An Episode Recap with Supernatural Honey Suzanne
The Walking Dead is back! The mid-season premiere of the back eight began with a bang, literally, and from that moment, the action reached a fever pitch and didn’t stop until the last 5 minutes. So much happened in 60 minutes, my head was spinning. There was more carnage in this episode than in the first half of the season and it was spectacular. Let’s dig in.
The first four minutes of No Way Out have been available online for the last week and it begins the same way the Start to Finish ended, with Daryl, Sasha and Abraham being held up by Negan’s men. Just when it looked like we were going to lose at least one of our regular characters, Daryl blew up the entire biker gang. Remember that rocket launcher Abraham snagged in Always Accountable? Well, it came in handy and Daryl’s statement, “What a bunch of assholes,” was well-timed and a rare funny moment from our favorite tracker. I have to admit, it was a little disappointing to lose the gang leader, played brilliantly by Christopher Berry. He seemed as though he’d be an entertaining addition after contributing to one of the best cold opens of the series.
Back in Alexandria, Rick, Carl, Jessie, Sam, Ron, Father Gabriel, and Michonne are successfully blending in with the herd. They find a spot where they can stop and plan next steps. When they decide to make for the cars to lure the walkers away, Jessie makes a good call about not dragging baby Judith, who is arguably the coolest baby in the zombie apocalypse, on this treacherous run. In a surprising turn of events, Father Gabriel steps up and offers to take her to the chapel. Jessie wants Sam to go with him, but he seems to have moved past his earlier panic and wants to help. Jesse and Rick agree, which turns out to be one of the worst decisions either of them could make.
Denise and the Wolf are waiting for a break in the heard to make a run for the wall. Denise sits and shakes while the Wolf explains that he used to be different, but he changed and she can change too. It’s not entirely clear what his motivation is at this point. He does tell her he may keep her around because he enjoys her company, which is both nice and super creepy.
Glenn and Enid, who is still being a brat, make it to the church to look for weapons and a way to save Maggie from the watchtower. Enid is still whiny and keeps looking for some type of validation for coming back. Glenn being Glenn finally get through to her by letting her know the ones who made her what she is will always be around as long as she fights to stay alive.
As we get back to Rick and company, it’s suddenly become dark and the shit really hits the fan. As they’re continuing to make their way to the gate, Sam begins to hear Carol’s voice telling him what the monsters would do to him. As this threat is playing in his head and he sees a child walker in bloody pajamas, Sam starts to panic and just stops. Jessie, Rick and Ron all try to encourage him to keep moving, but Sam is paralyzed and begins to cry, drawing the attention of the walkers who turn and tear into him. Jessie, watching her son being torn apart, begins to scream. She is then overtaken. Horrified, the rest of the group can’t move because Jessie is still holding tight to Carl’s hand. In order to save his son, Rick takes a hatchet to Jessie’s wrist, freeing Carl, who drops his gun. Ron grabs the gun and prepares to kill Rick. Michonne takes that moment to drive her sword through Ron, but the gun goes off and takes out Carl’s eye.
Under the cover of darkness, the Wolf encourages Denise to run and promises they’ll make it. They almost do. Denise has no weapon and is stopped by a walker. Wolf runs back and saves her, but suffers a bite in the process. Denise promises to save his life if he gets her back to the infirmary and he agrees.
Morgan, Carol, Rosita, Tara, and Eugene are still in the house with no weapons and no plan. As Carol spends a little alone time with her thoughts, Morgan confronts her and tries to explain his actions in not killing the Wolf. Carol responds by saying, “You saved him for you. I should have killed you.” As Morgan walks away he tells her, “You can’t.” Does he say that because he won’t allow it or because he knows, deep down, the caring person Carol is?
Denise and the Wolf make it inside and as he seems to be losing it a little, Denise takes his belt and ties it to his arm to stop the spread of the infection. She is clearly in the driver’s seat now. They’re making their final run to the infirmary when Carol gets her shot and puts a couple of bullets in the Wolf. Denise goes back to get him and he tells her to run then tackles a few walkers to save her. Inside the infirmary, Aaron, Spencer and Heath watch the invasion outside. Denise sees Rick running with Carl and has a breakthrough, calmly taking charge and saving Carl. I guess people really can change.
Rick takes his hatchet on a suicide mission and Michonne follows, but not after making sure she helps Denise patch up Carl. As they start hacking their way though the masses and the rest of Alexandria watches from the inside, they all individually decide if Rick is willing to sacrifice himself, they should back him up. Everyone, including Father Gabriel, who tells his parishioners, “God has given us the courage to save ourselves,” takes his machete to the party. Eugene also grows a pair and joins the stand. Morgan finally is forced to kill the Wolf, now a walker, but still says, "I’m sorry,” before delivering the final blow.
Glenn and Enid make their way to save Maggie. Enid climbs like a monkey to the tower as Glenn lures the hoard away and inevitably gets surrounded. Just as he’s about to live up to his “walker bait” nickname once again, Sasha and Abraham mow them down with machine guns. Daryl drives the tanker truck through the gates and uses the gas to set the lake on fire, once again with the help of that rocket launcher. The walkers are drawn to it and begin to burn. In the final moments of the battle, we see all of the crew, in quick cuts, slicing and dicing through the remaining walkers.
After the sun rises and the smoke clears, we see the aftermath. Bodies are strewn in the streets and the well-manicured lawns, but Alexandria stands and the living have prevailed. All of the survivors are gathered at the infirmary. As Rick sits over Carl, he finally has his come to Jesus moment and admits he was wrong about the people in the community, that they can work together and thrive. He tells Carl, “I wanna show you the new world.”
This was a Greg Nicotero directed episode. I’m not usually a fan of his odd film student form of directing and this certainly wasn’t perfect by any stretch. There were some strange flashbacks of Jessie’s face, presumably in Rick’s head, as she was taken down, then those same shots, but with a red filter, as Rick chopped off her hand. It seemed super out of place with the flow of the rest of the episode. But overall, it was an exciting episode and full of action.
Final comments/questions:
- During the human chain walk to the gate, it seemed to go from midday to late evening super fast. Just how big is Alexandria?
- If Alexandria has a church, why is Father Gabriel holding services in a garage?
- Carol heard the Wolf tell Denise to run and watched him sacrificed himself to save her. Is she having second thoughts about Morgan’s idea that people can change?
- Now that Jessie is gone, Rick and Daryl are taking their bromance out on a mission next week and that’s exciting.
- We didn’t actually see Deanna die in the mid-season finale. Will we see her soon as a walker?
What did you think of No Way Out?
Tell Suzanne on Twitter: @suzebee04
