The Walking Dead – Bonds

By: Kelly Kearney

In this episode Daryl and Carol’s friendship gets tested when trust becomes an obstacle to the former Queen’s big plans. Meanwhile, an illness has swept through Alexandria and the sick are lining up for a cure. Could this illness be caused by tainted drinking water courtesy of Gamma? It’s too early to tell but now that Negan has infiltrated the Whisperer camp maybe the former Savior can save the communities from the skin freaks beyond the border.

Carol has a plan…

Carol (Melissa McBride) is up to something and her BFF Daryl (Norman Reedus) knows it. Daryl asks if he can come along after seeing her packing her bags and heading out to for a search for Negan. Daryl can read Carol like an open book and he’s suspicious of her behavior. He wonders if this search for Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is more about finding Alpha (Samantha Morton) and less about their escaped convict. Once outside the gates of Alexandria the duo set up a lookout post, but Daryl believes Negan wouldn’t just wander around the woods waiting to be caught. He enquires, “Wanna tell me what we’re really doing out here?” The response is shocking. Carol is looking for Alpha’s horde so she can destroy it before it does them.

Back home Siddiq (Avi Nash) is taking a much-needed break while Dr. Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) flirts with patients who seems to be lining up in droves at the infirmary’s door. A stomach bug is going around and everyone is coming down with it, even Rosita. Taking on the fatherly role Siddiq is looking after baby Coco while mom tries to recover. He’s also taking a break from doctoring now that he knows he can trust Dante to pick up the slack. His PTSD is becoming an issue and he hopes some rest is just what the doctor ordered.

Speaking of looking after people, Daryl is sticking by Carol as she explains her plan to destroy Alpha’s ultimate weapon. She’s been tracking the walkers and has located the direction that the waves have been coming from. Follow the walkers, find the horde. It’s a fool proof plan, but after her violent outburst at the border pikes Daryl is worried. Rightly so because while he seems to be all-in on this plan, he’s still not happy Carol lied to him about it. These two never kept secrets from each other and this new Carol will be hard to keep safe if she keeps lying and going off on her own. Carol hears his concerns and explains, “After what happened with Alpha at the border, I didn’t want you to worry. I’m sorry.”

Negan and The Whisperers

“I am a joiner get me a damn application already,” Negan says as The Whisperers march him blindfolded through the woods. After escaping Alexandria’s prison he’s managed to find himself in the clutches of the masked freaks in the woods and things are going as well as can be expected for the chatty prisoner. The Whisperers live by a code of silence and Beta (Ryan Hurst) is beyond sick of Negan’s endless jabbering. Holding a knife to his throat the “big man,” as Negan calls him, orders him to shut up, but Negan has an offer. Having been their prisoner he knows their enemy’s secrets and if Beta and his crew take him to their leader then Negan will spill his guts. At this point, spilling his guts is exactly what Beta would like to do but he knows he can’t make any decisions without running them by Alpha. So, he begrudgingly leads Negan back to their camp.

Meanwhile, over at Kingtop Eugene (Josh McDermitt) is upgrading their AV club with parts he scavenged from the satellite. With the tech boost he hopes to extend their radio range and contact some other survivors that are maybe too far to venture out and find. It’s a solid plan now that he’s been friend zoned by Rosita (Christian Serratos) and bored without his obsession. He jumps on the radio and, shockingly, Rosita is on the other end and happy to hear from her friend. She updates him on her illness, but actually she just wanted to check in on him. Since he left ASZ it seems Eugene has been keeping her at arm’s length and now he admits he isn’t sure if he is ever coming home. In the middle of their chat the radio goes all sparky and Eugene has to end the call to try and fix the malfunction. Rosita agrees to call back later so the two can finish their conversation, but as the minutes tick by her illness is getting worse.

Carol sees things

Carol and Daryl are launching acorns at a can and sharing some lunch and conversation. The hot topic? Daryl’s awful aim and Carol’s keen insight into his blossoming friendship with Connie (Lauren Ridloff). She tells him she “sees things,” but he swears there is nothing going on with the newcomer. Carol wonders why not and Daryl looks at her and just shrugs. Maybe the archer is playing it safe or maybe he’s held a torch for his bestie all these years. For whatever the reason is Daryl is not ready to couple up with Connie. After reminding him that there are not a lot of great candidates for romance these days Carol hands him a lucky double capper acorn, which he pockets for good luck. Between the matching bracelets they are still wearing and now this acorn keepsake, these two are total friendship goals. Their friendly banter gets cut short when Daryl spots a Whisperer leading a small group of walkers and it looks like Carol’s plan might actually pay off. The two decide to watch where the small herd is headed hoping they will lead them to the thousands Alpha has waiting to unleash on their home.

Back to The Whisperer’s camp Alpha and Beta disagree on what to do with Negan. Beta wants his Queen to kill him because his keen senses say their new prisoner cannot be trusted. Alpha, on the other hand, wants Negan tested to make sure. If he can be trusted he could be a good addition to their group. If he can’t? He would make a decent walker for their horde. The two quietly disagree until Alpha wonders when Beta started questioning her leadership. Knowing what happens to anyone who questions her power, he responds by taking a knee while Negan watches the entire interaction with a smile. He is trying to feel out these skin freaks and figure out what makes them tick. Later, Beta takes Negan out for his test and the mouthy captive starts digging for info on how this whole group works. Subtlety isn’t his forte, especially when he asks if this is a Beta with benefits thing. In a hilarious back and forth filled with sexual innuendo Negan ignores his orders to be quiet and yammers on with low key jabs about the big man and baldy’s possible kinks. Unfortunately for him, his good times end when the testing begins. Beta orders him to dig a hole, kill some walkers, skin them and kill a pig while all of it seems to be a set up for a Whisperer BBQ…One that Negan is just itching to join.

