TV Recap: THE WALKING DEAD Season 6, Episode 14,

Another episode where the comics leaped off of their pages and invaded our TV screens.

The sun is shining and the flowers are blossoming in Alexandria. Olivia takes inventory of the pantry and appears to be happy about their food situation. They finally have become a working unit and are taking shifts to watch and protect Alexandria. Everyone has a place and everyone is contributing. Carol continues to hold onto the prayer beads that fell from the walker from the previous episode and is still smoking. It feels eerie to me, nothing can be this good without consequences; the calm before the storm.

Morgan is almost done with his prison cell and is making the final touches. Rick walks in and inspects what he’s doing and asks why he’s building it. He wants to give Rick more choices the next time something bad happens.

Days go by, the same mundane routine appears to be occurring, the inhabitants seem happy with their daily routines and the peace that they finally have.

Rosita is trying to move on from her breakup with Abraham and is using Spencer to do so.

Daryl is fixing up his motorcycle and Carol approaches not knowing that he got his bike back. She asks about the people who took it and if he saved them; she tells Daryl that he’s the type of guy who saves people. She hates that they are stuck with guilt and a conscience and it looks as if Carols’ is getting the best of her. Daryl admits he should have killed them and regrets it and Carol gets up to leave and leaves her pack of smokes with Daryl. He can tell something has changed in Carol and asks what they did to her and Maggie. “To us?  They didn’t do anything.”

The transitions between scenes and the reoccurring shots give us a GROUNDHOG DAY sort of vibe and expresses that things appear safe and schedules maintain the same. Carol seems attached to the prayer beads and perhaps she’s clinging to her faith or what she has left of it.

Eugene and Abraham leave Alexandria on a mission passing a walker caught on one of their spike traps; in the beginning of the season Abraham would have never left without having to kill it and it shows that he’s maturing from his old self into a better survivor. Denise is on one of the look out towers watching Abraham and Eugene leave and she gets fixated on the walker caught on the spike. She seems worried and reads from an old newspaper classified ad.

Spencer and Rosita are patrolling the streets and Spencer mentions that he’ll make his specialty: “beef jerkey stroganoff” and promises that it’s better then it sounds. Rosita seems uninterested in him or a relationship but agrees to have dinner with him anyway. A interesting fact from the comic book is that Spencer actually has a thing for Andrea and asks her to dinner and he cooks her his beef jerkey stroganoff and she actually likes it. It seems like the role that Andrea played in the comics has been split into different characters; Sahsa, Rosita, Michonne and Carol.

Rosita is still teaching self defense and weapons classes as she sees Denise she mentions that she’ll see her there. Denise has other plans and wants Rostia’s help. Denise remembers seeing a place called Edison’s Apothecary & Boutique and thinks it can be useful to the group. Medicine is always an essential and Denise wants to be helpful and have a use for the group. She specifically asks Daryl and Rosita to go with her and wants to make sure that she goes with them.

Daryl, Rosita and Denise take off in a standard pickup truck and Daryl is struggling with shifting on time. Denise mentions that her brother taught her and she used to drive beat up old trucks all the time before she left home. He’s stubborn and wont listen to her advice but continues to struggle with the shifting. A tree blocks them from traveling any further by truck and they have to go on foot the rest of the way. The tree rotted out and fell on someone trapping them underneath; killing them and Rosita puts him out of his misery. Rosita searches the walkers bag and finds mini bottles of alcohol. Denise is on edge and is nervous being out from the walls of Alexandria. Daryl suggests they take the road but Denise mentions that the railroad tracks would be the fastest way to go but Daryl refuses to take the tracks. The last time the group followed the train tracks it led them to terminus, that still haunts Daryl and he would rather walk “Twice As Far” to get there. Denise says they should stick together and goes with Daryl, leaving Rosita at the crossroads (literally) and she decides to take the tracks alone.

