Episode Title: East
Original Airdate: 3-27-16
So much stupidity and a big shocking ending for the penultimate episode of Season 6. So Carol left Alexandria at the end of last week’s episode, because she can no longer kill for seemingly no reason, and therefore cannot go against the Saviors to save herself and everyone else. Not long after setting off she encounters a truck full of Saviors, whom she tries to beg to let her go, but eventually kills almost all of them. One escapes on foot, presumably back to the Saviors’ compound.
Meanwhile, Rick and Morgan go out looking for her. They find blood and track it pretty far, but never catch up to Carol. At Morgan’s insistence, Rick heads back to Alexandria, while he (Morgan) continues the search. They also talk a lot about their differing views on killing or not killing, which is all very repetitive and boring at this point, as they simply don’t agree and probably never will.
Daryl, angry about Denise’s death, decides to leave Alexandria to find and kill Dwight. Glenn, Michonne and Rosita go after him to bring him back. When they catch up to him, he refuses to go with them and Rosita decides to join in his search for Dwight. As Michonne and Glenn head back to the car, they are captured by Dwight and other Saviors. Soon Daryl and Rosita find them tied up, but are ambushed by Dwight who shoots Daryl, blood spraying, before the credits roll.
Oh, and Maggie may be having a miscarriage, or a really bad case of indigestion due to eating really old pickles. The jury is still out.
The people of Alexandria know there is a massive threat out there, and the strongest leaders and fighters leave the place in the capable hands of Eugene and Baby Judith. Smart. I get why Carol left. I don’t begrudge the writers that story. And I understand having one or two people go after her. But this crap with Daryl being angry and blaming himself for Denise’s death, since he didn’t kill Dwight during their first encounter doesn’t sit well with me. Then to have THREE others chase him was much worse. It felt like a paper thin excuse to draw all of these characters out of safety, just to leave things up in the air for the finale. Granted, it succeeded in doing so, but the ends do not justify the means.
Everything with Carol was great. I get it. We all thought she was the fierce, cold warrior since she killed Karen and David at the Prison, but it turns out she does have a heart and she simply cannot do these dark deeds any longer, if she doesn’t have to. Her encounter with the Saviors worked, but then we get nothing else of her for the remainder of the episode. There’s a chance her disappearance won’t even be resolved next week, but only time will tell.
As stated above, the neverending loop of conversation that Rick and Morgan seem stuck in has long worn out its welcome. It was even worse this episode as Morgan was attempting to justify not killing the Alpha Wolf, mentioning how the Wolf changed and saved Denise during the herd attack, and then she was there to save Carl after he was shot. Of course the entire time I was screaming to my t.v. that had Morgan taken out the Alpha Wolf, he never could have kidnapped Denise and she still would have been there to save Carl. Alas, it fell on deaf ears.
Regarding Daryl, yeah I just don’t buy his guilt over Denise’s death. It’s out of character for him. I also don’t think he’s dead. As everyone knows, Rick is the only character on The Walking Dead who can point his gun at the ground 99% of the time and still manage to shoot someone in the head. Daryl might never use that right arm again, but he’ll live for now. However, we have some pretty big names that will undoubtedly be taken to face the new Big Bad, Negan, next week. It’s relatively common knowledge that Negan bashes Glenn’s head in with that barbed-wire wrapped bat he calls Lucille. In attempt to make it less predictable, the writers made it so that it could be Daryl, Glenn, Michonne or Rosita on the other end of that bat. Hell, let’s throw Carol in there too, because that lone Savior she didn’t kill seemed to saunter off with a purpose.
The point is, I have no clue who will die next week, and that’s the way the writers wanted it, so kudos to them for the plan working. My money’s on Glenn or Carol. With Maggie’s potential miscarriage (would a dead fetus turn Team Z and thereby kill its mother?), maybe the entire Rhee family will be taken out at once. It would be sad, but if Glenn has to die, I’d want Maggie to die too. Selfish as that may be, it’s just a testament to how strong their love is and I don’t want one to survive without the other. I doubt it will be Daryl. I think this gunshot will be the extent of his injuries, and the show just wanted to get everyone riled up before the finale. My gut is telling me it won’t be Michonne, though her new relationship with Rick puts her at higher risk, because why should Rick ever be happy? Rosita is a possibility, but if she does die, it won’t be just her. Negan’s too infamous to have a second tier character die at his hands. That’s not a slight to Rosita; Christian Serratos has done fine work for the last two and a half seasons, but there are bigger fish to fry. And someone big has to go next week.
Place your bets now!
Channel: Superhero 