The Walking Dead 613: The Same Boat [recap and poll]

How would YOU rate last night’s episode of The Walking Dead? Keep reading to see a recap of episode 613, take our poll and then leave us your thoughts about the what happened. Your comments could end up in a fan reaction article later this week!

When we last left Rick and the gang, they had just killed a whole compound of the Saviors… or at least, we’re pretty sure that’s who they killed. It wasn’t easy, but it seemed to have gone pretty well… Until a man suddenly rode out on a motorcycle – Daryl’s motorcycle – with a radio, on the other end of which there was a woman who claimed to be holding Carol and Maggie. The others hadn’t noticed their absence, because the two had been guarding the perimeter the last time anyone had seen them.

Episode 613 starts in darkness. We hear the alarm at the Saviors’ compound, walkers being killed. We see Carol and Maggie arguing over whether Maggie’s going with Carol to help the group, and then suddenly a man comes out of the trees. Carol shoots him in the arm and he goes down. 

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Maggie bends over the man who’s on the ground. We later learn that his name is Donnie. Carol wants to run, but Maggie wants to finish him. While she’s standing over him, her gun almost in his face, three women appear out of the trees. Suddenly Carol and Maggie are the ones at gunpoint. Not good.

In the next scene, Paula, the redhead and apparent leader of the small group that has captured Carol and Maggie, is looking through binoculars, as we follow her view of the rest of Rick’s group apprehending Primo, the man on the motorcycle. Donnie is arguing with Molly, the oldest of the three women, about whether they can take Rick’s group. He seems to be the only one who thinks they can. 

Paula talks to Rick on the radio, (my apologies for my previous recap, I turned on my closed captions this time and now see that she called him “Prick,” not “Rick”) telling them to put down their guns and that they have Carol and Maggie.

Rick wants them to come out and talk. Paula agrees only to talk, not to come out. Maggie and Carol are put on the radio to say that they’re fine, after which Rick demands that they be released in exchange for Primo. 

However, Paula says it’s not an even trade. She doesn’t feel rushed to make a deal with Rick, telling her people that Primo can take care of himself. Donnie wants him back so that he can patch him up. He’s really pissed at Carol for shooting him, and tells Paula she should have shot Carol in the head so that Rick’s group “could’ve heard her die.” Paula just tells him to shut up, then gets back on the radio and tells Rick she’ll get back to him.

The backs of Carol and Maggie’s jackets are flipped forward over their heads and they’re forced to walk, pushed in one direction then another until they’re forced into a car, their wrists secured with duct tape and gags in their mouths. Paula is trying to get in touch with someone on the radio, telling them to change channels, but there’s a lot of static. She finally gets through and says they’re on their way to the break point.

They arrive at some sort of building with loud, heavy doors. The jackets are removed from their heads and Maggie is greeted with a walker directly in front of her face, which Paula kills only inches from Maggie’s nose. She directs Maggie and Carol to get on the ground, sitting against opposite walls. She tells them that there’s no way out of this unless she says so… and something tells me that she’s unlikely to do that.

Somewhere nearby there’s commotion and a voice calls for backup. Before she leaves, Paula dares the two women to try something. Maggie immediately starts looking around for something to break the duct tape around her wrists with, settling for the tiled corner of the wall. Carol picks up a string of rosary beads, that had fallen off the walker corpse that Paula had dragged from the room before she’d left, and tries to use the points of the cross.

Suddenly everything goes quiet, and the two go back to their positions. Carol begins hyperventilating, while Maggie looks on helplessly. At first I thought it was supposed to be some sort of distraction, since Carol is exceptionally good with making herself look weak, but since she started when only Maggie was in the room, I had my doubts.

Paula brings Donnie into the room, setting him down against the wall. Molly and Chelle, a young brunette, come in with them, talking amongst themselves, while Carol continues hyperventilating. Maggie tries to call to her, and Paula notices the noise only enough to tell her to shut up. Paula’s busy making a tourniquet around the top of Donnie’s arm out of rope.

Maggie finally makes enough noise to get Paula’s attention. Paula ungags her, and Maggie insists that they take Carol’s gag off so she can breathe. Carol slowly begins breathing again, taking out the rosary beads that she’d found on the ground and pretending to pray.

