The Walking Dead has some “Ghosts” to deal with. It seems like once Team Family vanquishes a villain, another villain is waiting for them. That kind of trauma can give someone PTSD. Take Carol (Melissa McBride) for example. She’s had a hard life. It’s made her stronger, but what kind of ghosts does she deal with when she gets overwhelmed?
Whew! A lot happened in this episode. Let’s Go!
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49 HOURS
Alexandria wakes up as a small group of walkers approaches. No big deal…Laura (Lindsley Register) and Gage (Jackson Pace) easily take care of them. When they finished, another group of walkers approach. This time Aaron (Ross Marquand) leads his team to take care of this large group. No big deal. Except when he returns to Alexandria, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) shows him the next wave of walkers coming.
These groups of walkers are coming from the Northern border. And they keep getting bigger and bigger. It has to be Alpha (Samantha Morton). They know she has a horde of walkers in a quarry. There’s no time to investigate, because more walkers have arrived. The community spends the entire night and next day fighting off walkers. As soon as they clear on group, another one approaches.
The next morning, everyone is exhausted. Michonne (Danai Gurira) checks on the kids and Judith (Cailey Fleming) has been awake all night. She says it’s not smart to sleep until its safe. But it’s not safe yet. Michonne is called away and goes to the windmill to look at the next wave of walkers. This time there are two groups. One from the North and a second group coming from the South.
Eugene says they have about an hour before the larger group from the North arrives and maybe two hours before the southern group arrives. The community is exhausted, they won’t last much longer. Eugene estimates they will fighting into the night again.
Eugene and Daryl (Norman Reedus) see someone approaching the gate. Michonne turns around to see Gamma (Thora Birch). She tells them to meet Alpha at the northern border immediately. They tell her to call off the walker strikes, but Gamma says they didn’t send the walkers. She’s only there to relay a message. Go to the border, lay down their weapons and wait for Alpha.
TENS OF THOUSANDS WALKING DEAD
The residents are tired, upset, scared, and frustrated. The council asks Lydia (Cassady McClincy) two questions. Is her mother sending the walker strikes? No. If Alpha wanted them dead, she’d send the whole horde. And why would Alpha want to meet? Because they crossed into her land and they have to answer for it.
Aaron and others don’t believe they have to answer for anything. Lydia says it would be a bad idea not to go. Carol still thinks Alpha is responsible for the attacks. She thinks Alpha is trying to wear them down. Eugene thinks it all has something to do with the satellite, but no one wants to hear about the satellite.
One of the women from the Highwaymen speaks up. They want justice for their people. They all want Alpha’s head on a spike. All of the commotion and talk about the execution makes Siddiq uncomfortable. He gets up and tells Michonne that he needs some air.
Michonne stands up and asks Daryl how many walkers Alpha has. Tens of thousands, he says. She turns to the highwaymen and asks if they have a plan to fight tens of thousands of walkers. Nope. So what everyone needs to do is calm down. Alpha only wants to talk and they are going to listen. The rest of Alexandria has to work together to fight off the coming hordes of walkers. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. They won’t get through the night if they don’t act as one.
Michonne comes up with a plan of defense. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) will lead the team at the northern gate. Aaron will lead a group to go the South and take out the walkers before they reach the gates. Michonne, Daryl, Carol and a few others are going to meet Alpha. Carol asks if they are really going unarmed and Daryl says they have no choice. Carol has a choice. She goes to her bedroom to retrieve a gun and grab her pills.
PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY
The big debate about the two Alexandria groups is whether or not to let Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan) help. Since everyone is exhausted and Negan has only been on clean up duty, Gabriel thinks he would be a fresh fighter for Aaron. Aaron doesn’t want Negan. Negan doesn’t want to leave the confines of the Alexandria walls. But Gabriel puts his foot down and makes Aaron take Negan out to fight.
