Last week, we seen the final episode Danai Gurira portray Michonne on The Walking Dead. While she made her exit last week, we finally get to see what everyone has been up to on this week’s episode especially since Alpha meet her demise in the hands of Negan. Here is my recap and review of “Look at the Flowers.”
In a flashback, Carol viits Negan in his cell. She talked to him about what he wanted and he said that he wanted a steak, and a beer. Carol offers to free Negan. Negan initinally did not want to take the offer as he told Carol what could happen if he got out. Carol then made a deal with Negan. He kills Alpha, in exchange of Carol letting everyone know that Negan did it so he can be seen in a better light. In the present, Carol puts Alpha’s head on a pike on one of Alpha’s borders. Negan asked her if it is what she wanted and for her to start spreading the word at Alexandria. Carol asked Negan again what took him so long to kill Alpha. Negan explained why it took long as he had to get her trust. Carol then told Negan that she is not returning there yet and told him to wait. Negan then asked her why is she not holding up her end of the bargin, and then Carol told Negan that he is free and that he can do whatever he wants.
Over at the house that the group stayed in, Ezekiel and Jerry had a conversation for a moment, and then Magna arrives to the house as Jerry was surprised to see her. Rosita is in pain and has a burn on her stomach from the battle at Hilltop and Eugene watched over her. Eugene assured Rosita that she needs to see Dr. Alex and Rosita told Eugene that he needs to go see Stephanie. This is where we see that Eugene announced to everyone that he has been in contact with Stephanie over the radio. Everyone reacted in a mixed way as they could not trust her due to what they went through with Dante. Ezekiel said to give Eugene a chance to talk about this before they can judge. Eugene explained who Stephanie was and said that he has to go, and that she is a friend. Yumiko and Magna talked for a few minutes and Yumiko wanted Magna to go. Magna insisted that Yumiko should go instead even though it is a bad time right now. Jerry had his daughter Aliyah over his head as he was walking and Ezekiel told Jerry that he is going because he is sick. Ezekiel also wanted Jerry to make sure that the legacy of The Kingdom to live on. They both then hugged after this.
Beta and two Whisperers are walking towards the border and Beta noticed Alpha’s head on the pike. One of those two Whisperers told Beta that he is the new Alpha. Beta told that Whisperer to take his mask off and to listen to what walker Alpha is saying. Beta then pushed his ear to her mouth and asked him what was she saying. He put it so close to Alpha’s head, that walker Alpha started to bite his ear and then Beta pulled him away as the second Whisperer ran away. Beta then took Alpha’s head off that pike. Negan is going back to the cabin where he placed Lydia and he sees that she is gone. Daryl punched Negan and asked him about the whereabouts of Alpha. Negan told Daryl that he killed Alpha and Daryl did not believe him. Negan then showed Daryl that he is in possession of Alpha’s mask. He also told Daryl that Carol let him out (Also referred to her as Daryl’s girlfriend).
While Carol is by herself, she hears Alpha’s voice. this is more of Carol talking to herself than a hallucination of Alpha. “Ghost” Alpha is here in a sense as a visual aid. Alpha says that she is always watching. Beta and that Whisperer that was bit, was walking in an abandoned town. A walker approaches both of them, and that Whisperer decided to take that walker down. Before he could do so, Beta stabbed that Whisperer through his back. He fell and then the walker devoured him. Beta then entered his secret house and all of his belongings are there including memoribilia of his career as a country singer. He placed Alpha’s head that is in a bag, on the table, and placed the note in his coat. He took a look around his room and looked at his poster for one second and proceeded to smash his guitar over and over again until it is smashed to pieces.
Carol is still walking by herself and hears Alpha in her head taunting her about Henry and Sophia, Negan killing her, and about Carol not accepting what she done. As she kept saying for Alpha to get out of her head, a walker behind a bush tried to grab her, but Carol killed the walker. It affected Carol because she used Lydia’s staff and the position after she killed the walker, was like one of Alpha’s pikes on the border with a head on it. Eugene, Yumiko, and Ezekiel are traveling by their horses and they are near traintracks. Eugene told a story about why those tracks reminded him of his mom and that this trip is the journey for the future of mankind. They even poked fun of chocolate bunnies as well. They all encounter two walkers that are locked up behind cages and then they stopped and investigated the area. Ezekiel struggled to kill the walkers on his own as he was coughing due to his cancer. Negan has his hands tied as Daryl is making him walk infront of him. Negan thinks that Daryl is mad because Carol did not let him know about the plan. Daryl flat out told Negan that children almost died because of the fire arrow attack that he was part of. He then told Negan to keep walking.
