The Walking Dead: After

When we last left our beloved characters on The Walking Dead, the prison days had come to an end. The Governor had staged a mostly pointless takeover that left him and the majority of his "family" dead, as well as poor Hershel...and possibly baby Judith. In the chaos, the prison group split up during the escape and we were left to wonder how long it will take them to find each other. "After" does not answer a ton of questions, but it's a pretty good start to the post-prison journey.

 

The Lay of The Land

Awesome

The episode opens with a shot of the dead Governor (it's like they did that just for me!) and the Walkers moving into their new prison home. Michonne surveys the land, decapitating Walkers left and right with little to no concentration...just the normal way to get from point A to point B. She cuts off the arms and jaws of two Walkers, puts them on leashes and makes her way out of the prison yard, but not before putting her sword through zombie Hershel's head. Bummer.  Michonne makes her way through the woods with her new, um, friends.

 

The next time we see her, she's asleep in a car, dreaming of her life before the apocalypse took everything from her. She's hanging out with one of her friends, her "lover" Mike...and her baby boy. Yup, this is Michonne as a mommy and everyone is having a great time. As her dream goes on though, her happy life turns into the "what are we going to do now?" portion of the apocalypse. Mike and her friend are beginning to panic. Just before Michonne wakes up, the two guys are armless...and the baby is gone.

 

Michonne resumes her walk with the Walkers through the woods, heading...nowhere? She sees one that looks just like her and chops her head off, alerting the other Walkers that she does not belong in their group. That's key here - she had been walking around in such a lifeless state, she might as well have been one of them. After taking out the entire heard, Michonne sheds some tears and reminds herself that she is indeed alive. She finds a road that also includes some Rick-like footprints and refocuses her plan.

 

Boys Will Be Boys

Carl walks ahead of a crippled Rick who is still nursing his wounds from the prison battle. He looks like hell. They come upon a diner where Carl essentially tells his dad to cut the bullshit and let him help. He says Rick can barely walk and it's stupid to leave Carl outside while he hobbles around the diner trying to clear it. On this occasion, I'm inclined to agree with Carl. Just this occasion. They find some snacks and canned goods and hurry (sort of) on their way.

 

Next stop is a house where they go through the same exercise. Rick yells at Carl because Carl is doing his own thing, Carl rebels and starts cursing, Rick tells him to watch his mouth...and again, I'm with Carl on this one. I know he's a kid, Rick, but he's a good shot and twice as mobile as you are at the moment. Carl makes his way to what was probably a teenage boys bedroom. He looks around at the boy's belongings with a sense of wonder for just a second. As Carl reaches the big TV with video games and DVDs, he remembers why he's there and begrudgingly tears the wires from the TV in order to secure the doors in the house. Rick tries to reinforce the door barricade after Carl ties them shut. Carl retaliates. "It's a strong knot. Shane taught me. Remember him?" Ouch. Rick handles it well...then finishes barricading the door.

 

The next morning Carl makes himself some breakfast, does some light reading, and waits for Rick to wake up. He's out stone cold though and there are Walkers at the door. Carl goes outside to lure them away, but he gets a little cocky and almost becomes Walker food. He then vomits near the Walker carcasses. Hell, I would have peed my pants, vomited and snot cried in no particular order...or maybe all at the same time. Carl returns to the house and tells his unconscious father what he just accomplished. "I don't need you anymore. I don't need you to protect me anymore. You probably can't protect me anyway - you couldn't even protect Judith!" Carl then pretty much blames Rick (still unconscious) for everyone that died in the prison or is at least MIA. "You were their leader....but now you're nothing. I'd be fine if you died." Wow. Bet it felt good to get that off of his chest.

 

Keeping with the "I can do it myself" theme, Carl decides to search nearby houses for food and supplies. He has another really close call and I can't believe he made it home without being bitten. He lost a shoe...but damn that was lucky. Carl rewards himself by sitting on the roof and eating what looks like chocolate pudding. He then returns to the house to wait for his father to wake up.

 

Reunion

Carl wakes in the middle of the night to the sound of  Rick groaning and reaching for him. Carl thinks Rick is dead and looking to eat him. He raises his gun...but starts to cry. He just can't kill the Walker version of both parents. Carl lowers his gun and says he was wrong. He doesn't want to be without Rick, so he sits there waiting to be eaten. Rick isn't dead though. He's just very weak (and still looks like hell). He tells Carl to go outside and stay safe, but Carl just cradles Rick and tells him he's scared....

 

....Michonne finds the diner Carl and Rick had stopped at. She pauses for a second and talks to Mike. "I miss you. I missed you even when I was with you. You were wrong. I'm still here, and you could be too, and he could be..." Her words are cut off by tears and my heart breaks for her....

 

...Rick and Carl make it through the night and Rick is actually on the mend. He and Carl share a moment remembering Judith and then Rick apologizes to Carl, but really, Carl has already let go of his anger. Who should appear at the window at that moment? Michonne! She may not have reunited with Mike and her son, but at least she found Rick and Carl. She knocks on the door and Rick sees her. He turns to Carl, smiles and says "It's for you." Fantastic.

 

 

The episode ends there and I'm glad these three found each other. Normally I would not be a huge fan of a Carl heavy episode, but this was really a good one. I also loved the brief glimpse we got into Michonne's former life. Each time I think I couldn't possibly love her any more than I already do, she does something to surprise me. It would be awesome if some of the other characters had those types of flashbacks too. Perhaps as we check in with the remaining survivors in the coming weeks, we will also find out some more of their back stories. Fingers crossed.