The Walking Dead – The Obliged

By: Kelly Kearney

As the final episodes of Rick Grimes’ reign on, The Walking Dead approaches things at the communities are starting to unravel. After Maggie inspired Oceanside to seek revenge on the Saviors, Rick is faced with a choice he never wanted to make. Can he give up Carl’s dream of rebuilding a society that values life in the face of the ever-growing population of walking dead or will he hold on tightly to the dreams of his son, ignoring the wishes of his followers? It’s a crisis of conscious for Rick Grimes that will have long lasting effects on everyone who loves him.

Warrior, Mother, Leader

We open on Michonne (Danai Gurira) who’s playing the gentle leader by day and walker warrior by night. Her role is clear: she is the patient mother, co-leader of Alexandria, drafter of the charter that will bring laws to a lawless society. She is trusted by her fellow Alexandrians and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) relies on her to be his rock and his sounding board for every decision he makes. The responsibility of rebuilding their society was something she never asked for, but she takes it in stride, nonetheless. At night the Michonne we knew, the warrior wielding her samurai sword, comes to life. Under the cover of night, she straps on her sword and hacks her way through small herds of walkers that approach the walls of their community. It’s a release for Michonne or maybe it’s a taste of who she really is – a no nonsense assassin that will cut down any threat to her family and the life they are trying to build. The risks she takes at night fly in direct conflict of her peaceful moments with Judith and Rick. Like the growing herds of walkers that stir beyond the walls of her home, Michonne is growing tired of the day to day monotony of life and aches to swing her sword.

Similarly, Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) motherhood has not soothed her pain or lessened her need to kill Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Revenge is what keeps her going and now that Oceanside is killing off Saviors, she thinks now is the time send Negan to his grave.  After kissing Hershel goodbye, Maggie grabs a crowbar and packs her bags to head off to Alexandria. Jesus (Tom Payne) notices her leaving and tries to reason with her, but she ignores him. Maggie believes Rick was wrong to let Negan live and that it was not his call to make, but Jesus wonders if maybe she isn’t making the same mistake.

As Maggie heads to Alexandria, Rick’s getting updates from Eugene (Josh McDermitt) at the camp on the raging river at the bridge. The weather has been treacherous and the supports on the bridge will not hold if the waters continue to rise. In Eugene’s expert opinion, continuing to work on the bridge is not safe for the people. Next, Rick meets with Carol (Melissa McBride) who has decided to take her people home to the Kingdom. If the bridge is too dangerous to work on, then there is no reason for her to stay. The two, who have relied on each other from the very beginning, have a heart to heart since Rick trusts her opinions. Carol explains that the Saviors need to stand on their own. They don’t want Rick’s help, but they don’t want Negan either. Rick fears they can’t make it without the help and Carol thinks that’s all up to them. They need to decide who they are and how they are going to survive. No amount of “Ricktatorship” will fix what Negan broke at the Sanctuary. Rick hears what Carol is saying and respects the fact she was able to completely turn herself into the woman she was meant to be, maybe the Saviors can do the same. To Rick, Carol represents hope…a hope that people can reach their fullest potential and an even bigger hope that she can succeed where he might fail. Knowing that this is possibly the last scene between Rick and Carol gives weight to their interaction and as a viewer you can feel the importance of their talk.  As Carol leaves, Jerry (Cooper Andrews) shows up to alert Rick that Maggie is headed to Alexandria to kill Negan. Daryl (Norman Reedus) notices Rick is franticly packing up and offers to give him a ride home on his motorcycle.

The hunger strike ends today

Back at Alexandria, Michonne gets an update on their crow pecked crops from Nora (Tamara Austin). The farmers can’t keep the hungry birds away from their harvest and even the walker scarecrows won’t deter them. Besides the dwindling food, Negan is now refusing to eat and Michonne lets Nora know she will handle him.

On road, Daryl intentionally misses the turn off towards Alexandria and when Rick orders him to pull over the two men get into a fight. Daryl supports Maggie’s vigilante justice and Rick feels stabbed in the back by the man he calls brother. The two wrestle their way down a hill and wind up tumbling into a dirt pit with no easy way out.

While Rick is fighting to get out of the hole and get back to Alexandria, Michonne visits Negan and reminds him why he’s in the cell. “We are keeping you alive, so eat Negan,” she says but the downtrodden leader of the Saviors tries to manipulate Michonne into staying for a chat. She gives him twenty minutes and then he has to eat, one way or another.

