The Walking Dead 609: No Way Out [recap and poll]

How would YOU rate the latest episode of The Walking Dead? Read a recap of episode 609, take our poll and then tell us what you thought in the comments.

When we last left Rick and company on The Walking Dead, they were walking out into a crowd of walkers, covered in their entrails, and Sam had decided this was the time to have a chat with Jessie. Oh, and Daryl, Sasha and Abraham just had their stuff “claimed” by Negan’s biker gang. Basically, everyone is screwed.

After a tense conversation with Negan’s representative, who debates whether or not he’s going to kill them, suddenly all the bikers explode in a fireball – Daryl has saved the day again, courtesy of a rocket launcher that just happened to be in the back of the truck.

Meanwhile, back in Alexandria, our friends are walking nervously through the herd. Even Sam seems to have quieted down, thank goodness. But of course, they’re not out of trouble yet. The town is almost as crowded with walkers as a sidewalk in downtown DC at rush hour would be with commuters.

Rick’s plan involves a very long walk to the quarry and back, and Jessie doesn’t think Judith can make it. Father Gabriel offers to keep her safe at the church. Jessie wants Sam to stay too, but Sam’s separation anxiety flares up and he insists that he’s okay to stay with his mom. Rick watches Gabriel walk away carrying Judith, most likely fearing that he’s made a terrible mistake. Along with, Jessie, Michonne, Carl, Ron and Sam, Rick continues on toward the quarry.

Tara and Rosita debate whether or not they can do any good out among the walkers. Carol and Eugene are there too, and Morgan regains consciousness as Carol realizes that their captive Wolf took Denise with him as he escaped. As the woman of action that she is, Carol takes a gun and goes after them.

Glenn and Enid are in the church, looking for guns and ammunition, anything they can use.

Denise and Mr. Wolf are behind a stone wall that’s sunken into the ground, and Denise is freaking out – understandably.

Glenn gives Enid a pep talk about not losing people they love even after they’re gone, insisting that those people are still there because she’s still there.

Mr. Wolf wants to make a break for the tower, insisting that he needs Denise with him.

Glenn wants Enid to wait in the church, but she’s not having it. She insists that she’s going to help him save Maggie, who’s still stuck up on the platform by the wall.

Our friend the Wolf tells Denise that she was right, that he hadn’t been born “that way,” that he had changed, and that now he wants to help her change. For me, that line was a little too reminiscent of Lizzie talking about walkers having “changed.” Creepy.

Night falls, and the walkers are still everywhere. It’s hard to tell, but it doesn’t look like Rick and the crew have gotten very far. Sam starts hearing Carol’s voice in his head when she told him that scary story about monsters – walkers – eating him up, and suddenly he freezes. Jessie tries to convince him to keep going, but he backs away.

Before they can convince him to go on, two walkers take bites out of him almost simultaneously. Jessie’s now making a lot of noise as she screams, seeing her son being eaten, and the walkers get her, too. Carl is separated from Rick and can’t get away because Jessie’s still holding onto him, so Rick takes out his big knife and frees Carl from Jessie’s grasp.

Ron, who’s just watched his mom and brother die, doesn’t take this very well, and pulls a gun on Rick and Carl. Michonne takes care of Ron, but not before Carl is shot in the eye. Rick picks up Carl and starts running, while Michonne runs interference.

Well that escalated quickly… only the appearance of commercials gives us a chance to breathe at this point.

Tara, Rosita, Eugene and Morgan are still sitting tight inside. Interestingly, it’s Eugene who observes that “Sooner or later, we’re fighting our way out.” Rosita is skeptical about how helpful he’s going to be.

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The Wolf is taunting Denise, then telling her that they’re going to find a gap in the herd and go over the wall. He tells her that she doesn’t need to be afraid. Oh yeah, because you’re not creepy AT ALL… He directs her toward the wall and they make it partway there, but as he tries to pull a walker off her, one takes a bite out of his arm. She says that she can save his life if they can get to the infirmary.

Carol looks out a window from an upper floor, gun ready. She hears a thump behind her, but it’s Morgan, and she goes back to looking out the window. She accuses Morgan of saving the Wolf for him, not “us,” the group. She tells him she should have killed him. He tells her that she can’t, and walks out. Oh Morgan, you just don’t know Carol very well, do you?

“I was wrong. I thought after living behind these walls for so long, they couldn’t learn. But today, I saw what they could do, what we could do, if we worked together.”

Denise is trying to use a belt as a tourniquet on the wolf’s arm, but he’s moving slowly. They run outside and are surprised when suddenly Carol shoots him from above, yelling to Denise to run. She runs back inside to Aaron and some other Alexandrians.

That’s when Rick brings Carl inside, begging Denise to save him. Michonne lifts the walker gut stained sheet off of him. Rick is delirious with anger over it all, and he takes out his axe and opens the door, obviously not thinking clearly, and walks outside, now without his walker-repellent poncho.

Rick’s outside, going a little crazy. Heath and Michonne insist that they have to go outside and help Rick. As soon as Denise is done stitching Carl – Michonne was helping her hold him – Michonne kisses Carl and runs to the door. So now Rick has Michonne and a few Alexandrians, but there are just SO MANY walkers… They’re making their way down the street, but it’s hard to think they’re going to make it too far.

At the church, Judith is starting to fuss, and Gabriel hands her to one of the Alexandrian women who’s there. Gabriel announces that he believes that God has decided they’re going to save Alexandria themselves, not wait to be saved.

Carol comes back downstairs and tells the others in the house that she’s going outside to help Rick. The others, including Eugene, say they’re coming too. Morgan encounters the Wolf turned walker outside, and after apologizing to him, he finally finishes him.

Glenn makes a noisy distraction to draw the walkers away from Maggie, while Enid scales the scaffolding below the unstable platform where Maggie has been trapped. Maggie runs out of ammunition trying to cover Glenn, and he is quickly surrounded. Once again we can’t help but think that Glenn is done for, and Maggie starts screaming, thinking that he’s being devoured. Thankfully, however, Abraham and Sasha appear on the wall and fire a hail of bullets into all of the walkers around Glenn. Talk about timing!

Daryl stops the truck not far away and releases a small lake of gas onto the ground, then drives a safe distance from it and shoots it with the rocket launcher. This results in a huge fireball and an instant distraction. The walkers surge toward it, away from the town. Oh Daryl, we love you.

We’re hurtling toward the end of the episode with a montage of everyone fighting as hard as they can. Then suddenly it’s dawn and everything is quiet, with smoke rising from what’s left of the battle, and the streets of Alexandria are full of walker bodies. The survivors stand on the porch of the infirmary, exhausted. Inside, a few of them are getting patched up. Off to one side, Michonne is holding Judith while Rick sits with Carl, who’s still unconscious.

At Carl’s bedside, Rick tells his unconscious son, “I was wrong. I thought after living behind these walls for so long, they couldn’t learn. But today, I saw what they could do, what we could do, if we worked together.” Rick begs Carl to let him show him the new world. Finally, Carl’s fingers curl around Rick’s hand.

So, what did you think of this episode? Did you think it was a four-star episode or was it only worthy of one star? Go to our Twitter poll and vote! Then check out the review that our Editor, Adam Carlson, posted about this episode by clicking here.