Last week’s premiere of The Walking Dead left us with a huge cliffhanger. Who is attacking Alexandria? Will Rick and his crew reach home in time to save everyone? And who the hell is honking that damn horn? Hopefully all of those questions will be answered tonight.
We start with Enid (Carl’s girlfriend) in an SUV. She’s scanning the area for walkers as two others try to get the car started. Oh, they’re her parents. We’re finally getting some Enid backstory. She sees walkers and screams for them to hurry. The next thing we know, she’s sitting in the bloody car, watching her parents get eaten. No wonder this girl has issues. She’s by herself, out in that world, for quite a while before she finds Alexandria. She keeps writing JSS over and over. What does JSS mean? As usual, the writers give us new questions before answering the old ones.
Carol is in the storeroom with other ladies, keeping up her Suzie Homemaker charade. Mrs Niedermeyer brings up wanting a pasta maker again and Carol finally snaps. She offers to teach her how to make pasta without a machine, as long as Mrs Niedermeyer promises to stop smoking inside the house. “It’s just a disgusting habit. And it kills you.” I love it when Carol gets bitchy. She returns home to find Jessie’s youngest son, Sam waiting for her. Carol built a relationship with Sam when she threatened to feed him to walkers if he told on her. For some reason he comes to her with all his problems and it drives her crazy. Carol has lost too many children to go down that path again. She shoos him away by telling him, “Your dad used to hit you and then he got himself killed. It happened. Now it’s done. You live with it or it eats you up. Go home.” Ah, motherly love…
Jessie tries to give her oldest, Ron, a haircut as a way to bond with him. He’s a very angry boy. She asks if he blames her for his father’s death. “Raise your left hand above your head. You can’t. Tell me why.” He refuses to admit that his dad hurt him. Instead he turns his anger on Rick. Dude, Rick isn’t the problem here. Sure, he killed your dad. Sure, he wants your mom. But this isn’t Oedipus. This is the zombie apocalypse. And some day soon you’re going to realize that life isn’t all pasta machines and mom’s haircuts.
Maggie is trying to bring Deanna back from the brink by making her plant a garden outside the walls. “Everyone that’s here is because of you. You have to show them you’re still here.” Maggie is definitely Hershel’s daughter.
Eugene is complaining to Tara that the church is going to be the largest building in the expansion. He thinks it should be a lab, a machine shop or a sweet ass game room instead. They’re interrupted by a new character, Denise. She’s a psychiatrist with panic attacks and she’s replacing Porch Dick as the new doctor. She’s not excited about it. Eugene is being extremely awkward and making the situation worse.
Carol puts a casserole in the oven and sets the timer. She glances out the window and sees Mrs Niedermeyer smoking outside. Carol won her little power play. All of a sudden someone attacks Mrs Niedermeyer with a machete. Holy shit! I can’t imagine this is about a pasta maker. Alexandria is under attack. Outside the walls, Maggie and Deanna hear screaming. They ask a guard on the wall what’s going on and before he can answer, he’s hits with a molotov cocktail and is on fire. This is serious. Maggie is instantly on guard but Deanna is wandering around like a lost puppy. Alexandria is very lucky that Rick’s crew showed up when they did.
Carol sends Carl upstairs to protect Judith and heads out into the fray. Wolves, wolves, as far as the eye can see. Jessie wants to find Ron but ends up with Sam in his “hiding from daddy” closet. In his house, Carl hears someone breaking in so he positions himself to shoot them. It’s only Enid. She’s come to say goodbye. Carl tells her she’s not leaving and they sit, back to back, ready to defend the house. Wolves are killing everyone. Carol is stalking them, getting a lay of the land. She sees a masked wolf stabbing a neighbor and she takes him out. The woman won’t stop screaming (and she’s too far gone) so Carol takes her out too. So much human on human death. Why are people so much scarier than walkers?
Deanna’s son Spencer is in the watchtower with a gun. He aims at a wolf but has a hard time pulling the trigger. By the time he shoots, it’s too late. Luckily Rosita and Tara take care of things for him. Suddenly, a semi is driving towards the gate. Spencer rakes it with machine gun fire and it veers into the watchtower, horn blaring. And blaring. And blaring.