Chelle points her gun at Carol, while Molly tells her to “take some yoga breaths and calm your ass down.” Paula asks her what she’s afraid of, whether she’s afraid to die. Carol says it doesn’t matter what happens to her, just as long as they don’t hurt Maggie or the baby. 

The Saviors are skeptical of Maggie’s pregnancy, since she’s not showing. Maggie says she’s only about 2 months. Paula tells Maggie that she’s some kind of stupid to get knocked up at “a time like this.” Maggie asks when it was ever smart to get knocked up. Paula goes on sarcastically about the futility of having children, saying “the point is to stay standing.” Maggie disagrees, insisting that she’s choosing something.

Paula leaves the room and they’re left with Chelle, Molly and Donnie, who’s still on the floor. Molly lights a cigarette and takes a puff, then seems to have a coughing fit. Carol says “The baby,” as if to tell Molly that she shouldn’t smoke near Maggie because of the secondhand smoke. Molly thinks this is hilarious, saying that they have bigger problems that secondhand smoke, but Chelle agrees, and Molly complains, but puts it out. She starts coughing hard again. 

Carol tells her the cigarettes will kill her, to which Molly replies that they already have, showing her the bloody cloth that she has just coughed into as proof. She tells them, “I’m a dead woman walking. Which puts us in exactly the same boat.”

Donnie is still on the ground, and begins complaining that his arm feels like it’s on fire. Paula tells him that he just needs to hold on for the scout crew, who’ll be there in 30 minutes, maybe less. Maggie says that the man doesn’t have 30 minutes, that he needs medical attention or he’ll lose his arm, maybe his life. She tells Paula that it’s time to end this, and encourages her to talk to Rick. Paula tells Donnie to hang on for 30 minutes.

Donnie stares across the room at Carol, then struggles to his feet, walks up in front of her and talks about how Carol did this to him and is just sitting there, “fully intact.” He obviously wants to hurt her. If they’re not going to trade them, he wants to kill them both right then. Paula tells him that no, they need the two as insurance. Donnie is in favor of shooting Carol in the arm to make things even, which Paula also refuses to do. 

Donnie falls to the ground in pain and frustration, and Paula just tells him to shut up, so he pulls himself up and slaps her, hard. He turns toward Carol, and Maggie kicks him in the ankle to knock him down. He grabs Maggie and picks her up, calling her a “dumb, uppity bitch.” Before he can do anything to her, she head-buts him, knocking him over. Carol grabs his leg, forcing him to twist around towards her, then he begins kicking her in the back as she lays on the ground.

Paula comes up behind him, stabbing him in the head, then tells the women they “really are some kind of stupid.” She orders Chelle to take Maggie to another room and interrogate her. As Maggie is taken away, Carol lays on the ground, looking up at the small window in the door, where she can see a walker pawing at the door, hearing its moan from the other side.

Chelle and Maggie sit across from each other in a storeroom. Chelle asks where they’re living. Instead of answering, Maggie leans over and throws up a little, then just looks up at her, telling her nothing. Chelle tells her to help herself and her baby, and that, “You’re not the good guys.”

Molly is tending to the bruise Paula’s face. Carol thanks them for helping Maggie, and for helping her. She starts to talk about Ed, but Paula cuts her off and calls her pathetic. Carol looks at the ground, fingering the rosary beads.

Paula asks if she really believes in “that crap,” aka religion. Carol’s crying, saying that her faith got her through the death of her daughter, to which Paula suggests that she’ll see her again soon.

Maggie notices that Chelle is missing part of her finger. She asks about it and Chelle says she got caught stealing gas for a car so she could look for her boyfriend’s body. He’d been blown up, so there wasn’t much to find. (Uh-oh, we know who killed your boyfriend…) Maggie sees a tattoo on Chelle’s arm that says “Frankie,” and asks if that was her boyfriend’s name. She says no, that it was her dad’s name, and that she was going to name “the baby” after her dad. Maggie tells her that she’s sorry, but Chelle tells Maggie that no, you’re not sorry.

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They both agree that they’re not planning to die today, to which Chelle says that one of them is wrong. She asks again where they live, but Maggie doesn’t say a word.

Rick is on the radio again, asking Paula if she’s thought about the trade. Paula says he wasn’t listening, that she had said she’d contact him. Rick tells her he thinks that they’ll agree to the trade, but Paula that they’d be taking most of the risk and not getting much reward. She says they’ll take their chances and puts the radio down.