Eugene and Abraham are walking in the rain and are discussing the change in Eugene. He’s put his hair up and changed his look and is training to be a survivor. Abraham isn’t buying it and is suspicious of his intentions. Eugene says like any RPG video game, you are meant to improve and adapt to your surroundings so that you can survive and stay alive; he thinks he’s at stage two and that he is a survivor. Abraham disagrees.

Daryl and Denise meet back up with Rosita and Denise apologizes for not going with her and asks who taught her how to fight. “A lot of people taught me a lot of things. Years from now they’ll just be a name in a long list of names.” Rosita answers. They arrive at Edison and it seems to be locked up, Daryl goes to crowbar open the door but the the scene quickly changes to another door being lock -picked open by Eugene. They have arrived to the place Eugene was researching about, a place where he can manufacture bullets. A place like this is very beneficial in the world where the dead outnumber the living and bullets are very valuable and important. This could give their group an advantage and give them more room to use bullets, unlike other groups without this type of set up and having to ration themselves.

Finally Eugene found his purpose and can start making bullets for their armory and can use them also for trade with the Hilltop. Abraham is impressed with what Eugene found and a walker appears from the back of the room. Eugene calls dibs and wants to prove himself to Abraham. The walker is covered in melted metal, making it hard for Eugene to stab it’s brain and he struggles killing it. Abraham Interferes and kills the walker and Eugene is angry that he killed it. Eugene says he’s capable of killing walkers and that its in his skill set. Abraham says killing walkers and people is his thing and to let him learn to let him do it and Eugene responds. “OK. Thank you for your protection. I most certainly needed it between here and Houston but your services are no longer required. The truth plain and honest. You’ve outlived your usefulness to me.” Eugene let’s him have it, in the same sense Abraham said a similar thing to Rosita about their relationship and he doesn’t like hearing it told to him. Abraham tells Eugene to find his own way back and leaves him to go back to Alexandria.

Daryl, Denise and Rosita enter the apothecary and a strong odor hits them, making Denise gag. Denise spots pictures of a young boy and Rosita finds the pharmacy. Daryl breaks it open with the crowbar and it’s full of medicine. Daryl says they should take it all and Rosita helps load up the bags. They hear noise coming from behind the closed door. Rosita says it’s only one walker and Daryl says it sounds like it has a stub. Denise wants to be useful and help so she heads to the door to open it and kill the walker. She finds a female walker in a cast on the floor of the bathroom beside an empty playpen. The words hush hush hush written all over the wall and the camera pans over what looks like a sink and a small babies shoe submerged in a dark thick liquid. The gruesome scene made me think that the helpless mother in a panic and desperation, drowned her child to stop it from crying and causing the walkers to come and she became mad from guilt and wrote on the walls. The sight of this pushed Denise over the edge and she becomes sickened with grief. She goes outside to wait for them to finish gathering all the medicine and she holds onto a key chain with the name Dennis on it. Daryl says she did good with finding this place and Rosita says she wasn’t ready for what she saw and that they tried to warn her.

Daryl, Denise and Rosita start heading back to the truck and Daryl asks Denise if her brother was younger or older. She tells him he’s 6 minutes older and that her parents came up with the Denise/Dennis names when they were on one of their benders. She tells Daryl that nothing scared him and her brother was very brave and angry, which made a dangerous combination and Daryl said they sound like they had the same brother. This is the first time you heard Daryl mention his brother Merle, since he died. They make it back to the railroad tracks and Daryl begins heading down the tracks and Rosita is surprised and asks what he’s doing and he says this way is faster right? Daryl should have stuck with his original gut feeling.

