The Walking Dead S6 E2: JSS

Morgan captures one of the murderous Wolves and pins him to the ground. The man begins to speak. “We’re freeing you,” he explains. “People don’t belong in places like these anymore.” No-nonsense Carol shoots him in the head before he can say anymore. Come on, Carol! I kind of wanted to hear the rest of it. I’m interested in those splinter groups that have responded to the zombies in weird ways, like those who believe they’re angels or still alive or whatever. It would have been nice to question some prisoners to learn their plans.

Actually, this was such a flat-out great episode that all is forgiven. I could never stay mad at Carol anyway. She had the right idea in this episode: kill the enemy with no fuss and no delay before they can kill everybody. That sequence where she shot all those Wolves in quick succession before they could see through her disguise was thrilling. I continue to be impressed by her character. Dressing up like a Wolf was a stroke of tactical genius (it could have backfired for her but the safety it gained the group was worth the risk). Now the Alexandrians know Carol’s knife skills apply to more than slicing onions. What a badass.

That scene with Carol euthanizing her smoking neighbor was pretty rough, even for The Walking Dead. Now she has to deal with her guilt as her comment about not smoking indoors inadvertently got the woman killed (of course there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t have died in the attack anyway). Aaron will also have to deal with guilt as his leaving the photos of the compound seems to be what drew the Wolves to Alexandria.

Several Alexandrians get a chance to be more proactive in defending themselves, like the medical student who lost a patient. I loved Tara’s cold-but-necessary comment “Make sure you get her brain” when the medical student was probably expecting a pep talk. The widow (forget her name) stabbing the Wolf with scissors was cathartic, undoubtedly releasing pent-up rage at her husband.

I hated these Wolves (I think it was the one woman’s flowy pant that got me) and was glad to see them die. The show continues to make distinctions between the group and the outsiders: the group kills in self-defense but people like the Wolves and last season’s cannibals kill to assert dominance and inflict pain. “We’re freeing you.” I’m sure the Alexandrians will thank the Wolves for that, when they’re not choking on their own blood.

I loved the stylistic touches in the episode, like the economical, almost poetic backstory of the girl in the cold open and the way it cut from the parents trying to start the car to the girl looking out the blood-splashed window. Tying this episode in with the season premier was also clever. For a minute, I was thinking, “Wait a minute, what happened at the quarry?” Then I realized the two episodes happened at the same time and the truck’s horn blast confirmed it. I also loved the bit with the oven timer. All that chaos and death happened in the 15 minutes it took for Carol’s celery soup casserole to bake. What a horrifying, darkly funny, poetic juxtaposition.

In one final touch, I liked how Carol and Morgan crossed paths at the end when it was all over. There is a clear distinction between them now since Carol kills the enemy to get a clear defeat while Morgan left a few Wolves alive and won’t kill in every situation. When the battle was all over, they crossed paths and walked in different directions in silence. There was nothing more for them to say.