Photograph by Gene Page/AMC
(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: Jadis eats applesauce, Jadis makes applesauce, and Jadis’s character growth generates applause.
Season 8, Episode 10: “The Lost and the Plunderers”
Laziest walker: When Rick and Michonne are running to the van after failing to put out the gazebo fire, the last walker Michonne kills barely paws at her before she impales it. C’mon man, lunge or bite or something!
Oceanside is the new Jadis: To be honest, the Scavengers never really gelled with us. Jadis’s stagnant speech was annoying, and we never knew what the community’s angle was. But now that the writers have fleshed out Jadis’s character (more on that below), Oceanside is the new community that we really just don’t have any feelings toward yet. Tara’s initial encounter with them was interesting, but Sunday’s plot with Aaron and Enid dragged this entire episode to a grinding halt. Here’s hoping this community gets a story overhaul too.
Location, location, location: Of course Rick and Michonne’s house didn’t get bombed or burnt.
Death watch: Anyone else feel like Michonne isn’t long for this world? Danai Guerra’s career is taking off and Negan’s line to Rick about who would be the next loved one of his to die felt pretty forbidding.
You’re in trouble now: What is Negan going to do when he realizes Simon massacred the Scavengers? Because Negan seemed pretty serious when he told Simon, “Killing everyone to solve the problem is the easy way, not our way.” Might be time to issue a death watch for Simon, too.
Most in need of explanation: Rick’s seen the helicopter, and Simon knows about the pad and some solar panels. Just what the heck is going on behind the dump? And why does everyone seem to leave it alone?
Most localized weather: Why is Simon so sweaty when he shows up at the landfill? Did he run there? No one else is sweaty but the entire front and back of his shirt is soaked.
Best new weapon: Rick’s practical spiky car door works as both a shield and a sword.
Most stubborn: Michonne hit the nail on the head when she told Rick that saving Jadis from the zombified Scavengers was an example of what Carl was trying to tell him while dying—give people a chance. Show humanity. Make peace. But Rick seems to want nothing of it, as evidenced by how he continued to swear that he would murder Negan and didn’t seem phased by leaving Jadis behind.
Best villain: Trying to follow Negan’s twisted logic is a trip, but a worthwhile one, and the last scene of this episode made it clear why Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character is a fan favorite. He’s genuinely upset about Carl’s death—with a remorseful expression that actually makes you feel bad for the guy—but he’s still totally cool with murdering people in attempt to “save” others. (Which, let’s remember, that his definition of saving is “working for him.”)
Best line: “There is remorse, you son of a bitch!” —Jadis’s first full sentence!
Most disturbing image: Jadis watching her zombified friends fall into a trash grinder. She had to look at them, only a few feet away, as they turned into strawberry applesauce. If that’s not the definition of disturbing, we don’t know what is.
Best kill: Simon’s massacre of the Garbage Pail Kids felt all kinds of wrong, but it lead to…
Episode MVP: Jadis, for finally getting the depth and backstory that was sorely missing from her character. Turns out drinking trash water doesn’t make you weird, but rather an MFA and an affinity for world-building just might. This week, our newly favorite-by-default Garbage Pail Kid grew from annoying side character to one possibly being primed as a post-Negan villain. She admits, “I realized we were the paint. We could create something new,” and later, as she’s forced to grind all of her friends into a fine paste, visceral chunks cover her blue cat painting. This sounds an awful lot like the Whisperers, the comics’ next Big Bad, who are known for covering themselves in human remains and living among the walkers.
And once again, where exactly does Rick fall this week on the calm/crazy scale?
Illustration by Matt Walljasper; photographs courtesy of AMC
