It’s been a while since we last touched base withThe Walking Dead.Six months, in fact.
But first, a reminder of where we left things.
Daryl went out into the woods after Judith, who’s still dealing with the absence of her mother.
Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC
Now, here’s what happened next.
It is pure chaos within the walls of the group’s new hideout.
Everyone is scrambling to get battle-ready.
The latter are seemingly accosted by a Man in the Iron Mask-looking warrior wielding two scythes.
Back at the building complex, the group is formulating a plan.
They just, of course, need to make it through the horde.
They then unleash hell and watch as the dead turn on their guardians.
Now, it becomes about evacuating the women and children, while Gabriel and the others defend the stairwell.
Most of Luke’s group manages to make it into the woods.
There are just a few stragglers left, including Carol.
Without the archers, they don’t have many options when a knife-wielding Whisperer approaches in the field.
Carol is able to stab her, but the attacker also knifes Beatrice when she goes down.
As the dead swarm on both, Carol walks away, trying to ignore their screams.
But defending the wagon is more difficult than it looks, especially when night falls.
Daryl and the others are forced to abandon it.
Here comes the Hail Mary.
(No, not Maggie just yet.)
Daryl concludes they must blend in with the horde once more to kill the Whisperers.
At this point, they don’t know yet that Maggie has arrived.
Outside, Daryl and the others are making good on their promise.
Beta’s eyes dart in every direction as the screams of his followers pierce the air.
Then, a softer sound distracts him.
“Hey, shead.”
It’s Negan, come to face the brute in combat.
And he gets his ass kicked at first.
But it gives Daryl the opportunity to plunge his blades into Beta’s eyes.
The hulking Beta is then embraced by his own (i.e., he’s devoured by the dead).
You know who that is?"
“Yeah, nobody,” Daryl responds.
Lydia is able to finish the job by leading the horde to a cliff to meet a watery demise.
But Carol tries to take over.
Lydia grabs her arm at the last second and pulls her back.
The two embrace near a ditch as they watch the walkers fall into the waves below.
The survivors of the day regroup in the woods.
She says, “Maybe someday,” but “we still have things to do here.”
But, yes, they do have things to do.
Connie is one of them.
Connie is covered in mud, perhaps as a way to mask her from the dead.
She’s visibly exhausted, stumbling through the trees until she collapses again on a dirt road.
Someone on horseback stops beside her.
She looks up and sees Virgil, the man Michonne escorted to his island once upon a time.
And now for the third big arrival.
That’s when the area lights flash on and heavily armed soldiers surround them.
Their armor is white with various stripes layering their chest pieces.
They are finally here.
The Commonwealth, it would appear, is a part of that endgame plan.
