In The Walking Dead recap, Rick and Daryl run into a famous face from the comic books and a long rumored relationship takes center stage this week….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
2 months gone.
That’s how much time has passed since the last episode of The Walking Dead and this week when we pick up after the bodies have been cleared away from the streets of Alexandria and it appears life is getting back to some kind of normalcy — or at least as normal as you could expect to get with roving bands of zombies around every corner.
The time jump was unexpected but in many ways welcome because while the episode was a little slower moving than the action packed hour from last week, it still moved past the immediate aftermath of the walls coming down and the survivors dealing with the turmoil of nearly losing everything in the matter of a few hours.
Of course there are still a ton of questions that have to be asked about what happened in those two months that we didn’t learn a thing about in this episode, but it was still a good way to pick up on a new chapter while closing the door on the last one.
So as we catch up to our survivors — Carl is wearing an eye patch, completely recovered from the gun shot wound he took courtesy of Ron. Enid is still living in the community, albeit shut off from the rest of the people in town. Denise reveals she’s from Ohio (and from a fellow Ohioan, I can confirm most people do call it ‘pop’ in this state) and she’s now living full time with Tara. And it’s finally time for Rick and Daryl to go scavenging for supplies while trying to enact plans that Deanna wanted for the town before her death.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of The Walking Dead titled ‘The Next World’….
Jackpot
Rick and Daryl are headed out on a hunt for supplies — most notably some seeds and other grains that will help the Alexandrian’s grow food on their own. Of course a few people have other needs like Michonne’s desire for toothpaste and Denise asking for soda to satisfy a craving she assumes Tara is having after hearing her talk about it while asleep.
After everything that’s happened, Rick seems like he’s driving on the sunny side of the street now while Daryl has returned to a more pessimistic view of the world. While the entire town nearly got torn asunder and zombies rampage through everything and everyone they loved, Rick is trying to look at things from the ‘glass half full’ perspective — in other words they’ve made it through hell, maybe it’s time to enjoy a little taste of heaven.
And it looks like Rick is correct when they happen upon a garage that contains a panel truck and inside is a slew of food and supplies including some very nice toothpaste for Michonne. Rick is so pleased with this discovery that he tells Daryl they should ditch the car — not sure why they couldn’t drive separately and just follow each other — and drive back with the truck right now.
On the way back to Alexandria to celebrate, the dynamic duo stops as a gas station for fuel and for Daryl to loot a vending machine for some sodas — because it’s the least he could do for the doctor responsible for saving their lives over and over again. During the attempts to get into the vending machine, Rick and Daryl encounter a stranger out of nowhere who runs right past them before introducing himself.
Welcome Jesus to the show — well his real name is Paul Rovia but before the world ended, everyone called him Jesus.
Comic book fans who have been reading The Walking Dead for the past few years are very familiar with Jesus, although his name in the original source material is Paul Monroe, but he’s a welcome sight to the show although his arrival certainly signals another group that we will also be meeting very soon and a leader who just happens to carry a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that he calls Lucille. More on that in a few weeks.
Back to the story this week, Jesus tells Rick and Daryl that he was running for a pack of zombies and they probably have about 11 minutes before the undead arrive if they want to get out of their unscathed. Rick is ready to ask Jesus the ‘three questions’ but Daryl is reluctant to welcome anybody else inside Alexandria after what’s happened recently. Before Rick can do much of anything, Jesus is gone but a few seconds later a series of loud pops like gun shots go off behind the gas station and they are forced to investigate.
Rick and Daryl go around the back but find out that the explosion was nothing more than firecrackers dumped in a barrel and that’s when they realize what Jesus was actually doing when he bumped into them.
He wasn’t running from zombies — he was pick pocketing Rick’s keys and sure enough by the time they make it back to the front, Jesus is driving off with the supply truck. Rick and Daryl are stranded and this day is taking a decided turn for the worse.
A Proper Burial
Back in Alexandria, Carl and Enid are still taking daily trips outside the wall where they sit, read comics, write and just spend time together. After all this time running away it seems Enid is finally ready to stay put because she tells Carl that following this trip, she no longer wants to visit this spot anymore.
Carl spots a zombie and he also sees Spencer and Michonne walking in the woods — what could they be up to out here?
It turns out Spencer has been roaming the woods everyday when he’s not on lookout except this time Michonne spotted his exit from the town and decided to follow to make sure he was all right while also curiously wondering what he’s doing out there. See, Spencer is not only walking out into the woods by himself but he’s also carrying a knife, a machine gun and a shovel.
