Anyone wondering what Tara's been up to? No? Me neither. The only time I think of her is when Denise's empty eye socket comes to mind, so imagine my surprise when I realized this WHOLE episode is about the life and times of the zombie apocalypse's most unlucky lesbian. How can you devote an entire episode to Tara, you ask? Here's what went down in "Swear."
We'll Meet Beyond The Shore
We flash back to Heath and Tara in their camper, eating okra and discussing how they've gone farther than they were supposed to and have been gone longer than the two weeks they initially estimated. Heath is still queasy about their attack on the Saviors and his general outlook on the future is bleak. I don't blame him.
Tara and Heath find their way to a bridge that is impassable based on the number of abandoned vehicles and containers. They assume there are supplies up for grabs though and proceed on foot until they find a dump truck. Seems it was mid dump (heh) and a duffel bag is sticking out from the pile of sand coming from the vehicle. Heath cautions Tara not to mess with it - who knows what else is in that sand? But because Tara is often stupid, she goes for it and unearths dozens of Walkers in the process. Heath looks like he might be able to get in the clear but then realizes Tara is surrounded. He shoots the Walkers who are just about to eat her and gets surrounded himself. Tara looks like she wants to save him but ends up falling backwards over the bridge instead.
Somewhere Beyond The Sea
A woman and a girl are walking along a beach stabbing at Walkers stuck in the sand. They come across a motionless Tara near the water, still alive, but the girl wants to shove a spear in her head anyway. "We're supposed to. I want to!" The woman, Cyndie, says they are not going to kill her and the kid is pissed. Her name is Rachel and I can already tell she is a pain in the ass.
They hide Tara (still unconscious) behind some driftwood and Cyndie brings her food and water, assuming Tara is still knocked out. Tara is on the mend though and follows Cyndie back to her home to discover there is a village alive and well near the shore. Granted, the village is all women and children, which is weird, but we've now uncovered a third community near(ish) Alexandria that seems to be thriving. Tara is not incognito for long as shots are fired where she's hiding and observing. She runs, but runs into Rachel who is ready to shoot her ass. Cyndie intervenes and they are now surrounded by women with guns. Tara looks like she may pee her pants. "I'm cool. I'm not here to hurt anybody." They all just awkwardly stare at each other until the commercial break.
We next see Tara in the quarters of Natania who I'm guessing is the leader of this community, Oceanside. Cathy and Beatrice seem to be Natania's two right hands, if that's a thing, and they want answers from Tara. She explains that she's from Atlanta and she's been traveling with a friend for a couple of years, but they recently were separated in Walker chaos. During a zombie attack she got knocked off a bridge and washed up on shore nearby. Tara says she will happily leave if they will just point her in the direction of the bridge. Natania informs her that they usually shoot strangers on sight but Cyndie is her granddaughter and risked her life trying to protect Tara. They'll need to think on what they want to do with her.
Tara ends up staying for dinner and eating stew with these these ladies as well as Cyndie. Natania is hoping to convince Tara to stay because she thinks Tara would be valuable to the community and at the same time, Tara wouldn't be able to tell anyone where they are. Natania even offers to help her find Heath and give him a home there too. Tara's a bit confused since she has yet to see a man in Oceanside but Natania explains that they while they were in their previous community, they got into a "skirmish" with another group (who we can assume is the Saviors since Negan is everywhere) and all of the men were killed. Natania's daughter, Cyndie's mother was killed as well in addition to Cyndie's 11 year old brother. After that, the ladies and kids left with only the shirts on their backs and ended up at Oceanside. They also decided at that time to shoot anyone else they see on sight. They want to stay hidden.
Natania asks Tara to start telling them the truth and Tara spills the beans on Alexandria including their recent slaughter of Saviors. She also mentions the girlfriend that she's eager to get back to. Oh Tara...you might as well stay. You seriously may have hit a gold mine in Oceanside, my friend. Tara suggests Oceanside and Alexandria work together and Cyndie is all for it. Natania decides she will send Beatrice and Cathy with Tara to find Heath and then check out Alexandria. Cyndie wants to go and is denied. Pretty sure Cyndie has the hots for Tara and Tara is probably going to wish she stayed once she realizes what happened at home.
My Heart Will Lead Me There Soon
In the morning Tara sets off with her guides but something doesn't feel right. As they quietly approach a Walker, Tara realizes these bitches are going to kill her and she runs. Beatrice catches up with her though and Tara pleads for her life. Beatrice tells her that her community is dead already because of what they did to the Saviors. "You can't stop them. There are more Saviors. More outposts." Yes Tara...the Saviors were the ones that killed all of the men and every boy over 10 in Oceanside. Lined them all up and shot them in the head. "We were supposed to keep working for them and then one night we left. We got away and we are NOT going to let you lead them back to us." Beatrice aims her gun at Tara and Cyndie sneaks up from behind and knocks Beatrice over, shouting for Tara to run. Tara has done SO much running in this hour. Cyndie catches up with Tara and makes her swear she will not come back and not tell anyone where they are. Tara swears, then Cyndie hands her a pack with food, water and a spear and takes her to the bridge.
Tara makes it safely across (Cyndie's a hell of a shot and covers her before Beatrice and Cathy grab her and take her home) but there's no sign of Heath. Tara heads home on foot, which is crazy to me since she and Heath had been gone more than two weeks with a vehicle, and she does find some supplies along the way. At one abandoned store in particular she grabs a bobble head of a female doctor which makes me sad. Eugene is the first to welcome Tara home...but he's also the first to fill her in on everything. Smokin' Hot Rosita tries to comfort her. It's not like Alexandria is a happy home for her anymore either. She says she'll go anywhere Tara wants to go. "There's gotta be somewhere. We can square this. We can make this right." Tara looks up and says she didn't see anywhere like that in her travels.
The episode ends there and I'm ready to get back to the fun stuff. I need more Jesus, more Ezekiel's tiger, and more rogue Michonne. We are nearing the mid-season finale and while I know there is something big on the horizon (based on the books anyway), we're sure as hell taking our sweet time getting there...or in the realm of there...or in the outskirts of that realm. What will we find out in the final episodes of 2016? Will we get back to The Kingdom? Will Tara reveal any details about Oceanside? Will we see the post-Gregory era of Hilltop? Will any more of these communities start to become allies? Not sure if we can look forward to that in the near future, but man I hope these last couple of episodes are exciting.
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