By: Tyler Miller
SPOILERS FOR SEASON 6, EPISODE 12 FOLLOW!
Last night’s episode of The Walking Dead was definitely an intense one, and definitely one that will have people talking for a while. As Jesus himself says, “This is the next world.”
The episode started off with probably the most upbeat song the show has ever had, playing while Carol got acorns and baked cookies for the Alexandrians. This entire sequence played out kind of like a breakfast commercial in all honesty, and it was funny seeing this since the show normally isn’t this upbeat. On top of that, it was nice to finally see Carol again after having not seen her since the midseason premiere. She was definitely at the core of the episode, with her struggling with who she has been ever since arriving at Alexandria, and who she now wants to be.
It was interesting to see her and Morgan on screen together as well, especially since this is the first time the two of them have talked in weeks. Finding out the Carol told Rosita, Denise, Tara, and Eugene to not tell Rick about what happened with the Wolf was especially interesting since she was so adamant on killing him and since it seemed like she would want to tell Rick that ASAP. I guess this just falls under her trying to change who she is.
After Rick and his scouting party returned to Alexandria, they held a town meeting to discuss their current situation: eliminating the Saviors and Negan for the Hilltop in exchange for food. All the residents were on board, minus Morgan (of course) who believed that since they knew they could win, maybe they could talk to Negan’s group and work out a compromise with them so that there wouldn’t have to be any violence. Had he Saviors been a group that Rick had more knowledge about, then maybe this would be a feasible possibility. That isn’t the case though, so Morgan’s philosophy simply had no place here. Even Aaron agreed that he didn’t want a repeat of the Wolves incident, so fighting is the best course of action. Like Rick said, “We don’t all have to kill. But the people that stay here, they just have to accept it.”
From here we get into the part of the episode where we get to see where everyone stands on the situation and how everyone is preparing themselves for it. The most interesting ones though were Carol/Tobin, and Abraham/Rosita. A lot must have happened between Carol and Tobin since the midseason premiere because they must’ve gotten close enough to spark the romance we saw ignite. This was a big left field twist that I never saw coming simply because we never really saw these two interact before last night’s episode. There was a sign of chemistry between them at the start of the episode when Carol was being the town’s cookie deliverer, but it still didn’t keep the moment from being a shock. That’s not to say I don’t like it, because I’m totally fine with it, but it was a bit odd. Good for Carol and Tobin (Carobin?) though!
Then we have the break up between Abraham and Rosita. This, on the other hand, was something that we definitely saw coming, especially after last week’s episode. Unfortunately it was at the worst possible time, as they’re both going out on the mission the next day. Of course, Abraham being the very direct person he is just laid it out plain and simple for Rosita, telling her that he thought she was the only woman in the world, but she isn’t. As sad and harsh as that is, he’s right. Sasha is around and it looks like he’s planning on going to her to settle down and live a good life (or at least as good as you can in this world). Still, it was incredibly heartbreaking to see this go down. Thankfully we can count on Eugene to make a sad scene funny with his awkward appearance afterwards.
We come to the next morning and our crew has stopped on the road to talk out the plan and get the necessary things to make this work. In this case, a walker head that looks like Gregory’s. Glenn and Heath get the job done pretty quickly, while also talking about how they’re nervous about having to kill living people since either of them has had to do it yet. It’s something that I never really thought about until a few episodes ago, but Glenn hasn’t had to do it yet, so that makes it all the more heartbreaking when he does.
Once we have the heads, Rick punches the chosen one to fix the nose since it isn’t exactly like Gregory’s. This leads to Andy (the Hilltop resident helping them) saying that Negan’s crew has nothing on Rick’s. Just a little something to boost their confidence and ego even more.
