(Spoilers ahead)
Each week, we comb through the guts of The Walking Dead, much like a horde of hungry walkers, to bring you the episode’s best moments, surprises, and other post-apocalyptic curiosities. This week: Artisanal goat cheese, training on Dagobah, and how to get away with murder.
Season 6, Episode 4: “Here’s Not Here”
The best: This episode nearly brought us to tears. Eastman (John Carroll Lynch) is one of the first new characters since Abraham’s Army that we’ve actually felt invested in. Bravo.
Biggest red flag (or red herring): Steven Yuen’s name was suspiciously absent from its usual spot in the opening title sequence. So either the producers are trying to keep Glenn’s mortality a mystery, or . . . well, we don’t want to think about that.
Best wilderness survival skills: Morgan is the first person we’ve seen actually boil their water before drinking it. All too often it’s, “I’m just gonna eat this thing, drink this thing . . .” Do you want dysentery? Because that’s how you get dysentery.
Hey Grantville, Georgia!: We know you already love having Morgan’s Clear house in town, but have you thought of recreating Morgan’s spot in the woods as well? Just get some pikes, “Clear” rocks, and a pile of charred walkers. We only ask for a cut of the tourism dollars.
Best product placement: Goo Goo Clusters are delicious. We’d take the ones Morgan didn’t eat, but we’re already stuffed on his peanut butter protein bars.
Worst civil engineer: C’mon, Eastman! You can craft a state-of-the-art murder cage in your cabin, but you didn’t think to surround your goat’s outdoor area with chicken wire or fences or something to keep walkers away?
Buy local: Eastman, an Atlanta resident prior to the end of the world, owns both a Georgia T-shirt and another promoting the fictional Little Five Points Big Pies pizzeria.
Best plot hole repair: At first we thought it was weird that every single walker had an ID on them when they turned. Then we noticed Eastman’s graveyard had a few Jane and John Does.
Most shame: Originally, we wanted to make a joke that the one evil person Eastman ever met was his ex-wife (“Hi-yo!”). But then we learned who it really was—and what he did. Now we feel terrible. We’re going to go clear.
Greatest generation: Those millennials Morgan saved repaid him with chicken noodle soup and a bullet. In today’s world, that’s like handing over a wad of cash and your Netflix password. Who’s the entitled generation now?
Missed connections: Eastman was busy with revenge when the dead rose. He returned to Atlanta only to find the city was overrun with walkers. Maybe, just maybe, he was on the Connector when a lone sheriff riding a horse meandered down Freedom Parkway toward downtown.
Best supplemental viewing: Now that we know Morgan’s zen backstory, we rewatched his encounter with the Wolves, including the one featured last night, during the season five finale. Morgan’s pretty much word-for-word Eastman.
Second best supplemental viewing: Remember the post-credits scene from the the season five mid-season finale? Suddenly the three items that Morgan places on the church altar (Eastman’s rabbit’s foot, a Goo Goo Cluster, and the bullet from the millennials) make a lot more sense.
Best theory: When the Wolf showed Morgan that he’d been bitten, we immediately thought back to this season’s second episode when another Wolf told Morgan, “We didn’t choose [this life].” Could it be the Wolves are being used as attack dogs? After all, a bite would mean they have nothing to lose.
Best line: “It was Aikido. That’s how I kicked your ass earlier. Well, that was how I redirected your ass.” —Eastman
Best kill: Pass. We have come to believe that all life is precious.
Most disturbing image: Crighton Dallas Wilton escaping from prison solely to murder Eastman’s wife and children, then turning himself in while still covered in their blood. That’s some True Detective–level darkness.
Episode MVP: Tabitha. She’s the perfect zombie alarm, she eats kudzu, and her milk makes cheese. What more do you want in a post-apocalyptic companion?
Rick was absent from this week’s episode, so we can’t rank him officially on the calm/crazy scale. But hey, Morgan was pretty nuts for a while, right?
