The Walking Dead Review 6×09: “No Way Out”

In one of the most shocking and nerve wracking episodes of The Walking Dead, the biggest surprise hit close to home.

The Walking Dead - To say that the survivors were up the creek without a paddle last we saw them is an understatement. Alexandria’s walls came a tumbling down due to a massive herd of walkers, Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) went down swinging after being bitten in the melee, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carl (Chandler Riggs), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and others attempted to flee undetected, covered in walker guts, and Daryl (Norman Reedus), Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) found themselves captured by Negan’s men. Did everyone make it out in one piece in the mid-season finale? We have a ton of feels, so let’s jump right in to all the juicy details!

Here comes the BOOM.

Picking up moments after the Fall finale’s epilogue scene, Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha continued to be held at gunpoint by the Saviors. After a tense monologue, the trio reluctantly handed over their weapons, but the man in charge was unsatisfied and sent one of his men along with Daryl to fetch the rest of their stuff. Things then took a dangerous turn when the boss man tried to kill Abraham and Sasha after Abraham, to our amusement, asked who Negan was. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a huge explosion, and the men lay splattered like roadkill, thanks to Daryl and his missile launcher. Not even five minutes into the episode and our mouths were already hanging open!

Later, when it seemed that Glenn (Steven Yeun) would once again meet his fate as he created a distraction so Enid (Katelyn Nacon) could rescue Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Sasha and Abraham swooped in and saved the day (and his skin) by blasting the herd of walkers with their machine guns. Thanks for that, guys! Hearing Maggie’s screams was emotionally painful enough without adding our fear into the mix. Meanwhile, Daryl, using fuel from the tanker, ignited a huge blaze, killing numerous walkers and destroying what remained of Alexandria. Burn, baby, burn. Thank goodness they got there when they did, otherwise the group would have been in even more poop than what they already were.

We don’t think we can take much more of the writers playing with Glenn’s fate like that, especially with Negan’s arrival fast approaching. Our hearts would have completely stopped if he had bit the dust. Before that happens, might we suggest killing off another character, particularly one that serves no purpose whatsoever? (*cough* Father Gabriel *cough*) How ’bout that intro though? What a fantastic way to start any episode of The Walking Dead, let alone a mid-season premiere! While it was majorly epic, we’re very afraid of the consequences that await the group once Negan finds out. Does this mean Daryl will *gulp* meet Lucille in the season finale? It’s too horrible to even think about!

“If you have to eat s***, best not to nibble. Bite, chew, swallow, repeat.” - Negan’s Scout

When mice turn into men.

Boy, director Greg Nicotero wasn’t kidding when he said there would be a record-breaking number of walkers in this episode. 1,300 to be exact! It ties our stomach in knots just imagining ourselves in that situation. If we feel that way, just imagine how terrified the group was surrounded by all those walkers and in dark of night. It would take everything and everyone they had to try and survive. Yep, that meant cowardly lions Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) had to, as Chris Hardwick said, “nut up,” and pronto. Imagine our surprise to see them both go all gung-ho and lay waste to the rest of the walkers along with the group! Holy massacre, Batman! Huge kudos to Greg for that awesome montage.

Another group member forced to wake up and smell the coffee quickly was Morgan (Lennie James). His “do not kill” philosophy once again proved to have serious consequences as he stopped Carol (Melissa McBride) from killing the Wolf (Benedict Samuel) he held captive in the basement. What did he get for his trouble? A conk on the head by Mr. Wolf, who took Dr. Denise (Merritt Wever) hostage to ensure his safety. While Carol ultimately ended up shooting the Wolf dead after he had been bitten, Morgan (we hope) finally put him down in walker form, but not before apologizing for the deed. Dude, stop feeling sorry for everybody, seriously.

We know that Morgan’s newfound code that “every life is precious” came from Eastman (John Carroll Lynch), the man who saved his life, and we are now starting to see Morgan challenge that belief. We understand wanting to see the good in people as Rick does, but once they become a threat, they need to be stopped, no questions asked. Going forward, it will be interesting to see if Morgan does revert back to his old self, or if his views will continue to clash with Rick and Carol’s. Please don’t make us regret wishing you would come back, Morgan. We would hate to see one of the group end you, but if that’s what it takes, so be it.