Carol also brings up the matter of Maggie being on the mission, and it’s a good thing that she does. I get that Maggie made the deal, so she feels that she should be out there with everyone else, but it’s pretty reckless and stupid of her to go. She’s pregnant and the last thing that needs to happen to her is for her to get taken or killed. Carol realizes this, and Glenn did too the previous night when he tried to tell her to stay. Rick honestly just doesn’t care enough to make her go back, but allows Carol to stay with Maggie to help keep her safe.
With all the pieces of the plan having been laid out, night falls and the attack on the compound begins. Andy shows the fake head to two Savior guards, and after one goes in to get his Craig (the captive from last week), Daryl sneaks up and kills the remaining one outside. The crew comes and cleans it up with great efficiency, and then kill the other guard when he returns. From here on in, the episode becomes incredibly tense. The group splits into small pairs, checking rooms for Saviors to kill, and the armory so that they can completely take over.
What will make this episode one that people will talk about for some time is the fact that we have never seen our heroes do something like this before. Whenever they attack someone, it’s out of retaliation, never as a preemptive strike. Sure Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha were stopped by some Saviors on the road, but they took care of them. Other than that, the Saviors haven’t messed with them and don’t even know about them. This is similar to how the Governor wanted to kill the group in season 3 when he found out they were at the prison simply because they could possibly be a threat sometime in the future. Of course back then we knew that he was a villain, and even now we know that Negan’s group is bad. Our core group doesn’t though, so it puts them in a grey area of how good they really are.
This plan especially effects Glenn, our innocent survivor who hadn’t killed a living person before that night. Seeing him almost start crying as he killed a man was extremely sad, but it was necessary for him to do. It was nice of him to do it for Heath as well, giving him the gift of still having a clean conscience and no living bodies on his death list.
Moving on, our group kept on moving swiftly through the compound. That is until a guard spotted Abraham and pulled the alarm before he was killed. Stealth time is over because all hell is about to break loose. From here on in the action doesn’t stop. Shots are fired, Saviors are dying, people are running for their lives. It’s nothing but chaos and a race to find the armory and kill everyone, without the group dying themselves. Outside the compound are Tara, Jesus, Andy, Craig, and Gabriel in a car waiting for everyone to make it out. The alarm gets them into action though, as Andy and Craig head back to the Hilltop to get away safely. Jesus goes into badass ninja mode to help out, and Tara stays outside with Gabriel to stop any runners.
Glenn and Heath find the armory as they’re being chased down by more Saviors, and kill them all by shooting through a door. It’s at this moment though that they just killed even more people, further distressing them. One of them is still alive though, and he’s killed by ninja badass Jesus (he truly must be Jesus in the flesh with how sneaky he is).
Just like that the mission is a success! Everyone is dead, they got Craig, and no one died. Mission accomplished! That is, until one more Savior tries to escape (on Daryl’s bike no less). Right as Rick’s about to kill him, his walkie talkie goes off with a woman’s voice. And she has Maggie and Carol. So much for an easy mission.
Other thoughts:
- Was Morgan building a more fortified cell at the end of the episode? It certainly looked that way. Is it for though, or is it for anyone?
- It was funny and ironic seeing Tara take confession in the car from Gabriel and Jesus. The show needs to make as many funny Jesus moments as it can.
- Andy didn’t screw anyone over at all! I totally though he would last week and he proved me wrong.
- It’s nice to see that there is a democracy of sorts in Alexandria and Rick isn’t establishing a Ricktatorship, because although that may be good for the people, it would definitely end up backfiring in one way or another.
- Making the mission a group decision is a bit odd though since the deal was already made with Gregory, so it would have to happen regardless.
- Gabriel just keeps on redeeming himself and shot up the badass ladder A LOT with his prayer before killing that Savior. Keep on channeling your inner Sam Jackson Gabe!
Our group just opened a whole new can of worms and now they have to get two of their own back. Things start looking good for them, just to get dragged right back down. We’ll see how things play out next week, but one thing is for certain. Negan is pissed, and he’s going to come for blood.
TheComfySpot 