Josh recaps Season 7 Episode 2 of The Walking Dead, titled The Well, where we see what Carol and Morgan are up to, and meet King Ezekiel! Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts about the episode.
- His thoughts on The Well, Episode 702 of The Walking Dead
- Her thoughts on The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 2: The Well
Recap of The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 2: The Well
This episode of The Walking Dead takes a break from the main storyline to give time for people to catch up with a couple other characters–Carol and Morgan. Carol is still wounded, and being helped by Morgan and the new group they have come across–who will be known as the Kingdom. Carol is tripping out when the group is attacked by a pack of walkers, as Carol is hallucinating, seeing each walker killed as a human.
We learn more about these two people that are helping Morgan and Carol, and their names are Nathaniel and Bolton. Meanwhile, Morgan has been cautious, marking trees and posts with arrows so he can find his way back to Alexandria. Carol seems to lose consciousness and eventually wakes up in a bed.
Morgan is there, and he tries to calm Carol down, as Morgan wheels her in her wheelchair to greet the leader of this group. He explains that Ezekiel is the leader of the group, and when Carol arrives, she learns that Ezekiel is a bit eccentric, and has a pet tiger. The look on Carol’s face is one of amusement and bewilderment, as she can’t fathom what he is explaining–He is king of this rag-tag group, and they are all acting as if they are in a medieval community.
After meeting with Ezekiel, Carol tells Morgan that Ezekiel is basically living in a fairy tale, and that she is going to get out of this place one way or another, once Morgan has turned his back. Morgan tries to convince her otherwise, and says that he has been helping the community out since they have assisted them, but Carol will have none of it.
Then we see Morgan go on what we learn is a secret mission for Ezekiel–apparently Morgan has risen in the ranks of this group pretty quickly. They have rounded up some escaped hogs, and put them into a pen, with a walker inside. It turns out the pigs are eating the walkers, and the Kingdom is using the walkers to fatten the pigs up.
Meanwhile, a young man, Ben, is told to take out a walker, but he bumbles the killing and has to be saved by another of the Kingdom. Ezekiel talks about this with Morgan, who watched the whole thing play out, and Ezekiel asks Morgan if he would be able to train Ben.
So Morgan takes on his disciple, and trains Ben in Akkido. Morgan learns more about who Ben is–He is the son of a great fighter of the Kingdom who died, and Ben seems more of a bookworm than a fighter.
Morgan is called to take on another special mission, and this time it is to visit some people we have met before–the Saviors. The Saviors apparently have a similar deal with the Kingdom is terms of supplies being “donated” to the Saviors. During the trade, one of the Kingdom’s men–Richard, gets into a verbal then physical argument with a Savior. The two groups call their men to cut it out, but the Savior is allowed a free punch on Richard, who takes full advantage. The two groups part ways, but the Kingdom is warned to be sure to have the produce required next week or there will be some bad times. Morgan wonders why Ezekiel brought him along, thinking it was to fight if necessary, but Ezekiel says it is actually the opposite.
Ben meets up with Morgan again, and Morgan learns about his father, and that Ezekiel made some tricky choices in the past, which got his father killed. Morgan then provides some sound advice to Ben, basically to look for his path in life and take the initiative to pursue it.
Then Morgan brings Carol some breakfast, but as we saw earlier in the episode, she had stolen some clothes, a knife and then left town. On her way out, she passes through Ezekiel’s garden, and grabs some fruit. But Ezekiel has spotted her, and they have a heart to heart chat. Ezekiel calls Carol out on her innocent, house-wife like demeanor, telling her to not BS a BSer. He is much more frank with Carol at this point, providing a bit of his own background–he was a zoo keeper who saved a tiger–Shiva, the one he has now, from an injury prior to the apocalypse. This made the bond they have now. Ezekiel talks about how this tiger lead to urban legends about his abilities, and he says that he basically, “faked it until he made it”. Ezekiel then suggests that she stay close by rather than leave town completely.
On Carol’s way out of town, Morgan goes with her on horseback. She stops at a house she had looked at in her injured haze earlier in the episode–it had a walker inside beating on the windows. She heads inside, kills the walker and seems to be planning on staying there– for the meantime at least.
But she already has a visitor to her new house–Ezekiel, and he brought some fruit to share with her.
His Thoughts on The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 2: The Well
So this episode was a bit of a letdown for me, and one that highlights some of the problems I have with The Walking Dead. The last episode leaves with such a big cliffhanger, and the momentum is taken out of the show by completely switching storylines. For me, it makes the original storyline feel less important, and I wane some on my interest.
Still, seeing the The Walking Dead universe expand is not a bad thing. Meeting new characters, and seeing more “good guys” in the show is never a bad thing. Also seeing the influence Negan has in the world, which shadows over this group, explains how powerful the Saviors are, and how tough they will be for Alexandria.
The good parts of this episode were probably most of Carol’s scenes. Her baffled look on her face during the first meeting with Ezekiel was hilarious. The showrunners clearly seemed to want to lighten the mood a little bit after the rough last episode. Also, Carol’s clearly feeling guilty about actions she has taken in the past, which is what I think her hallucinations were supposed to be inferring.
I hope next episode gets back to where it should be–seeing what happens in Alexandria. It looks like we will be seeing what happens to Daryl, so that will be interesting.
Her Thoughts on The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 2: The Well
The Walking Dead has a tendency to interrupt seasons with an episode that focuses on one particular character or group of characters. For example, it did this for the Governor, as well as for Morgan. It also feels like when these episodes come, they disrupt the momentum that the show has going. In this episode, the whole Negan storyline is interrupted to focus on Morgan and Carol, and introduce us to King Ezekiel. I would have preferred if the Negan storyline could have continued, while also showing us what Morgan and Carol were up to. Instead, we have to wait. Again.
On the other hand, we did get to see how far Negan’s reach is with yet another group, as we saw the Saviors come to the Kingdom to pick up their weekly supply. Although this episode was on the slow side, I did enjoy meeting King Ezekiel and finding out who he really is, right off the bat. I haven’t read the comics, so I don’t have any preconceived notions about who he is, whether he is good or bad. He seems good to me, and like he genuinely wants to protect his people and keep them happy. I hope we get to see the result of the pig trick. I’m thinking Daryl may be affected in that others around him begin to turn (assuming that the desired effect is achieved), and he’ll be able to fight his way out and escape from the Saviors that way.
Alright, let’s get back to business now and see what happens next with Rick and everyone else!
Scenes from The Walking Dead, Season 7 Episode 3: The Cell
Preview of Season 7 Episode 3 of The Walking Dead
