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SYFY WIRE The Walking Dead

Pill-popping fun on this week's The Walking Dead

By Alyse Wax
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In the span of 48 hours, dozens of waves of zombies have come at Alexandria. They are small enough not to cause damage, but big enough to keep the citizens busy. After 48 hours of continual fighting, everyone is exhausted, and patience is frayed. At the 49 hour mark, there seems to be no end in sight. But then Gamma shows up with the next wave, and informs Michonne that Alpha wants to see them, sans weapons, at the border. After much argument within the community, Michonne decides they will meet Alpha. Gabriel will be in charge of the gate and the northern herd, while Aaron will take a group to head off the southern herd. Michonne, Daryl, Carol, and a few others will go meet Alpha.

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Gabriel forces Aaron to take Negan with him to kill. Negan is just as happy to stay at Alexandria and work on the farm, for fear that misplaced anger will be directed towards him. But Aaron's anger is very well-placed. He blames Negan for the death of Eric, and has never gotten over it. They fight, and Aaron won't let Negan have anything more than a broomstick. Negan earns a little bit of trust when he warns Aaron of a couple walkers that come out of nowhere. One of them gets Aaron good, and it is covered with a weed that impairs his vision. Aaron blindly fumbles his way into a crumbling house, where Negan sits quietly in the dark. He waits until a couple zombies come after Aaron, and kills them. He helps find Aaron a chair and promises to keep watch until morning. 

At the border, Michonne and the others lay down their weapons. Carol, however, still has a gun hidden in her waistband. She has also been popping pills and not sleeping... so you know that will become a problem. When Alpha appears, she is pissed that they have crossed her border three times. They have to be punished. But Alpha won't spill blood; she takes context into consideration. Instead, she wants more land. Carol gets mad because the land they want will cut into their hunting territory. She insists she feels nothing towards Alpha, so Alpha provokes her by saying that Henry called her name before she cut his head off. Carol snaps and pulls her gun. She shoots and misses. Alpha forgives her, "mother to mother."

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The group moves out and set up camp for the night. Carol goes off by herself when she sees three Whisperers approach. She shoots, they run, and Daryl and Michonne come running. They set off to capture them, but can't find them. They hole up for the night in an abandoned school with a horror movie vibe. Carol will take first watch and pops a pill. The pills are making her hallucinate. She sees Daryl telling her a story about his father having hallucinations when he was a truck driver, but when Carol "wakes," Daryl informs her his father never drove a truck. She takes another pill and insists she wants to sit watch for another hour. 

Carol sees a shadow and chases it. She ends up getting caught in a trap with Whisperers on her tail. She tries to fight them off, and cuts herself loose. She lands a few kill shots, cuts herself on some broken glass, and yells for help. Daryl collects her and they return to Alexandria, where her cut is tended to. This is meant to make you wonder if this fight in the school is real or a hallucination. Michonne doesn't believe that the Whisperers were there. Daryl claims he believes her, but he doesn't sound so sure.

In the closing scene, we see two dead Whisperers in the school, and a trail of blood, leading us to Gamma - who got away.

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Aaron's arm

Aaron is basically the post-apocalyptic version of Ash Williams. He lost his arm a few seasons ago, and now has a big metal prosthetic with spikes all over it, useful to bash in the heads of wily walkers.  It is bad-ass. I hope that one day, should I ever lose a limb, I am comfortable enough with myself to get a really amazing prosthetic like that (or something more useful in a non-apocalyptic world).

Carol is a drug addict

Which impresses me. After ten years, the fact that there are any drugs left is pretty surprising, let alone "feel good" drugs. All the "maybe these are hallucinations, maybe not" scenes makes me wonder if I am hallucinating.

Siddiq

There were a few scenes of him having flashbacks, having PTSD incidents, but they all went nowhere. It was more annoying than useful, but I feel as though I should mention it.