In ‘The Walking Dead’ recap, Negan teaches Carl a few lessons, Rick and Michonne go hunting for different things and Rosita gets her bullet…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It’s impossible to ignore the kind of reaction Carl Grimes gets nearly every single time he’s on screen during ‘The Walking Dead’.
From his inability to ever stay inside the house during the early seasons to now where he’s going on a one man mission to kill Negan, Carl seems to get under the skin of most viewers on the show but it’s clear by the evolution of the character that he’s going to be crucial in the future to both his father and the survival of Alexandria.
Where Rick has been willing to surrender to Negan thus far, Carl refuses to kneel to the brutal dictator who bashed in the heads of both Abraham and Glenn to usurp control from the group. Carl also nearly lost his arm when Rick was ordered to cut it off while Negan was attempting to eliminate any last glimmer of hope from his eyes to make sure he was truly under control
The thing to remember about Carl — no matter how annoying he might have been at points in the show until now — he grew up in the zombie apocalypse. He doesn’t understand anything but this world so he’s not trying to make an adjustment or get things back to the way it used to be. This is all he knows and that’s what he accepts.
Clearly, Negan has done the same while adding a few improvements of his own but Carl might be the closest thing he’s met to a mirror image this entire time he’s been building a kingdom enshrined to himself.
If Negan sees a part of himself in Carl just imagine what he’ll be capable of doing when he’s finally out from under Rick’s control.
Food for thought.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ titled ‘Sing Me a Song’…
Class Is In Session
On the road to the Sanctuary, Jesus and Carl hide in the back of one of the trucks while another group of Saviors work to divert a herd in the area. It seems one of the men responsible was late for duty and it’s throwing them off course. Regardless, they eventually get back on the road but when it’s clear they’re getting close to home, Jesus suggests that they jump off and follow the group the rest of the way so they don’t get caught.
Carl tells Jesus to jump first, which he does, but when he looks back he sees the teenager waiving back at him as the truck pulls away.
Inside the truck, Carl finds a box filled with guns and ammo and he loads up an M-16 and when they finally arrive at the Sanctuary, he hears Negan’s voice. That’s enough for Carl to pop out and go Tony Montana with the machine gun, taking out a couple of Negan’s men before he’s finally subdued.
Rather than kill him or even torture him, Negan instead takes Carl under his care and decides to show the “future serial killer” around the Sanctuary to see how people live under his reign.
Negan shows off the power he possesses when he walks into a room and everybody kneels. He reveals the point system that everybody lives under and the rules that are in place to make sure all of the people living there stay in line. It’s the way Negan has managed to create such a powerful community with soldiers and citizens all operating under his thumb.
Negan then introduces Carl to his harem of wives led by his favorite Sherry, who seems to be the one he dotes on the most. It’s there Negan asks about Amber — another of his wives — who apparently was seen fraternizing with her ex Mark. He’s the same guy who missed his work duty that caused the shipments to be late getting back to him so Mark is going to have to pay for breaking the rules.
Negan points out to Sherry and Amber that he’s never laid a hand on either of them and never will — that’s another of his rules. He promises that Mark’s punishment won’t be too severe but also tells Amber the one rule she can never break is cheating on him. Cheating is not allowed in the house of Negan.
A moment later while Negan is giving Sherry a passionate kiss, Dwight and Daryl walk in with a plate full of food. Clearly, Negan likes getting under Dwight’s skin as much as possible but it’s Daryl who has the shocked look on his face seeing Carl in there. Negan tells his troops to go down and get the furnace ready because they have some business to tend to before he leaves with Carl and retires to his bedroom.
Upstairs, Negan decides he wants to know more about Carl — starting with what he’s hiding underneath that bandage covering his eye. Negan tells him to remove it and Carl does while trembling for the first time since arriving at the Sanctuary.
Negan comments how the wound is gross as shit and Carl tears up for a moment, ashamed of the way he looks and feeling like a bit of a monster for the first time since he was shot. Instead of laughing at the boy, Negan actually shows sympathy for a second and apologizes to Carl while admitting that he forgot ultimately this is still just a kid.
Of course that sympathy only lasts for so long while Negan continues to dig into Carl’s history while finding out that his mother is dead and he’s the one who shot her. He also forces Carl to sing him a song — the same one Lori sang to him as a child — and he belts out “You Are My Sunshine” while Negan swings Lucille just a few feet away from batting practice.
Finally, Negan decides it’s time to go downstairs for a demonstration.
Iron Will
Back in the big room inside of what was once a factory, Negan finds Mark strapped to a chair while a community full of people watch when he arrives. He explains how the rules apply to everybody and he can’t allow Mark to get away with what he did.
Negan then gets a blazing hot iron from the furnace and presses it to Mark’s face as he screeches in terror. His girlfriend Amber watches in horror while Dwight twitches while remembering how he suffered this same fate not that long ago. When it’s finished, Negan reminds the people that he doesn’t want to do this nor does he like doing it, but Mark broke the rules and he had to be punished.
Upstairs in his room, Negan continued to prod at Carl, who can’t understand why he’s still alive after killing two Saviors when he first arrived. Carl asks why hasn’t Negan killed him or Daryl or Rick yet?
