The Walking Dead: East (6x15)

Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch. I seriously watch every episode of this show with my heart in my throat, terrified that Daryl is going to die. And... well, he's not dead. Yet. But it's not looking good. Oh my God. Son of a bitch. Let's take a look at the penultimate episode of the season.

Cons:

To be quite honest, this episode sort of decelerated the tension, instead of accelerating it. There were quite a few different plot threads. Carol leaves Alexandria and runs in to a group of Saviors on the road, so we follow her while that's going on. Then we also follow Rick and Morgan, who go out after Carol to try and bring her back. We also follow Daryl, who leaves before finding out that Carol is gone in order to hunt down Dwight, and we follow Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita, who all go out to bring Daryl back. Back in Alexandria, we follow Maggie and Enid, who, like the rest of the Alexandrians, are prepping for the inevitable fight to come with the Saviors. This is a lot of stuff, and it doesn't have that sense of mounting tension and action that the rest of this season has had. A big thing happens in this episode, for sure, but it happens in literally the last second, and the rest of the episode almost feels like just impatient buildup for the very end.

Morgan and Rick's stuff was definitely not my favorite. The two of them go out to find Carol and bring her home, and they end up having a conversation about their differing philosophies on the morality of killing people. Again. Because it's not like this point has been hammered in enough. Morgan makes the somewhat ludicrous claim that "everything gets a return," telling Rick the full story about the Wolf that he kept in the cellar in Alexandria, and how that Wolf saved Denise's life, and therefore Carl's life was saved because Denise was around to save him. Circle of life, blah blah blah. But... really? I mean, Denise only needed saving from the Walker hoard because the Wolf kidnapped her and dragged her outside of the cellar. If Morgan had killed the Wolf, that never would have happened in the first place. Even worse, Rick seems to take Morgan's words at face value. Later, Rick nearly kills a man fleeing from them, even though he poses no immediate threat. This is almost set up as Rick's Moral Event Horizon (if he hasn't already passed that), but Morgan pushes his arm and the shot misses. This causes Rick to make the strange decision of going back to Alexandria, leaving Morgan outside by himself to continue the hunt for Carol. The reasoning for splitting up here didn't really make sense. I guess Rick is anxious to get back home and defend the community. Sure, that makes sense. But why should Morgan, of all people, be the one to go out looking for Carol by himself? Because they represent utterly simplistic sides in an argument about killing and death and are thus bonded by their ideological divide? Not buying it.

Abraham is the worst. Seriously, if somebody has to die in next week's finale, let it be Abraham. Sorry, not sorry. In this episode, we see that Abraham and Sasha have begun some sort of a romance. At the very end of the episode, Abraham talks to Rick about how he's afraid to open up and be close to someone, paralleling Rick's worry over the fact that Michonne hasn't returned from her search for Daryl. Ugh. Don't compare Abraham/Sasha with Rick/Michonne. One of those relationships is a beautiful culmination of years of friendship, trust, and the building of a family out of the ruins of past tragedy. The other is some dude having a weird crisis about which younger woman he'd like to sleep with. Sasha deserves better than this. The only good thing about this Abraham story is that Rosita can move on to someone better. It would be hard to do worse, honestly.

Pros:

We follow Carol through her decision to leave Alexandria, and then when she's on the road, her car gets shot at by a group of Saviors, who hold her at gunpoint and deduce that she is from Alexandria. They recognize the spikes on her car as belonging to the community, and plan on using her as a way to get inside. Carol begs them to walk away and tells them that nobody has to get hurt... but when things come to a head Carol uses a gun she has hidden up her sleeve to kill all of the men. Amazing acting. Amazing pacing. Carol has just fled from Alexandria because she couldn't face the idea of killing again, and then suddenly she's forced to do it once more. Not only to save her own life, but to save Alexandria from these men. Gosh, the body count is getting really high for the Saviors, isn't it? How many of them are dead now at Alexandrian hands? Carol has another panic attack moment, which I loved because it was both an act and totally genuine. Carol really was freaking out, but not because she was worried about dying - because she was scared to kill. So great.

