Are THE WALKING DEAD survivors too far gone? Is this the new world?
The show opens up on THE WALKING DEADs very own Golden Girl, Carol. She’s back in the kitchen playing Susie homemaker and baking up a fresh new batch of beet and chestnut cookies. She’s able to take the random remaining items left in the pantry and make nothing into something and something is quite delicious. Food is clearly sparse and such treats like cookies go a far way in the world they live in now where they have to ration food. Carol collects chestnuts outside the wall and causally kills the occasional walker while doing so, gets blood on her fresh white shirt; she’s not impressed. You can tell Carol enjoys providing for her fellow community and does get happiness from the fact that she’s making other people happy and feels needed.
In this week’s episode they couldn’t have picked better songs to capture the mood and to match and relate to what was going on in the story line. The song playing,Weeds and Wildflowers by Parsonsfield, in the beginning of the episode signified the changes that happened with not only Carol but with everyone else and change is big part of this episode. The song even mentions cigarettes and we see Carol picked up that nasty habit even after telling Ms Niedermeyer she should quit and smoking kills. Literally.
Carol delivers her cookies around Alexandria and they are a hit, it boosted morale and everyone seemed to really enjoy them especially Tobin. Hitting two birds with one stone Carol was able to provide well needed nourishment for her people and use it as an opportunity to flirt with Tobin. There’s something clearly there between the two of them and when Carol told Tobin to put the cookie in his mouth and called him a jerk, you could tell she’s trying to play it cool. Some say a way to a mans heart is through his stomach.
The group gets back from the Hilltop. They let them know they have food and enough for a month and Rick wants everyone at the church for a town meeting. Carol asks Rick what’s going on and he tells her that they are going to have to fight and she doesn’t seem happy about that at all. Carol makes her last stop with her last cookie and Morgan interrupts the silence. It’s been weeks since Morgan and Carol have talked. Carol and the others that were there when the wolf guy got free and took Denise didn’t tell Rick what happened and that Morgan was the blame. There’s friction between the two of them and she doesn’t agree with anything Morgan has to say and asks him to leave. She wants to be left alone and for good reason, she’s visiting Sam’s graveside and left him a cookie, since he was such a fan. I’m sure Carol feels somewhat responsible for Sam’s death and feels bad that he did die because they did have an odd friendship.
The group has their town hall meeting and Rick fills everyone in on what happened and what’s going to happen. He lets them know Maggie set up a deal with the Hilltop community that they get food in exchange for killing the saviors and protecting them. Rick wants them to know it’s their only option to keep them safe and to provide the community with food. Rick wants it to be fair and for everyone to agree with what has to be done and of course Morgan has to stand up and object. Morgan questions Rick about them being capable of beating Negan and his men. He still doesn’t want them to kill anyone but to solve it without violence. Rick wants the element of surprise and to attack them before they find them and attack them first. “Where there’s life, theres possibility” Morgan is all about second chances. “Morgan they always come back” “They come back when they are dead too.” Morgan answers Rick. Rick asks the others if anyone agrees with Morgan but no one feels the same way as him.
As Rick is giving his speech he says “We kill them All” which triggers bad memories in Tara. That last time she heard those words were coming out of the mouth of the Governor when he was giving a similar speech at the prison. The governor wanted his group to kill every last person just like Rick is asking everyone to do for the good of the group. It’s happening and everyone needs to get used to it.
Carol can’t sleep, she has to much weighing on her mind. She opens up a notebook and it appears she’s keeping a diary of her kills. R would stand for Ryan Samuel’s, he was Lizzie and Mika’s father who got bit in the prison and she had to kill him before he turned. K & D for Karen and David, who she lit on fire in hopes to stop the spread of the deadly sickness spreading in the prison. L for Lizzie, she had to kill her because Lizzie killed her sister Mika and was going to kill Judith next. Terminus/courtyard 3? (She wasn’t sure if it was more or less) Candle women which was Terminus Mary and Gareth’s mom and 4 others and 7 wolves. Her kill count is at 18 and she even seems upset by how many it has been.
