'The Walking Dead' recap: 'Bury Me Here'

True intentions and significant character developments were revealed in last night's The Walking Dead. Perhaps the most important message we can derive from the episode is: Morgan's back, baby! That's right, it looks like Morgan may finally be turning against his pacifist ways, trading in his stick for a spear.

"Bury Me Here" started with a flash-forward, showing King Ezekiel loading up their truck for their upcoming supply drop with the Saviors. He places a single melon into a crate and shuts the door.

Then, as Carol sets out for the Kingdom, Morgan can be seen within its walls training a little boy how to fight with the stick. That little boy turns out to be Benjamin's little brother. Benjamin whom Morgan has started to strike up a friendly relationship. With little to no effort, Carol perches in a tree right outside the gates to the Kingdom and kills walkers with a "One Way" sign. Once the guards let her inside, she marches right into Morgan's room and asks him why Jesus brought Daryl and the others to the Kingdom earlier. Morgan refuses to answer, saying that she should talk to Daryl about that. He even offers to accompany her to Alexandria in search of her answer. Unsatisfied, Carol leaves.

Then, while we see Richard burying a backpack with the name "Katy" printed on its front, Ezekiel gazes out at his community. Soaking it in. A fellow Kingdommer approaches him (standing a safe distance away out of fear of Shiva) and informs him that their crops are dying. She reminds him that as long as he's willing, they'll always grow back. However, the way she says it makes it sound like a parallel to their detrimental subservience to the Saviors.

Soon after, we see Morgan and the others setting out for their drop with the Saviors. Before they get too far though, they encounter a freshly dug grave on the grounds with a sign in front of it reading, "Bury me here." After a brief moment where Ezekiel questions the sanity of mankind, they finally leave the Kingdom. However, their way is impeded by a barrier of shopping carts. Someone obviously wanted them to be late for the drop.

After they clear the blockade, they meet a small party of Saviors (headed by a rather sleepy looking fellow named Gavin) on the outskirts. Gavin inspects their supply and notices that they are short on their quota. Ezekiel suggests he check again, confident that they've held up their end, but Gavin still insists they are lacking. They were supposed to have 12 melons, but they only had 11 to offer. Gavin says the only way they can compensate is by handing over their guns. At first, they refuse, but then eventually give in. An unnamed, rat-faced Savior suddenly holds Richard at gunpoint for a second, rolls his eyes and shoots Benjamin precisely in his femoral artery.

Ezekiel and the rest of his men urgently rush Benjamin back home and into Carol's house, where we see him bleed out and pass away. As Ezekiel thanks Carol for taking them in, saying he knew she was going to sooner or later, Morgan leaves in a fit of rage.

Out in the streets, we see Morgan literally begin to snap. In a disturbing montage, we see into his mind as he reflects back on his dead son and wife and even considers slitting his own wrists. For too long Morgan has ignored all of the ugliness and pain in this new world and he's now feeling it all at the same time. What stops him from taking his own life is the realization that the failed drop was all a set-up by Richard.

Confronting him in his room, Richard shares a touching story about his time at an army camp just before the outbreak occurred. A scuffle broke out and in the midst of it, he lost his wife and daughter (Katy). He blames his stalling for their deaths. Richard wanted to spark a war, even if that meant sacrificing himself to get it started. He then tells Morgan that the only way to beat the Saviors is if they join forces with Alexandria and the Hilltop. He tells him that this is the kind of world they live in, that he has to kill. There's no other way around it.

The next day, reverting to the beginning of the episode, Ezekiel places the one missing melon in a crate in the back of the truck and they set out to once again meet up with Gavin and the Saviors. Upon arrival, Gavin first asks Ezekiel if Benjamin died. When Ezekiel's intense stare suggests "yes, he has indeed died," Gavin turns on the rat-faced Savior and tells him he better start walking back to the compound. He's not happy with him for going against the plan. It was supposed to be Richard, after all.

Then, as Richard starts to walk the melon over, Morgan suddenly rushes up on him and begins to savagely beat Richard in front of everyone. First, with his stick then with his bare hands. He punches, slaps and bangs his head against the pavement until he's dead. Everyone is in shock, except for Gavin (who's probably seen much worse during his whole time with the Saviors). After cooling down a little, Morgan then informs Ezekiel that it was a setup.

After everyone leaves and goes their separate ways, Morgan drags the dead Richard by the ankles to the makeshift grave that we now know Richard dug for himself and begins to bury him. As he's burying him, he comes across Katy's half-buried backpack. He then takes out his pent up rage on walkers on his way to Carol's house, where he asks her if she really wants to know what happened at Alexandria. He tells her about Glenn and Abraham's deaths and Rick and the group's service to the Saviors. He then leaves, telling her he's going to run away.

The episode ends with Carol going back to the Kingdom. She comes across Ezekiel helping a little boy plant a tomato plant and approaches him. She tells him that she's there to stay and that they need to get ready for a war. He finally tells her they need to.

"But not today," he says.

The final scene shows Morgan sitting on his front stoop and sharpening the end of his stick into a spear. We can finally say that he is a warrior preparing for battle.

 

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.