Once they make it out into the woods, Michonne realizes what Spencer has been doing these past two months — he says that right after the zombie attack on Alexandria, he though he spotted his mother roaming around outside of town and he’s been looking for her ever since. On this particular day, Spencer finally tracked her down and we then see Deanna, who was turned into a zombie after the initial herd made its way into the town. If you remember, Deanna was bitten during the initial breech and it appeared she was going to kill herself but rather than waste a bullet on her own brain, she instead turned the gun on the zombies to kill as many of them as possible before she was gone.
Since then, Deanna has been stumbling about in the woods outside Alexandria and her son finally tracked her down to give his mother a proper burial.
With Michonne’s help, Spencer stabs his mother in the brain while tears run down his cheek. He buries her in the woods with a makeshift gravestone carved into a tree as Spencer says goodbye to his last family member — now he’s lost his mother, his father and his brother over the course of the last few months.
But Michonne has some words of wisdom for him the same way Deanna shared some with her just before she died. Alexandria is a community and the people who live there are all family so Spencer may not have any blood relatives left but there are still plenty of folks in town who love him, need him and depend on him.
Finally back in town, Michonne reveals to Carl that she spotted him out in the woods and at first admonishes him for going out there alone when it was totally unnecessary. She also happened to see that Carl actually engaged Deanna before Spencer finally found his mother and put her to death.
Why didn’t Carl finish her off when he had the chance?
He explains that in that situation, the person who killed her should be somebody who loved her and that’s what Spencer needed for closure. Carl then says if anything like that happened to Michonne, he would be the one to put her down because that’s what you do for family. The two embrace and it looks like the Grimes family has added a new member.
A Bad Day
Rick and Daryl pursue Jesus and eventually catch up to him after he’s forced to pull over to fix a flat tire. The two of them have to join together to subdue him because it turns out Jesus is not only a good thief, but he’s also a bit of a martial arts bad ass. Rick ties Jesus up and tells him that the knots aren’t too tight so he’ll eventually be able to escape but not before they are long gone with the truck.
Unfortunately, Rick underestimates Jesus again and while they are driving out to another farm for supplies, Daryl realizes that the man they ‘captured’ actually jumped on top of the truck and he’s been riding on the roof this entire time.
Rick slams on the breaks and sends Jesus flying while Daryl gives pursuit on foot. A battle ensues, but in the middle of it all, Rick is forced to jump out of the truck to kill some walkers who are wandering a little too close while Daryl chases Jesus around until the two of them accidentally knock the brake loose on the truck.
Daryl and Jesus jump out of the moving truck in time but the entire vehicle — including enough supplies to last Alexandria for the next three months — rolls and sinks into a lake on the farm. There goes that toothpaste Michonne wanted so badly.
Jesus is unconscious from the last shot to the head so Rick ties him up again and they pack him into the back of another car as they begin the journey to return to Alexandria empty handed minus one new person in tow.
A New Union
Rick and Daryl approach the gates of Alexandria where a new sign as been erected at the front — “Mercy for the lost, vengeance for the plunderers” — and as they get inside they take Jesus to Denise to get checked out to make sure his head wound isn’t critical. Still unconscious, Rick puts Jesus in the same spot where Morgan once hid the wolf he captured, but he leaves a glass of water and a note for his guest whenever he wakes up.
Cut to the Grimes’ house where Rick reveals that he lost Michonne’s toothpaste but did manage to get her some mints from that vending machine. Outside of that, neither one of them are really in the mood to talk about the day they just had but in that moment of sharing something happens. A spark perhaps?
Rick and Michonne hold hands, lock eyes and a moment later they are kissing on the couch, clothes are coming off and this long rumored romance is finally happening! In the comic book world, Rick actually ends up with Andrea — another legacy character that has been around since practically the beginning — but since she’s long since dead this relationship seems to make perfect sense.
The next time we see Rick and Michonne they are in bed together sans clothes, arms draped over one another enjoying a peaceful night’s sleep.
Of course their slumber is soon interrupted by an intruder but Rick and Michonne both spring to action — a gun drawn by one, a sword by the other, neither one wearing a thread of clothing. In front of them stands Jesus — he’s wiggled free of another prison except rather than run away or even attempt to kill them both while they sleep, he’s offering himself up like a sacrifice.
Jesus addresses Rick by name and then tells Alexandria’s fearless leader that they’ve got an awful lot to talk about.
They do indeed.
The Walking Dead returns next Sunday night at 9pm ET on AMC