Glenn and Maggie are going over plans for the mission and she wants to set up a perimeter to make Alexandria more safe and she feels responsible for them having to go and kill the saviors and tells Glenn she’s going with them.
Carol is having a smoke while taking a late night stroll and has one thing on her mind. Swearing is her way flirting and Tobin doesn’t seem to mind. She sits on the porch stairs beside Tobin and shares her smoke with him. Tobin expresses that he is worried for her since she’s going on the mission and that he cares about her. He knows she can do terrifying things and it’s because she’s a mom. She does the hard stuff, what needs to be done and what’s scary; it’s her strength. She’s the mother of Alexandria but to Tobin she’s much more then that. Carol has hungry eyes for Tobin and she makes the first move and kisses Tobin for saying what she needed to hear.
We are brought over to one of the other couples or soon to be ex’s. Abraham is packing and he says he’s going. He’s leaving Rosita and is breaking up with her. She’s stunned by the news and wants to know why he’s leaving her. “When I first met you, I thought you were the last women on earth. You’re not.” Way to be subtle Abraham. Rosita is devastated and it just so happens Eugene was in the hall way and caught everything that happened while munching on one of Carol’s cookies. In typical Eugene fashion tries to lighten the mood and give his two cents about what he thinks of the cookies but she slams the door on him.
The group draws out a map and plan with the Intel from Andy, the guy that makes the supply drops to the saviors. Rick wants to know everything he knows, every detail.
Denise and Tara are at their place talking and Denise is wondering if Tara is worried. Instead of telling the truth and what’s really
On her mind she tells Denise she loves her and it was the first time she said it to her. Tara wants to tell Denise before she leaves just in case but Denise told Tara she would tell her she loved her when she comes back from the mission and only then. Tara and Heath are going on a run and Tara asks if she wants to come but she declined and says she needs to take care of the people since she’s the only Doctor. Could Denise regret not saying i love you back to Tara? Tara has what happened at the prison on her mind and how she lost her sister and niece because of it.
A cool bit of info about Alanna Masterson who plays Tara Chambers is that she was 9 months pregnant in this episode and throughout this season they cleverly hid her baby bump and did a lot of upper body and face shots to conceal her pregnancy.
Those that are going to attack the Saviors are mapping out their plans and want to focus on finding the armory and securing their win. Andy is being very helpful with letting them know there is only one way in and there’s always guards on duty. Rick wants to go at night and knows what they need to do to get in easily, give them what they want. Gregory’s head.
The group is on their way to execute their plan. There’s no turning back now and father Gabriel isn’t going to turn his back on the group. Rick and Carl taught him well and he wants to prove it. Rick wants to know why father Gabriel still wears his priest clothing and he tells Rick it’s because it’s who he is still and jokes about them not being able to see him in the dark.
Rosita wants to tell Rick and the others what happened with Morgan and the wolf. Carol defends Morgan and tells Rosita she shouldn’t say anything. She doesn’t like having to kill but knows it has to happen and doesn’t like not being able to say anything but agrees not to say anything. Carol is still smoking.
Glenn and Heath seem to be hunting down walkers who resemble Gregory so that they can pretend that Gregory was killed and they can get their hostage back. Heath let’s Glenn know that he’s never had to kill anyone and has been lucky not to and Glenn let’s him know he hasn’t either and that he’s nervous about it as well. Glenn explains that he has seen horrific tragedies before his eyes that cause him to loose sleep and his appetite, Heath has also seen horrible things and knows what he’s describing and they both fear what they’ll have to do later on.
Rick gives the group his last speech. They need to follow their plan exactly and that they need to do this, it’s as if he’s almost convincing himself along with the others that it’s the right thing to do in the situation they are in. Carol doesn’t understand why Maggie came and that she should have stayed in Alexandria. She’s worried for her and tells Rick that she’s going to stay with her to protect her and watch over her.
They finally find the right walker head who looks closest to Gregory. Jesus says it’s good they are going at night since his nose looks different and Rick begins punching the head in the face – breaking the nose to cover up that fact that it was a different shape. Rick tells Andy that Gregory fought back and that is how he broke his hand. “The Saviors, they’re scary, but those pricks got nothing on you.” Rick will do whatever it takes to get what needs to be done accomplished.