Over in Alexandria we see Siddiq check on Rosita and the mother of his child is definitely getting worse. She’s feverish and pale and the doctor decides it’s time they all head to the infirmary to get checked out. At the same time Eugene (a/k/a Taterbug) fixed the radio and is desperately waiting to hear from his sick friend but there is no response. Instead, he gets an incoming call from a nameless woman! Eugene’s Apocalyptic Lonely Hearts podcast is a go!

One rule: don’t be seen…

After spotting The Whisperers small herd Carol and Daryl decide to cross Alpha’s border to follow them. Daryl wants her to promise him this isn’t about taking another shot at Alpha, and she does, but he isn’t so sure. When she goes off to relieve herself, he searches her bag for her gun but comes up empty handed. When she returns, she knows he went through her backpack and asks him if he would like to frisk her too. He declines but says they need to be careful when they cross into Whisperer lands. Carol can’t be the wildcard here; she has to agree that they do this carefully and together. If they screw this up and Alpha knows they broke her laws again everyone they love will pay the price. She reminds him they pay regardless of crossing her borders. Alpha has killed their people and now she’s taken their hunting grounds. She has all the power and they keep losing. Daryl nods like he agrees and with that the two pack up and follow the herd.

While Carol and Daryl search for clues to Alpha’s mega-herd Negan is working his sarcastic joke slinging tail off to set up for the BBQ. Then the bad news: Beta tells Negan he didn’t earn the right to eat and sends a him sulking off to the camp’s corner. While sitting on a log away from the rest of the group a lonely Whisperer offers the hungry newcomer a piece of bacon. Beta watches on like this is proof he can’t be trusted. Already one of their own is disobeying orders to please Negan. It must be his charm.

Speaking of threats Carol takes a wrong step and snaps a twig, getting the attention of the small herd they’re following. Daryl takes cover as the herd and Whisperer turns towards their direction. Chaos ensues and Daryl slices the guts of a walker and covers himself in their blood. Once the threat is over and the walkers are all dealt with, he finds Carol who has caught herself a Whisperer! The masked enemy is on his knees with his hands bound behind his back. Daryl didn’t spot her zip tie DIY handcuffs in her backpack and now he wonders if this was her plan all along. Angrily she says it wasn’t, but she explains that they were seen and now they can take this hostage home and interrogate him. Carol is playing multi-leveled chess while everyone else is stuck playing one dimensional checkers. Her plan is layered, or maybe it isn’t, but Daryl needs her to trust him and be honest before she gets them both and everyone else killed.

Back at Hilltop we find Taterbug has made a love connection with the stranger on the radio as the two share stories of their old life and places they both frequented in Pennsylvania. He starts revealing a lot of details about the communities and even tells her his real name. When he asks the woman to do the same, she declines his offer. She has survived long enough to know that humans are the real threat in this world and neither of them know if the other is one.

While Eugene is risking it all for love, Siddiq is taking risks that even he didn’t see coming. After an exhausting night tending to the ever-growing list of sick patients, he takes a nap with Coco. The struggling doctor dreams of Alpha and the pikes and what part, if any, he played in that tragic night. When he wakes, he finds himself standing on top of Alexandria’s windmill while holding his baby girl. He must have sleep walked up the tower while thinking about the horrors he witnessed, but this is just another example of how that night is still affecting him. His trauma is changing him and the longer he tries to ignore it the more dangerous it seems to become.

“Big man, I ain’t going anywhere…”

Back to Beta and his guest who is quickly overstaying his welcome. Negan is relentless in his quest to join The Whisperers and no matter what the big man throws at him he plans to win Alpha’s favor. The problem is Negan is incapable of being quiet and Beta has had enough. He tells the rambling jokester that he is “too loud, too weak” to be one of them, but Negan just laughs him off. He has no plans of going anywhere and, finally, Beta says they can agree on something. That’s when the masked man slices the throat of The Whisperer who shared his bacon, which sets off the herd in the direction of the kill and right towards Negan. He isn’t going anywhere because Beta is going to make sure he dies in the woods! Unfortunately for Alpha’s second in command, he didn’t expect Negan to be a brutal killer. As the herd attacks Negan hacks his way through the hungry mob and shows up at The Whisperer camp covered in blood and asking to be fitted with an extra-large skinsuit for his “extra-large balls.” If Negan knows how to make an entrance and Alpha definitely takes notice.

As he and his enormous ego saunters up to Alpha, we watch Negan bend the knee swearing his allegiance to the Queen. “I’m all in. Whatever you want. Whatever I got. It’s yours,” he says as he looks up into the curious eyes. Alpha leans down and smells him like a hungry lioness sniffing out her prey and then raises a finger to her smiling lips and says, “Shh…” Welcome to The Whisperers, Negan!