Rosita, Tara, Aaron and Eric carry an Alexandrite into the hospital. Dr Denise sets to work getting her stabilized. Rosita and Aaron want to get back outside to fight the wolves. Dr Denise is freaking out. Eugene informs everyone, “I also believe my services would be best rendered right very here.” Aaron barks, “What?” and Eugene starts again. “Shut up!” Rosita yells at him. “You’re safe here.” With that, Rosita and Aaron head out the door and both Eugene and Dr Denise look adequately terrified. The town in covered in blood and dead bodies.
Spencer stumbles down to the truck but the driver has turned. He’s too scared to take him out. Luckily, Morgan arrives. He kills the walker and turns the horn off. Spencer tells Morgan what’s going on. “We need to get in there. You coming?” Spencer doesn’t answer. Morgan shakes his head and warns, “hide.” Morgan runs in to find a large wolf with an ax chopping up Alexandrians. He laughs at Morgan’s stick. “Quick or slow?” he asks. Morgan answers, “Leave, please.” “That means slow.” The wolf lunges at Morgan. Before Morgan can respond a wolf runs up and knifes the other wolf. What the hell? The wolf pulls down his bandana and it’s Carol! Yes! Kick ass Carol is back! Morgan is upset she killed the wolf but she doesn’t care. She’s kick ass Carol. Carol writes a W on her forehead in blood and suggests they head for the armory. “You don’t have to kill people,” Morgan tells her. “Of course you do,” she snaps.
Outside the gates, Deanna and Maggie run into Spencer. Maggie wants to head inside to fight but Deanna realizes that she’ll just be a liability. Spencer puts his mother in the truck with the walker corpse and Maggie runs into battle. Back in the hospital, Dr Denise doesn’t think she can save the patient. She’s scared that she can’t do surgery after getting panic attacks in med school. Tara pushes her to do it. “You’re afraid? I don’t care. Help her. Try!” Eugene walks over to Dr Denise. “You don’t want to be a coward. I know.” That reached her and she preps for surgery. Ron is being chased by a wolf. Carl shoots him in the leg. The wolf begs Carl not to kill him. Carl hesitates and the wolf lunges for his gun. Carl blows him away and it looks like Ron is having flashbacks of Rick killing his dad. “Come inside. I can keep you safe,” Carl offers. Sullen Ron refuses and flounces away. Good luck, kid. Good luck.
Jessie and Sam hear the wolves leave their house so Jessie goes to look for Ron. She gets attacked by a female wolf. They roll around and Jessie loses her gun. The wolf knocks Jessie out against a cabinet and she falls. But she comes to quickly and attacks the wolf with her haircutting scissors. She stabs and stabs and stabs some more. Jessie has learned what it really takes to protect her family. Ron walks in while she’s stabbing the long dead wolf. Yeah, this kid is going to be messed up for a long time.
Carol (dressed as a wolf) leads Morgan on a chain. Other wolves greet her and congratulate her “catch.” They see Father Gabriel fighting a wolf and Carol yells, “Leave him!” Morgan refuses so Carol ditches him, killing wolves the whole way to the armory. Morgan incapacitates the wolf and saves Father Gabriel. Carol fills a bag with guns and instructs Lydia (the storeroom lady) how to protect the guns. Morgan and Father Gabriel tie their wolf up. Carol runs up and shoots him. They’re both shocked. She hands each of them a gun. Morgan doesn’t want his. He gives it to Father Gabriel who stutters, “I’m not very good with guns.” Shut up, Meg! Carol runs into Maggie and hands off more guns. Aaron and Rosita are making their way around town, killing wolves. Morgan is fuming about all of the killing. And then he’s surrounded by five wolves. “Leave,” he tells them. They laugh. So he starts hitting them. “My people have guns.” Whack, whack. “Yours don’t.” Whack, whack. “If you keep choosing this life, you’ll die.” “We didn’t choose,” a wolf snarls. With that they run off, stealing a gun on the way. Oh, Morgan. Sometimes you have to kill them. Now would be one of those times.
