The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 10 Review

The Walking Dead

New Best Friends

Season 7 Episode 10 Review

*SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW, EPISODE AND COMICS FOLLOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK**

As the episodes slowly close in on the eventual All Out War with Negan and his Saviors, we've been introduced to several comic book communities - Alexandria, the Hilltop, the Kingdom and Oceanside (although in the comics Oceanside doesn't appear until after the war, and really doesn't have much of an impact).  For this episode we're introduced to yet another new community, and by this time people would be tired of hearing about new communities, but this one is wholly unique to the show - not found in the comics, and features some truly intriguing new faces that managed to add to the story rather than make it feel bloated.  We also witness the reunion of Daryl and Carol, leading to a truly heart-tugging scene between the two.

The episode is split into two stories.  One takes place at the Kingdom, as Ezekiel, Richard, Morgan, Benjamin, Jerry (my wannabe new BFF) and other Kingdom soldiers wait on the outskirts of the community for the Saviors to come and take their bounty.  They arrive and one Savior fights with Richard, and Ezekiel tells Richard to give up his gun.  The Savior is about to beat him with it when Morgan intervenes and uses his staff to knock the gun out of his hand, which erupts in almost violence.  Ezekiel manages to calm the situation down, but its becoming apparent that the truce between the two communities is on very shaky ground.  Before they leave Morgan asks for his staff back, because it was given to him by someone (Eastman) who is no longer alive, but the Saviors keep the staff and leave.

Morgan has a new philosophy on life that all life is precious, and he won't kill anyone (save for the Savior who tried to kill Carol last season), and even though his precious staff is gone, he's still holding to that mantra, but I feel that it's slowly breaking him inside, and eventually he'll let slip the dogs of war and go all out.

They return to the Kingdom and Daryl blasts Morgan for letting the Saviors take his staff, telling him if Carol was there it wouldn't have happened (*cough*foreshadowing*cough*).  He is then approached by Richard to teach him how to use a bow and arrow since the Saviors took his gun, and Daryl agrees.  The two head out where Richard reveals a plan to Daryl - they'll kill some Saviors and leave hints that will bring them to a house outside the community where a woman lives alone, and they'll kill her which will spark a fire in Ezekiel to fight.  Daryl - always observant - wants to know who the woman is.  Richard tells him she is someone close to Ezekiel, a fighter, but someone who's given up on life.  Daryl demands a name, and finally Richard tells him it's Carol.

Now here is what I love most about "The Walking Dead," and it has to do with the characters.  They've been through hell and back together, and are fiercely loyal to one another.  When Daryl finds out Richard wants to use Carol as bait, needless to say he doesn't agree ("If she so much as catches a cold or struck by lightning, I'll kill you" Daryl threatens Richard).  Richard - in his blind search for vengeance - doesn't seem to listen and is about to attack the Saviors coming when Daryl strikes him, and the two fight as the Saviors drive by.  Daryl leaves Richard and goes to find Carol.

Daryl finds Carol at her house, and the two hug, which was just as emotional as when he reunited with Rick at the end of the mid-season.  These two have the best chemistry in the cast, and it's not even a romantic one, but rather a close family bond they've naturally grown throughout the course of the series, especially in season two when Daryl was the only one who tirelessly searched for Carol's lost daughter Sophia (they later found her now a Walker in Hershel's barn).  The two have always looked out for one another, and their rapport is extremely fluid and natural, and seeing the two together again touched my heart.

Daryl asked her - through tear-stained eyes I might add - why she left.   She tells him that she can't kill anymore and doesn't want to see her friends die, because it's eaten away at her until she's almost nothing.  She then asks him about the others, and if the Saviors found them.  She does this through tear-stained eyes as well, but these aren't joyous reunion tears: they're tears of potential sadness because she knows in her heart if something bad had happened she would go fight and more than likely die.  Daryl lies and tells her that the Saviors came, but they made a deal with them like Ezekiel did, and that everyone was alright.  This shows that a lie can sometimes be better than the truth, because Daryl spared Carol's life.  If he had told her what happened to Glenn and Abraham, she would've taken arms and fought to her death, but he cared so much for her that he couldn't let that happen.  Sure, it's gonna hurt more for her when she does find out the truth (because, let's face it, she will), but here I think Daryl did the right thing in keeping it from her.

After a nice dinner the two depart once again, and Daryl spends some time with Shiva (because, seriously, who wouldn't want to spend ALL their time with that amazing, beautiful, fantastic, perfect specimen of animal), as Shiva walks around in her cage.  This serves as a visual analogy of the two, and how Daryl had spent time in his own cage under Negan's rule when he was taken captive (although Shiva is in a loving cell with a master who loves her because she is absolutely perfect, brilliant, amazing and fantastic).  Morgan finds him and Daryl blasts him for not telling Ezekiel they need to fight, but Morgan rightfully points out that Daryl didn't tell Carol the truth because he wanted to protect her. 

