A recap of The Walking Dead 6.10 “The Next World” and preview for 6.11 “Knot Unties”. Check out the sneak peeks and stills below!
[MAJOR SPOILERS]
RICHONNE IS CANON! I repeat, Richonne is canon!
WARNING: This review comes with a lot of flails. I have never smiled so much during an episode of The Walking Dead before.
In 6.10, The Next World, we open with Rick adding another notch in his belt. (I see you, writers.) Once he’s dressed, his grabs his watch but leaves his wedding ring on the dresser. Then Michonne stands in the doorframe in a robe and asks for toothpaste.
This is when things get ridiculously cute, and they start flirting about how Michonne has been using his for the last two weeks. ::alarm bells sound::
Next, Carl gets called into the room; he’s been tossing a ball against the wall and catching it as part of the PT. After he tells Michonne he’s out of toothpaste, too, he leaves to get his bandage changed, and Rick and Michonne say goodbye with a low high five.
If your heart wasn’t bursting already, next comes Daryl in some truly awkward situations.
He runs into Denise and asks about an item on her list. What ensues is her bumbling through an explanation about wanting a surprise soda for Tara, and Daryl slowly backing away like he’s not really needing the information, but he’s not quite sure how to stop her from speaking.
The next thing we know, Rick and Daryl are in the car ready for their run. Eugene takes the time talk about his own list, and Daryl’s face is pricelss.
Finally, he and Rick are on the road, and Rick takes a CD and puts it in the CD player.
“Don’t. Please don’t.” Daryl begs right before Rick starts singing and speeding down the road.
Back in Alexandria, Michonne sees Spencer walking into the woods and decides to follow him while Maggie tries to talk to Enid about how she’s isolating herself.
The next time we see Rick, they’ve missed their turn and drive off screen only to reverse and make the right one. We can only assume that Rick was jamming too hard to be aware of his turn.
Once they find the farm supply store, they carefully open up box truck and find out it’s full of food. It seems like their luck as finally started to change and “the law of averages” as Rick keeps talking about is working in their favor.
A little while later, they pull off the road at a gas station because Daryl still wants to find sodas. Everything is going great. They use the truck to roll over the vending machine and as they’re getting ready to bust the glass, Rick gets knocked into from behind.
Then we meet Jesus. (And he’s really pretty once he takes off his bandana.)
He tells Rick and Daryl that he’s sorry, and he’s running from the dead, and that they have about eleven minutes before they get there. There’s a standoff where they asks about camps, Jesus and Daryl denying they have one.
They know he’s lying just like he knows they’re lying to him. Rick tries to ask him the three questions, but Jesus takes off, reminding them they only have about seven minutes left until the walkers get there.
Rick and Daryl talk about the kind of person Jesus can be, but loud popping noises go off behind them, and they run around the back of the gas station and find out that Jesus set off firecrackers to distract them. By the time they get back to the front, he’s driving off in their truck.
The story shifts back to Michonne and Spencer. After killing a walker and talking a little, Michonne asks why Spencer is out there in the woods with a shovel. Spencer doesn’t give her an answer just turns and walks away, and Michonne follows from a distance.
The scene switches to more woods, but this time it’s Enid and Carl. When Enid asks Carl why they’re out there, he says it’s because they’re kids, but she reminds him that they’re not.
Then we’re back with Rick and Daryl as they run down the road, trying to track Jesus. (I would give anything to see the BTS of this.)
In the middle of the road, they find the vending machine that was attached to the back of the truck, and Daryl smashes the glass before grabbing a few sodas, explaining to Rick that this was something the doctor wanted, and he’s bringing it back to her because he’s a precious cinnamon roll, and we obviously needed another reason to love Daryl Dixon.
They share a drink, and Rick tells him that Denise can have whatever she wants because she saved Carl. He tries to tell Daryl there’s still people out there and Daryl points down the road and asks, “Like this guy?” to which Rick answers, “No, not this guy.”
They finish their drink and start running again.
Next, we’re back with Enid and Carl who are reading their comics. They see Michonne and Spencer walking through the woods but stay in their spot. Enid tells Carl that she doesn’t want to come out there anymore. Carl gets up and puts his things away then leaves Enid standing there.
When she catches up with him, they spot a walker. We see the walker’s boots and pants, but not its face. Carl and Enid have a strong reaction to the walker. Enid wants to kill it and Carl wants to leave it. By this time, we’ve sorta figured out who the walker is.
