The June And Luciana Callback On This Week's Fear The Walking Dead

Contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead season 6

Spin-off shows rarely surpass the original, but with five seasons in the bag and the sixth one underway, AMC's Fear the Walking Dead seems like it might have a real chance at overtaking its parent show one day. This is no mean feat when said series is the legendary not-zombie show The Walking Dead, which is ending in 2022 after season 11. Provided Fear the Walking Dead continues its successful run — and that the upcoming Daryl and Carol spin-off featuring Norman Reedus' Daryl Dixon and Melissa McBride's Carol Peletier won't hog all the attention — this means the show is set to rule the Dead-verse roost for who knows how many years to come.

Much like its parent show, Fear the Walking Dead has seen plenty of twists and turns over its run, and new characters have moved to the forefront as the story progresses. Two such characters are Luciana Galvez (Danay Garcia), whose path has taken her from working as a La Colonia settlement scout to producing fuel for the Pioneers, and June Dorie (Jenna Elfman), whose medical skills and rocky romance with John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) have made her an important part of the events.

On the November 15, 2020 episode of Fear the Walking Dead, entitled "Bury Her Next to Jasper's Leg," the show treated us to a brief nod at the history between these two important characters. Let's take a look at the June and Luciana callback on this week's Fear the Walking Dead.

"Bury Her Next to Jasper's Leg," the sixth episode of Fear the Walking Dead season 6, is yet another nail-biter that could have lasting impacts on the future of the show. In the episode, John's attempts to convince June to escape with him are promptly put on the back burner when Pioneer leader and all-around villain Virginia (Colby Minifie) dispatches them to the oil fields of Tank Town. The rest of the episode deals with the aftermath of a terrifying accident that has injured many workers, and June the medic has her work cut out for her — as does Luciana, whom Virginia promptly accuses of sabotage.

Amidst the terrors of the incident and Virginia's dangerous meddling, some fans might notice that June makes a strange comment to Luciana — a very specific reference to the events of an earlier episode. As they deal with the damage, June off-handedly notes to Luciana that the oil field horror "is kind of how we met." 

The comment is obviously true in the sense that more or less everything has been a non-stop disaster since the zombie apocalypse, so technically, every single meeting has taken place during an active apocalyptic scenario. However, the reference June is making is a bit more accurate than that, seeing as she met Luciana's crew in decidedly oily and actively horrifying circumstances.

To get the sly reference June is making, one must look all the way back to the second episode of season 4, "Another Day in the Diamond." June — who at that point uses the name Naomi — meets Luciana, Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), Alicia Clark (Alycia Debham-Carey), and Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) in less-than-ideal circumstances in Elgin, Texas. Startled by the group, June holds Madison at gunpoint and later climbs on top of an oil tank to escape them. Unfortunately, she falls into the tank, which turns out to be full of extremely oily zombies. 

The gang decides to rescue June (who, again, they call "Naomi" at this point in time) and Madison jumps in to help her fend off the walking dead. Meanwhile, Luciana and the others crack open the door on the side of the tank, which releases the oil to the ground and allows them to save the newcomer. The fire-forged — well, oil-stained — friends then return to the Dell Diamond Baseball Stadium community, where June proves to have useful medical skills, and is greatly impressed by the community's hot showers. 

Though June's character arc is complicated and full of difficulties, and Fear the Walking Dead season 6 certainly doesn't seem like it's going to make things any easier for her or anyone else, it's good to see that she's comfortable enough with her past and present to make a reference to this traumatic event ... while she and Luciana are in the middle of another traumatic event. 

Fear the Walking Dead airs new episodes on Sundays on AMC. The newest episode, "Damage from the Inside," will premiere on Sunday, November 22.