Before leaving, Shiva places her head against Daryl's hand, and OMG it was the most cutest most awesome thing ever because Shiva likes Daryl so of course Daryl is perfect too because how could something perfect like someone imperfect?  It can't, so Daryl is perfect because Shiva is perfect and seriously she was like a little house cat who wanted her master's affection and SO CUTE OMG SO CUTE I LOVE SHIVA!

Daryl leaves the Kingdom to go round up the Hilltop in the morning.

This story was the heart and soul of the episode, as we witness the very long awaited reunion between Daryl and Carol, and seeing these two brilliant actors once again working next to each other was something to behold.  The two characters have a deep bond and friendship with one another and will easily defend each other to the death, which is why Daryl spared Carol the details of the truth.  He'll protect her no matter what, and it's one of the best relationships in the series.

Now for the fun part.

The second story centers around Rick, Michonne, Tara, Rosita and Aaron, who were taken captive by a group of people at a garbage site after searching for a kidnapped Father Gabriel.  The people swarm around them with military precision, until their leader - who calls herself Jadis - confronts them.  Calling themselves the Scavengers, they hold to the mantra of "we take, but we don't bother" and reveals that they were the ones who stole from Alexandria and kidnapped Father Gabriel, who emerges unscathed. 

Rick wants them to join him in fighting the Saviors, but Jadis simply says no, but she does offer to show Rick the "Up-up-up" and takes him to the top of a garbage heap.  She then proceeds to throw him down the heap and have him face his own Luke Skywalker-Rancor moment where he goes up against what is easily THE most amazing Walker in "The Walking Dead" history - a Walker that's completely covered in spikes, knives and blades.  Michonne and the others can only look on helplessly as Rick pierces his hand against one of the spikes to avoid it biting him, and Michonne tells him to use the wall, which Rick uses by dumping a lot of garbage on the Walker and decapitating it.  This earns Jadis's respect, and the two talk (we find out the Walker's name was Winslow). 

Jadis agrees to join Rick's fight if they can find them guns - lots of them - as well as a third of the Savior's haul and half of the stuff they stole from Alexandria.  Rick agrees to the terms and has a heart-to-heart with Father Gabriel, who thanks him for not giving up on him, to which Rick replies, "someone showed me enemies can become friends."  The two men have never really been on steady footing, especially after they arrived in Alexandria.  Gabriel told Deanna - the then-leader of the community - that Rick and his group can't be trusted, but Deanna trusted them anyway.  This drove a rift between the men that has slowly become mended, and now seems as unbreakable as anything.

Before leaving, Rick finds a wire statue of a cat and gives it to Michonne, which is a nice nod to the cat statue she found in season three.  Back then, she was new to the group and someone Rick didn't have full trust in, so he brought her and Carl back to his hometown to find guns, and instead encounters Morgan in a crazed state.  While Rick stayed to talk with Morgan, Michonne and Carl went to find a picture of Carl's family so Judith could have it growing up.  They encounter some Walkers and after defeating them Michonne finds a cat statue and tells Carl that she has to keep it because it's too cute.  This statue was lost after the Governor tried to raid the prison, and now Michonne has a new one thanks to Rick.

As they prepare to leave, Rick tells Tara that she's been the farthest and knows where to find supplies and where to avoid, which is also clear foreshadowing that Tara will eventually take them to Oceanside, especially since she gave a nervous laugh and played with the bracelet that Cyndie - a girl from Oceanside - had given her.  It's obvious that they'll eventually make it there, and it'll be interesting to see how they get along, since the community is all women, and they're extremely wary of outsiders (even though they let Tara into their community, they still tried to kill her later).  Still, they're loaded to the gills with guns, and also have a beef with the Saviors (since they killed all the men in their community).

This half of the episode was downright fun and silly.  The Scavengers (not to be confused with the Scavengers in the comics, which turned out to be the Wolves that attacked Alexandria early on in season six) are a very militaristic group that communicates non-verbally by Jadis's hand signals, as well as speaking in very military tones.  They're a great army for Rick's side, and even though they probably shouldn't be trusted, they're Rick's best bet at winning right now.  Having not been in the comics, they're a clean slate for the show and can go in any direction, which is really exciting.  Plus they give off an awesome "Mad Max" vibe.

Plus Winslow was one of the most awesome Walkers in the show's history, and if they can weaponize a Walker like that, maybe they can do it to more of them and unleash them on the Saviors.

I'm really enjoying the second half of this season, but I can't help but wonder about certain things.   Back in season six, Rick discovered a quarry of literally tens of thousands of Walkers, and let them loose.  Sure, a bunch of them ended up at Alexandria, but a whole lot of them didn't.  With the Hilltop, Kingdom, Sanctuary, Oceanside and the Scavengers seemingly within easy driving distance, you'd think the Walkers would've ended up at their communities as well, but there's never been a mention of that.

Also, since the communities seem so close together, how was it that Alexandria - with its high walls and seemingly decent amount of people - was able to fly below the radar of the Saviors, Jesus, and everyone else? 

I'll probably never get an answer to that, but I'm alright with it.  Because...SHIVA!

The Score: A