The Walking Dead – Swear

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

While all of this madness has happened within the group, we have yet to check in with Tara (Alanna Masterson) and Heath (Corey Hawkins) on their two-week run. They have no clue as to the events that have thrown Alexandria and surrounding communities into complete chaos. Or have they encountered their own issues?

The episode begins on a beach where we see a walker in the sand, the voice of two individuals heard in the distance: a girl named Rachel (Mimi Kirkland) and a young woman named Cyndie (Sydney Park). Rachel approached the walker in the sand and uses her spear to kill it. Another figure on the sand catches their attention, but Cyndie stops Rachel before she can kill it. More importantly, the person laying in the sand is Tara. While the task is to kill anybody, dead or alive, Cyndie takes Rachel’s weapon and single-handedly drags Tara’s body to safety.

In a flashback, Heath and Tara are in the RV discussing their lack of findings after two weeks of scavenging. Still struggling with the aftermath of the ambush at the satellite station, Heath confesses that he finds issue with how Tara and her group ambushed the compound. Tara does not find issue with what happened so the two come to an impasse.

Back to the present, Cyndie finally locates a dry area and leaves Tara with food, water and a weapon. Tara wakes up after pretending to be unconscious and follows Cyndie back to her camp, discovering an entire community of women. While assuming she is cloaked by the trees, Tara soon finds that the women are alerted to her presence and immediately disperse their cache of guns to take her out. As she manages to knockout one of the women and grab her gun, Tara is stopped by Rachel and the other women as she is cornered.

In the next flashback, Heath and Tara find their way to an encampment on a bridge. Believing that there are possible supplies available, they make their way through the makeshift camp. Upon finding a duffel lodged in a rather large pile of dirt, Tara starts to tug on it to check the contents. Unfortunately, the bag unleashes a larger problem: active walkers. Tara and Heath fight them off as best they can, with Heath disappearing into the chaos.

Back at Oceanside, the female community, Tara stands “trial” before Natania (Deborah May) and her support team, Beatrice (Briana Venskus) and Kathy (Nicole Barré). When prompted, Tara feeds them a trumped-up story about her and Heath being on a fishing boat where she had fallen into the water and ended up on the beach.

Later that night, Natania has Tara brought in to dine with her, Beatrice, Kathy and Cyndie. Natania exposes Tara’s lie because she incorrectly answered what kind of boat she was on and the truth comes out. More importantly, Tara explains how she and her group took out Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) men at a satellite post. Tara then learns that the Oceanside community was created after all their men were killed. Natania offers Tara the chance to stay at Oceanside and keep their secret, but eventually concedes and offers Beatrice and Kathy to accompany Tara on her way back to Heath. Cyndie initially offers to help Tara, but Natania refuses to let her go.

The next morning Tara, Beatrice and Kathy set off on their journey back to the walker encampment. When Tara sees a walker in the distance, she agrees to go take care of it. It is during this moment she understands that Beatrice and Kathy were not going to help her, but rather kill her to keep their secret causing Tara to run.

Beatrice finds Tara and the Oceanside story becomes even darker: the men were all killed by Negan and the Saviors. Tara learns that the satellite post was only a fraction of the Saviors and that because of their stunt, she is considered dangerous. Fortunately, Cyndie comes to Tara’s aid and takes down Beatrice. Cyndie tells Tara to flee, reuniting with her when she subdues Beatrice. Before helping her, Cyndie asks Tara to swear to never reveal the Oceanside community to anyone.

Cyndie accompanies Tara back to the bridge where we witness one final flashback: before Tara falls off the bridge, she sees Heath fighting off walkers. He tells her to get to safety and that he will be fine. Back in the present, Cyndie uses her gun to kill off the dirt walkers and aid Tara in her fight to get to the other side before Beatrice and Kathy finally catch up and haul Cyndie back to Oceanside.

Tara manages to make it to the other side, discovering that Heath is missing. Locating tire tracks and a lack of body, she is certain that Heath is still alive and makes the long trek back to Alexandria. When she finally arrives, Tara is greeted by a somber Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and learns of the fate of Glenn (Steven Yeun), Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Denise (Merritt Wever).

In the infirmary, Rosita (Christian Serratos) shares her condolences and explains what has happened since Tara was on the run. Rosita asks Tara if she saw any guns or bullets while on her run and if so she would be willing to go get them. Remembering her promise to Cyndie, Tara lies to Rosita even though Oceanside has a large stash of weaponry.

Join me next week for another episode of The Walking Dead as we find out where have Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) have gone. Will they find anything to appease Negan? With the clock running out until the next visit, let’s hope they do!