The latest episode of AMC’s smash hit show moved us ever closer to a showdown with the Saviors and with Carol’s departure, how would the gang react? The Walking Dead S6:E15 ‘East’ started with a quick introduction that was definitely a change from previous episodes. We saw some blood on the road and heard people yelling. That’s about it. Then coming back from the commercial break we saw Carol preparing for her vanishing act. There was definitely a sweet effect with Carol clearly zoning out as her boyfriend spoke and it established that her thoughts were miles and miles away…apparently listening to Johnny Cash. That’s understandable and props for nothing going with the obvious, ‘When the Man Comes around’. I guess Zack Snyder probably still has dibs on that one and we all know what Eugene says about dibs.
I suppose we were overdue for a zombie-montage…and as everybody knows, you gotta have a montage! During said montage, we get an…ahem, touching scene with Glenn and Maggie as they help shower their bruised and broken bodies, Daryl looking like he’s about to go all Boondock Saints on some people, and Rosita observing Sasha and Abraham being awfully friendly. That ties quite a few loose ends up, doesn’t it? One thing that I’ve learned about The Walking Dead is that you never want to say out loud anything about how ‘life is currently good’. I think that’s always a major sign of bad things to come. Like they are telegraphing their intent…much like the color red in The 6th Sense. Hey, Haley Joel Osment…we see dead people too in varying stages of…um…dead! At least Rick and Co are prepared around the perimeter with their trashcans of automatic weapons.
As expected, Rick and Co’s group goes into meltdown at the the realization that Carol skipped out of town. The episode then quickly shifted gears into Mad Max territory with Carol’s Kill Car. I think that I might wanna trademark that. Unfortunately for Carol, Mad Max rules involves lots of guns and quick actions. Actually, good for Carol since she knows what she’s doing! We already knows she’s a slippery one. I think we can all agree that Carol is a total bad ass. For a moment, I thought she might be in trouble with that truck from the Saviors but…no. Through deception and guile(and a well concealed sub-machine gun), Carol killed pretty much everybody and looped back to explain that quick intro with had made little sense at the start. I’m starting to think that M. Night Shyamalan was a co-producer or something on the Walking Dead S6:E15 ‘East’.
It is always an interesting dynamic to see Morgan and Rick interact. We’ve seen them trade places many times but now it looked like Morgan was trying to temper Rick with some mercy with a foreboding warning about being brought down. Probably not what Morgan was expecting when Rick mercy killed that guy. Rick really doesn’t mess around with interrogation, does he? While Rick and Morgan went on a tracking sorte, Glenn. Michonne, and Rosita caught up to Daryl who had a clarity of purpose; vengeance(Norman Reedus has done something like that before). I’m not quite sure how I felt about all of these groups of characters running around. Rick and Morgan. Glenn and Michonne. Rosita and Daryl. It made Rick and Co significantly weaker and more erratic then they had been all season and then, in typical Walking Dead fashion, a big group of Saviors get the drop and the tone shifts quite rapidly.
‘People can come back, Rick’. That was an interesting conversation though somewhat overshadowed by the fact that the Saviors had Glenn and Michonne. Morgan, in one conversation, had Rick show how far he’s come and admit that he can change. Nicely done, Morgan! Rick seemed pretty adamant in his position and I had a feeling that the person running away from the barn will prove one of them right – was it better to kill him or let him go? Interesting how Morgan viewed saving that Wolf fella. Wolf guy saved Denise who saved Carl. Causality is fun, isn’t it?
After Abraham and Rick share a ‘best buds’ moment about falling in love, we have a scene with Maggie and Enid and Maggie affirm herself that she has to go on. Telegraphing much? Speaking of intent, the episode then shifted to Glenn and Maggie with a terrible rescue attempt by Daryl and Rosita. Oh, and when I say terrible…Dwight totally shot Daryl! I feel like the collective set of DVRs in America just hit stop and slowly went through that final scene, frame by frame. I know I did…and Dwight definitely shot Daryl but it looks like it was in the shoulder. All I know is, that ‘If Daryl Dies…We Riot’ thing is very real. That wait till next week is going to be very real as well!