“God will save Alexandria… because God has given us the courage to save it ourselves.” - Father Gabriel

Bang bang, he shot me down.

Prepare yourself, Walking Dead fans. What we are about to tell you will leave. you. speechless. From the beginning of the episode, we were on pins and needles hoping that Rick, Carl, and Micheonne would make it through the herd unscathed. The group were steadily making it through the crowd of the undead until nightfall came. That’s when Sam (Major Dodson) began having a major freakout after thinking about what Carol told him last season, and froze on the spot. His mom, Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) tried desperately to sooth him, to no avail. He began to whine like a baby, leading two walkers to devour him on the spot!

As Jessie wailed hysterically, another walker approached her from behind and chomped down on her neck! Rick then began flashbacks of her as he cried, but Carl snapped him out of it by pointing out that Jessie was holding on to his hand and wouldn’t let go. He then took his axe and hacked off her hand, much to the chagrin of Porch Dick Jr aka Ron (Austin Abrams). With the rest of his family now deceased, he became unstable and decided that he would kill Rick once and for all. Michonne had other plans though, stabbing him right through the heart before he got a shot off. As Rick breathed a sigh of relief, he looked over to Carl to see a massive hole where his right eye used to be!! Yes, you all read that right: Ron completely blew Carl’s right eye out! To make the moment even more devastating, Carl uttered “Dad?”, and then lifelessly collapsed to the ground.

As the episode came to a close, we saw Rick at Carl’s bedside in one of the Alexandria houses. His eye had been heavily bandaged by Dr. Denise but sadly he won’t ever be the same after sustaining an injury like that. While Lori questioned how she and Rick could raise Carl in that type of world, Rick pleaded with Carl to wake up so that he could show him a better one than what he knew after the apocalypse. We think Carl must’ve heard his dad, because at the last second, he squeezed his hand. Here’s hoping our little warrior makes a quick recovery!

“I want to show you the new world, Carl. I want to make it a reality for you.” - Rick

Conclusion/Final Verdict: We gasped, screamed, and cried all throughout the mid-season finale, making it undoubtedly the best episode of Season 6 so far!

Let’s give a big round of applause to writer Seth Hoffman! This man did what none of the other writers have done in Walking Dead history: he based almost the entire storyline on the comics. For those that have never read the comics, you gon’ learn today! LOL, it’s a Kevin Hart joke. Anyways, in the comics the roadside barbecue was actually perpetrated by Rick, not Daryl. That’s why Negan is so hellbent on revenge when he arrived at the survivors’ camp. Rick did chop Jessie’s hand off in the comics as well, only she was killed by Abraham after she was bitten. And yes, Carl did lose his eye in the comics too, but it was at the hands of Douglas (the character Deanna was based on), which leads to heartbreaking effects in later issues.

While Andrew Lincoln’s acting is always phenomenal, we feel he deserves all the awards for this episode. Seeing Rick cry when Jessie died tugged at our heartstrings, but when Carl went down? We absolutely lost it after seeing his lip quiver. We once again drowned in tears while hearing him talk to Carl about what the world was before and wanting to make it that way again for him. Don’t worry, we’re fine. Except we’re totally not and won’t be until Carl is 100% again. Props to Lauren Cohan as well for that powerful scream which pierced our hearts and souls. We hope we never have to hear it again though; someone bring the happiness stat!

Other than episodes two and three, we can all agree that Season 6 of The Walking Dead has been very lackluster, yeah? Perhaps those episodes were purposely made to be fillers so as not to reveal any huge storylines so early on. While we understand that, we didn’t particularly enjoy sitting through two tedious 90 minute flashback episodes and all the other dull moments in-between. We all prefer the calm before the storm if you will, however, the best moments are the tense ones. The moments that leave us on the edge of our seats and the moments that make us feel every emotion possible are what make The Walking Dead one of if not the best series on television today. It’s also why we’ll be glued to our televisions next week and all the weeks after until the season finale!