Terrific TV
Three must-see shows take to the airwaves
The Walking Dead Season 6 mid-season première Sunday, AMC
SPOILER ALERT!
Plot details revealed below. Don’t read if you’re not caught up on The Walking Dead.
Talk about your Valentine’s Day counter-programming.
On an evening when many are celebrating romance, sex and all that other goopy stuff, The Walking Dead comes back from its midseason hiatus with one of the most shocking, bloody and dramatic episodes of the show’s entire run.
Seriously, if this is what AMC’s zombie drama has in store for its midseason première, how are they going to top it for the season finale? Or do we even want to know?
First things first: there are massive, unadulterated spoilers ahead.
If you watch the show and you want to remain unsullied, please stop reading right now.
Come back after you’ve absorbed the episode. We’ll talk then.
Because Sunday’s ninth episode of Season 6 picks up right where November’s multiple cliffhangers left off: Daryl (Norman Reedus), Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) have been ambushed in the road by a group of men loyal to the mysterious Negan, who will be played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan when he makes his entrance later this season.
Meanwhile, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira) and the rest of the core survivors in the town of Alexandria are dealing with a massive herd of the undead that have breached the walls of their once-safe settlement.
But that’s not what people will be talking about come Monday morning.
In what might be the most surprise-filled episode of The Walking Dead yet — seriously, we haven’t shouted “holy s---!” so many times at any other point in the series — Rick and the remaining band of survivors are faced with what’s become something of a recurring theme in the show: their safe haven has been overrun, and it’s time to do or die.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest moments from Sunday’s epic midseason première.
Nibble on that
With Daryl, Sasha and Abraham surrounded by a gang of armed thugs, things look grim indeed. Especially when the weirdly charismatic lead goon decides he’s going to kill Abraham … then changes his mind ... then changes his mind again, and levels pistols at both the ginger sergeant and the indomitable Sasha.
But before Negan’s man can open fire, Daryl cuts loose with the rocket-propelled grenade launcher that Abraham had stored in the back of their truck.
With a single explosive shot, Ne gan’ s entire squad of bandits is wiped out in a fireball of delicious justice, with the leader reduced to nothing more than a smouldering, decapitated head. It’s a narrow escape for our heroes, and all this happens before the opening credits even roll.
Monsters are coming
Back in Alexandria, Rick, Mic hon ne, Carl (Chandler Riggs), Rick’s recently widowed paramour Jessie (Alexandra Breckinridge) and her sons Ron (Austin Abrams) and Sam (Major Dodson) are slowly making their way through the enormous herd of zombies, using ponchos covered with rotting guts as camouflage.
But fragile young Sam can’t get Carol’s (Melissa McBride) earlier words out of his head, about how the monsters will come for him and eat him alive. He hesitates, he panics … and he’s attacked and devoured by walkers. Jessie screams, and then she too is overwhelmed by those mysterious zombies that seem to hover just out of frame yet are always able to get the jump on their victims.
Great escape
As Jessie is attacked by walkers, she squeezes Carl’s hand in a panicstricken death grip that he’s unable to break, attracting the attention of yet more zombies.
Seeing no other choice, Rick savagely hacks off Jessie’s forearm with his hatchet to allow Carl to escape.
That’s the breaking point for the already hate-fuelled Ron, who now holds Rick responsible for the death of both his parents. He aims his pistol at Rick, but Michonne runs her sword through Ron’s guts from behind, causing Ron to fire off to the side, missing Rick. Crisis grimly averted? No, no, no. Turns out Ron’s wild shot hit Carl directly in the right eye.
Is he dead?
As all this is going down, doctor Denise (Merritt Wever) and her Wolf captor (Benedict Samuel) are inching toward the wall in a bid to escape the town.
The Wolf leader is bit by a walker, but Denise refuses to abandon him, instead leading him back toward the infirmary. Carol has different plans, though: from a balcony overlooking the street she shoots the Wolf, allowing Denise to escape to the infirmary alone. There, Denise is met by a stricken Rick and Michonne, who cleared a path through the zombie horde to reach the medical centre with the unconscious Carl. It’s a turning point for Denise, who takes on her mantle of responsibility as the town’s only doctor. And she’s not going to let Carl die.
Glenn!
After having thought Glenn (Steven Yeun) was dead for several episodes, we finally see the reunion between him and his love, Maggie (Lauren Cohan), who is trapped on top of a platform that’s in danger of being toppled by walkers.
Glenn lures the undead away from his pregnant wife, but there are too many, and he’s surrounded and overwhelmed. At the last possible instant, Daryl, Sasha and Abraham arrive, opening fire on the mass of undead. Just when we thought all that Glenn tension was going to be a lead-up to a heroic death, our favourite Walking Dead bro is spared.
Show you the new world
Echoing lines from The Walking Dead comics, Rick sits with Carl in the infirmary, admitting he was wrong about the people of Alexandria.
He tells his son they can all work together to rebuild, survive and find a better life. Slowly, Carl’s fingers close over his father’s hand.