Negan replies by saying that Rick is now under his control and will be good at gathering him supplies. He believes Daryl will eventually be a good soldier and Carl will soon follow suit once his will is broken. In fact he even tells Carl not to put back on the bandage over his mangled eye because that is just one more decoration that will scare the absolute shit out of anybody who is even thinking of messing with him.
Carl answers back by telling Negan that he should probably just save some time and jump out the window right now because eventually he’s going to find a way to kill him. Negan seems so utterly amused by Carl’s defiance that he decides it’s time to return the boy to his home at Alexandria.
On the way out, Daryl finally musters a few words to threaten Negan if he hurts Carl but before he can finish a sentence, he’s ordered to get back into solitary for a few hours for daring to speak out. Negan and Carl leave bound for Alexandria while Daryl ends up in the cell where he started his life at the Sanctuary.
Out of nowhere, a note is slid under the door where Daryl finds a key and the words “go now”. Is this another trap or will Daryl actually make an escape this time?
On the Hunt
When the episode begins, Michonne is out on a road by herself killing a couple of random walkers while whistling along the way. Later, we see a truck on the same road driven by a woman who runs into a blockade of dead bodies. When she gets out, the woman looks around wondering who put the bodies in the road.
Out steps Michonne, who takes away her gun and orders the woman to drive her to Negan.
The woman doesn’t comply at first but smashing her head into the steering wheel seems to get the job done. In the end, Michonne appears bound for the Sanctuary — or at least it looks that way.
Meanwhile, Rick and Aaron are out on the road scavenging for supplies before the Saviors come looking for their piece of the pie. They have traveled out further than usual and even hand to spend a night inside a truck while driving to find some supplies.
They eventually happen upon a warning sign that tells all trespassers to turn around or enter at their own risk. Of course with food and supplies dwindling, Rick and Aaron have no choice but to venture forward.
When they finally make it to the compound, the man who wrote the signs to scare off intruders is apparently dead but his booby traps are still set up. It seems the man had his supplies in a cabin in the middle of a lake and the only way to get there is by boat. One small detail — the lake is filled with walkers all just waiting for a boat to row by.
As for Spencer, Rosita and Eugune…
Spencer leaves Alexandria with Father Gabriel before asking the preacher about his sin — it’s one where he hopes Rick doesn’t return from his latest trip after all the trouble he managed to get them into by trying to go up against Negan and the Saviors. Rather than listen to Spencer talk bad about Rick, Gabriel leaves the car and decides to walk all the way back by himself. It’s clear Spencer doesn’t believe Rick is fit to lead anymore and if it appears that this will become a serious problem in the near future.
Spencer ends up making the most of his time when he finds a dead hunter in the woods and takes away the bow he had with him when he became a zombie. In his pocket, Spencer finds a note written in Latin — and thankfully his mother forced him to learn the dead language — and it led to a secret hideout filled with food and supplies.
As for Rosita and Eugene — they go to the factory that was originally set up to create ammunition for Alexandria.
Eugene doesn’t understand why Rosita so desperately wants a bullet while knowing that even having a gun could get her killed by Negan much less the effectiveness that one shot would ever actually afford her anyways.
Rosita responds by calling Eugene a spineless coward who will make this bullet because it’s the only thing he’s good for in the apocalypse. Eugene ultimately makes her the bullet but when Rosita tries to say ‘I’m sorry’ and he in turn tells her that everything she said was what she truly meant and he doesn’t accept her apology.
When the two groups reconvene back at Alexandria, Spencer is excited about the haul of supplies he found while Rosita is disgusted that he’s just about to hand it all over to Negan and his men. A knock on the gate that soon opens reveals Negan is already there waiting for them.
Family Time
Negan arrives at Alexandria to return Carl to his home where he hopes Rick is there to greet him. Unfortunately, Rick is out scouring the countryside for supplies to give to him so it forces Negan to wait until he returns.
Once he’s at Rick’s house, he finds Olivia inside before deciding to pick on her for her weight after she complains that the community is running out of food. He then offers to pass the time waiting for Rick by screwing her brains out but Olivia politely declines while slapping him across the face. Negan tells Olivia that actually makes him like her even more but he has a rule that he’ll never assault a woman. Negan may tolerate and do a lot of awful things but sexual assault doesn’t fly under his rule.
Without a romp in the sack to pass the time, Negan decides to have Carl show him around the house and he eventually happens upon a closed bedroom door where he discovers Judith in her crib. It was clear that Carl wanted to hide her from him but Negan found her anyways.
Negan picks up the little girl in his arms while Carl looks on with equal parts of fear and anger. Later, we find Negan sitting on the porch with Carl beside him while he rocks with Judith in his arms. He remarks how he could get used to life in Alexandria — suburbia seems to fit him — but to enjoy this new place he might just have to kill Rick and Carl and bury them in the flowerbed in front of the house.
Negan certainly looks comfortable there — but what will Rick say when he finally makes it home?
The mid-season finale of ‘The Walking Dead’ is next week for a special 90-minute episode at 9pm ET on AMC.
