“I see you. Come out slowly,” says Carol (Melissa McBride). “Yeah, I think I’m going to pass on that,” replies a Savior as Carol takes on and wipes out a truck full of Saviors while distancing herself from Alexandria in episode 15 of season six of AMC’s horror drama series, The Walking Dead.

As the episode begins to Johnny Cash’s song “It’s All Over,” some of the residents of Alexandria are enjoying the brief, intimate quiet life of the town. Glenn and Maggie (Steven Yeun & Lauren Cohen) take a shower together and Rick and Michonne (Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira) are in bed together enjoying some snuggling time. It’s a brief, sweet montage which ends with Daryl (Norman Reedus) heading out of town solo on his motorcycle. Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita (Christian Serratos) notice him leaving and decide to go out after him to try to convince him to come back.

Moments later, Tobin (Jason Douglas) shows Rick Carol’s the farewell letter she left behind. Rick accompanies Tobin to ask Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) if they noticed Carol leaving during the night, which they didn’t. Tobin notices one of the cars they put out to help trap walkers is missing. It’s clear Carol took the car during the night. Morgan (Lennie James), who has drifted over and has been listening in, gets into a car to go out and find Carol. Rick joins him but tells Abraham, Tobin, and Sasha no one else leaves and to get ready for a fight with more Saviors, realizing they haven’t killed them all.

Carol drives down a road with spears sticking out of the car and when she comes across a pickup truck coming the other way full of men. They shoot out her tires and she manages to stop short of crashing the car. The Saviors tell her to get out with her hands up. She complies and makes up a fake past saying she’s not really from anywhere and is drifting. The Saviors recognize her car being from Alexandria and tell her she’s going to ride back to town with them and help them get inside. Carol is breathing heavy now and getting upset because she realizes she’s going to have to kill these men. “Please, we don’t have to do this. You can just go back the way you came and no one has to get hurt,” yells Carol, but the men just smile and laugh. Carol shoots the men with a gun hidden in one of the sleeves on her jacket. One comes out shooting once she is out of ammo and she moves around the car, using one of the spikes to kill the Savior hunting her.

One of the Saviors inside the truck is wounded but wakes to hear a car coming and hides in the bushes. Rick and Morgan pull up and examine the shootout scene. They figure the dead men are Saviors because of the weapons they find on their bodies. Rick’s very proud of Carol, boasting that she killed at least four while Morgan is concerned because Carol left saying she couldn’t kill anymore and here she was forced to kill more men. He spots a blood trail and says she might be wounded. Morgan and Rick follow the trail, not noticing the Savior who comes out of the bushes and follows them from a long distance.

Meanwhile, Glenn, Rosita, and Michonne reach the train tracks and the spot where Denise was killed by Dwight. Michonne finds Daryl’s motorcycle hidden by leaves and bushes. Glenn asks Rosita which way Dwight ran off and she shows them. It’s not long before Rosita is almost hit by one of Daryl’s arrows. He’s not too pleased about them coming out after him and is determined to avenge Denise and kill Dwight. Glenn pleads with his old friend to come back to Alexandria with them and together they will figure out a plan of action. He insists that if they continue on this way it’s going to go wrong. But Daryl will not be reasoned with and tells Glenn rather loudly he can’t go back and continues on. Rosita agrees with Daryl’s mission of justice and follows him (she’s also not too anxious to get back to town after watching Sasha and Abraham flirting with each other just a few steps away from her earlier in the episode’s montage). This leaves Glenn and Michonne to make their way back to town on their own. They should be so lucky. It seems the woods are full Saviors led by Dwight. They surround Glenn and Michonne, forcing them to surrender.

Back on the road with Morgan and Rick, the search for Carol continues with the two men discussing the different way they view life and people. Morgan keeps emphasizing the idea and theology that people can come back. He uses Carol’s letter as an example, saying she had no problem killing the Wolves and even fought Morgan over the Wolf he was trying to rehabilitate, but now she felt obligated to leave the town because she no longer wanted to have to kill. Morgan also talks about the Wolf who escaped with Denise as a captive and ended up saving her from some hungry zombies and how later Denise saved Carl when he was shot in the eye. “Everything gets a return,” says Morgan, but it’s not clear if he’s really reaching Rick with his arguments.

Morgan and Rick come across a barn and some walkers and begin to put down the zombies when they hear someone in the barn. Rick tells the person to come out and lay down his weapon, and the stranger from the barn says he can’t do that and he’s only looking for his horse. “They’re coming. You should go,” says the male voice and as another wave of walkers come from behind the barn, a large figure is seen running in the other direction. Rick goes to shoot the man but Morgan knocks his arm down causing him to miss. The two continue putting down the zombies and looking for Carol. Finally, Morgan tells Rick to go back to Alexandria and that he’ll continue to look for Carol. He stresses the town needs Rick if an attack is near. Rick, sensing that this might be the last time he sees his old friend, asks him, “You’re coming back, right?” Morgan says yes but that if he doesn’t not to send a search party for him. Rick hands him a revolver, insisting he take it and confesses to Morgan that Michonne stole his protein bars a few weeks ago. The two old friends smile at each other and part ways – perhaps for good this time.

Rick gets back to Alexandria and he and Abraham have a short conversation about how scary it is to get close to someone again and how they are ready to fight the world for what they have. Maggie has been reaching out to Enid (Katelyn Nacon) to help her with a few chores and errands and it’s right after Enid gives her a haircut that Maggie starts to yell out in terrible pain. Something is wrong with her pregnancy!

Back in the woods, Glenn and Michonne are sitting tied up as prisoners of the Saviors when Glenn notices Daryl and Rosita working their way quietly over to take out the Saviors guarding them. Daryl puts his finger to his lips telling Glenn to be quiet but Glenn begins to try to make a sound and nod past Daryl. “Hello, Daryl,” says Dwight who’s standing behind him, pointing a gun at his head. He’s not alone and a few other men with guns point them at Rosita. Realizing they are caught, Rosita puts down her weapon and Daryl puts down his crossbow. As Daryl turns to face Dwight, he fires his gun shooting Daryl with blood splattering the screen right before it goes dark. “You’ll be okay,” says Dwight.

The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 15 Review:

Slow and at times just plain dumb, episode 15 titled “East” continues to have usually smart characters doing unbelievably stupid things to cause problems and create life and death situations for their friends. If any of these characters had behaved and acted like this in any of the earlier seasons of the series, they would have been killed off very quickly.

It seems the writers felt it necessary to have yet another road trip episode, this time with Daryl behaving like some ticked off dumb teenager who wants to go off alone and get revenge for the murder of Denise and kill Dwight while completely ignoring the fact that Dwight has a small army of men with him. C’mon! When has Daryl EVER been so hot-headed he would ignore a practical fact such as that?! The second roadtrip story is a hunt to find Carol who’s run away – again, another very smart character who suddenly acts now like a bratty teenager. Th search for Carol allows an opportunity for Morgan and Rick to have yet another conversation about life and how the two men approach it differently. [Snore.] Honestly, this episode seems to be nothing more than filler until the big introduction to the show’s upcoming new bad guy, Negan. Just have him show up already – how much build up does one villain need?!

With Glenn, Michonne, Rosita, and a wounded Daryl captured by the Saviors and Carol and Morgan possibly gone for good, things are looking very bleak for Rick and his comrades. When Negan and his army of Saviors show up, there may not be many people left to hold them off.

GRADE D