“Wait! She’s not a bobber…she’s alive,” says Cyndie (Sydney Park) to her young and eager-to-kill-walkers companion, Rachel, when they find Tara (Alanna Masterson) washed up on the shore in the beginning of episode six of season seven of AMC’s horror/drama series, The Walking Dead.
After the intense main theme and opening credits of the show, a flashback shows Tara and Heath (Corey Hawkins) still out on the road, not having much success on finding supplies for Alexandria. Heath is discouraged and still bothered by the attack and all the killing his group did back at The Saviors’ outpost, but Tara is trying to stay positive and tells her friend that “there’s nothing left in this world that isn’t hidden, we just have to find it.”
The next day, the two scavengers come across the remains of a settlement on a bridge. While looking through a massive pile of sand and debris, Tara accidentally releases a large horde of walkers that had been buried in dry cement. (Whoops!) The two struggle to get away from the hungry group of zombies, and during the fight, Tara ends up getting separated from Heath and falls off the bridge into the water below.
Flash forward to Tara still passed out on the beach with Cyndie pulling her from the surf and onto the beach where there’s some shade. Cyndie leaves her two small bottles of water and a dry fish to eat along with her spear for protection. Cyndie makes Rachel promise not to snitch and they head back to wherever their camp is. What they don’t realize is that Tara actually woke up when Cyndie pulled her from the surf and has been playing possum.
She drinks one of the bottles of water and quietly follows them back to their all-women village. (This is never a good sign…look out, Tara!) As Tara is sneaking around the village trying to see if it’s safe, her question is answered when the villagers retrieve their weapons and start shooting at her. Tara makes a run for it but gets cut off by Beatrice (Briana Venskus), one of the hunters.
Tara fights her and ends up getting the upper hand, with the hunter telling Tara to go ahead and kill her, but Tara just knocks her out instead and continues to try to make her escape. She ends up running into Rachel who points her pistol at her and then she’s surrounded by the other villagers all pointing their weapons at her. Tara puts her hands up and says a friendly but nervous “Hi,” to the villagers.
This is when a middle-aged woman named Natania (Deborah May) approaches Tara and decides to take her back to their village because she spared Beatrice’s life and because Cyndie keeps defending her. Back at the village of only women, Tara is handcuffed to a piece of furniture, waiting. Natania and a few companions who appear to be leaders of the Oceanside community ask Tara where she’s from and what she used to do. Tara lies and says she’s been on the road mostly and she’s originally from Atlanta where she used to work on a fishing boat. She’s truthful about falling off the bridge and having a partner who she really wants to return to to make sure he made it off the bridge alive.
Tara also apologizes for scaring them, explaining she was just being careful and looking to see if it was safe to approach them. “Jury’s still out on that one,” the young trapped scavenger says to Natania and her friends as she shakes her hand that’s cuffed. Natania tells Tara that she has them at a disadvantage because she knows where their village is and could tell others about them, putting them in jeopardy. “We usually shoot strangers on sight,” says Natania as she tries to decide what to do with Tara. She leaves with her companions, telling Tara that hopefully one of them will have a brainstorm. Tara sits still handcuffed to the furniture looking very concerned.
Later that night, Tara is taken to have dinner with Natania, Cyndie – who is Natania’s granddaughter – and a few of the other women. Tara thanks Cyndie for saving her life and after a few more lines of conversation asks about the men. Natania tells Tara there was a skirmish with another group and none of the men or male children made it out alive. The survivors fled and created Oceanside. Natania suggests that Tara stay with them and make a new home for herself. She likes her personality and the fact she didn’t kill Beatrice, but she does ask her to come clean about her past knowing that she never worked on a fishing boat.
Tara admits to being with another group and how they have made it a real community where people work together and help each other. She tells them about the raid at The Saviors’ satellite tower after they were threatened. She even suggests that Oceanside could team up with Alexandria. Natania doesn’t seem to like or trust the idea but decides to have Beatrice and Kathy (Kathy Barre) escort Tara back to the bridge. From there, Tara can take them to Alexandria to check it out.
The next day Tara says goodbye to Natania and tells her not to be too hard on Cyndie for breaking her rules because she saved her life. Not long after Tara, Beatrice, and Kathy have left Oceanside, they see a walker in the woods. Tara says she’ll handle it and quickly realizes that she is about to be shot by these women, so she makes a run for it.
As they chase her, Tara ends up in a fight with Beatrice who gets the drop on her but hesitates to kill her. She tells Tara the satellite station she and her friends destroyed was just an outpost and that The Saviors have them all over. She also tells Tara that her friends have no idea what they’ve done. Beatrice says they can’t risk her bringing The Saviors back to their camp because they’re the ones who killed all their men and boys. Just as she’s about to shoot Tara, Cyndie tackles her and knocks her out. (It seems Cyndie followed them after they left).
Cyndie promises to lead Tara to the bridge and help her get across, but she says Tara has to swear never to come back. “Why would I come back?” asks Tara. Cyndie tells her that she has to swear and that people aren’t evil, they just forget who they are and do terrible things to survive while hurting or killing others. Tara answers back that there are evil people in the world. “I know. I’ve seen them,” says the young woman in her most serious voice and finally swears never to come back.
Tara and Cyndie reach the bridge and with Cyndie the sharpshooter shooting walkers in the head, Tara runs across the bridge. Finally, after one particularly close call, Tara makes it to the other side. As Tara is about to travel on, she thinks she sees a walker who might be Heath. After getting a little closer, she realizes it isn’t him. Tara then sees Heath’s glasses on the ground and a tag labeled PPP along with tire tracks leading away. “Maybe that was you,” says Tara with a little hope in her voice.
As the episode ends, Tara makes her way back to Alexandria and is greeted by a sorrowful Eugene (Josh McDermitt). Just seeing the look on his face is enough for her to know something terrible has happened. In the final scene, Tara is sitting on the floor in one of the houses when Rosita (Christian Serratos) tries briefly to comfort her and quickly tells her that they need to turn it around and take it back. Rosita tells Tara they need ammo and guns and asks if she saw anything like that while she was out. Tara stays true to her word to Cyndie and tells Rosita that she didn’t come across anything like that when she was out.
The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 6 Review:
A little slow but with a strong performance by Alanna Masterson, episode six titled “Swear” revealed what Tara and Heath had been up to during the brutal attack and murder of Glenn and Abraham. The episode also introduced a new group of survivors who might end up becoming allies in the inevitable war with Negan and his Saviors.
The stand-out performance goes to, of course, Alanna Masterson as Tara whose never-ending positive outlook is really tested as she makes contact with the “Village of the Deadly Women” and barely escapes being eaten alive by a large horde of walkers. Masterson has taken a character who was originally a member of the Governor’s group and with her friendship with Glenn and truly helping others when she could, has made Tara a sentimental favorite of the cast. It’s impossible not to like her and root for her. Plus, Masterson’s delivery of perfect lines including “That’s a pickle all right,” as she responds to Natania’s dilemma over whether she should shoot this intruder, makes Tara all the more relatable and human.
With the discovery of other survivors with a small armory out there, it’s only a matter of time until Alexandria, Hilltop, Oceanside, and The Kingdom join forces and go up against Negan and his Saviors. Here’s hoping it’s soon.
GRADE: B-