Aaron keeps a close eye on Negan, not letting him get too far from the group. Negan finds a crowbar and thinks it will be a better weapon than a broomstick. Aaron says no, totally not falling for any of Negan’s shenanigans. Negan explains that he’s just trying to make things better. Aaron isn’t having it. Negan puts the crowbar down and continues fighting.
Eugene was right, both groups in Alexandria are fighting into the night. He’s fighting next to Rosita and she’s happy to have him by her side. Of course they are on Team Gabriel so she can be close to Gabe and Coco.
PROTECT WHAT BELONGS TO YOU
The walkers that Aaron and his group are fighting have flowers growing on them. Negan starts scratching his arm and turns to tell Aaron something, but all Aaron can see the crowbar in Negan’s hand. That’s the last straw. Aaron says he’s taking Negan back to Alexandria. That’s what Negan wanted all along.
The two men get face to face. Negan says he is putting his life on the line for the community, but Aaron knows he doesn’t care about Alexandria. If he did, he’d leave. This all has to do with Negan’s former role as Savior leader. Aaron blames Negan for Eric’s death. Negan tells him that it was his job to protect what belonged to him. So basically it’s Aaron’s fault that Eric died. Well, in that case, it’s Negan’s fault that his wife died. She hated him so there’s nothing he can do about that.
Negan looks like he’s about to do something but insteads warns Aaron about the two walkers right behind him. One of the walkers knocks Aaron down and Negan slips away. The flowers growing on the walker are right in Aaron’s face. When Aaron finished with the walker, everything is blurry. He gets up and goes after Negan.
HOGWEED
Aaron runs to an abandoned house. He can’t see so he doesn’t know that Negan is sitting in the house, watching Aaron. Aaron starts knocking stuff over, causing a bit of a commotion. Two walkers hear him and go into the house. Since Aaron can’t see, he can’t really fight them off. Negan kills the walkers with the crowbar, but Aaron doesn’t know it’s him.
Aaron calls out Negan’s name. After a long pause and a smile, Negan answers by asking Aaron if he’s okay. Negan says he found Aaron when a light switch went off. He tells him about the flowers on the walkers. It’s hogweed and it can cause rashes and blindness. Aaron is concerned that it might be permanent, but there’s no way to tell. He did wash out his eyes with the water in his canteen. Negan hands his canteen over because he can see that Aaron is thirsty. He picks Aaron up and moves him to a chair. Aaron can hear him walk way, but Negan says he’s going to keep watch until they can leave in the morning.
THE MEETING PLACE
Michonne, Daryl, Carol and a few others arrive at the spikes that mark the northern border. Carol walks to the one where Henry (Matt Linz) died. She lays down her weapons, like everyone else, except she has a gun hidden under her shirt.
The Whisperers arrive and Alpha removes her mask. She reminds them that they had an agreement that Michonne’s group would stay off her land. Daryl says they had to cross to put out the fire. It would have spread. Alpha doesn’t mind the fire. It’s natural for fire to spread. Michonne says they couldn’t let it spread to protect on of their communities. Besides, it was just that once. Alpha counted three occurrences when they crossed. During the last winter, during the fire, and the day Michonne and Aaron rode down the river to the bridge. The Whisperers are always watching. And for that they will have to be punished.
CAROL’S LAST STRAW
The Whisperers standing behind her pull out knives and guns. Alpha considers the situation and decides there will be no bloodshed. Instead, they will pay in land. She is going to move their northern border south. Carol says that will cut into their hunting ground and they don’t have to listen to this …this what? Alpha wants to know what Carol was going to say. Carol calls it BS so Daryl says it’s time to go. Alpha won’t let them leave until Carol lowers her eyes to Alpha’s feet.
