Holy cliffhanger, Batman! Tonight's episode of The Walking Dead is a series of bad decisions made by people who should know better. Our heroes' emotions are borderline out of control running high and this pre-finale hour caused a loop of "stop!" and "why?!" and "ugh!" from this viewer. The episode still doesn't deliver Negan, but it does deliver a setup for what will most likely be a gut-wrenching season finale. Here's what went down in "East."
Those People Keep A-Movin'
You know when an episode opens with couples being loving toward one another it just isn't going to end well. "East" begins with Carol, still in Alexandria, planning her exit. She has written her 'goodbye' letter and is in her bedroom sewing something into her jacket sleeve. As Tobin calls to her from the stairs, she quickly shoves an array of packaged foods in her backpack (not nearly as many baked goods as I was hoping for) and shoves the backpack under the bed. Tobin enters with a paper cut on his hand or something from his efforts to build the new watchtower. No worries though - he stopped by the infirmary and got it cleaned up by
In the morning we see Glenn and Maggie sweetly showing together and Abraham and Sasha flirting outside as they exchange watch shifts. Guys. Smokin' Hot Rosita is RIGHT there. Can't you do that somewhere that isn't 50 feet from her watch station? Sigh. Rick and Michonne are still in bed snuggling and eating an apple. The forbidden fruit, huh? Interesting. Rick says "this is good," and I'm assuming he is referring to far more than the apple. Michonne notes "Jesus came through" and I get a giggle out of that because it is Easter Sunday in our world after all. Shout out to Jesus for coming through. Anyway, Rick is looking to have another romp but Michonne reminds him that Maggie has everyone on a schedule and hell hath no fury like an angry pregnant woman. Seems Maggie is still very worried about an attack but Rick has a relaxed attitude. "When they come for us, we'll end it. The whole thing...the world is ours and we know how to take it."
Tobin takes wayyyyy too long to show up on Rick's doorstep with Carol's note. Maybe he was on painkillers from his paper cut and had to sleep it off. Rick of course decides to go after her (duh Carol) and Morgan wants to go with. I have a feeling this bro trip won't be half as fun as the trip where Daryl and Rick found Jesus. Again, Happy Easter.
I Know I Can't Be Free
Carol and her stolen porcupine car are speeding down the road away from Alexandria when she sees a truck coming from the opposite direction. The truck holds a group of Saviors and they shoot out her tires. Damn it, Carol! How far have you even gotten at this point?!? She exits the car shaking and holding her rosary. Her jacket is way too big for her. I don't remember her ever wearing this one. Carol tells these men her name is Nancy and she's not from anywhere and not going anywhere. Good cover. Totally. The Saviors immediately deduce she is from Alexandria and say they are going to take her hostage in order to get into the community. Carol looks terrified. She cries and pleads with them: "It doesn't have to be this way. You can turn back and go home. Nobody has to get hurt." Two of The Saviors start to jump off the truck to grab her and suddenly they are all riddled with bullets. Whaaa? OMG. Carol has a freaking MACHINE GUN sewn on the inside of her jacket sleeve!
The guy in the passenger seat of the truck runs out firing his gun. I think Carol might be hit but she's not showing any immediate signs of pain. She grabs one of the spikes from her car, impales this guy, then steals his gun. Carol shoots the one remaining dude alive outside of the truck and she's completely fooled by the truck driver playing dead. She leaves on foot, but the driver is alive. Wounded, but alive. He picks her rosary up off the ground and begins a mission to find her.
Rick and Morgan are hot on the trail as well. Because The Saviors' compound was west of Alexandria, Morgan assumes Carol went east. They arrive at the bloody scene and find one man on the ground barely alive. Rick asks where Carol is and all the guy can do is gurgle blood. Rick puts a knife in his head immediately and tells Morgan how proud he is of Carol. "She took four of them down. That woman, she's a force of nature." Morgan (like me) is wondering why Carol took four guys out when she said in her letter that she couldn't kill anymore? Rick replies, "she did because she had to."
That's What Tortures Me
Morgan points out a trail of blood leading into the field and believes it is Carol's, so he and Rick continue their journey on foot. As they walk, Morgan reveals that he knows about how Carol killed Karen and David back at the prison and how Rick sent her away. Rick says knowing what he does now, he would thank Carol instead. Morgan's point is...instead of killing Carol, Rick sent her away...and then Carol was able to come back and save them from Terminus. Full circle, all life is precious, blah blah blah. He tells Rick that he saved that one Wolf during the attack, and the Wolf ended up giving his life for Denise...and then Denise was able to save one-eyed Carl. Full circle, all life is precious, blah blah blah. I'm sorry Morgan - if you hadn't saved the Wolf at all, Denise would have been at the damn infirmary the whole time and would have been twiddling her thumbs when one-eyed Carl was carried in. You irk me dude.