The head that they used as the walkers head that looked like Gregory was actually executive producer and director of this episode, Greg Nicotero. They used a mold of his head and he likes to get involved with the show and has even played multiple walkers on the show.
Andy arrives alone at the telecommunications facility that the Saviors are at and he tells them that it’s done and they want to see the proof. The two guards make him take the head out of the bag and they believe it is Gregory and they joke around with the head making it look like a puppet. They don’t even seem fazed about the head or even mind touching one. As the one guy goes inside to get the guy to return him to them, the other guy whistles happy birthday. Daryl slits the guys throat and the group swoops in quickly and quietly, removing the body and evidence of what just happened. The other guard returns with their prisoner that they clearly roughed up and before he could even notice his friend was gone Michonne stabs him from behind and Rick takes his keys and let’s them inside. You can tell Andy has never seen anything like this before and is stunned by how well they are doing and how quick they are being. It’s almost as if our group are a specials op team on a mercenary mission and have done this before.
They set up a perimeter inside and all have their jobs and tasks to do given out by Rick. They open their first door and it leads to their first sleeping savior crew member and Rick kills him with no hesitation and with no remorse, almost as if he cares more about getting blood on his knife then killing another human being.
Heath and Glenn enter the next room and there’s two Saviors sleeping. Glenn will finally have to kill his first human. He’s very reluctant and shows great remorse but knows it has to be done. As soon as he does it he feels horrible about it. Heath can’t seem to bring himself to kill the other guy so Glenn does it for him since he already has killed a person. Taking that burden from Heath and Heath respected that. Just before they go to leave Glenn notices a bulletin board with multiple pictures on it. Close up of the images reveal caved and smashed in skulls and horrific scenes of brutality. These images are shown as a reminder or as a warning. Could these images be foreshadowing, could this happen to someone we love? It looks like this is what happens to the people who disobey Negan.
The group who are watching and waiting outside, wait in the car for the group to sweep the building. Tara asks father Gabriel if he’s still a priest (that seems like a popular question this episode) and he insures he still is but he’s more able to contribute and help the group. It seems like Tara asked to perhaps give a confession to him out of guilt and to get it off her chest. She tells father Gabriel that she lied to Denise when she asked what she was thinking about and instead of telling the truth she said she loved her and it was the first time she said it to her. She was covering up all of her emotions and thoughts from when she had to attack the prison with the governor and that she didn’t like it. Father Gabriel asks Tara if she loves Denise and she says yes and Jesus then says that’s what you are fighting for.
Sasha and Abraham come across a locked door. “Honeypot” Abraham says as Sasha works on breaking into the door. One of the Saviors opens a door behind Abraham and sees them and instantly slashes at Abraham. The guy lunges at Abraham but he pushes him off and Sasha stabs him and then so does Abraham but before they can kill him he pulls the alarm and it goes off. The Alarm sounds off and echoes through the trees all around them. Maggie instantly goes to run to see what happened but Carol doesn’t want her to go. She wants her to stay here and says that she shouldn’t even be here but it should be someone else instead. Carol is very concerned for her safety and doesn’t want anything to happen to her since she’s pregnant. Maggie isn’t used to waiting or standing around not helping and she doesn’t want to listen to Carol and the tension builds between them.
Tara, Jesus and father Gabriel hear the alarm and want to help the group, Tara tells Jesus to bring his people back but Jesus wants to stay and fight. He sends Andy to drive back to Hilltop so their agreement is still met and the deal is void. Tara is worried that Jesus will be spotted and the plan will be ruined but he assures her they won’t see him at all. “Are you kidding” Tara can’t believe Jesus.
The inside of the bunker is a full blown shoot out between our group and theirs. Our group split up and are covering their areas to gain more ground. Aaron is almost hit from behind by a savior but moves out of the way in time and stabs him quickly killing his first human as well. Aaron quickly opens a door and a savior almost shoots him but Rosita shoots him right in the head right before he can pull the trigger. Blood splatters across the bottom corner of the screen leaving a cool effect as if blood sprayed on us viewers.
