The Walking Dead, S6 Ep8 – Start to Finish

“Well, sh*t.”

In the midseason finale of The Walking Dead, the watchtower came crashing down and a horde of walkers entered Alexandria, forcing everyone to scatter to find shelter and safety. Rick yelled at them to run into their houses and to lock the doors, and most manage to do this despite being overwhelmed by the sheer number of walkers now freely roaming the once safe zone. Main characters are spread around, making it easier to spread subplots as well. Just as some survive the slaughter, some subplots were effective while others fell flat or were downright annoying.

The first few minutes were understandably action-packed with characters being chased by vicious walkers. As expected, our main cast were able to acquit themselves creditably since this isn’t the first walker stampede they had to endure. Nevertheless, it was still stressful to watch Maggie scramble up a ladder and just barely escape the horde all alone. Carol and Morgan ran into Morgan’s house where Dr. Denise kept watch over the captive Wolf. Tara, Rosita, and Eugene are holed up together in another building.

Deanna ran to help Rick escape and in so doing, gets herself injured and bitten. Rick, Michonne, Carl, and Deanna all gather in Jessie’s house to wait out the storm and to figure out what to do next. This is all well and good but Jessie’s problematic sons are also there, and their presence alone is a warning that things are going to get even messier.

For one thing, the surprise walker stampede prevented Ron (ugh, Ron) from going forward with his plan to kill Carl. But once alone in the garage, Ron makes another attempt on Carl’s life. Too bad for him; Carl is the better fighter and he fends off Ron’s feeble attacks with ease. Unfortunately, they make such a racket that the noise attracts walkers to their house. Thanks, Ron.

Carl is amazingly kind not to rat Ron out to Rick but once they are alone, Carl wisely confiscates Ron’s gun. And also delivers some awesome lines: “I get it, my dad killed your dad. But you need to know something: your dad was an asshole.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Yay, Carl!

Deanna had some standout scenes in this episode, and her conversations with Rick and Michonne were among the most memorable in the show. Having accepted her fate, she tells the others to keep going. Deanna shares some lovely moments with Michonne, to whom she also entrusts her plans and confides her hopes for the future. She can see that Michonne shares her desire to make the community work, and she knows that the badass warrior is more than capable of making this possible. But Deanna also encourages her to find out what she wants for herself, making Michonne reflect on her life.

Deanna also has a short conversation with Rick, entrusting everyone in Alexandria to his care, telling him that she saved him not because she liked him, but because she knew he was the leader who would be able to build the community she had planned. She even manages to say goodbye to Judith, though Rick almost mistakes her for a walker because of her pallor.

Deanna was one of the only Alexandrians I liked and I was sorry to see her go. Nevertheless, she goes down with dignity, guns blazing (literally), determined to take down as many walkers as she can before she surrenders to her fate.

Now really isn’t the time for this, Carol.

Two of the most interesting and dynamic characters of the show, Carol and Morgan, were dealt a bad hand in this episode as they had an untimely and impractical confrontation about the Wolf Morgan has been keeping alive in the basement. Morgan even says that this isn’t the best time for a philosophical debate but apparently, Carol decides to waste time and energy on this instead of focusing on getting out of Alexandria alive.

World views clash as Carol tells him that he should not have spared the guy’s life, and Morgan tries to convince her that killing isn’t always the solution to their problems. And as much as I understand Morgan’s point of view, I have to side with Carol on this one. Because the Wolf is trouble and only proves that he ought to have been killed when he knocks Morgan out, takes Denise hostage, and forces Tara, Rosita, and Eugene (who arrived at the scene later on) to surrender their weapons.