Last night’s episode of The Walking Dead was much calmer than last week, and we were happy for a lull in the action. Check out our Walking Dead recap for the full details on “Say the Word.”
There wasn’t a whole lot of action in tonight’s episode, but we learned a lot. The show was once again split between Woodbury and the prison. Our Walking Dead recap breaks down both settings.
Over in Woodbury, there’s a big party going on, but the Governor is busy elsewhere, spending some quality time with his daughter, Penny. Nice, right? You would think so, until you find out that Penny is a zombie.
The Governor still loves her, though, as creepy as that is.
Michonne isn’t in a partying mood, so instead she decides to steal back her katana once the Governor leaves his house. She wouldn’t have gotten caught with it except for her little side trip to kill a bunch of caged walkers.
The Governor tries to take her katana away again, but she uses her quickness to grab it back, threatening to drive it through the Governor’s throat. He lets her go after this, but he then tries to use Andrea to persuade Michonne to stay.
He gets under Michonne’s skin by telling her that she fits in Woodbury, and he wants her to be a part of his research team. She is still determined to leave, and even Andrea can’t convince her otherwise.
Michonne and Andrea try to test whether or not they can actually leave, and when Merle lets them through, Andrea is torn. She wants to stay and be comfortable in Woodbury, but she also wants to be with Michonne, who is her best friend. Michonne ends up leaving, and Andrea stays behind. We’re sad to see this breakup, but will Michonne be back?
Could the Governor track her down?
That evening, the Governor is more concerned with helping his townsfolk relax. Andrea accompanies him to this nighttime event, and we are soon introduced to a “zombie fight club” (as Chris Hardwick of Talking Dead likes to call it). Two people – in this case Merle and another guy – compete in hand-to-hand combat in the middle of an arena surrounded by chained walkers.
Andrea is disgusted, but when she tries to leave, the Governor pulls her back. She thinks that this is showing people that walkers aren’t dangerous, but he argues that it’s helping people to not be afraid. He explains to her how they remove the zombies’ teeth (which explains Merle taking out the one zombie’s teeth while they were poaching them), so they’re not as deadly.
Andrea looks like she wishes she had gone with Michonne now. (Merle wins this fight, by the way.)
Back in the prison, Rick is breaking down. Instead of staying with his new baby and comforting his motherless son, Rick goes on a zombie-killing rampage inside of the prison walls. Glenn even tries to calm Rick down and make him stop, but Rick is completely out of it and pushes Glenn up against a wall when he touches him.
After that, Glenn just lets him go.
Daryl takes Maggie on a trip to get supplies for the new baby, and when they find a daycare center, Maggie is able to snag some dried baby formula and diapers. They make it back to the prison safely, but Rick is nowhere in sight.
Daryl takes the baby from Carl, and works on quieting it quickly once they whip up some formula. Seeing Daryl holding that baby set off strong emotional reactions in Dixon’s Vixens everywhere. He was so sweet and adorable with her, even calling her a “little a** kicker.”
Daryl also breaks our hearts when he places a Cherokee rose on the grave meant for Carol. When they were looking for Sophia last season, this is the same flower he told her was grown from Native American mother’s tears as they left their homes on the Trail of Tears. So sweet and sad.
We learn that Rick has gone back to the room where Lori gave birth and died, but there is no sign of her except for the blood. Instead he finds a bloated walker, who according to co-executive producer and director of tonight’s episode Greg Nicotero, actually ate Lori’s body.
If you look closely, you can see traces of Lori’s hair in the walker’s hands and mouth. Ew.
So that explains why Rick then shoots the walkers and stabs its bloated belly repeatedly. He also picks up the bullet off of the floor that Carl used to put Lori down. Fun fact: Nicotero also revealed that Andrew Lincoln keeps that bullet in his pocket while filming at all times.
Finally, amid the distant cries of his newborn child, Rick hears a phone start ringing, and then picks it up. Who could be on the other end? If you’ve read the comics, you have a pretty good idea of who it probably is.
There’s still no sign of Carol (since we don’t believe she’s dead), and Glenn is also convinced that they should have killed the prisoners on sight. Even though Oscar and Axel seem to be all right, could Glenn try to kill them off later this season?