The downside, the intel comes via a solo episode for Al, which isnt the worst thing.
At least nobody finds themselves locked in a moral dilemma about helping people who dont want to be helped.
The End of Everything takes us back to the night Al was knocked out by that soldier.
Credit: Ryan Green/AMC
She wakes as shes being dragged off and attempts to flee with her stuff through the woods.
Shes played by actress Sydney Lemmon from one episode HBOsSuccessionand a small role in NetflixsVelvet Buzzsaw.
Thus begins their own mini adventure.
Al first ironically calls this woman Happy, but later learns her name is Isabelle.
She and her former partner Beckett are part of a squadron, Ground 17, from this mysterious group.
The voice on the other end says hes sending a Reclamation Team, news that causes her some anxiety.
Al picks up on it.
Isabelle and Beckett were on a mission: retrieve supplies for purifying water.
Theyve done this kind of thing all the time: get in, get the package, get out.
Are they the ones who set up traps at grocery stores all around Daniels warehouse?
We dont know, but it doesnt seem like it.
These guys operate in the shadows.
They are not supposed to be seen by anyone.
If you see someone wearing this jacket, you should be afraid, Isabelle initially warns Al.
We are a force who are not living for ourselves or for now.
We have the future.
He kept a key on him, one to a remote cabin somewhere with a great view.
A fight broke out between him and Isabelle.
Part of their protocol is to extinguish the threats to operational security.
Beckett became a threat, but Isabelle hesitated in facing her friend.
But she shot him anyway.
The three rings
So, what are the three rings?
We still dont have answers to any of these questions, but do have answers to others.
Everything I do is to ensure theres more than stories left after I die, Isabelle tells Al.
The word future is also brought up a lot.
To Isabelle, theyarethe future.
Its bigger than me, its bigger than you, its bigger than all of us, she says.
Al wants to see this place, but Isabelle warns you dont want to go there.
This place may be innovating for some good down the road, but right now they are hostile.
And thats not a good thing.
This isnt about me or Beckett, Isabelle adds.
This is about the future and rebuilding what we all once had.
The group, we know, also has a lot of tech.
She also has access beer, so theres a brewery where she comes from.
Its a group with everything from militia to coffee shops.
It would also seem the reach of this group exceeds what we previously thought.
Breaking protocol
Despite all of her operational protocols, Isabelle takes a risk.
Over the course of their trials, the two women fall for each other.
As Al learns more about Isabelle and her group, she reveals something she never told anyone.
Theres a tape hidden underneath the cloth of bag titled The Bog #7.
Her brother died while she was doing this and the guilt has long remained with Al.
Al eventually agrees to hand over the tape of Becketts maps to Isabelle.
She hid it on a walker lying in a riverbank while she was attempting to flee through the woods.
In the event she died, she wanted it to be somewhere where someone could eventually find it.
Al gives Isabelle The Bog tape and asks her to confirm this story means something.
But Isabelle, with a gun pointed at Als head, cant bring herself to pull the trigger.
She reunites with Morgan and Alicia, but makes no mention of Isabelle or the three rings.
Instead, she claims she got overrun by walkers and has been fleeing them since.
So, the secret of the three rings is safe.