Carol stands before Alpha and says she doesn’t fear Alpha. In fact, she feels nothing for her. Alpha antagonies Carol by telling her that Henry called out for Carol when Alpha took his head. Carol pulls out her gun and shoots. Michonne pushes her hand down just in time for the bullet to hit the ground. The Whisperers move forward, Daryl grabs Carol, and Michonne steps up in front of Alpha. She apologizes for Carol saying they are all exhausted and Alpha knows what Carol lost. Alpha looks at Carol and says she forgives her, mother to mother. She pulls out a spike and says this is her land now. Daryl tells everyone to grab their things and go.
SHADOWS
The group stops to rest. Michonne tries to talk to Carol, but Carol only says one thing. “Bitch has to die.” She walks away from the camp and Daryl tells Michonne that Carol hasn’t been sleeping. She might be better off on the boat because it’s more peaceful. Michonne says she belongs with them.
Carol stops at another tree and hears something in the distance. She looks in the woods and see three figures. When Carol pulls out her gun, they run away. She starts shooting, causing Daryl and Michonne to run toward her. Carol tells them what she saw. Michonne sends everyone out to find the Whisperers. They are to capture, not kill.
They looked everywhere, but there is no sign of anyone in those woods. Carol takes another pill when Michonne comes to talk to her. She asks Carol how long she has been taking pills. Carol tells her to relax. The pill are to keep her alert. They can’t stay in the woods so they leave to find a place to sleep.
They find an abandoned school that is already cleared out. Carol finds a Home Economics book on the floor. When she looks at the cover of the book, she sees herself and the kids she has cared for. Sophia, Lizzie, Mika, Sam and Henry are sitting at a table, all with a line of blood across their necks. Daryl finds her and tells her to follow him. She looks at the book again, and the cover is different.
GHOSTS
Everyone settles in and Carol offers to take the first watch. She takes a pill and sees that she only has one more left. Daryl sits down across from her and tells her a story about his dad. His dad used to be a trucker and one night, he hit a girl standing in the road. When he got out of the truck, there was no one there, no blood, and no body. He used to stay up for days sometimes. Daryl says you start seeing things when you stay up for long hours. Carol says she’ snot like his dad, she’s fine. Daryl says she’s right, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
An alarm goes off. Daryl prepares to take over. Carol takes her last pill, but Daryl tries to stop her. He says she needs to sleep, but Carol says she can’t. He asks if she has bad dreams then walks away.
Carol hears someone moving around and goes to take a look. She looks in the window of a classroom and sees a girl sitting by the wall. She hears Henry calling for her, but we see him standing in the window of the door across the hall. When she turns around, he’s not there. When she turns back around, a shadow is standing in front of her and lunges a knife at her.
NEXT WATCH
Carol wakes up and is still at the lookout point. Daryl comes to check on her. He asks where she went for the past half hour. Carol says she went on patrol because she heard something. Carol can tell that he’s worried about her and she says she’s fine. She’s not like his dad seeing a ghost. Daryl doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She says like in the story about his dad, who was a truck driver. Daryl says his dad was never a truck driver.
The alarm goes off. Her shift is up. She sets the alarm gain and takes out her last pill. Daryl asks her not to take it, but she asks for one more hour. He says okay and walks away. Carol checks her gun and she has one bullet left.
Carol sees someone walking by the window and follows them to the gym. She sees a woman dressed like a whisperer standing in front of her, but backing away from Carol. Carol walks through the gym and steps into a rope. The rope pulls her up and she is hanging upside down. Is this for real?
She sees the Whisperer get closer, so Carol pulls out her knife. She swings at the Whisperer, but the girl stays out of the way. The Whisperer brought a small group of walkers. As they walk in, Carol pulls out her gun and starts shooting. She has to use her knife to fight off some of the walkers and cut the rope from her foot. She gets up quickly and kills all of the walkers. The others finds her standing over a pile of dead bodies.
FRIEND ZONE
Daryl and Michonne take Carol to Alexandria and straight to Siddiq (Avi Nash). She has glass in her arm and her cuts are pretty bad. Siddiq starts to get to work, but starts having flashbacks of Alpha. Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) has to take over getting the glass out of Carol’s arm. When they are finished, Siddiq has a hard time telling Michonne and Daryl what happened. Dante tells them that Siddiq did a good job and Carol is ready to go home.
