This post contains spoilers.
Ok everyone, DEEP BREATHS here. We all know that they can’t take out Darryl Dixon with an off-screen death. So, we know he’s safe for at least this week. We’ll get into that later, but something that huge had to be addressed at the top.
The plot points in this week’s penultimate episode resulted from the aftermath of the big events from the end of last week’s episode. First, it was Carol’s decision to leave the group because she doesn’t want to have to kill anymore. Secondly, it was the fallout from Denise’s untimely (and unnecessary) death.
I really liked the way the show opened. We had a miniature mystery on our hands. What’s with the car? Who’s blood is that? Why did Carol leave her rosary? I don’t think the show fooled anyone into thinking that Carol died as a result of that gun shot. But it was a great place to start.
Next, we saw Carol preparing to make her move. In typical Carol fashion, she was well prepared with supplies and weapons. We also saw her mentally preparing to leave as she zoned out Talbot, in a effort to detach herself. That was a nice touch and showed that she really does care about him. It’s a pretty crappy move to just leave Talbot with a “Dear John” letter, but at least gave him a going away present.
They’ve made a lot of great choices with music this season and this week was no exception. The use of Johnny Cash’s “It’s All Over” perfectly set the mood for the montage we saw next and the episode at large. Not only was it appropriate for Carol leaving Talbot, but we also saw Abraham and Sasha getting a dirty look from Rosita to book end the scene. I also enjoyed the larger symbolism of the song as we panned around town and saw some of the others. We saw Glenn and Maggie sharing an intimate moment in the shower that was interrupted by her bruises reminding them both of how much danger they face. That was followed by a shot of Darryl being broken up over Denise’s death. We also saw Carl picking up a gun with a barbed wire baseball bat carved into the grip. As comic readers know, this is a small hint of things to come. We have to wonder if “It’s All Over” for the people of Alexandria as well.
We then saw Rick and Michonne together and having the oddest post-coital snack I think I’ve ever seen. I like apples too, but yikes. I liked their discussion of how things are getting better in Alexandria. But, it boarded on over confidence. Rick specifically said “this won’t be like before” and that “the world is ours.” This shows that group is prepared, or at least thinks they are, but it demonstrates that they may have lost their edge. Rick is practically begging for something bad to happen. This scene also subtly reminded us that Maggie is mostly in-charge now. Which is probably for the best considering that she seems more worried about retaliation from the Saviors then Rick. I would have thought that Carol would have told Rick that they didn’t get Negan before she left, but he’s acting like nothing can touch them.
This is all followed by Darryl quickly leaving camp. Obviously, he feels responsible for Denise’s death because he let Dwight live. Now he wants to avenge her and make up for his failure to kill Dwight when he had the chance. This ties into an interesting theme that has become more and more prevalent in the back half of this season, whether the group should be killing people preemptively. Historically, they’ve been very reactive in defending themselves from other people. But now, there seems to be a shift in that thinking. The most obvious example is their willingness to attack the Saviors on behalf of the Hilltop before really knowing that they were bad. Earlier in the show’s run, Rick never would have agreed to that but now we see that this world has hardened him and the others. We also had numerous mentions “I should have killed them” from Darryl, specifically referring to Dwight.
Glenn, Rosita, and Michonne quickly chase after Darryl in an attempt to “shut that shit down” as Abraham so eloquently put it. Abraham has been great the last few episodes, his one liners have never been better and he’s finally starting to show some personality. Three weeks ago I swore that he had one foot in the grave and I would have been glad to be rid of him. Now though, I hope he’s around for a while. As for the Darryl rescue team, I got the feeling that at least one of those three won’t be returning to Alexandria.
Talbot finally tells Rick that Carol left after what seemed like an eternity. I know it was probably that morning but, as usual, the show has trouble depicting time accurately. It felt like he swung by Rick’s place in the late afternoon and he had no sense of urgency whatsoever. I’ve had trouble buying their romance ever since it was established and the ho-hum way Talbot told Rick about Carol did not help matters. But, I did enjoy how Talbot didn’t even argue about going when Rick and Morgan left to find Carol. We all know those two are more than capable and he would just slow them down, even Talbot.
I loved the scene with Carol dealing with the five Saviors. I, for one, never doubted Carol here. I mean, we have her on one side and five random idiots on the other. Carol wins that ten times out of ten. Also, the “Mad Max” style VW she was driving was awesome. Melissa McBride did a great job depicting Carol’s struggle between surviving and not wanting to kill. She obviously didn’t want to kill those guys and it showed. Sure, she was also trying to lull them into a false sense of security but the conflict in her showed. She begged them to just walk away. In the end though, they forced the issue and Carol dealt with them pretty easily. Unfortunately though, her new found passiveness might be catching up to her, as she missed the fifth Savior. Time will tell if she should have killed that one too. I also found it interesting that the Saviors knew where she came from and know Alexandria pretty well. They’ve obviously been watching them regularly. The question is for how long and whether the group brought all this attention on themselves.
Rick and Morgan looking for Carol was probably my favorite part of the episode this week. It was subtle and quiet but it really underlined the focus of this half of the season. On one hand we have the whole mantra of “I should have killed him” but then we were reminded by Morgan that Carl would have died if he had killed the Wolf like Rick wanted him to and that Carol came back from her exile to save the group from Terminus. He talked about people coming back from doing bad things. It was a nice reminder when the mindset of most of the group seems to be that anyone who is “bad” should be killed, no questions asked. Right now, the group is at a tipping point. Will they become as brutal as their environment or will they be able to rise above all the violence and death? Can they “come back” from all they’ve done to survive? Rick may be coming around to Morgan’s way of thinking, but their eventual run-in with Negan could change that. All of these discussions beg the question, if they do give in and keep killing more and more easily, are they still the good guys? Should we still be rooting for them? These are really interesting questions that I hope they continue to explore next season.
We end on the Darryl search party and Darryl himself. Glenn and company caught up to Darryl pretty fast and got back into trouble almost as quickly. I enjoyed Glenn’s speech about getting back to town and protecting what they have, but it reminded me a little too much of Denise’s speech from last week and that is a bit troubling. It was a nice juxtaposition of logic and emotion. It was also interesting how the show seemed to “punish” Glenn and Michonne for doing the right thing and going back to protect the town. As I said at the top, I don’t believe for a second that Darryl is dead. At worst, he’s going to turn out to be mortally wounded. I mean, Dwight himself even said he’d be fine. So, count on seeing Darryl next week. I do think that this ending was a much better version of what they tried to do with Glenn and the magic dumpster.
To wrap up some of the smaller stuff, I like the direction that Maggie and Enid are going. They seem to be creating a a nice sisterly bond that will hopefully develop Enid’s character a bit more. It also seems like Maggie may have had a miscarriage or something else bad is happening with the baby. This is sad and another in a long line of horrible things that have happened to Maggie over the course of the show. All may not be lost though, they do know an OBG/YN doctor after all.
Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. There was some really good character stuff and it was a great set up for what we all know is going to be a crazy season finale. Get your tissue boxes ready. All the players are in place for the group’s first encounter with Negan and there are sure to be fireworks and death. In the preview, we got out first glimpse of Negan and Lucille and both look great. You comic readers know what’s probably about to happen, we’ll just have to see whether the show makes any changes. For those of you that have successfully avoided the spoilers, you may want to make an appointment with a grief counselor.
Make to sure to come back to skatronixxx.com next week for my thoughts on next week’s 90 minute season finale and follow @drnerdlaw for all things Walking Dead.
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