Carl tells Enid to go home since she didn’t want to be out there, and he stands over the walker.
Daryl and Rick have finished their marathon and found Jesus who is stopped in the middle of the road. They try to ambush him, but Jesus is a ninja. He lays them both out before they knock him down and point their guns at him.
He says they don’t have ammo and Rick shoots a walker to prove a point. We see a bit of the old Rick back as he takes the keys from Jesus then hog ties him.
Jesus tries to talk, but Daryl tells him no then shakes up a soda can and throws it at him. They get in the truck and Daryl flips off Jesus and yells, “So long, ya prick!” out the window as they drive away.
I don’t hate this Daryl. He’s sarcastic and a bit like Merle. We haven’t seen this version of him in a while.
Rick and Daryl share some chocolate to celebrate their victory as they drive home. As they head toward a barn, they realize that Jesus is on the roof. Rick hits the brakes, and he goes flying over the top. Once he’s on his feet, Rick drives after him while Daryl jumps out of the truck to chase him down.
Rick stops the truck and gets out to take care of some walkers, and Jesus jumps into the truck with Daryl after him. He pushes Daryl out after he takes gun and tells him to duck. Daryl does and Jesus kills the walker coming up behind him. After a quick “thank you”, Daryl punches Jesus and takes his gun back. During the fighting, they knock the truck out of gear, and it rolls downhill into a pond.
They stare at the truck as it disappears beneath the water then discuss what they’re going to do with Jesus.
In the woods, Spencer tells Michonne that he thinks he saw her when they were fighting. We find out who “she” is when Deanna stumbles towards them in the woods as a walker. Michonne sees the devastation in his eyes as he puts his mother out of her misery, and you know she’s thinking about what would happen if she turned one day.
Spencer and Michonne bury Deanna in the woods and leave her in peace.
Rick drives back to Alexandria with Daryl in the backseat next to an unconscious Jesus. Daryl tells Rick that he would have left him, but Rick doesn’t believe him.
It’s night again, and Carl is holding Judith on the porch and looking at the stares. Michonne comes up to him and asks him about his day, knowing he was out in the woods. He tells Michonne that he couldn’t kill Deanna because it should have been someone who loved her and that he would do that if it had been her.
Michonne is visible shaken but hugs Carl and tells him that she’d do it for him, too.
Back in the car, Daryl tells Rick that he was right about not looking for new people back in 6A, but Rick tells him he was right, and they should be looking for people. This cements the change in both of them and leaves us wondering what or who is going to change Daryl back.
They drop off Jesus at the infirmary, and Daryl stays to keep watch, so Rick goes back home.
Once he’s there, he and Michonne sit on the couch and talk about their days. It’s post-apocalyptic domestic bliss. Rick didn’t bring toothpaste, but he hands her mints. The camera narrows in on their hands as Michonne twines her fingers with his.
Then…Richonne becomes canon! The ease in which they move suggest a familiarity just like every encounter they’ve had this episode. Michonne kisses Rick, it escalates from there until they end up in bed together, naked and asleep.
The pleasantness is shattered when Jesus starts calling Rick’s name from inside their room.
Michonne and Rick jump off the bed (still naked), grab their weapons, and face Jesus, who says, “We should talk.”
*****
The preview for next week features more Jesus, who is a huge part of the comics. He talks Rick and company into going out with him, telling them, “You world’s about to get a lot bigger.” It seems like they’re going to end up in some trouble because at the end of the preview, Rick tells Jesus, “If this is a trick, it won’t end well for you.”
In another clip from AMC, we see Abraham and Sasha inside the walls on patrol. They’re talking and laughing together, but when Abraham says that he’ll see her tomorrow, Sasha says that he won’t. She’s taken a new watch duty, and Eugene will be taking her place with him. This puts them in a awkward goodbye situation, especially since they were so friendly in 6A.
In the exclusive sneak peek from The Talking Dead, we see Maggie and Glenn together in a non-crisis way for the first time since the beginning of the season. It ends with Abraham following Denise into the infirmary in a rush. Maybe they’re freaking out because Jesus escaped? Did he knock out Daryl? He’s like a ninja so who really knows. Or did something happen to Sasha?
Check out the trailers and stills below for 6.11, “Knots Untie”.
