TV Review: The Walking Dead S06 E10 “The Next World”

By Laury Scarbro

After an insane amount of slaughter last week, this week’s episode of The Walking Dead is way more low-key. Except for one thing, that is.

Two months have passed since the last episode, and life in Alexandria continues on much as it did before. Carl has made a recovery, but his eye remains bandaged. So far, it doesn’t appear to have affected his personality much. Rick and Daryl are making runs together, with various Alexandrians making requests for specific things. The food situation is growing to be a major concern, and Eugene suggests they try to find some sorghum.

Roadtripping with Rick doesn’t look to be very much fun, given his choice of music, if it could even be called that. Even Daryl hates it–which leads to the question: What WOULD Daryl choose if he could? He seems like a classic rock kinda guy to me. But the rule of the road is the driver chooses the music, shotgun shuts his/her cakehole. The music has another purpose–drawing walkers away from the town.

Daryl and Rick find a truck full of food and stop at an abandoned gas station on the way back, where they find an overturned snack machine. And Jesus. No, really, they find a guy who introduces himself as Paul Rovia, or Jesus as his friends used to call him. (He’s known as Paul Monroe in the graphic novels.) He’s unarmed, and seems mostly harmless, but Daryl doesn’t trust him. The guy steals the keys to the truck and makes off with it. The two men pursue, only to find Jesus stopped some way down the road with a flat tire. They tie him up and continue on their way. Pretty soon they see a barn and proceed to investigate but as they drive across the field, they realize Jesus is on top of the truck. A chase commences, ending up with an unconscious Jesus and the truck in a pond.

Michonne finds out Spencer has been walking around in the woods after his patrols, but he refuses to tell her why. Carl and Enid spot the other two just as a walker happens by. He tells Enid to leave, and refuses to kill the walker whose face isn’t shown until Spencer and Michonne happen upon it. It turns out, he’s been trying to find his mother-turned-walker, Deanna, and feels it’s his responsibility to kill her.

Later that night Carl and Michonne have a talk about why he couldn’t kill Deanna. According to him, it should have been someone who loved and cared about her, and he would do it for Michonne. At some point, she seems to have become a surrogate mother for him, and he a surrogate child for her. It’s great to finally see them opening up to one another after all this time.

Michonne and Rick have fallen into some kind of quasi-marriage situation, asking each other about their day, which leads to hand-holding, kissing, and finally, the sex. Later, they’re awakened–nude–by Jesus barging into their bedroom saying they need to talk.

Speaking from the perspective of someone who hasn’t read the graphic novels, I’m skeptical of Jesus, who is obviously part ninja. I’ve been forced to do a little research on who exactly he is, just for the purposes of not getting details wrong for these reviews, but what happens in the comics doesn’t necessarily mean it will play out that way on the show. The guy, as Rick points out, is clean and his beard is trimmed, so he’s obviously got access to basic hygiene items. He’s got a thirst to survive, which means he isn’t going to be taken down easily if he turns out to be a bad guy. It also means that if he joins Rick’s group, he could very easily prove to be an amazing asset, especially once the Negan plot gets rolling. Speaking of which, he still hasn’t made an appearance, and I’m getting antsy.

Lastly, the whole Richonne thing–the moment fans have been hounding Danai Gurira and Andrew Lincoln about for ages–finally happened. I’m not really sure how I feel about that; it seems more a matter of convenience to me at this point. Rick’s just two months out from losing Jessie, and granted it didn’t look like it hurt him all that much, but finding love in the zombie apocalypse wouldn’t be at the top of my to-do list. We’re human, we have urges and needs, but how much of this is going to be a romance story? Is it going to end badly for them? Look at Glenn and Maggie, every time he goes somewhere, she’s a mess until he gets back safe, and who wouldn’t be? I’d like to see them all happy and safe, but how long until someone dies and we’re all sitting there on our couches crying like children and mourning all those dreadlocked bearded babies they could have had?