The next morning, Aaron can see. He’s a little shock that Negan is still there, watching over him. There are so many dead bodies around the community, so they pretty much took care of everything.
Eugene escorts Rosita home and wants to know where the baby is. Coco is safe and sound with a neighbor. Eugene admits the only reason he went out to fight was to protect Rosita. Rosita is offended, because she doesn’t need Eugene to protect her. She is very direct with him when she says nothing will ever happen between them. He is not Coco’s father either. He needs to hear her when she says that.
Rosita apologizes saying she’s so tired that she feels drunk. Eugene says a drunk mind speaks a sober heart. So when she says nothing will happen, he has to hear it. And he finally does. Rosita says they are still friends and that means something. Eugene says he based their whole friendship on how he feels about her and the hope that he could change her mind about being with him. But that’s not a real friendship. He runs out, apologizing.
ADONIS LOOKING CAT
Siddiq sees him leave, but doesn’t say anything. Michonne joins Siddiq and asks if he’s okay. He says he is, claiming to be tired. Michonne accepts his answer, but she knows better.
Dante walks up with moonshine. He tells Siddiq that he was a field medic in Iraq. He tells him a story about the strongest man he served with. A real “Adonis-looking-cat” that never let anything break him. But the war broke him. He had the shakes and flashbacks. That man was Dante. Siddiq laughs because Dante described the man as an Adonis looking cat. Dante says he was being humble.
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
Carol wakes up and hears music. She walks downstairs to find Daryl cooking breakfast. She says they need jam. Daryl gives her money to get some at the store. She asks if the store is even open and checks her watch. The watch has no hands. She hears Henry say Mom and turns to look at him. He’s sitting at the kitchen table…not dead. He asks where she’s going. Carol wakes up. She pulls out the pill bottle but it’s empty. She starts crying, thinking of Henry.
When she walks down stairs Michoonne is waiting for her. Carol admits that being in Alexandria hurts and she blames Alpha. She didn’t want Michonne to stop her from killing Alpha, but Michonne had to think of the safety of the rest of the group. Carol tells Michonne that she did see the three Whisperers in the woods. Michonne says she was the only one.
Michonne goes home and Judith is still awake. Judith asks if its safe and Michonne says it is for now. They both lay down next to RJ (Antony Azor). Judith closes her eyes and falls asleep while Michonne watches them both.
Carol joins Daryl outside on the porch. She says Michonne doesn’t believe that she saw the Whisperers in the woods. Daryl says he believes her, but Carol isn’t so sure.
Back at the school, a blood trail leads from the gym into the woods. The whisperer who taunted carol in the gym is laying on the ground, with a lot of blood on her. She opens her eyes and reveals that a newborn walker.
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THOUGHTS
This was very interesting episode of The Walking Dead. I don’t think the TWD writers have focused on the trauma of the apocalypse this much since Rick left. We always dealt with his trauma, guilt, PTSD, and grief, but not so much the other characters. This is great character development for Aaron, Negan, Carol and Siddiq.
I think the only people who made any progress though, are Aaron and Negan. Even though Negan still has a long way to go to redeem himself. He could have ran. He could have killed Aaron, but he didn’t. He actually showed that he kind of cares…in his own little way.
Siddiq is going to have to talk to someone. I guess it’s good that Dante is there to relate to his survivor’s guilt. I wasn’t sure what they were going to do with Dante, but it seems like he’ll be around for a little while. But the rule is…only one doctor can survive in The Walking Dead!
And Carol. Wow!!! Talk about a time bomb. It’s good that Daryl is there to watch over her, but she needs to start seeing how what she does affects those around her. Or someone close to her is going to die. Time to Clear Carol!
I’m excited to see what happens with this Whisperer Walker on The Walking Dead! And if Alpha didn’t send the walker waves…who did?
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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