This week’s episode of The Walking Dead was filled with good character moments and a slow build up to culminating action in the finale.
The only problem is – we have to wait for it.
Normally, the low-action of a penultimate episode of a season would be something we would expect. But knowing that we wouldn’t get to see the results of Beta and his herd’s slow walk toward our people for a very long time made it harder to watch than usual.
Still, we have a special episode to look forward to toward the end of the year, and some characters had important conversations.
Just Call Her Princess
After her brief introduction last week, we got to fully meet Princess. She is the comedic character this show has needed for a while.
Princess in this episode is how all of us our going to be after this global pandemic is over – so excited to see people but really awkward about reintegrating into society. She’s not sure how to act around other people, but it is to be expected because she’s been on her own for so long.
However, she did share that her whole life she felt like she was unlovable, and it made us all just want to give her a big hug.
And how great was that shade about how calling herself “Queen” would make her too old and pretentious and everyone looked at Ezekiel. Kudos to him for being the kindest and most accepting of Princess in this episode. Can we please let him not have cancer anymore and live forever and just go on being a kind soul in a cruel world?
It’s good the others came around at the end. Yumiko was pretty grumpy the entire episode. Granted, Princess kept leading them into unsafe situations, but still. Is it possibly because she’s still processing her breakup?
Eugene talking to Princess about how he made choices before that were not wise, but only because he didn’t want to be alone. Eugene lying about “the cure” happened so long ago that it goes to show just how far a character can come on this show.
Hopefully, even with bicycles as their “wheels,” the group can get there in time for Eugene to meet his lady love.
Negan and Lydia
Lydia is a hot mess of feelings, understandably, over the loss of her mother. When you lose a parent who is toxic, there are a lot of emotions. You feel sadness for the parent you lost, but also hate for what they become. You feel guilty for being sad, but also guilty for being angry with them. The writers on The Walking Dead did an amazing job capturing the complex emotions of this experience.
Then adding Negan in, who is trying to comfort her but is also the person who killed her mother, made it all the more complicated. Lydia threw some truth tea at Negan this episode and we kind of love her for that. Mentioning that everyone there wanted him dead, including her, stung a little bit for Negan.
But then he also tried to make Lydia feel better by saying he actually liked her mother before slitting her throat. Seriously, dude? How on earth would that make anyone happier about the situation? Stop. Talking. You are making things worse every time you open your mouth.
At least in the end, he let her yell, slap at him and cry out her feels in a hug. Fine Negan, you can stay. For now. But don’t forget, Maggie is on her way back.
Kelly and Carol
While we were bummed that there was no Daryl and Carol content this week (there better be some Caryl action in the finale), it was nice to see a much-needed conversation with Kelly.
Honestly, it had us in tears. Carol apologized for Connie being missing was a big step for her. In the past, she has done what was needed to achieve her desired results, with little thoughts for the consequences. But now she is asking for forgiveness.
First of all, we love how Kelly is unwavering in her belief that her sister is alive. We’re with Team Kelly on this one. They haven’t showed us Connie’s body for a reason, and it has to mean she still has a part to play on the show.
We LOVED when Kelly reminded us that her deafness is her superpower (per Connie), and that Carol’s ability to go off on her own and handle things is hers. Kelly is Team Carol, just like us. Even when that superpower of Carol’s put Connie in danger. The forgiveness and trust in this entire conversation was humbling.
Daryl and Judith
Look, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – there is nothing softer than Uncle Daryl and how sweet he is with Judith Grimes. If there was nothing else interesting this season, we would still watch the show for this.
Judith is obviously stressed about her mother leaving to go find Rick, and expressed her fears that Daryl would leave her too. Who can blame the girl? She has suffered so much loss in her life.
Daryl said he would never lie to Judith and promise that he would never go away. But it made us wonder – why did Judith lie to Daryl by not mentioning Rick? She just said that Michonne was off helping people, not that she had found evidence that Rick was alive. Is it about her not wanting Daryl to run off and help Michonne, leaving her even more alone? Or is Judith afraid to get her hopes up about her dad? Either reason is heartbreaking.
Uncle Daryl was great at reassuring Judith that she has plenty of family to love and take care of her. And that just because she lost people, doesn’t mean everything is always going to be bad. Though this was filmed many months before social isolation, the timing of these words was appropriate. While things are terrible now, it doesn’t mean that everything that follows is going to break our hearts.
What We Know About the Finale
While we don’t know when the finale will air, we do know a few things about it. First, we know that Maggie will return after reading letters she received from Carol about what the Whisperers did. Whether she will just show up for a few minutes in the episode and we will see the fallout of her return in the next season, or she will play a major role, we are excited to see her come back.
Beta and his herd of walkers have arrived at the hospital and have surrounded it, with our group inside. How will the characters survive? We’ve seen from the preview that Daryl is back inside again, so he and Judith find a way in through the madness. But how will they get everyone out? And in all that madness, with Carol and Daryl get time to talk?
We will find out later this year.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