Tara is watching the door from outside and two Saviors run out trying to escape the attack but Tara shoots them. This is also Tara’s first human kills. It’s an all out war inside the bunker, guns blasting and bullets flying and our group are desperately trying to find the armoury. Everyone are trying to bust open locked doors, Abraham seems to have found a marijuana grow op room, Aaron found a supply closet and Daryl came to a dead end room. Just as Glenn and Heath get caught they bust open a door and hide inside and discover that they found the armoury! They quickly pick up the nearest guns and unload their clips into the closed door and into the unsuspecting assailants on the other side. They wipe out everyone on the other side of the door but one is still alive and goes to shoot at Glenn and Heath but Jesus kills him before he can. “This is the next world” Jesus says after pulling the trigger, not liking what he’s seeing.
Father Gabriel is on watch outside and spots a wounded savior with a gun trying to get away. “Let not your heart be troubled. In my fathers house of many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go prepare a place for you.” Father Gabriel pulls the trigger and kills the man. “Amen” father Gabriel killed his first human as well in this episode. Rick and Carl taught Gabriel to shoot and use weapons. This moment and how it happened almost reminded me of Jules Winnfield in the movie Pulp Fiction and how he quoted a scripture from the bible before killing his victim. Father Gabriel is kind of a warrior priest now and that’s what the group needs, more hands on deck.
The group seems to have fought through the night and into the morning. They conquered and killed everyone in the bunker. Glenn let’s Heath know he doesn’t have to leave right away on the run with Tara but Heath just wants to get out of there. There’s a weird tension between Heath and Glenn and it’s because of them having to kill people, it’s not the same anymore. Tara is saying her good byes before she leaves with Heath. I hope it’s not her last good bye. They drive off from the others.
Morgan is welding something and it looks as if he may be making a prison cell, you can see concrete blocks being added to the basement of the house he’s welding in. He has a bit of a break down and tries to keep it together.
In this episode Rick in a way mirrored the actions of the governor. He knew what he had to do and didn’t care if people had to die doing so and he had to convince his people it was the right thing to do in their situation.
In this episode two of the Saviors in the bunker were played by special effects make up artists on Greg Nicotero’s team. The first one was killed by Sasha and Abraham, Gino Crognale was the bearded savior who set off the alarm. He has also played many different walkers on the show. The second guy was Jake Garber who Aaron kills with the knife to his chest after being attacked with a bottle from behind. I love how Greg tries to include crew into the show as well giving them small parts and cameos.
Michonne was wondering which one they killed was Negan and suddenly they hear a loud rev of an engine. A man appears on Daryl’s motorcycle coming from inside the back part of the bunker and Rosita shoots him off the bike. He goes to get up and run but Daryl tackles him to the ground and Daryl wants to know where he got the bike. Daryl really hates people touching and taking his stuff. Most of the Saviors are wearing leather jackets, which is a trademark look of Negan and the Saviors. “Lower your gun prick” a voice clearly is heard over the radio. “You with the colt Python, all of you lower your weapons right now” Rick picks up the talkie on the ground and everyone is looking to see where they could be hiding, “come on out, let’s talk” Rick says and the voice on the other side of the radio answers, “We’re not coming out but we will talk. We got a Carol and a Maggie, I’m thinking that’s something you wanna chat about.” There’s more Saviors hiding in the trees and they have our people! Glenn looks angry and enraged and the group looks to Rick as the episode quickly ends. The voice on the walkie is of a women and she sounds calm and like she means business. Could she be one of Negans notorious wives? I guess we will have to wait and see next week.
The episode ended with the song Arsonist’s Lullaby by Hoizer. It set the tone for the ending of the episode, capturing what was happening and unfolding with our characters. The ominous tone and melody of the song fit perfectly into then ending scene, bringing the mood into darker tones. Many of our group are dealing with their demons and changing into what this world has made them, forced them to be.
Even though we all have demons sometimes, it’s good to keep them on a leash.
See you next week!