Beta is still by himself in his crashpad as he is playing his own record and reminnicing about his past. As the music plays, walkers are being attracted towards it as Beta is forming his horde. He even ripped off part of his mask as he watched his horde form. Alpha is still taunting Carol about not wanting to send letters to Maggie about Alpha. Carol was in a shed and climbed the ladder to check what was up there and Alpha yelled which caused Carol to fall and for everything on that large shelf fall on Carol. Back to Negan and Daryl as they are walking to the pike where he said that Alpha’s head was at. Negan finds out that it is not there and Daryl draws his crossbow at Negan as he does not believe him anymore. Whisperers appear at the border and told Negan that he is the new Alpha since she is dead. Negan then went to his old ways as a leader for a moment and told Daryl to get on his knees while also telling one of those Whisperers to hand him over Alpha’s shotgun. Daryl wanted Negan to shoot him right there, but Negan shot one Whisperer, and they both fought off and killed the other two.
While Yumiko and Eugene are sleeping, Ezekiel stays up and is the lookout. suddenly, his horse fell and Ezekiel examined the horse and noticed that his horse is bitten. Ezekiel put down his horse and was sad to do this. Yumiko seen this and Ezekiel told Yumiko to leave him there and for them to go on without him because he is sick. Yumiko told him that is not happening and that they need to find out what’s possible as she said that her and Eugene needs him there. In the morning, Carol is still buried beneath the debris. Alpha teases her about the people she has lost in her life, and the people she will lose from this point on since nobody will help her. A walker is approaching and squeezed through a tight space. Alpha even told Carol to look at the flowers. Carol was not going to listen to anymore of this as she got the strength to get up from the debris, and kill that walker. Elsewhere, Ezekiel, Yumiko, and Eugene are on a bridge as they are looking at a skyline of buildings of a city.
Negan and Daryl was sharing water while they were sitting down. Negan does not think that Lydia is returning and Daryl thinks so too. Negan said that he meant it when he said that he “liked it” when he felt like his old self last night for a second and reflected on his time inside that cell for seven years. He said that it was nice that he felt like he was being respected and that he mattered, but Alpha went too far. Daryl was not interested to listen to this. Negan even tried to brighten the mood, but Daryl walked away. Later, Carol arrives at Alexandria. Daryl opened the gate, they said nothing, and Carol walked inside. Ezekiel, Eugene, and Yumiko are in the city. Ezekiel called for any person that is there. They see walkers, but these walkers were handcuffed and chained down to where they are and acting like people living their lives (It is better to see this scene than to describe it in writing). At one point, Ezekiel laughed at the walker that was handcuffed inside the car steering the wheel. They explore the area and see a skeleton walker with a pink scarf. Then they all look forward, and out of nowhere, “The Princess” makes her on screen debut as she greeted herself to the three of them that looked very puzzled and stunned in shock.
At the end of the episode, Beta reads the note and takes out Alpha’s head from the bag. He says “thank you” to walker Alpha and puts walker Alpha’s head down with his knife. He then walks outside his crashpad and and is seen with his mask fixed on the other side of his face that was missing with Alpha’s skin as he begins to walk with his horde.
This episode is much better than last week’s episode and I love how sudden “The Princess” Juanita Sanchez debut was on the show as it was exactly the same way from Issue #171. I cannot wait to see more of her on the show. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Norman Reedus are great friends and I was happy to see them have a lenghtly scene on this episode as their chemistry continues to grow. Khary Payton continues to make a believer out of me as he is making me feel sad for Ezekiel each episode he is in ever since he revealed that he has cancer.
Ryan Hurst continues to knock it right out of the park as Beta and it was interesting to see why he wanted to get over who he was in the past. I also believe this episode is the best I have seen Carol with Alpha even though Alpha was practically a ghost in this episode in Carol’s mind. The dynamic between these two was a highlight of this season and it shows that Carol is struggling to accept whether if it was a good choice or a bad choice to kill Carol. Overall, a solid episode and there is a lot of development with the characters on this episode while there was action to blend in with everything!
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