They head down the tracks and Denise sees a cooler inside a car on the side of the tracks. She wants to check what’s in it but Rosita and Daryl say it’s not worth it, they got what they came for. Denise has been looking for something and refuses to carry on without checking the cooler. The walker inside the car is snapping at Denise as it watches her open the door of the car and it pounces on her with all of its strength. It looks as if the walker has been stuck in the car since the initial breakout and looks very frail and decomposed. Denise struggles as it climbs and pushes itself on top of her but gets control and gets on top of the walker. Daryl goes to help but she insists she kills it. She stabs it in its head and kills it and as she gathers her composure she throws up. It happens to be on her glasses that fell off during the attack. This is the first part of the chain of events that’s about to happen in the upcoming scene; Denise not wearing her glasses. Denise opens the cooler to find a can of orange crush pop and smiles with a sigh of relief, finding it made it worth killing the walker for it. She has been looking for a can of orange crush because she heard Tara mention it in her sleep and wanted to surprise her with it.

Daryl isn’t happy with Denise’s decision on risking her life for pop but she says we all take chances, all the time and even they risked their lives taking on the Saviors. “You want to live you take chances, that’s how it works, that’s what I did.” She did it just for one “soda” and Rosita asks if she’s stupid but Denise asks them if they are stupid. She asks if they understand what this mission meant to Denise and why she asked them to come along. She tells Daryl that he reminds her of her brother and that he protects her like he used to. She wanted Rosita there because she’s alone for the first time in her life and that she’s stronger then she thinks she is which gives her hope that she can be to. She admits that she didn’t go with Tara because she was afraid and that it was stupid that she didn’t go out beyond the walls of Alexandria and deal with the world. She should have faced her fears like Daryl and Rosita did and become strong like they did, they do it without even trying and that they are really good people. Before she could finish telling them that they need to wake up and gave your-, a bolt from a crossbow comes out of no where and hits Denise right in the eye, mid sentence.

Denise goes down.

In the world of THE WALKING DEAD, when a character who doesn’t talk much, gives an uplifting speech…It’s never a good sign for their fate and it is proven again with poor Denise.

Daryl and Rosita realize what happened and snaps out of their shock and pulls their guns out aiming it at the wooded area beside the tracks. Over a dozen people come running out of the woods; armed with guns and ambush them. Daryl’s’ eye catches one of them, he recognizes one of the men. It’s the guy who stole Daryl’s motorcycle and crossbow but with a slightly different look: a half burnt face. The man with the burnt face reveals his name is Dwight. He has Eugene as hostage and has Daryl’s crossbow. This scene is very close to what happened in the comic books. Instead of Denise getting the arrow in the eye it is Abraham who does and he’s walking along side Eugene as they come back from finding the ammunition making shop. Also in the comics there is no Daryl and Dwight is the only character that uses a crossbow as their signature weapon. The burnt face is a trademark punishment of Negan and he only burns men who disobey him in a certain way; he wants his people to know what you did and you have to live with it.

Daryl stares down Dwight as you see the anger filling inside of him. Dwight asks Daryl if he has something to say, for him to clear the air but knows Daryl isn’t much of a talker because of his last encounter with him. Dwight’s people search them and take their weapons from them. Dwight mentions that he’s still getting used to “her” referring to Daryl’s crossbow. Daryl says he should have killed Dwight when he had the chance and Dwight says he probably should have. Who brought this on who Dwight asks and says that it wasn’t even her he was aiming for because of the kickback he missed his actual target. He says it’s nothing personal but he means business. He asks Rosita what her name is and she tells him and asks what he wants. It’s not what he wants but what Rosita and Daryl are going to have to do and that’s bringing them to their “complex” and letting them take what and who they want. They have been watching them and are aware of where they live and what they have now. If they don’t do what they say they will kill them all. He tells them that he doesn’t want to have to kill anyone else and that they try to kill one to start with for maximum impact to get their point across.

In a moment of desperation or perhaps a plan; Eugene rats out Abraham who is hiding behind oil barrels near by and tells Dwight if someone should die it should be him. Eugene looks at Rosita and Daryl as he says it hoping to get the point across of his plan. As Dwight is distracted watching his man go check out the oil barrels, Eugene quickly bites Dwight’s dick and holds on tight with his teeth. Abraham had already moved from behind the barrels and went into the woods, he comes out as Eugene bites Dwight and surprises Dwight’s men and shoots them. Daryl kills one of the men and takes his weapon and begins helping Abraham and Rosita follows suit. Eugene holds on for dear life as Dwight screams in agony trying to get him off of him and Rosita saves Abraham by shooting a guy who was coming up behind him. A pack of Walkers are drawn to the gun shot noise and head for the group.