Back in Alexandria, we see that Maggie is handling her recent kidnapping a bit differently than Carol did. While Carol is running away and trying to hide from the ruthlessness within her, Maggie is shoring up her defenses and getting ready to take a stand to protect herself, her child, and the rest of her family. Enid helps out by taking over on one of Maggie's watches so that Maggie can get some rest, and then cutting Maggie's hair for her to give her a new short look. Then, as the episode ends, Maggie collapses in intense pain. Something is wrong with the baby! I mean, my first thought here is that the baby is dead, and thus zombified, and is going to freakin' kill Maggie from the inside out unless they get it out of her right away. A la that scene in Dawn of the Dead. Oh God. But I'm not jumping to conclusions here - maybe Maggie is having some other pregnancy-related problem, and the crisis is going to be related to Denise's absence. They have no medical professional on hand to help out. In any case, I really liked the stuff with Maggie and Enid. Enid has been a floater character for a long while now, but I loved her helpful attitude and her anxiety about her hair cutting skills. Maggie does look adorable with the new cut.

Despite my earlier complaints about Morgan and Rick, there were some good moments between them, mostly when we were reminded of their long history. I loved it when Morgan asked Rick why he was out there looking for Carol: "I'm out here because she's my family." Aww! Morgan brings up what Carol did back at the prison, and how Rick sent her away. That was some great continuity, and a great way of showcasing how much has changed. As Rick says goodbye to Morgan and starts to make his way back to Alexandria, he confesses a big secret: "Michonne did steal that protein bar." Morgan, all wisdom, replies "I know." That was another strong moment and makes me think maybe we'll be losing Morgan next week... It felt like a touching final farewell, to be honest. Also, during the Morgan and Rick scenes there was this terribly mean moment where they come across a lone Walker who looks quite a bit like Carol from a distance. The audience catches their breaths right along with Rick and Morgan, but it's not her after all. That was so not cool! Don't scare me like that! But at the same time, it was well done and amped my blood pressure up even higher for whatever is going to go down next week.

Finally, you've got Glenn, Rosita, and Michonne going out to find Daryl. Since they start chasing him almost immediately, they actually catch up fairly quickly. Glenn makes an impassioned speech about how they need Daryl to come back, while Daryl laments that Denise's death is his fault for letting Dwight and the others go all those months ago. And then... they are attacked. As the episode ends, we have Glenn and Michonne tied up, while Rosita and Daryl creep through the woods to try and free them. And then? Dwight shows up, says a polite hello to Daryl, and shoots him at short range. AHHHH. As the blood splatters across the screen, we hear Dwight's voice saying "you'll be alright." But was he talking to Daryl? Was he being sarcastic? Did he just hit Daryl in the shoulder or something or are we talking abdomen/chest wound? Is he already dead? Did the others see it go down from where they are sitting tied up? Too intense!!!

I'm still super steamed about Denise's death, and I'm not about to forgive the show for that in a hurry. But on the other hand, I like seeing that Daryl's grief over her loss is a significant factor in the ongoing plot. One could make an argument that she died for his man pain alone, which would suck, but the good thing here is that it was like a brother losing a sister, not a man losing his female lover. I'm torn about it. In any case, it's pretty cool to see Daryl going out to avenge her death. I liked seeing that Denise's loss affected Rosita profoundly as well, as she decides to join Daryl's crusade for revenge once she's out there and confronted with the spot where Denise died. Glenn and Michonne are trying to keep everybody calm and get back home. Of course, they're the ones with significant others waiting for them. There are a lot of complicated character motivations and possibilities with this setup.

I'm going to be praying for Daryl for the rest of the week. I'm so scared. All of my favorite characters are in trouble right now - Daryl has been shot, Glenn and Michonne are tied up, and Carol is off all by herself, possibly injured. As devastating as all of that is, it's ultimately a good thing for the momentum of the season. This episode in many ways felt like forty-five minutes of buildup for one minute of payoff with both Maggie's collapse and Daryl's possible demise. In many ways that makes it a downgrade from other episodes in this half of the season. But the fact that I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the fallout in next week's finale must mean they're doing something right.

8/10