Watch it. The guy on it has a small plane. We need you to come get us,' she said.

Just as Althea found her old videocamera in the wreckage, a walker in quasi-military dress attacked her. She pushed him on to a spike, and recorded him as he died.

John, who tracked down a box of hacksaws that the plane had been carrying, sawed off the steel from Luciana's shoulder. She was brought out on a stretcher, with walkers approaching.

Just then a van roared up. 

'Get in!' cried Annie (Bailey Gavulic), the young girl driving.

'Who are you?' asked Alicia.

Rescue van: Annie pulled up in a van to rescue her brothers and the group

'It's our sister,' said Max.

'Always hated flying,' muttered Morgan as the van, with the entire group in it, tore away.

'Watch out!' yelled June. 'Dead are everywhere.'

Sister save: Max (Ethan Suess) and Dylan (Cooper Dodson) identified their sister

'Growlers are the least of our problems,' noted Annie. 'You have no idea where you landed, do you?'

She slammed on the brakes after learning that they were all off to save Logan from walkers.

'You're driving us toward a bunch of growlers?' Annie asked, disbelieving.

Wrong wary: Annie (Bailey Gavulic) slammed on the brakes when she heard about the rescue plan

'It's nothing we can't handle,' Alicia pointed out.

'People don't just go around helping people they don't know,' Max protested.

'You did,' Morgan said, pointing out that the boys had just helped them with Luciana.

Hard truth: The kids pointed out that people don't go around helping others

'We're trying to do everything we can to make things better out here,' he explained.

'Good luck with that,' Annie retorted. 'This place is worse than it seems.'

She suddenly stopped the van again. On the road in front of them were four walkers roped together at the neck and waist like a gate, all of them mewling, reaching and pawing the ground with their feet. In the trees above, 10 walkers' heads chomped wordlessly.

Road block: Four zombies were chained together blocking the road

Up close: The undead warned people away from the area 

'Mustard keeps getting uglier don't it?' John mused.

After intense debate, the group continued to the truck stop where they hoped to meet Logan, but there was no sign of him.

Dylan idly picked up a small toy truck, and asked everyone why it was there.

Bloody mess: Alicia led the survivors after the plane crash

'The man who set all this up—he drove trucks, just like that one,' said Luciana, referring to the group's old friend Clayton, who had arranged for conveniences to be available at such truck stops, and had encouraged them to help others.

'Why would people need toys?' Dylan queried.

'His way of giving people something to believe in,' responded Luciana.

Hope alive: Dylan wondered why people needed toys in a world infested with zombies

'He's gone,' she added. 'But we are trying to keep what he did alive. We are trying to turn it into something more.'

Morgan and John tried to get the kids to come back to the denim mill with them to live.

'We're trying to work on it, make it into a place that people can feel safe—make it a place that people can call home,' Morgan revealed.

Tender moment: John and June had a rare tender moment amid the apocalypse

'Places like that don't exist anymore,' Annie balked.

'I used to think the same thing, hon. But they do,' June said.

'What's wrong with you people?' Annie wondered as she told her brothers to load a bag and leave.

'No, no, no—I know you've been through a lot but you can trust us—you don't have to be afraid,' said Morgan.

Radio contact: Morgan was excited to make radio contact with Logan at first

'That's what people always say when there's something to be afraid of,' Annie replied, before taking off with the boys.

The group went back to saving Luciana.

'Something's not right,' Alicia kept muttering.

As action returned to the denim mill from whence the group came, she was proven right.

It turned out that Logan (Matt Frewer) was actually there at the mill, having sent the group on a wild-goose chase to 'a truck stop as far away from here as I could find.'

Goose chase: Logan sent the group on a wild-goose chase in an attempt to raid the mill

Morgan was initially thrilled to connect with Logan over the radio, as they all gave up so much to save him. When he discovered that the man was trying to seize the mill, he was horrified.

'I see y'all have been driving a big rig—with that C&L plastered on the trailer,' Logan informed Morgan, spying on the group's old vehicle. 'From what I gather… you've met the C. I'm the L. And unfortunately, I don't share Clayton's charitable nature. He never learned. Maybe you will.'

'Please don't do this,' Alicia implored him over the radio.

'Already did, sweetheart,' Logan returned.

Moving in: The group was being monitored by Logan who watched their every move

'Hey sweetheart—you know what? I'm gonna find you and I'm gonna kill you myself,' she said.

'That attitude is exactly why I just wanted to move you people along and not get into any kind of standoff or firefight or any of that horses***,' Logan exploded. 'I don't want to see any of you people dead — I just want what's mine. I've been watching you, listening. You're trying to help other people. Now, looks like you're going to have to help yourselves.'

Aware of what's going on, group members Wendell (Daryl Mitchell), Sarah (Mo Collins) and Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) were at the mill, discussing how to get their property back.

Eventually, Victor was able to track down the video Althea mentioned. 

Face blow: Alicia went on a rampage killing zombies despite a cut in her hand

'We'll get the mill back,' he reassured the three residents. 'But first, we get [the others] back. I should have been on that plane today. I'm sure as hell going to be on this one.'

Lovers John and June, at the truck stop, found a copy of the movie 'It Happened One Night.'

 John grew discouraged that they would ever find people to watch it; June said they would.

Promise made: Victor Strand promised they would get the mill back

'I don't know,' he worried. I'm starting to think maybe we got all the luck in this world. We crossed our fingers and put ourselves in the air. We survived something people just don't survive. Again. Most people don't got that kind of good luck. And if we are the only ones who have it, if no one will let us share what we got with them, that'd be a shame.'

'I didn't think that anyone could help me,' June said, in a bid to make him feel better. 'Not even you. Until you made me believe it. Yeah? So that's all we have to do. We just have to find a way to make other people believe it too.'

Outside, a frustrated Alicia stabbed walkers.

Stabbing time: Alicia let out her frustration by stabbing walkers

'We coulda died today,' she said to Morgan. 'Luciana almost died today. People we came for took what we had back home. Those kids ran from us. We can't make up for the past if we're dead. We were stupid. This is stupid.'

'No. We were trying,' Morgan said. 'And you can't make up for the past if you don't try.'

'My mom did so much to make sure we were standing here,' Alicia said, referring to her mother Madison (Kim Dickens), who died protecting her friends and family in the season four finale.

In pain: Luciana was badly wounded in the airplane mishap

'OK, but then why stand?' he retorted. 'Why sleep, why eat, why even live after all of this s***, Alicia, if it doesn't mean anything? If we're out here, we got to make it mean something. That's what we need. That's what I need. 'Cause I'm not done yet.'

He resolved to look for the three kids that left.

'It's not supposed to be easy. We can't just pick up a walkie and say we want help and that's it. 'Cause we killed people, Alicia. The things that we have done, the things that I have done… it should be hard. It should be. Maybe that's how we know we're on the right track.'

'It shouldn't be this hard,' she said.

Too hard: Alicia noted that their mission was harder than it was supposed to be

As the episode wound down, it offered two clues about the show's next direction.

As Victor watched the 'Skidmark' video, he saw that it turned out to be Daniel Salazar (Rubén Blades), who previously left him to die among walkers—prefiguring that characters' return.

Althea also returned to the body of the 'military' man she'd killed. Ripping off his mask, she stabbed his walker incarnation in the face, then opened a pouch he had on his person. Before her on several items was a mysterious three circle logo and the letters 'CRM.'

Just as she made the discovery, she was tased into unconsciousness by another masked man.

Fear The Walking Dead will return next week on AMC. 

Mystery logo: Althea returned to the 'military' man she'd killed earlier and opened a pouch containing documents with a mysterious three-circle logo