*Spoilers Ahead*
Last week on The Walking Dead we focused on Rick and his scheme to lead a giant horde of walkers away from Alexandria. This week the focus heads to the people left in Alexandria and it quickly becomes one of the most violent and tense hours in the entire series.
I’ll admit to being fooled into thinking we were going to get an entire episode that didn’t really focus on the ongoing stuff with Rick and instead built up things in Alexandria, possibly leading to an attack. Instead, the show offers a few quiet scenes before quickly throwing us into absolute chaos.
The episode gives us very little time to breath once the attack on Alexandria begins and it should come as no shock that the person who saves the day and steals the episode is Carol. Ever since the beginning of last season Carol has solidified herself as not only a badass but also one of The Walking Dead‘s most well-developed characters. Here, we see Carol in full warrior mode as she not only kills every one of The Wolves she comes into contact with but also disguises herself as one of them.
Elsewhere, Carl protects the house with the help of Enid, his sort of girlfriend. Enid also gets the spotlight in the wonderful opening this week as we see her slowly grow up out in the open. From trying to warn her parents about the arrival of some zombies, to watching her parents eaten by them, to fending for herself any way she can. The entire time writing out a simple message, “JSS.” I’ll admit that Enid’s departure seems a little sudden and I’ll be pretty surprised if she shows up again and isn’t a corpse but at least she got some slight development before leaving.
It wasn’t all the Carol show however, Morgan eventually makes his way to the town as it’s under siege and gets to show off his own badass bonafides. The episode does a beautiful job of creating tension between Carol’s nonchalance massacre of The Wolves and Morgan’s reluctance to kill even the most horrible of people. It all comes to a head when Carol breaks down after the remaining attackers have retreated and Morgan, after being attacked by one of the few stragglers, is forced to kill him. The show seems to be setting Carol and Morgan up at opposite ends of the field with Rick falling somewhere in the middle between them and I’m interested to see how that can play out.
The last little story involves Alexandria’s new doctor, Denise, who immediately endeared herself to me by not putting up with Eugene’s sort of dickish comments on her experience. Regardless of the rocky start and her own feelings towards her ability to do her job, Denise is thrust into attempting to save to life of one of the Alexandrians with the help of Eugene and Tara. She ultimately fails but I imagine this is set-up (well done set-up I might add) to her saving one of the main cast later.
“JSS” is a tense, bloody and, most of all, thrilling hour of TV and is easily one of the best hours this series has ever put out. Season six is off to a fantastic start and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
Bit ‘n Pieces
- Morgan has to be the fastest dude alive to make it back to Alexandria as quickly as he did.
- Also in the episode, Jessie murders an intruder with some scissors as her son watches. This was a brutal episode, guys.
- Speaking of Ron, he’s a little shit. Seriously, when people are being hacked alive in the streets and you’re offered shelter TAKE IT.
- Most Brutal Carol Kill: She just runs up and kills the guy Morgan already tied up! Rick may say he doesn’t take chances anymore but Carol freaking lives by the motto.
- “You’re a doctor?” “Are you?”
Jesse Swanson is a would-be writer, podcaster and funny guy who covers TV shows of all shapes and sizes. You can find him on Twitter @JesseSwanson