Check out Josh’s recap of the Season 6 premiere of The Walking Dead! This episode staggers two timelines, jumping back and forth between the present and the events right after the end of Season 5, using black and white filming for the past. This recap is chronological, so if you need to see everything in order, check it out! Also, check out Violet and Josh’s thoughts after!
Don’t need the The Walking Dead episode recap for First Time Again? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s The Walking Dead episode, First Time Again, click here to get directly there!
Episode Recap of The Walking Dead, Season 6 Episode 1: First Time Again
So the season premiere of started with a pretty exciting episode, and takes place in two timelines–the “present,” which seems to be a couple weeks after the end of last season, and the other timeline is immediately after the end of last season. To make it less complicated, I will try to provide the recap in chronological order.
The first thing we see in the episode, is again seeing Rick shoot Pete. The episode fades out. After the meeting with Pete dying, Father Gabriel shows up (Late. Geez, where has he been? Oh right…) and Deanna is still at the meeting place, still mourning her husband’s loss and looks to Father Gabriel and says, “You were wrong…” We then see Abraham moving Reg to the grave site. He looks at his wedding ring, probably remembering his wife. He has been drinking, and offers Reg some by pouring some on the bodybag. Meanwhile, Jessie and her children mourn the loss of Pete, and her older son Ron is taking it especially hard.
Good news though–Tara is doing well. Glenn walks in the hospital as well, dragging Nicholas in too. Glenn covers for Nicholas surprisingly, saying they were attacked by walkers. Then Eugene comes in and sees Tara is okay. He has a weird look of happiness on his face. Elsewhere in the town, Carl and Enid are sitting alone, also seemingly taking it all in. We also see more of Morgan, who talks with Rick. Rick, still bloody, tells Morgan, “I don’t take chances anymore.” Morgan seems to agree.
Moving back to Abraham, he is sitting drunk on a porch, and seems stuck on Reg’s wedding band, putting it on top of the liquor bottle he is been downing. Sasha passes by, and they have a silent moment looking at each other.
Later, we see Rick and Daryl talking. Rick, hearing about what happened to Daryl, wants to shut down the scouting for new people, and increase the watch. Daryl seems to not agree with this. Rick seems to reason that people “out there” have to survive on their own.
Rick pays a visit to Morgan, who seems to be in a holding area of some sort. Morgan is practicing his staving abilities. Rick asks Morgan where he learned his new ability, and Morgan says “a friend,” and Rick follows up asking when. Turns out it was “after” the apocalypse. Then Morgan says they have to “get to know each other again.”
Moving to Eugene, who his on temporary guard of the gate, gets some visitors. Heath, the first to talk to Eugene, explains that they were out on a mission, and took a while to get back. Eugene doesn’t want to let them in at first, but eventually does. Turns out a lady named Holly was supposed to be on gate duty, and Eugene took over for a few. We meet the rest of the people that came back–Scott and Annie.
Heath asks about anything happening while they were gone. Eugene talks about the meeting, but tells Heath he should get the specifics from Deanna.
Back to Morgan and Rick, Rick explains how this place came to be. Rick tells Morgan that it might be too late for these people. Then they walk over to the gravesite, where Gabriel and another man are digging two graves. Rick tells the two that they “only need one.” Rick tells them they don’t bury killers in the walls. Deanna walks up, and agrees with Rick. Deanna tells Rick to take Pete outside the walls. Pete’s son, Ron overhears this, and looks to follow Rick and Morgan. While loading up the bodies, Morgan talks about what happened at that meeting. Morgan hints that what Rick did might be wrong saying, “You have a cell” when Rick tries to justify killing Pete. Rick responds with, “Not for killers.” Morgan responds with, “I’m a killer” and tells Rick he is one too.
When they get to their destination, Rick just wants to leave Pete’s body exposed, but Morgan wants to bury him. Morgan doesn’t think that Rick really wants to leave him either, saying, “I know who you are.” Rick responds saying, “No you don’t.” Rick tells Morgan to stop, and they hear walker moans in the distance. The two investigate, and they find a quarry filled with walkers. Hundreds upon hundreds. Then they hear rustling behind them, and Ron has come running up, with a few walkers on his tail. Rick tackles Ron, preventing him from running off the cliff. The walkers that were following do go over the edge though.