Dwight finally pushes Eugene off him and they both fall into the tracks. Both sides shoot at the walkers and each other. Rosita, Daryl and Abraham put up a good fight and make Dwight call his men to fall back and retreat. Dwight takes off leaving the crossbow behind and Daryl picks it up and goes to run after him but Rosita stops him. Daryl runs over to Denise’s body and sees that Eugene has been shot. Rosita puts pressure on the wound and Abraham helps her with Eugene. Abraham’s Army is back together again, reunited and it feels so good!

Daryl puts his crossbow where it belongs, on his back and helps them carry Eugene. Now that Denise has been killed the only Doctor they have left is the one we just met recently from the Hilltop, the OB/GYN (baby Doctor) that gave Maggie her ultra sound; Dr Carson. After all the stuff Denise went through to get the orange Crush Soda for Tara, she wasn’t able to give it to her self after all.

They get Eugene back to Alexandria and into the infirmary and the bullet just grazed him and he’s going to be ok since they got him back in time. The antibiotics are going to save his life and from him getting infection; Denise did that, she saved eugene’s life by finding the medication for the group. Eugene wakes up and tells Abraham that he didn’t do that to kill him but to cause a distraction to find a window of opportunity. Abraham says “you found it” and Eugene asks if he apologizes for what he said before at the ammunition a shop. “I apologize for questioning your skills, you know how to bite a dick Eugene, I mean that with the most upright of respect. Welcome to stage 2.” Abraham always gets the best lines! But Eugene counters that with, “Don’t get to welcome me, I’ve been here awhile.”

Abraham pays Sasha a visit, she heard what happened and asks if he’s OK. “You said I have choices, you have them too. Could be 30 years for us here, it’s still too short.” You can see the sadness in Sasha’s face and she invites Abraham inside.

Daryl looks at the Dennis key-chain that Denise found at the apothecary and he puts it in his pocket before he begins shovelling the dirt in Denise’s grave. Carol helps him cover her up, Daryl drinks from a mini bottle of whiskey, the ones that Rosita found on the walker trapped under the fallen tree. Daryl is clearly affected by Denise’s death and feels guilty for what happened. Carol watches him and says that he was right and that she knew it when he said it.

They move the guns out of the pantry and it appears that they move them to keep them at a safer location; perhaps the prison cell Morgan built? Back to their routine but something is off, no more sunshine and smiles. They are building more lookout posts around the inside of the walls, so they have more visibility around them. Carol knows what she must do now and writes a letter for Tobin and the  group.

“I wish it didn’t have to end, not this way. It was never my intention to hurt you but it’s how it has to be. We have so much here; people, food, medicine, walls. Everything we need to live but what we have other people want to. That will never change. If we survive this threat and it’s not over another one will be back to take its place, to take what we have. I love you all here, I do and I’d have to kill for you and I can’t. I won’t. Rick sent me away and I was never going to come back but everything happened and I wound up staying. But I can’t anymore. I can’t love anyone cause I can’t kill for anyone.  So I’m going like I always should have. Don’t come after me please.”

Morgan watches carols empty bench-swing; swing slowly in the wind, missing her presence and knowing that he may have been one of the reasons that caused her to leave. He made her feel her conscience again and killing finally got to her. Carol is gone and everyone seems lost.

What does this mean for the group, what is going to happen to Carol? With two episodes left in season 6, we can expect the pace to continue to be intense, non stop action, full of twists and unexpected turns.

As per THE WALKING DEAD tradition, the last two seasons we have lost important characters in episode 14: Lizzie and Mika, in “The Grove” from Season 4 and Noah dies in the episode “Spend” in Season 5.

It’s almost the finale and we should all prepare for more loss…keep the tissues near by.

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