Sunday’s new episode of The Walking Dead season 6 set the back-half of the season off to a terrifying start.
If you were hoping for fireworks during the The Walking Dead’s first new episode in 2016, you weren’t disappointed. The show killed off Jessie, Sam, and Ron, and Carl lost his eye. Those who read the comic series probably weren’t too surprised by these developments, because similar things happen in the volume titled “No Way Out,” which is also the title of tonight’s episode.
No time to spare
The episode began by jumping straight into where things left off in the post-credits stinger late last year: Negan’s men are holding up Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha.
Things turn extra sour when one of the men is milliseconds away from killing Sasha and Abraham, but luckily Daryl makes the situation explode in the nick of time. This was a nice surprise, huh?
Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham are relieved, but I don’t think they can feel that great about the situation. They’ve just learned there’s a new enemy out there — and viewers (especially comic readers) know that Negan is someone who can’t be messed with.
Back at Alexandria, Rick and company are finally making their way through walkers by covering themselves in walker guts. Unfortunately, Sam breaks his composure and begins to cry when he spots a young walker amongst the adults. Viewers saw this coming during the mid-season finale when he couldn’t stop asking for mommy, and in “No Way Out” Rick and Jessie saw an issue with him coming along, too. They tried to pass him off to Father Gabriel, but unfortunately Sam is a mommy’s boy and refused.
Big mistake.
Sam’s cries send the walkers after him, and then like dominoes, one brings down the other. Jessie begins to cry, which sends the walkers after her. Despite being bit, she continues to hold onto Carl’s hand. Faced with no other options, Rick takes an axe to Jessie’s arm to free Carl.
And then another domino: Ron points a gun at Rick to protest what just happened (amongst other lingering issues we’ve seen over the past few episodes), but luckily Michonne kills him with her katana from behind. In this moment Rick was probably regretting showing him how to use a gun earlier in the season, but as always, Michonne had his back.
And then a final domino: “Dad?” Carl has lost his eye. We repeat: Carl has lost an eye.
This photo actually leaked in the days leading up to the episode. Hopefully you didn’t catch it in advance:
This scene is not only significant due to everything that went down, but it’s one of the only times the show has made a big physical change to a lead character.
Some viewers are probably saying, “Finally!” The TV series has notoriously shied away from adapting physical twists found in The Walking Dead comic series, like when Rick loses his hand. It’s understandable that they’re hesitant. A change like this is permanent, after all.
Thank God Father Gabriel took Judith away from all of this, right? Even though it’s hard to trust Gabriel (he’s been sketchy as hell since day one), he appears to be serious about proving himself to the community at this point.
This was one of our favorite scenes in recent memory. The way things progressed so quickly and significantly was a sight to behold. Sam, Jessie, Ron, Carl. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
This was also a horrible moment for Rick. Many expected Rick and Jessie to get closer to one another as the show progressed since they seemed like a natural fit. Even the way they moved together through these walkers suggested that this is what a family on the show could look like in the future. Well.. no longer. Damn, did this have to air on Valentine’s Day?
A safe zone united
Rick and Michonne get Carl to Denise, who immediately springs into action to save poor Carl. And then, livid at everything that just happened, Rick heads back outside to kill walker after walker. Rick’s intentions are two-fold: One, they have a walker problem on their hands in Alexandria. Two, Rick is super angry. It creates yet another domino effect: Michonne, Aaron, and other members of Alexandria begin to step outside to fight as well. Finally, whether everyone’s skilled or not, Alexandria is working together to kick some ass.
As Father Gabriel puts it: “God has given us the courage to save [Alexandria] ourselves.”
At the end of the episode Daryl sets the tanker truck on fire to lead all of the walkers straight into the flames. The final minutes of the show are beautiful, as we jump between walkers burning themselves and humans killing off dozens of walkers. This scene was both a directorial and editing achievement, leaving us with lots of chills.
Sitting beside his recovering son, Rick sees new opportunities after the people of Alexandria fought together to defeat the walkers. He vows to rebuild the walls and make the community stronger than ever. “I wanna show you, Carl.”
Carl will see his dad’s plans come together. But only through a single eye.
Maggie and Glenn
The two lovebirds finally reunite at the end of the episode, but the road leading there is scary. Glenn finds himself surrounded by walkers once again, and this time Maggie is watching it all unfold in horror. Luckily Sasha and Abraham have the weaponry necessary to knock out the walkers surrounding him. How many near-death experiences can Glenn encounter in one season? He’s had a rough few weeks and it’s only going to get worse for him.
Elsewhere in the episode the wolf holding up Denise is finally killed by Carol (of course). In related news, we’re feeling weary about how things are going to play out between Carol and Morgan. It’s doubtful this feud is over for good.
What did you think of ‘The Walking Dead’s’ mid-season premiere?
RIP Carl’s eye.
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