My heart stops for a minute when we see a Walker from behind that looks like Carol. Morgan and Rick run to it but thankfully it's not her. They are approaching a farm now and there are mostly fresh bodies all over the place. They spot a guy fighting a Walker and Rick points his gun at him. The guy hides behind the barn and says he's just looking for his horse. Morgan asks if he's seen Carol and he doesn't have time to answer. A whole bunch of Walkers are coming and he takes off running. Rick is prepared to shoot him but Morgan knocks his arm away. They fight the Walkers and dude gets away. Rick is pissed. "I don't take chances anymore."
 |
| I'm gonna go not kill people by myself. |
Morgan tells Rick to go home and promises to find Carol himself. Rick asks if he's coming back and Morgan says "Yeah...but if I don't, don't come looking." Rick gives him his gun and heads home. Morgan presses on through the field and I have to wonder how long it is before he catches up to that guy who just ran away.
Back in Alexandria Abraham opens the gate for Rick and asks if he's more afraid now that he's "close" to someone. Rick says he is and Abraham concedes that he is too. "But now I think I'm much more ready to tear the world a brand new asshole." Ha! Thanks for the humor but I'm confused by this. I know Rick and Jessie weren't an item for long, but Abraham and Smokin' Hot Rosita were together quite a while. Abraham didn't have this sense of fear with her?
Farther Down The Line
Enid has started doing things that might be considered useful and today she is taking food inventory in Glenn and Maggie's house where I'm assuming she also lives. Side note - I'm a little unclear about who lives in whose house these days. The group started out with two houses, but it really feels like they have more now. Must be all the shacking up. Anyway, Maggie comes home looking all stressed out and Enid offers to take Maggie's next shift so she can rest. "Prop your feet and eat some pickles."
Later Maggie sends for Enid because she has another task for her. Seems Maggie wants to get her hair did and we know the resident stylist is, um, no longer available. Enid is up for the task though and gives Maggie a super short hair cut. Maggie explains "I have to keep going...and I don't want anything getting in my way." She then starts to double over in pain. Too many pickles? Nope. Seems like this is much worse than indigestion.
Blow My Blues Away
Glenn is not in Alexandria for Maggie's emergency. See, Daryl is all effed up because of the whole "Dwight killed Denise with my crossbow because I let him live" thing and he takes off on his own to go avenge her death. Stupid decision #2. Glenn and Michonne take a break from hiding weapons throughout the community (so they will have a stash outside of the armory if there is an attack) and they hop in a van to go after him. Just before they exit the gate, Smokin' Hot Rosita jumps in with them because she knows exactly where he's going.
The van pulls over near the train tracks where Denise took the arrow to her head. The blood stain is still there. Michonne spots Daryl's motorcycle hidden in the bushes and Glenn is eager to find him. Smokin' Hot Rosita is distracted by Denise's blood on the tracks but then begins to lead Michonne and Daryl in the direction Dwight ran off in. They find Daryl pretty quickly and he's just not in his right mind. Glenn tries to talk some sense into him. He promises Daryl they will figure this out but they need to go home where they are needed. "It's gonna go wrong out here." Daryl pushes ahead and Rosita joins him. Stupid decision #3. Glenn and Michonne turn around and start walking in the opposite direction.
Michonne and Glenn don't make it far before they find themselves surrounded by a group of Saviors with guns, lead by Douchebag Dwight. Shit. Really?!? They are tied up, gagged, and taken hostage. Daryl and Smokin' Hot Rosita see them sitting near a tree and approach them. Glenn is shaking his head and making sounds, trying to shoo them away, but Daryl does a "shhh" motion with his finger and starts walking toward them anyway. Bad decision #4. Douchbag Dwight sneaks up behind him and shoots. We see blood splatter on the camera lens. The picture goes black and we hear Dwight say, "You'll be alright."
The episode ends there and I've watched this last scene over and over several times. I think it's just a flesh wound and Dwight is just screwing with Daryl, kind of like "Look what I can do. I can shoot you in the arm and there's nothing you can do about it." They wouldn't kill Daryl off that way...
I have to say that I'm rather disappointed with my dream couple, Carol and Daryl. Carol left because she felt she couldn't kill for the people she loved, but she had to have known her "family" would come after her. During her escape, she put those people in danger by almost getting captured and then KILLED the potential captors anyway! She CAN kill for the people she loves. Daryl, meanwhile, goes on a freaking suicide mission to find Dwight when the ONLY reason Dwight didn't kill his ass last time was because of Eugene's miracle teeth. Sure dude - go after the Saviors by yourself. And then when your "family" shows up and tells you shit is going to go horribly wrong, continue anyway and put them in danger. Makes total sense.
Sigh. Next week we have been promised Negan's entrance and it's about damn time. The finale will be a 90 minute adventure and my understanding is we're in for quite a cliffhanger. Now...in the comics Negan kills a major character in a major way, but I'm wondering if TWD writers are going to substitute one major character for another next week...and we somehow won't know which one until the fall. That would be maddening. Will we get the iconic death from the comics? Is Maggie's baby okay...or is there only room for one baby on this show? Will Morgan find Carol before the season ends? And I have to know - did these guys shoot a separate scene for this episode with Jesus rising from the dead? Or at least his bed? There were sooo many missed Easter opportunities here!
No comments:
Post a Comment