Carol stares at Mrs Niedermeyer’s dead body. She sits on her stoop, looking totally lost. Carol tries to rub the bloody W off her forehead and then she notices an A (for Alexandria) that Sam has left on the stairs. She breaks down into tears. Aaron walks through town, making sure the dead bodies don’t turn. He comes across a dead wolf holding the backpack he lost at the food plant trap. And there are his photos of the town. He loses it when he realizes that he basically gave the wolves graven invitations to attack Alexandria. In the hospital, Dr Denise works hard but her patient dies. She looks ready for a panic attack. “At least you tried,” Tara tells her. Dr Denise doesn’t want to hear it. She asks everyone to leave. “All I was going to say…” Tara concludes. “Is make sure you get her brain.” Deanna watches Maggie kill the burnt walker that used to be the wall guard. “We’re still here,” Maggie tells her. “Not all of us,” Deanna responds. Carl puts down his gun and looks for Enid. She’s gone but she left him a note that reads: “Just survive somehow.” JSS. Carol’s timer goes off so Carl takes the casserole out of the oven. Morgan warily enters his house. A wolf attacks him. It’s the same wolf that tried to take him in the woods last season. They fight and it looks like the wolf has the upper hand. The wolf stares at Morgan, realizing something. “You can’t, can you?” Morgan stares back at him. “You should have,” the wolf taunts. He goes at Morgan but Morgan gets his staff back. “I’m sorry,” Morgan tells him. WHACK. He can now.
Next week: Rick is running and running. Daryl tells Sasha and Abraham to keep going. Glenn is running and running. “If something’s in front of you, you kill it.” So, so many walkers…
What I wonder is how in the world Morgan got back to the Alexandria Safe Zone first when he wasn’t too far from Rick and the others. But yes, in the words of Anchorman, this definitely escalated quickly. And Carol at least showed Lydia, if anyone, what she’s truly capable of.
Yes! What the heck… He can teleport back in seconds and the others are MIA!?
Thanks for the recap! I took my Ambien about twenty minutes in and missed a lot! I hope Morgan snaps out of this “You shouldn’t kill people” phase he’s in. Didn’t he learn not to take any chances when his zombie wife, that he had every opportunity to kill, ended up killing his son? Now those wolves that he allowed to escape are going to come back stronger and be more of a threat. Learn the lesson… kill them when you have the chance, Morgan!!!
I think Morgan finally got it when he fought that last wolf (the one he let get away last season). It wasn’t totally clear but I think he killed the guy (thus the “sorry”). Too bad he didn’t figure it out before he let the others get away (and with a gun, to boot). One of my favorite moments was Morgan tying up his wolf & Carol running up & just shooting the guy. Carol gets it!
I know, I loved that scene too, when Carol just blasts off on that guy. He wasn’t going to tell them anything anyway. The wolves are worth NOTHING alive. Carol understands that. I hope Carl got the reminder he needed too in this episode.
I’m just curious now if Enid had anything to do with the Wolves invasion. Why else would she just happen to pick that time to abandon the group? What do you think Lady C?
I don’t think Enid is a wolf but I’m biased: I like her. Most people I talk to think she is. We’ll have to see…
Awesome recap!
Carol is my absolute favorite, she gets it done. I like Morgan but I have no idea where this whole “we don’t need to kill them” nonsense is coming from, if he had killed some of those wolves earlier they wouldn’t have been there striking alexandria. I get not killing everyone, but if they threaten you and your safety, they need to be gone. Enough with the kumbaya sniveling. This group has been through too much to start with that.
Props to Jessie for being a quick study in standing up for herself, you know all that rage was from years of taking beatings from her awful husband. She will make it, I just hope her kids aren’t forever screwed from years of being forced to live with a father who terrorized them all.
Jessie is definitely being set up to be a survivor.
Yep. She’s set up as a more likeable Lori. And that oldest son of hers (Ron I think?) is going be another Shane… Sort of an Oedipus love triangle type thing with Jessie, Rick and him. But he’s also in a love triangle with Carl and Enid. Enid took off, supposedly, but there’s a riff there between that kid and both Grimes men. That Ron kid’s days are numbered, I suspect.
TT…can you touch base on Ebony’s November cover? I am aware that I am going out on a limb here asking you to sound off on the subject matter. Either way, I thank you!
Lady C!
I LOVE your recaps!
I was stumbling down memory lane today on Facebook, and remembered a time, long, long ago…in a galexy far, far away. My favorite show back then was “Dark Shadows”.
It was an ancient time: Before computers and WiFi, before VHS and DVR.
The show aired while I was still in school. I only saw it when I was home “sick”. My mom, with her trusty pen and notepad, would handwrite detailed recaps for me.
