After last week’s
climatic episode five of The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes’ highly anticipated “final”
episode, the season could’ve potentially ended right there (or at least have
served as the mid-season finale). But in
fact, we are only a quarter of the way through season 9, with still three more
episodes left until the mid-season break.
The sixth episode entitled “Who are you Now” deals with the aftermath of
life AFTER Rick Grimes (six years into the future to be exact). There are many developments, but also many
more questions that hopefully will start to be answered as we continue to go
through the season.
This episode very closely
follows Michonne mostly, and we get the impression that this episode will
largely center on her in this new time period, particularly as we start to see
that she spends ample time speaking to Rick at the destroyed bridge where she
assumes he died as well as in her bedroom (although it’s not abundantly clear
if she’s talking to Rick and/or Carl).
Michonne is incredibly skeptical of the new visitors that have been
brought back to Alexandria by Rosita, Eugene and Aaron, led primarily by
Judith. She immediately pats down Magna
(the assumed leader) and seems to express how letting new people in the gates
of Alexandria is against all protocol (with Michonne seemingly to be the
assumed leader of Alexandria). Judith
however, defends her position and they decide that whatever decision needs to
be made will need to be presented to the council and voted on, in an apparent
democratic fashion (good on Michonne, former lawyer that she is).
At this council meeting,
each people of the new group (with the exception of Yumiko who is being tended
to at the infirmary) has to essentially introduce themselves and explain who
they were then and who they are now, in this post-apocalyptic world. We learn that this new group of survivors is
a lot like our veterans were way back when: A tight knit motley crew of
survivors, willing to do whatever it takes to survive. It seems that most of the members of
Alexandria who attend this Town Hall (a record number due to the fact that
apparently they have not had any newcomers in a significant amount of time) as
well as the council are moved by the stories from these survivors, particularly
by Luke. Everyone that is…except
Michonne. She is incredibly skeptical
and confronts Magna, exposing one of her tattoos as being a prison tattoo
(perhaps from her time in the legal system) and justifying why the group cannot
be trusted. She also goes on to mention
how they’ve gone through this before and questions if they want to go through
all “that” again.
Hmmmm. It’s starting to become more and more clear
that SOMETHING significant happened in the six years that have gone by that has
hardened Michonne from helping others, beyond Rick’s assumed death. What that is however, is still a question by
the end of the episode (although this podcaster/blogger has her theories).
In any case, Magna’s crew
criticizes her for her defiance in the face of Michonne and potentially
screwing up their chances at a life at Alexandria. No matter, Magna feels that this fancy
society can’t be totally trusted and she needs to maintain some sort of defense
in case she needs to protect herself (reminiscent of Rick Grimes and crew when
they FIRST arrived at Alexandria and met Deana). She takes it a step further by coming to
Michonne’s door (how fancy is Michonne’s home by the way? Construction in the
apocalypse is pretty on point), in apparent potential attempt to take her down
(possibly kill her). That is until, she
sees a small young child, a male, run into a happy Michonne’s arms. Michonne and Rick’s son, RJ.
OH MY GOD. That was like a punch in the stomach. Talk about ALL the feels. ALL OF THE FEELS.
We also get a heart to
heart with Judith, who reminds her of what her father and her brother would’ve
wanted her to do (which is probably not turning people away). While Michonne is skeptical of Judith (as she
is, you know, a child), it appears to make an impression as well as Magna
knocking on her door and instead, handing over her last remaining weapon. This all leads Michonne to change her mind
and decide that they will be taken to the Hilltop where the woman leader there
(likely an older Enid, in Maggie’s absence) will be able to take them in.
Before all this though,
we have a moment where we see that Michonne has a perfect “X” carved into the
left hand side of her back. Too perfect
to be a wound, so it must be an intentional branding sort of mark…but why? And who inflicted that on her? We are getting more and more clues that
something nefarious occurred in the past six years that has led to a very
on-guard Michonne. Also, Judith apparently
is having daily conversations with a MUCH rejuvenated Negan, still in his cell,
but now groomed and with a renewed light in his eyes. Also a result of what occurred during this
six year time jump?