Rick and Morgan go back to analyzing the situation with the quarry, and Rick asks Ron why he is out here. Ron says he wanted to see where his dad was buried. Rick comes to the realization that this quarry is the reason why Alexandria has survived–the walkers got stuck here. They also identify weak spots in the natural walker “trap,” with semis that could shift, letting the walkers lose. Ron walks away, saying he is going back, but Rick says that he is coming back with them because Ron isn’t ready to be outside yet. Rick offers to show him though. Heading back to Pete’s body, Rick has had a change of heart. He grabs a shovel and begins digging Pete’s grave.
Back in Alexandria, Rick explains a plan to take out the hundreds of walkers to Deanna on a map, which involves using cars to create a one way path for the walkers. Rick also has a meeting with the people of Alexandria and asks for volunteers. People seem hesitant at first, but finally Rick gets some people to join. A man named Carter doesn’t think the plan will work. Eugene says that they can use some metal plates to reinforce the curves to make sure that the walker stay on point. Rick tells Carter he will have to help reinforce the walls since he was a part of the original wall-making for Alexandria.
Maggie and Tara talk about Nicholas. Maggie knows what Nicholas did, and they discuss what they should do with Nicholas. Maggie seems to have gotten close with Tara, probably as a sister type relationship. Maggie lets Tara make the decision as to what to do with Nicholas, and Tara says she will follow Maggie’s lead.
Working on setting up the wall that will funnel the walkers, Daryl tells Rick they need to get more people, but that it is Rick’s call. Then Carol talks with Rick, and Carol seems to recognize that Rick has effectively taken charge of Alexandria. Morgan seems to see more in Carol than Alexandria seems to have so far. Meanwhile, Deanna comes out and sees what is going on. Rick apologizes to Deanna for Reg’s death. He also tries to reassure Deanna that this plan is the “right call.” He also says that people inside the walls need to be armed, which Deanna seems to nonverbally protest. Then a group of Alexandrians are attacked by walkers, and Rick is content to let it happen, so they can learn. The group seems to freeze up though, and Morgan jumps in to help despite Rick’s protesting. When the walkers are dead, Morgan says, “You said you don’t take chances anymore.”
Back in Alexandria, sometime later, we see Eugene in a supply closet, who overhears some Alexandrians talking. One of the Alexandrians is Carter, who is plotting to kill Rick. Eugene makes some noise, and Carter finds him. Carter knows he heard, and aims his gun at Eugene. But Rick, Daryl and Morgan walk in. Carter tells Rick he is going to take this place back from Rick. Rick scoffs at Carter, and takes Carter down. Carter seems terrified, as Rick aims his pistol execution style at Carter’s head. Carter says it was only his plan, and to only kill him. Rick calms down though, saying, “I’m good.” He tells Carter to try to work with them to try to survive.
Morgan and Rick talk again on Rick’s porch. Rick tells Morgan to move in with them, saying that he knows him well enough. Morgan and Rick then talk about Carter, and letting him go was the Rick he knew from before. Rick says he wanted to kill him, because it is easier. Rick then goes off and says that he will have to worry about how this guy will screw up. Then Rick says he didn’t have to kill him, because he will die on his own easy enough.
Later, Rick heads to the supply room, for flares for the plan, and Jessie is there. They discuss Ron being outside the walls, and Jessie is displeased about how Rick handled it. Jessie says that Ron won’t hear what Rick had to say. Rick offers to teach her and Ron, but Jessie says that she is learning from Rosita.
Rick then explains the jist of the plan, which is to lure the walkers down this road. Abraham then talks to Sasha, asking if Sasha is doing this because she wants to die. Sasha’s simple answer is, “No.” Continuing the plan explanation, Rick says that they need to clear out tractor store that has a few walkers in it, to prevent them from causing too much distraction for the big herd. Then Rick explains the reason for this plan saying, “We have to come for them before they come for us, it’s that simple”.
This is where the episode picks up in the “present,” with Rick and much of the community of Alexandria at what looks to be a quarry–the one Rick found earlier when burying Pete. In the quarry, the pit is filled with walkers. Rick is going over what seems to be a plan to take them out. As he explains what the plan will be, a noise happens in the background, sounding like bending metal. A semi truck is falling into the quarry. This causes Rick to say, “It’s open! We’re doing this now!” Some of the Alexandria residents seem hesitant, but Rick orders them to go. The teams move out, and the plan begins.
Rick has flares going off to provide distraction for the walkers. He also has a path for the walkers opened up, seeming to want to lead them somewhere. Dozens of walkers move through the opening.
We start hearing more of the plan at this point, and seeing it too. There are hundreds of cars lined up, creating a gauntlet for the walkers to walk down. various people are using flares to keep the walker’s attention. Rick, over a walkie talkie, tells Daryl, Sasha and Abraham to lead the walkers out, and Glenn to get to a tractor place to take out some walkers.
Sasha and Abraham are driving in a car, and Abraham asks Sasha is she is ok. She says she is trying. Sasha seems happy with doing something meaningful like they are now.
Moving to Rick, Morgan, and Michonne, they arrive at what looks to be a turn in the path for the walkers. Michonne seems to be a little worried the curve wall won’t hold, but Rick reassures her. While waiting here, Morgan accuses Michonne of taking one of his peanut butter bars back home, but Michonne denies it saying, “You always think there is one more peanut butter bar left.” Michonne, Morgan, and Rick fire flares from behind the curve area, and we see the walkers come down that path, bouncing off of the curve like pinballs. The wall seems to be holding though.
Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham continue their luring of walkers slowing down the path. Glenn, Nicholas and Heath have made it to the tractor store, and their mission is to kill the walkers so that the massive herd doesn’t get distracted. The plan is to open up a door and let a couple out at a time, to make the group inside manageable. Problem is–the door is closed off with a heavier duty inside door. They have to go to plan B, which is breaking a window, and killing them as they come out. They shoot the window open, and Glenn tells Nicholas to stay back and draw the walkers away if things go bad. Some of the walkers get too close for comfort, and Nicholas has to run in to save the day. Glenn seems to appreciate the help.
Back with Abraham and Sasha, we see Abraham decide to jump out of the car to get some walker stragglers back on track. He seemed to have a lot of fun doing it too. Abraham then tells Sasha about Reg’s and Pete’s death. He is laughing about it, but it seems to be a more depressing laugh than jovial.
The walkers continue their march, and Rick, Michonne and Morgan meet up with the rest of the group, including Glenn, Carter, Heath and Nicholas. Rick wants to finish the plan, and the team spreads out again. Carter, moving into position, gets grabbed by a walker and his face gets chewed off. Carter screens in pain, and the walkers begin breaking up.
Rick shows up, and takes out the walker. Carter won’t be quiet though, and Rick stabs Carter in the back of the neck. Morgan and Michonne both show up right after, and seem in shock as to what Rick did. Rick seems focused on the plan and the other two seem a little perplexed that Rick isn’t more mournful of Carter.
The mob continues following Abraham, Sasha and Daryl, while the rest of the group gets in position. But something goes terribly wrong–a horn goes off. Walkers begin breaking off. Even more bad news–the horn is coming from the direction of Alexandria. Walkers continue to break off, and they move towards Alexandria en masse. Things went from looking “mission accomplished” to “mission critical” in the blink of an eye.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Walking Dead, Season 6 Episode 1: First Time Again
I have been disappointed with The Walking Dead lately, but I enjoyed this premiere quite a bit. The massive pit of walkers seemed really epic, and I like that Rick has taken the initiative to try to take the walkers out. I didn’t quite understand what the end game for talking out the walkers was though. I didn’t hear anyone specifically say how these walkers would be killed once they went where ever they were going. The plan seemed to be very sound up until they had their snafu though.
There were a couple of characters I really appreciated this episode. The first one, is Abraham. I thought the throwback to the loss of his wife with him taking care of Reg’s body was sad. His drunken stupor on the porch was funny, but also showed that Abraham is a pretty broken man still, despite his new relationship with Rosita. It seemed that Abraham has a new bond with Sasha though, and I wonder if something will be happening there.
Another character I respected a lot this episode, is actually two-Nicholas and Glenn. At first I thought I would hate that Glenn let Nicholas come back with no repercussions, but then I thought about it more and realized that despite how wrong Nicholas was, death does not have to be the answer to everything people do wrong. Then Nicholas seemed to prove himself when he helped out at the tractor store. I want to see more redeeming qualities in people in the show, as it often portrays people as being terrible.
As for Rick, there were some great parts to his character, and some coldhearted parts. He came up with this plan, and it certainly had to be done. So much so that basically when they were testing the plan, one of the semis blocking the herd in the quarry fell, opening up a big gap, and Alexandria could be surrounded within a few hours. Rick knows that preemptive measures will ensure the biggest survivability. As for the coldheartedness, I struggled with deciding if this was a bad or good thing. When he handles the dead of Carter, he seems to show no emotion. Even earlier in the episode, he seems to think Carter will die anyway, also coldhearted. But in a way he is right. Let me explain a little more…
A theme in this show seems to be natural selection/survival of the fittest. This was played up a lot this episode. Rick effectively tells Morgan that the weak people will die off (i.e. the people that “don’t get it”), while the people that do “get it” will continue the human race. Is Rick wrong for this thinking? It is hard to say in this new world. I think that is why Morgan and Michonne are hesitant to outright confront Rick on his methods, as I think they partially think Rick is right as well.
But the big question–who is sounding this big horn? Especially close to Alexandria? Are the Wolves doing it? Is it someone in Alexandria being malicious? Someone trying to provide warning for something else? I am disappointed we likely won’t see Rick’s plan come to fruition, but it will be interesting to see what happens with this gigantic herd. It looks like it will likely hit Alexandria at least to some extent, as we see in the previews residents inside getting ready for them. I actually am pretty excited to see what happens next week!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 6 Episode 1 of The Walking Dead: First Time Again
I wasn’t too thrilled with the Season 5 finale of The Walking Dead, but I must admit, the Season 6 premiere has me excited about The Walking Dead all over again! The way that the premiere opened up with us seeing this huge quarry filled with hundreds, probably thousands, of walkers, and that truck falling, you can tell that there’s something big about to happen. So from the very beginning of the episode, it gave me this feeling of, wow, this is going to be epic! Sometimes, I don’t like when a series picks up long after the season finale left off, rather than picking up right where it left off, but in this case, I think it was effective. At the same time, we did get to go back and see what happened after the Season 5 meeting, although we didn’t pick back up at the exact moment. But I was glad we at least go to see an overall view of how things transpired between then and the present.
I was a little worried about how Morgan would react to what Rick did to Pete, but Morgan seemed to accept Rick’s explanation that he doesn’t take chances anymore. On the other hand, even if Morgan was extremely against what Rick did, what could he really do? Either way, I think Morgan is just glad to have found Rick again, and wants to remind Rick of the man that Morgan knows he is. The thing is, a lot of things have happened since Rick and Morgan last met, so Rick may be a little different from the man that Morgan knew.
Does anyone else get the feeling that the Wolves may have had something to do with that quarry of walkers? I may be way off here, but the way that they had set up that trap at the canned food factory with large trucks, which they filled with walkers, seemed a little similar to this situation of all those trucks being out there in the quarry. Heath had mentioned they had seen some campers down there in the quarry awhile back, maybe those were what eventually became the Wolves? Just a theory. So, is it the Wolves that are blowing that horn? I don’t know what else it could be. The only other thing I can come up with is that maybe Alexandria has some sort of warning horn that serves as an alarm if the community is under attack. But then, who would they be under attack from, if not the Wolves? The horn sounds like it could be coming from another 18-wheeler truck, which may support my theory about the Wolves setting up the trucks in the quarry. That could be their thing, using those kind of trucks. But I haven’t read the comics, so I have no idea of anything about the Wolves, so again, I could be way off.
Oh, and as a side note, as a girl who grew up watching teen movies starring Ethan Embry, such as Can’t Hardly Wait and Empire Records, it was a little sad to see Ethan Embry get killed off in his only episode. Even if his character wasn’t very likable. Also, I agree with Rick’s decision to kill him right away. He had gotten bit in the face, there’s no coming back from that. I’m not sure what the big deal was, as Rick didn’t really have any other choice. He even tried to calm him down at first, but that wasn’t working, so he had to do it. I suppose they were concerned about his lack of remorse, but he didn’t really have time to feel bad about it, as they had this big plan to deal with. Plus, it’s not like Rick was close to that guy at all.
Anyway, at this point, I’m feeling really into the show, and genuinely excited to see what happens next!
Scenes from The Walking Dead, Season 6 Episode 2: JSS
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Walking Dead, titled JSS:
