The Walking Dead S6E14: Twice as Far
Original Airdate: March 20, 2016
Recap by Sarabeth Pollock
We saw some March Madness last week when Carol went batshit crazy with Paula and the Women of Neegan’s Gang. Now we’re back and it’s time to pick up the pieces.
A garage door opens and a woman stacks a new supply of food on shelves. The pond in Alexandria is looking idyllic and the people look even better. From Gabriel to Morgan, people are happy. Carol is smoking and playing with her rosary. Everyone is armed, however, so that means everyone is still on guard.
Morgan puts the finishing touches on his new jail cell. That’s where Rick finds him. Rick asks why he’s building this, to which Morgan replies that having a jail will give them choices next time.
The scene replays. Now we see Carol getting a kiss in one scene and Rosita getting dressed after a night with Spencer in another.
Daryl finds a toy soldier and reflects on it. He’s tinkering with his bike and Carol walks up. He asks for a cigarette and they sit on the porch together. Carol know that Daryl lost his bike after losing it in the forest, after saving the group who had kidnapped him. He admits he should have killed them. Carol walks away and Daryl asks what they did to her. “To us? They didn’t do anything,” she says.
The scene plays again and the food storage is still full, but with different crops. Carol still sits and smokes, with the rosary in her hand.
Denise watches as Abraham leaves the town. She looks at a piece of paper and thinks.
Spencer offers to make his stroganoff for Rosita but she blows him off. He wants to know what they’re doing, which is code for where are they in their relationship. She agrees to dinner and turns to leave, but then she sees that Denise is there. Denise tells Rosita and Daryl that there is an apothecary shop nearby and she wants to see if they have any drugs. She wants to join them on the run, and Daryl reluctantly agrees. They leave in an old truck, and Denise gives Daryl some pointers on how to drive a stick in a beat-up old truck like the one they’re in.
The trio comes upon a fallen tree branch and they stop. Rosita and Daryl get out to inspect and Denise stays in the car. There are Walkers in the tree limbs, suggesting that this happened recently. Denise wants to go on the tracks to get there but Daryl prefers the road. They head out.
Abraham and Eugene walk in an alley discussing hair. Eugene has lots of things to say about the nature of man and hair. Eugene compares the keys to survival in their situation to RPGs and tabletop games. He is now in Stage 2, meaning he has adapted and become a survivor.
Denise and Daryl catch up with Rosita, who took the track route and had a much shorter walk. They come upon the strip mall, which is littered with trash and bodies. There are handprints all over the door and Daryl tells Denise to stay back.
Meanwhile, Eugene picks the lock and goes inside the machine shop with Abraham. Abraham wants to know what they’re doing, and Eugene reveals that he’s realized that they can make their own bullets using spent casings. “He most definitely, almost certainly” can do it. Abraham approves. There’s a Walker inside and Eugene calls dibs. Unfortunately, this Walker is covered in molten lead and Eugene is overwhelmed. He gets upset when Abraham steps in, and Abraham tells him that killing Walkers is his skill set while making bullets is Eugene’s. Eugene says that he doesn’t need Abraham’s services anymore, so Abraham leaves. It’s hard to believe that Eugene decided that was the right moment to say such a thing.
Daryl and Rosita go into the store and are instantly hit with the stench. Denise finds photos of a boy at the counter and she pauses to look at them. Daryl pries open the window to the pharmacy, where they find a mother lode of medicine. They hear a thumping but decide it’s just one Walker. They resume their “shopping” while Denise moves toward the door, machete raised. Inside the back room she finds a crib and lots of baby items, and a Walker with a broken foot. “Hush” is written all over the walls and a baby’s shoe is in the sink. Denise stumbles out and knocks over a display, and then she goes outside to wait. She has a keychain that says “Dennis” with her. She’s emotional and Daryl and Rosita know it, so Daryl tells her that she did well finding that place.
On the way back Daryl asks her about her twin brother Dennis. She says he was angry, to which Daryl says it sounds like they have the same brother. Daryl decides to take the tracks this time, so they do. Abandoned cars line the side of the tracks. Denise spots a car and stops to look inside. There’s a cooler in the car, along with a Walker. Daryl and Rosita don’t think it’s worth the trouble, but of course Denise has to do her own thing. Why, oh why, do people do that!? The Walker comes out of the car with the cooler and falls on top of Denise, who calls off Daryl’s help and kills it herself. She looks proud of herself when she takes care of it. She promptly pukes. “I threw up on my glasses,” she says. Inside the cooler is a six pack of soda, including the one that Tara likes. She says you have to take chances. She says she has “training in this shit.” She asked Daryl to come with her because he reminds her of her brother and makes her feel safe, and Rosita because Rosita is alone. She could have told Tara that she loved her and gone with her…and as she talks she is shot from behind with an arrow. She dies in the middle of her sentence.
Men and women emerge from the forest, with Eugene in tow, and they face off with Daryl and Rosita. The man in charge has run into Daryl before. His face is badly burned.
I’m beginning to think the gang shouldn’t go on runs anymore. Every time they find a stash they get ambushed.
The other man is the man Daryl left alive after his motorcycle was stolen. That’s why Dee has Daryl’s crossbow. Dee says that Denise wasn’t the man Dee was aiming for. Dee wants Daryl and Rosita to let them into Alexandria. Fortunately, Abraham is hiding out behind the barrels nearby. Eugene says Dee should kill the man behind the barrels, and when they go to check it out, Abraham ambushes them. Eugene bites Dee in the groin and chaos ensues, but they manage to chase away Dee’s group. Rosita goes to Eugene, who was hit in the gunfire. The trio grabs their companion and run off, leaving Denise on the tracks.
Without denise, there isn’t much that can be done for Eugene. Fortunately the bullet just grazed him. Daryl is standing guard when Abraham comes in. Eugene wakes up and asks for Abraham’s apology for questioning his skill set. Eugene says he’s been there a while.
Abraham goes to Sasha’s house. She just heard about Denise and asks how Abraham is doing. Abraham says they could have thirty years in Alexandria and it would still be too short. Sasha asks him to come inside.
Daryl has the Dennis keychain in his hand and he pauses before covering Denise’s body with dirt. Carol is there to help him. He takes a drink of the liquor they found, and he keeps digging. Carol’s eyes are vacant. She says Daryl was right, that she knew it when he said he should have killed them.
Carol writes a letter to her man friend saying that they have so much in Alexandria and there are so many people who want what they have. As she talks, we see that same scene play over. She says she has to kill to keep people safe, but she can’t. And she won’t. Rick was going to send her away but she ended up staying. She can’t do that anymore because she can’t kill anymore. She asks that no one come after her. Morgan looks out at Carol’s swing and thinks about her absence. It would seem he’s thinking about something bigger. But what?
Looks like next week is going to be a big episode.
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