AMC’s The Walking Dead made its midseason premiere “No Way Out” on Sunday night and it was just as bloody as everyone promised. Our recap and preview for next week is below!
**MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD for 6.09, “No Way Out”**
The Walking Dead is back in a big way! We pick up where we left off in 6.08 with Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham stopped by Negan’s men. After they take their guns, one guy forces Daryl to the back of the truck then we’re treated to some insight in Negan’s guys.
The leader says they don’t necessarily kill people, but since Abraham and Sasha can’t stop talking, he starts to raise his guns and kill them. Luckily, they have Daryl Dixon and a rocket launcher. Not only did Daryl silently kill the guy who pushed him toward the back of the tanker, he also blew up the entire motorcycle gang.
After nearly a season (5B-6A) of Daryl dealing with very serious emotional issues and sitting on the sidelines, we get him back in a big way!
From there, we go back to Alexandria and see how the group is fairing while walking through the herd. For some reason, we aren’t treated to Sam’s panicked voice as he asks, “Mom? Mom?” We see them make it safely across Alexandria, and Rick proceeds to come up with a new plan to get the walkers away.
Once they realize they can’t take Judith with them, Gabriel steps up and volunteers to keep her safe. Rick and Michonne, along with the entire viewing audience, are noticeably unsure of this, but there’s really no other option, so Judith is transferred from Carl to Gabriel and we see him start to make the journey back through the herd and to his church where he’ll keep her safe. During all that Jessie decides to allow Sam to stay with her instead of retreating to the church with Gabriel.
Glenn and Enid make their midseason debut as they go through the church outside Alexandria. Glenn searches for a gun while Enid looks at the words stenciled over the door, “Faith without works is dead.” She asks him to explain what he meant about losing people by running away even after they’re gone.
Glenn tells her that if you stop being who you are, that you’ll lose that last little bit of them that’s still inside you. When she asks him who he lost, he lists his parents, Dale, Hershel, Andrea, and Tyreese. Most noticeably absent from this list is Beth Greene who died in the S5 midseason finale.
He poses the same question to Enid. In that moment, she realizes that running away isn’t solving anything and to honor her lost loved ones, she must continue to fight.
Throughout the episode we get snippets of what’s happening between the Wolf and Denise, who are waiting outside for their chance to run to the tower and over the wall. While Glenn is mentoring Enid, the Wolf is trying to manipulate Denise.
Honestly, it’s interesting to see the Wolf work. Denise tried to tell him that he could change and not be how he is, but he continues to lead her along switching between seemingly being understanding and his Wolf personality.
Night falls and Rick, Michonne, Carl, Jessie, Sam, and Ron are walking through the herd. The walkers brush past them, and finally Sam snaps. He hears what Carol told him in S5 about walkers tearing him apart and eating him, and then he sees a walker child and completely stops.
Jessie tries to get him to keep moving, but he’s in shock. Walkers attack and take down Sam as Jessie screams in horror. Everything moves in slow motion as walkers attack Jessie, who still has a firm grip on Carl’s hand. Rick snaps out of his daze when Carl calls for him and uses his machete to cut off Jessie’s hand.
In the scuffle, a gun falls to the ground and when the camera swings around, we see Ron has it pointed at Rick with the hammer pulled back. Michonne comes up behind him and stabs him through the chest, but he stills pulls the trigger.
The comic book moment finally comes to life when Carl turns toward Rick, and we see that his eye is completely gone. He’s only able to say, “Dad?” before he hits the ground.
Rick picks him up before running down the street with Michonne killing walkers that get in their way. Rick and Michonne’s expressions are absolutely crushing.
The scene comes back to Eugene, Rosita, and Morgan in a house. Eugene tells them that sooner or later they’ll have to fight their way out. Rosita tells him that they will, but he won’t be one of them. Eugene’s resolve strengthens in that moment.
Next, we are pulled back to the Wolf and Denise. They get into a discussion about how he should have waited to attack, and Denise finally speaks up and tells him his friends wouldn’t be dead if he did. The Wolf agrees, but because of his impatience, he wouldn’t haven been treated for his infection otherwise. When the walkers are drawn off by the gunshot, the Wolf says it’s time to go.
They run, but Denise gets attacked by a walker, and in a moment of conflict? clarity?, the Wolf comes back to help her and ends up getting bit. She tells him if they go back to the infirmary, she’ll save his life.
During all of this Morgan and Carol have a brief interaction where Carol tells him that she should have killed him, but Morgan tells her that she can’t. Time will tell when it comes to those two. There’s a reason Morgan is back and is being placed as a foil for Carol and why Carol is having so many introspective moments lately. Her redemption arc is coming.
Inside a nearby house, Denise pulls a belt tight around the Wolf’s arm and says that maybe he changed which is why he didn’t leave her to die. We’ll never know because when they leave the house and run down the street, Carol shoots him from the balcony of a home. The Wolf lunges and tackles a walker in Denise’s way before she leaves him and runs back to the infirmary.
When she gets there, she’s a different person. She’s sure of her actions and takes control to save Carl’s life.
After laying Carl on the table, Rick backs away and takes out his frustrations on the walkers the same way he did after Lori’s death. As soon as she knows Carl is stable, Michonne kisses his forehead and joins Rick destroying the herd.
Gabriel sees what’s going on outside and hands Judith over to the people in his church, telling them that their prayers have been answered because, “God will save Alexandria because God has given us the courage to save it ourselves.”
From there, other Alexandrians come out and start killing as many walkers as they can. Carol, Morgan, Rosita, and Tara get into the fight, and Morgan finally puts down the Wolf, this time in his walker form. Not without the standard, “I’m sorry.” first, though.
Right as Maggie’s tower is on the verge of collapse, Glenn and Enid make it inside the wall. After firing his gun and yelling, the walkers are drawn away so Enid can climb up the tower and help Maggie. There’s no place left for Glenn to go and he’s backed up against the wall, and we can only assume the worst, but gunfire erupts and mows down all the walkers getting close to him.
Sasha and Abraham put in work then ask for Glenn to open the gate. (I swear, he’s got nine lives.)
They waste no time in getting the tanker truck inside the walls and toward the lake. Daryl dumps the gas into it then uses his new favorite toy, the rocket launcher, to set it on fire, effectively drawing all the walkers to the fire water.
The scene following this is expertly edited of all the people hacking down walkers blending seamlessly into the other.
As a new day dawns, everyone is gathered in the infirmary either getting patched up or looking worn down. Michonne stands in a doorway, holding Judith, while Rick sits besides Carl’s bed, begging him to wake up so he can show him a new world. One where they can all work together and things will be okay again.
The episode ends with Carl gripping his father’s hand.
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In the sneak peak for 6.10, “The Next World”, we see Daryl and Rick going on a run and hitting some bad luck. Daryl seems keyed up, and it’s completely at odds with who he was in 6A, especially seeing how Rick seems to have adopted Daryl’s 6A mentality. They’ve switched spots thanks to Rick’s newfound hope and Daryl running into Dwight and Negan’s men.
We also see Michonne, Spencer and Enid in the woods, and it looks like Spencer is up to no good. He even goes so far as to say Michonne can’t help him. Has he been bitten? Does he want to die?
The sneak peak ends with a whole lot of running on Rick and Daryl’s part. The exclusive sneak peak during The Talking Dead, only showed Rick and Daryl running some more. This time it seemed like Daryl was following tire tracks.
In another brief sneak peak, we see Eugene being his adorkable self and Daryl giving his best “you’re crazy” face.
“The Next World” will air Sunday, Feb. 21 at 9/8c on AMC.
Check out the video previews and new stills below:
