This week’s episode of The Walking Dead, titled Swear, focuses around Heath and particularly Tara on their supply run they have been on since last season. Tara winds up meeting a new group. Check out Josh’s recap of this week’s episode, followed by our thoughts about it!
- His thoughts on Swear, Episode 706 of The Walking Dead
- Her thoughts on The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 6: Swear
Season 7 Episode 6 of The Walking Dead is another limited character episode. This week, the episode focuses on Heath and Tara, who went on a supply run after they had finished up at Negan’s satellite station last season.
The episode is told partially in flashback segments, but I will try to talk about it in chronological order. The pair have been out for a while, and it seems as though Heath is ready to head back, but Tara seems to want to press on due to their lack of finding any worthwhile supplies, including medicine, ammo and food. Heath, on the other hand, thinks they should head back to Alexandria, since they are running out of supplies themselves. This causes the two to get into a bit of an argument, with Heath deducing that in this new world order, people just do what they have to in order to survive. Tara tries to talk sense in to Heath, but he seems pretty set on this. But as for their trip, Heath says they can go a little bit farther, but then they have to go back, because they are low on fuel.
Later, the two wind up on a bridge, and eventually they come across a bunch of walkers that had been buried in sand. Heath and Tara get separated, and Heath seems trapped, and Tara winds up falling over the edge of the bridge, landing in the water below.
This is the end of the flashbacks, and we are now in the present for Tara, who washed ashore after tumbling into the water. We see two females, a young adult and a child who are clearing walkers on the beach. The young adult, who we learn is named Cyndie, decides to spare Tara’s life despite the fact that wherever she is from, the standard policy is to kill all outsiders.
The little girl, Rachel, isn’t happy about it, but goes along with it for now. Cyndie leaves Tara on the beach, who seems to still be unconscious. Cyndie eventually brings her food. Tara, who now has been feigning unconsciousness, gets up, and follows Cyndie back to town. She arrives at the village of this group, and sees only women in the area. The women see they have a spy though, and track down Tara. Tara makes a run for it, and manages to take down an attacker and grab her weapon. Rather than shoot her through, Tara knocks her out. Eventually though, Tara is surrounded, but spared for now, only because Cyndie begs for it. Tara is taken back to the village.
At the village, the leader of the village is a woman named Natania. They have Tara handcuffed, and she and the rest of the village are trying to figure out what to do with Tara. They also ask Tara where she came from, but Tara makes up some story about being a fisherman. They lock her up while they determine how to proceed.
Later in the evening, Tara is brought to a dinner, and Natania wants to convince Tara to join their village, that way they don’t have to kill her, and they don’t want to release her as that could give away their location. This is where we learn what happened to all of the men–Negan had them all killed, and the women were working for him. But Natania reveals that they deserted Negan and fled to the woods to live in secret. Natania also tells Tara that if they have met Negan, Alexandria is in a lot of trouble.
Tara tries to convince Natania to allow her to go to Alexandria, saying both groups can help each other out. Cyndie thinks it would work as well. Natania agrees, but wants two of her women to accompany Tara back. So preparations are made, and Tara heads back.
Unfortunately, Natania is not on the up and up, and Tara realizes it. When she gets a moment, she makes a break for it, and takes off running. She gets in a fight with one of the women, who seems to have her dead to rights, but Cyndie shows up and helps Tara out. Cyndie demands to have Tara swear she will not reveal her village to anyone before she lets her go. Tara pauses, and finally agrees. Cyndie and Tara then flee back to the bridge, and Cyndie provides cover for her as Tara makes her way across.
Tara, meanwhile, had looked for Heath, and there was a close call with a walker appearing to be him, but it turns out to be someone else. Tara then sees some vehicle tracks, and hopes that they are Heath’s.
We then round out the episode with Tara making it back to Alexandria. Eugene greets her at the gate with the sad news–Denise being dead. Then in the infirmary, Rosita grills Tara about what she did while she was away, but Tara keeps her mouth shut, for the moment at least.
His Thoughts on The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 6: Swear
I am getting a bit over these “bottle” episodes, as they are being called. I really think it is time to actually move the story forward, rather than continuing this bogus “slow-playing” of the season. I appreciate Heath and Tara’s characters, but this season does not need an entire episode dedicated to just their story. This is an episode you could easily chop up and put among other episodes.
As for the group, I am curious to see if Tara talks about them more, or if others will come across the group. I assume this is not the last time we see them, as that would be strange to introduce these people and never go back to them again. It might be down the road some, but they could be helpful in taking down Negan, if some sort of alliance is made.
But really, we want to see what is going on in Alexandria. We want to see what happens to Daryl. What is Negan’s next move? Where did Rick go on his trip? There are so many better ways to spend 45 minutes than just slowly dealing with two “C” characters.
Her Thoughts on The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 6: Swear
Well, we all know how I feel about these one off episodes that focus on one particular character, so I won’t beat that dead horse yet again. While it’s true that we haven’t seen Tara and Heath in several episodes since they went off on their supply run last season, I don’t think that necessarily means we need an entire episode dedicated to them.
But anyway, through this episode we learned more about how far-reaching Negan’s influence is. Okay, we get it, Negan is everywhere. I suppose we also learned more about what kind of evils that Negan might exact on a group, such as killing off all their men. Basically, the takeaway from this story is that there’s another group out there, armed, who has also been tortured by Negan, and with whom the Alexandrians can add to their list of groups to eventually team up with to take down Negan. Sure, Tara may be keeping her promise for now, but I’m sure that’ll change down the road.
Oh, and was it just me, or did anyone else think that Tara’s personality was a bit different this episode than in past episodes? She seemed more playful, more flippant, even with this group that she didn’t know.
Alright, so we only have two more episodes left before the midseason break. Let’s get back to multi-storyline episodes!
Scenes from The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 7: Sing Me a Song
Preview of Season 7 Episode 7 of The Walking Dead
I stopped watching after Negan’s massacre but caught up with the recent marathon. Sadly I don’t care about any of the characters anymore. Live or die, die or live. I need a show where the characters get a win now and then.