The Walking Dead – Scars

By: Kelly Kearney

In the episode Scars we finally find out what happened to Daryl and Michonne after Rick “died.”  As told in a series of flashbacks, we get a glimpse of why trust can be wielded like a weapon in a world when friendships take a back seat to survival. After a familiar visitor makes their way to the gates of Alexandria we see Michonne is forced to choose between trusting an old friend and keeping her community safe from outsiders.

Alone

Opening on a flashback Michonne (Danai Gurira) searches the riverbanks for any signs of Rick, living or dead. All she manages to find is his revolver buried in the sand and surrounded by walkers. Her search goes on for months and now a very pregnant Michonne runs into Daryl (Norman Reedus), who’s also been on the lookout for Rick. Daryl has been gone from Alexandria since the day Rick blew himself up on the bridge and Judith has been asking her mother when her favorite uncle is coming home. Daryl tells Michonne he will come home when he finds something, but not to worry as he’s fine out there on his own. He always has been. Unfortunately for a very pregnant Michonne, the loneliness is getting to her and as she rubs her belly she admits, unlike her friend, she’s not ok.

Back to the present and Michonne is reminiscing about Rick when Aaron (Ross Marquand) shows up to tell her Daryl’s at the gate and he’s not alone. Immediately Michonne is on edge and runs outside to find out what’s going on. Daryl apologizes for coming since he knows how she feels about outsiders, but Henry (Matt Lintz) is hurt and Alexandria was close by. When she asks about Lydia (Cassady McClincy) he says she’s with them, but Aaron doesn’t trust her – not after what the Whisperers did to Jesus. Michonne hears Aaron’s concerns, but she trusts Daryl’s judgement and decides to let the group in, breaking her “Alexandria First” rules.

Allowing Lydia inside the walls reminds Michonne of another time she trusted a friend who showed up at the gates with a group of children. We flashback to a woman named Jocelyn (Rutina Wesley), who along with her a classroom sized group of kids, happens upon Alexandria when she’s in need of help. When the two old friends realize they know each other Michonne is thrilled to tears, especially after admitting to Daryl she’s been struggling on her own. Cut to the present and Siddiq (Avi Nash) is sewing up Henry’s leg wound while Lydia holds his hand for support. Michonne watches the teens’ interaction with a suspicious eye as Daryl tries to put her mind at ease by promising to leave for the Kingdom once Henry is ok. After a brief moment where Michonne remembers offering Jocelyn help, we cut to a bizarre search through what appears to be the woman’s hideout. It’s a school with hallways adorned in kid drawings of gutted deer where a group of frightened kids emerge surprising Michonne and the others. What is this school and who are these kids? Whoever they are, they spark a distrusting fear in Michonne that she heaps onto Lydia in an ominous warning that almost seems like a threat. She tells Lydia she’s done things she is not proud of to protect her people. It hasn’t been easy, but she did what she had to do. She turns to Lydia and lets her know she would give up her own life if it meant keeping her loved ones safe. Unfortunately, the world is not that easy, but for Lydia it might be. Her very presence in Alexandria, Hilltop and eventually the Kingdom, puts Henry in harm’s way – a boy she claims to care about.  Lydia has a choice, she can leave and take the threat with her or she can stay and risk unleashing her mother’s wrath on her new friends.

What Would My Dad Do?

Ever since Daryl nicknamed baby Judith “Lil Ass-kicker,” the two have had a special bond. Now the precocious 6-year-old wants her uncle to ignore her mother’s rules and come home to Alexandria. Daryl tells Judith (Calley Fleming) that her mother is right to keep her and her brother safe as Alexandria needs to be protected for their sake. If that means isolating themselves from the other communities, then that’s what they have to do. Judith says she knows why her mother is afraid to help anyone outside the walls because she’s heard the stories, but Daryl disagrees and says, “Not all of them.” Judith wonders out loud if her father would help someone like Lydia, someone in need of a safe place. Daryl goes silent because he knows Rick would help if he could. The two fought many times over this very idea after Carl’s death. Later on that night, Daryl and his group leave for the Kingdom but not before telling Michonne to talk to Judith. “You should tell her,” he says and whatever he’s talking about must be frightening because Michonne claims Judith is too young and not ready to hear it. Not to mention, she’s not ready to tell it.

The story in which Michonne is referring to is about Jocelyn and the orphans. When she first brought the newcomers into Alexandria they were a good addition and even helped community hunt and gather food. The little ones were efficient hunters and knew the right way to slaughter a deer, which helped feed all of Alexandria. Jocelyn tells Michonne the kids are orphans and they take care of her as much as she cares for them. These are not your average kids though as they have no choice but to be strong because the weak do not survive in this new world. What Jocelyn says is very reminiscent of how Alpha (Samantha Morton) treats the Whisperers. They either adapt to this new world or they die – it’s just basic evolution. The two old friends talk in Michonne’s kitchen about past times and what life’s been like since the world fell into darkness. Michonne confides in Jocelyn about her life, her losses and her search for Rick. Jocelyn tells her not to give up, even if she never finds him, because her search has meaning. After all, she managed to find Jocelyn after fifteen years than she can find Rick, too.

Back in the present Daryl and the others say their goodbyes as Michonne fixates on a sealed drainage cover in the street. The welded cover launches the woman into another flashback where we learn Jocelyn is not the friend Michonne thought she was.

Abducted

After a group sleepover at Jocelyn’s we see Michonne and a few other Alexandrian parents arrive bright and early to pick up their children. Their knocking receives no answer and the worried parents enter the home, only to find no signs of Jocelyn or her brood or their children. What they do find is murdered man and a raided supply room with a lot of empty shelves. It seems Jocelyn came to Alexandria to steal their supplies and their children, which is probably how she gathered her child army. Michonne follows the trail to the flipped over storm drain cover where it is obvious the woman made her escape.

Back to the present and Judith is giving her mother some serious attitude about Daryl leaving.  So much so that she runs away in the middle of the night, right before Michonne was about to explain why she refuses to help outsiders. With her daughter missing, Michonne goes to Judith’s new BFF Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and asks him when he last spoke to the girl. He admits it was earlier and she talked about her uncle Daryl and how much she misses him. He also admits that they often talk about are how brave the Grimes men were, stories the little girl rarely hears from her mother. Michonne gets angry and accuses Negan of trying to turn Judith against her. He denies it and says he tells her he truth, even the truth about the horrors he’s unleashed on people. He says Judith hates that Michonne won’t let anyone new inside Alexandria because, much like her brother Carl, she thinks their lives can be more than just fighting to stay alive. That’s when Negan realizes this questioning is all because Judith is missing and he reminds Michonne that her daughter is just like her – stubborn, fearless and will always protect the ones she loves. The girl is probably looking for Daryl and her frantic mother takes off on horseback to find her.

Speaking of Daryl, in a flashback he joins Michonne on the search for Jocelyn and a younger Judith (Chloe Garcia-Frizzi). Michonne is in the last months of her pregnancy and Daryl’s worried the stress on her is too much. The woman is devastated over trusting her friend who wound up stabbing her in the back and abducting her daughter. The guilt is almost too much, but Daryl puts her mind at ease. He has seen evil and it can hide behind even the friendliest of masks. All Michonne is guilty of is being a friend, the rest is on Jocelyn. It’s not long before the two run into the orphans hiding out in a dilapidated school and these kids are armed and ready for battle. One shoots an arrow at Daryl, hitting him in the arm and knocking him to the ground. Michonne demands to know where Judith is and that’s when one another orphan whacks her over the head and she loses consciousness. When Michonne comes to she and Daryl are bound, gagged and hanging above the ground dangling from an exposed pipe in the ceiling. Jocelyn directs one of the children to grab a red-hot branding iron and sink it into their sizzling flesh. The brand is, of course, in the shape of an X and Daryl gets the mark first while Michonne listens to him scream in agony. A panicked Michonne is next and while the kids prepare the hot iron Jocelyn brags that her “children are capable of anything.” The vicious woman orders a young blonde boy to sink the hot into brand her friend and Michonne screams just like Daryl did before her. Jocelyn, who is quite pleased with herself, seems to think all of this is somehow worth it if it means her people survive. In her demented mind she taught these kids to be killers because she saw what happened to the weak – they became food for the dead, who ultimately inherited the earth.

Kill or be Killed

Searching for her runaway daughter, Michonne thinks back to the last time Judith went missing and that’s when she spots the girl’s yellow bike.  Not only does she know Judith is nearby, but so are a herd of walkers and Michonne fears the worst. This vision triggers a memory of the branding and how she and Daryl managed to escape Jocelyn’s trap and rescue her child. From the minute they were tied to that pipe Daryl was working to release the rope knots around his wrists. Somehow the archer breaks free and takes down the teenager guarding them. He ties the unconscious boy up and then cuts Michonne down from the pipe. The two decide to split up and with a mental pipe in her hand, Michonne runs straight into Jocelyn and her armed minions. Again, she demands to see her daughter, but Jocelyn laughs and says the girl is better off with her. “You live in the past chasing ghosts,” she says and then orders two the teen orphans to kill Michonne! A girl attacks first, aiming straight for her pregnant belly, but no matter how many times Michonne begs the teens to stop, “I don’t want to hurt you,” they keep up the assault. Swinging Michonne’s katana, the girl slashes into her belly, almost gutting the pregnant woman and halting her attack. Michonne realizes she is not dealing with your average kids and beats the teen back with a pipe, grabbing her sword and chasing the two teens out back door. Outside Jocelyn is waiting and blindsides Michonne with two by four. The woman beats the mother to be across the back and sides, but Michonne is a fighter and manages to get the upper hand in with the help of her sword. With every ounce of her might, Michonne drives her katana through the woman’s leg and then directly through her chest. Jocelyn is dead and Michonne hopes she can reason with the orphans who must be traumatized from the death of their leader. She offers them all a home in Alexandria if they give up Judith without a fight. One of the older teens orders the younger kids, Judith included, to be killed while a few of the older ones deal with Michonne.

In what has to be one of the darkest scenes in “The Walking Dead” history, Michonne (the pregnant warrior mom) battles between two-time lines. In the past, she’s forced to protect herself and Judith from murderous orphans and in the present, she hacks her way through a herd of the dead to save her girl.  Back and forth we see Michonne slashing her way through Jocelyn’s spawns and the teeth gnashing zombies as she screams for Judith. Walker heads fly and little bodies fall until a bloody Michonne comes face to face with her daughter, finally merging the past with the present. Thankfully, Judith is safe, from the orphans and the walkers, and her Mother thinks now is time to talk about the past and why she’s refused to help outsiders. She thought Judith was too young to remember Jocelyn and her abduction, but the girl is a lot smarter than her mother gives her credit for. The girl absolutely remembers what her mother did to save her, she just never mentioned it because she didn’t want her to be upset. Perhaps Negan was right and Judith is more like her mother than anybody knows. She might be a little girl, but she has a mind of her own and a heart like her father’s – big, welcoming and always ready to help someone in need. “Loving someone means doing whatever it takes to keep them safe, right? So, when did we stop loving Daryl? And Maggie… Carol (Melissa McBride) and the King (Khary Payton)?”  Those question sits with Michonne and later on at Carl’s grave it dawns on her that he did not die so that she could close Alexandria off from the world. She may have done it to keep her loved ones safe, but they have family outside those walls and it’s time she opened the gates. The first order of business is finding Daryl’s group and offering them a safe ride to the Kingdom. It’s a show of goodwill that is sure to excite Ezekiel, who has been hoping Michonne would come around and sign the charter. Little does she know the Whisperers are staking out the Kingdom and sending word back to Alpha. Nobody is safe from Alpha – not Alexandria, not Hilltop and certainly not the Kingdom and their fair.