Back in the hole, Daryl and Rick are stuck so they use their time to talk about Negan and Maggie’s revenge. Like Carol, Rick respects Daryl’s opinion and Dixon has no problem telling him how he feels, even if it hurts Rick’s plans to build his Carl inspired utopia. He reminds Grimes that Maggie has the right to kill Negan after what he did to Glenn. Without Glenn, Rick would’ve never found Lori or any of the remaining members from Atlanta. Rick knows how Maggie feels and he hates that he took the kill from her. Where Rick sees Negan as a symbol of a new way of life, seeped in justice and fairness, Daryl disagrees. Keeping Negan alive gives the Saviors hope that they could one day return to their old ways and disagrees that his death would turn him into a martyr. Maggie’s tried living with Rick’s choice and she just can’t do it. Daryl thinks it’s wrong to expect her to accept it. He compares her struggle with Oceanside’s choice to kill the Saviors, which shocks Rick because he had no idea they went rogue. He starts to panic because he truly thinks if Maggie kills Negan then all of the people they’ve lost were for nothing. Crying, and in a whisper, the grieving father mentions Carl and his fear that the boy also died for nothing. Daryl finally says what so many have been trying to get Rick to understand, that he needs to trust the people who have become his family and let Carl go. It’s time to stop creating a monument to the dead and actually listen to what the living wants.

Sandwiches, trash queens and not so weak women

Rick isn’t the only one getting a spoonful of truth, Negan talks about his wife and how her death made him the man he is today. He compares his strength to Michonne’s and she does not take it well. He manages to get her to admit she was a mother before Carl and Judith and, perhaps, her son’s death made her stronger. This ticks her off and she storms out, only to come back later and demand he explain. Negan thinks just like he was meant for greater things than being locked in a cell that Michonne is also meant for greater things and her late-night walker wars are proof of that. They both get their power from the dead, but Michonne disagrees as she is living for their future.  After his speech, Negan takes a bite of the sandwich she brought him and asks about Lucille (the bat, not the wife). Michonne laughs because after all he’s done his one weakness is that bat. She tells him the bat is out there somewhere, amongst the dead, and this hits Negan hard. As she leaves the jail cell, Negan breaks down and starts bashing his head into the jail’s concrete walls.

Elsewhere, Father Gabe (Seth Gilliam) wakes up in the trash dump, tied to board with Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) holding a hungry walker above him. Gabe is the price of her admission to her new life, but after the holy man forgives her for what she is about to do she decides to let him live. After knocking him out with chloroform, Gabe wakes up to a “Dear John” letter and no Jadis anywhere in sight. He falls to the ground weeping for the woman he thought she had been.

Back at camp Carol packs up to head home just as an armed Jed (Rhys Coiro) shows up with some angry Saviors. They know Oceanside has been killing their people and now they want weapons to start a war. Jed holds a gun on Carol and calls her a weak woman, demanding she move aside and let them through. Carol, who has a kill list longer than War and Peace, moves aside and then kicks Jed’s knees out from under him and gains control of the situation. In the fight, guns go off and they can be heard all the way down in the hole that’s trapped Daryl and Rick. It’s not long before Walkers start meandering towards the gunfire and wind up dropping in the hole for which the brothers are trying to climb their way out. Rick manages to climb out first and pulls Daryl to safety. That’s when they see a herd of zombies approaching and Rick makes the split decision to lure them away from the camp and bridge. Daryl tells his brother to be careful and then starts up his bike for the ride home.

As Maggie and Daryl make their way to Alexandria, Rick draws the herd away on horseback. At a crossroads, he stumbles upon another herd approaching from the opposite direction, leaving him trapped between two armies of the dead. In the commotion, his horse bucks him off and onto a pile of bricks and steel rebars. In a shocking and unpredicted end, Rick lands on one of the deadly steel spikes and becomes impaled on the pile of bricks. With two herds approaching from both sides and a large steel rebar protruding from his side, Rick screams from the absolute randomness of his probable end. He passes out just as the walkers make their way towards him.

Next week is the final episode for Rick Grimes and for the fans of this show who have religiously watched these characters for nine years, it will be a bittersweet goodbye. Prepare for the end, Dead fans, but be ready for a new beginning. With every death comes a rebirth and the end of Rick Grimes means the start of a whole new adventure. I hope fans will come along for the ride and see what this new world has in store.