At the same time, we see
that Carol and Ezekiel are the official King and Queen of the Kingdom. They are happy in their kingdom with their (pseudo)
adopted teenage son Henry but the kingdom is very much falling apart. Henry pleads that he’s old enough to get an
apprenticeship with the blacksmith at the Hilltop and he could use those skills
to better assist the Kingdom with the current infrastructure needs. Eventually, Ezekiel and Carol concede and
allow it with Ezekiel mentioning that perhaps that they should even develop a
sort of Fair to bring ALL the communities together.
HUH. NOW.
If you’re a comic book reader, at the mention of the word “Fair” your
hair likely stood up, at the knowledge of what HAPPENS at said fair. But we’re not going to get into that right
now…
In any case, Carol
decides to essentially chauffeur Henry to the Hilltop but they are sidetracked
with they cross paths with (believe it or not) Saviors that apparently survived
since the skirmish at the tent camp, led by Jed and Regina primarily. Since the Sanctuary went bust (hmmm) they
have been living off what they can scavenge and they are looking to take their
goods but Jed assures them that he’s allowing them to keep their cart and
horses and their lives (what a guy).
Unfortunately, this does not fly with Henry and he tangles with Jed,
still using his Akido stick moves, but is quickly overpowered. Carol, knowing they are outnumbered, backs down
immediately, protecting Henry and even gives up her wedding ring which Jed
wants, for no other reason other than to be a douche.
This comes back to back
him in the you-know-what however because as Henry sleeps in their tent setup
for the night, unbeknownst to him, Carol approaches the Saviors' tent camp set
up and confronts Jed. She tells him how while
she could forgive stealing her ring, he stole from her people (hmmm) and he
hurt her son and for that he needs to pay.
He swears that he never took anything (again, are we talking about something
that happened in the past?) and that she’ll never see him again. She says that she knows…and drops a match on
a gas soaked camp site and burns all the Saviors alive, as she calmly walks
away.
SAVAGE. And my hero.
The next day, Carol and
Henry continue on their journey and Henry notices Carol has her ring back. He doesn’t need to ask what happened. Carol leads the horses off the map on a
detour and we soon see why…she has led them right to Daryl’s apparent new home.
Our last story is
concerning Rosita, Eugene and Father Gabriel.
Father Gabriel is showing Rosita in a sort of home office, if you will,
maps of the area and a HAM RADIO (comic book readers, this should also set off alarms
in her head). That seems to be the same
ham radio that he came across in the home that he inhabited with the former
Savior Doctor who administered antibiotics to him that saved part of his
vision. He’s explaining to Rosita that
if they could place one of the mechanisms in a certain area beyond their self-inflicted
boundaries (or boundaries enforced by Michonne at least), that they might be
able to pick up a signal and see who else may be out there. Rosita agrees that she and Eugene can handle
it…and gives him a romantic kiss before heading off.
WTF. So Father Gabriel is a player? When in the world is Daryl ever going to get
some?
Anyway, Rosita and Eugene
venture out (as Eugene tries to make the subtle moves on Rosita…sad) but things
start to go downhill very quickly.
Eugene, while at the top of a Water Tank (again, red flag comic book
readers) in an attempt to secure the equipment, notices a horde of walkers
heading their way. He runs down the
ladder and injures himself, spooking the horses (these freaking horses) and they both have to make a run for it. What this leads
to is the much hyped about scene from the original Comic Con trailer where we
see Eugene and Rosita covered in mud, hiding in a ditch, all the while hearing
the walker herd walk by, u
ttering an ominous “Whhheeeeereee arreeeee
theeeeyyyy?”.
So are the herds
evolving? Will both Eugene and Rosita
make it back to tell the tale? And what
happened in those six years that has hardened Michonne but has rejuvenated
Negan? And what has Daryl been up to all
these years?
We have only two more
episodes to hopefully get closer to some answers.
THE WALKING DEAD AIRS SUNDAYS AT 9:00PM EST ON AMC