Your recaps remind me of her’s. Thank you.
Oh, and I love Carol’s strength. I stole a line from that show, and use it often, because it means so much to me,:
“Stay safe.”
“9 lives.”
I will probably steal JSS, also.
JSS was so good! I agree, that one is worth repeating.
Loved your story about your moms recaps. So sweet!
I love that story, Cat! Mom’s love never goes away…
Very true.
And it’s driving me crazy that I misspelled “galaxy”, and didn’t catch it. And can’t correct it. I need new readers.
Woo-hoo! I just entered 2015! And signed up for Netflix!
Now, I just need to get my apps fixed, and I can watch this, and AHS! YAY!
Thanks for the great recap, LC! I think Enid is a Wolf. Why did she have the keys? Claiming major girl crush on Carol. <3<3 I want her Wolf outfit. So happy Merritt Wever has joined the cast. She was the only part of Nurse Jackie that I liked. They need to put out Carol's Zombie Apocalypse Cook Book.
I literally screamed out loud (scaring the dog) when that wolf pulled down his bandana & it was Carol! I didn’t think she could top the poncho covered in walker guts outfit she wore at Terminus but she did… Carol is my spirit animal!
I love the subtle sprinkling of religion in this show. Is the wolf mark on the forehead supposed to symbolize a “mark of the beast”, I wonder?
Kind of like the cannibalism of Terminex was a twisted communion? (With the subtle bible verse over the archway inside the church?)
And Hershel’s comment about how the bible says in “end times” that the dead will rise again? (And this wasn’t what he was expecting?)
“Carol is my spirit animal!” Yes! I want that on a tee shirt.
I agree. I thought i misheard when she said “we” when referring to the wolves getting into the camp while talking to Carl, but I didn’t. She said it. She was scouting for them and helped them infiltrate.
I heard that too. Carl conveniently interrupts Enid and she doesn’t finish her sentence. I think that was an Easter egg. I always thought she was a wolf, anyway.
Carol finally blew her cover. Thank God she was there to watch the flock.
Anyone else think Morgan was headed into the armory at the end? I was sure he was about to get blown away by Lydia.
I bet that rage felt good for Jessie. I’m glad she got to finally stand up for herself and kids.
Thought the top photo was of Jodi Arias at first sight…
I almost wanted to jump into the screen and hug Carl. Enid hugging Jessie’s son caused him subtle heartbreak. He told her not to say goodbye and instead she just leaves a note to just survive somehow…. It’s as if Carl wasn’t enough to keep Enid safe. Adolescent love could have flourished had Enid succumbed to letting Carl try and keep her safe…
Amazing episode, every single minute of it. Carol is bad ass. Great recap! Can’t wait to see next week with the legion of walkers upon them.
Great episode! love that carol is back! it was a bit disturbing how savage and ruthless these ‘wolves’ were, yet they had no guns, like they enjoy the kill too much to use a gun. Didn’t Rick send Morgan home right after he killed that Alexandrian who got bit and was screaming? that could account for why Morgan returned so quickly. It was also neat how the whole attack happened in the span of 45 min, when Carole put the dish in the oven.
I didn’t think of it like that.
Wolfs: enjoying the kill
Survivors: killing to survive
Alexandrians: sheep
Morgan: confused
I now see that our survivor group hasn’t lost their humanity. The kills definitely reinforce their humane approach to maintain their order. Carol killing the lady who got stabbed, or Rick killing the screaming Alexandrian, are all means to stop their suffering while ensuring group survival. Time in the walking dead also has taught the group not to take chances with other humans who have lost their humanity because it ultimately saves other survivors out there trying to make it. Aka terminus. It is crystal clear now that our group is the most level head group in the new world order.
Love the contrast in different group characteristics in this episode. Thanks for inspiring my moment of clarity Jessica White!
I believe Enid knew of the Wolves from her time on her own after her parents were attacked. I also believe she may have been a spy for the Wolves…..I will re-watch this episode for any more clues….
the actress playing Enid had said, on talking dead, she was out on her own for only a week or 2 before she came to Alexandria so its possible she came in contact with them, or watched them. I would think if they saw her outside they would just kill her.
Thank you for taking the time to feature the recap on your site. I don’t watch the majority of shows you review but I love The Walking Dead. The recap is well written and the writer is very observant. Two thumbs up to you both