Carol tells them that they don’t have to fight. Molly insists that they do, because “Your people killed all of my people. Of course we gotta fight.” Carol says that they hadn’t wanted to kill them, but that her people (Daryl, Abraham and Sasha) had been ambushed on the road by their people, who had tried to take everything from them and had been about to kill them.

Molly says that now they know what happened to T’s group. Paula calls self-defense fair play, but asks why they didn’t stop after blowing the group on the road to pieces. Carol tells them that the group was working for Negan, who sounded like a maniac and had to be stopped. Molly tells her that they are all Negan. Carol asks what that means, but in the meantime, Molly, who’s smoking again, has another coughing fit.

Not long later, Molly has recovered and is lighting another cigarette. Carol asks her if she can have one. Molly gives her one and lights it for her. Carol holds it between her lips feebly. Paula calls her weak, says she can’t even stick to her own principles. Carol mutters, “You don’t want me to stick to my own principles.” (Just trust her on this one, ladies!) 

Paula talks about having been a secretary before the apocalypse, and about how much she hated her boss. She now seems to want to talk, and tells Carol that they had been at work when the army took over DC, that they weren’t allowed to leave, so she was stuck with her boss instead of being with her husband and 4 girls when the world ended.

She tells Carol that her boss was weak and stupid and he was the first person she killed, before he died and took her down too. She says that she stopped counting when she hit double digits and stopped feeling bad about it too. She says that she’s not like Carol. “I’m me, but better,” she tells her.

Paula’s next “fact” for Carol is that the people she’s with are killers, and that makes her a killer. Carol tells her she’s the one who’s afraid to die, and that she will die if she doesn’t work things out. Paula is amused, and asks if Carol is the one who’s going to kill her, to which Carol says she hopes not.

Paula calls Rick on the radio, addressing him as “asshole.” She tells him she wants to trade, tells him to meet in a large field with a sign that says “God is dead,” in ten minutes. However, Paula is immediately suspicious because there wasn’t any static on the radio. She thinks they’re outside waiting for them, knows that they have all the weapons from the compound that they raided. She’s pacing worriedly, thinking out loud.

Carol says that Rick is a man of his word, who wouldn’t put herself and Maggie at risk to attack them. Paula replies that in that case, “he’s just as stupid as you are.” She clicks her radio dial and speaks to someone who says they’re 10 minutes away. She gets ready to go, telling Molly that they’ll leave the girl and travel light, and if Rick’s group is already there, they’ll pick them off at the door.

When Paula opens the door there are two walkers standing in the hall, and she stabs them in the head one after the other. As the two women leave, Paula tells Molly that they need the hallway clear, and then the door closes and Carol is alone in the room.

Carol breaths deeply and begins sharpening the cross on the floor. Soon she’s able to cut through the tape that’s binding her. She makes it into the hall and sees Molly killing a walker around the corner. She goes back the other way. Opening a door, she finds Maggie, who had been working on the tape on her as well. Carol frees her ankles and hands, hugging her. She asks Maggie if she’s okay, to which Maggie says, “Have to be.”

Carol wants to just get out of there, but Maggie insists that they have to finish this.

They find Donnie, who had been dead and is now turning. They take the rope from around his arm. Carol urges her that they should go. Maggie says they need a gun.

Elsewhere, Molly goes through a doorway and is immediately attacked by a walker, its teeth ripping through her flesh. She manages to stab it but by then it’s too late. Maggie comes up behind her and grabs her, then gets her on the floor, stabbing her far more than is necessary, as Carol looks on. They close the door and leave them there. 

“I’m a dead woman walking. Which puts us in exactly the same boat.”

Paula comes in and sees what happened. She’s pissed now.

Maggie and Carol are walking quickly through a dark hallway. They come to a part of the hall filled with walkers that are secured to the walls or floor by various means. They begin stabbing their way through, and Paula catches up with them. Carol aims a gun at her. Paula tells her to go ahead and do it, that Carol has no idea the things she’s done and given up.

Carol tells her to run. Maggie tells Carol to shoot her. But Carol doesn’t want to shoot her. However, a walker that had been held on a spike behind Carol breaks free and stumbles towards her from behind, making her jump forward, causing her to fire at Paula. Maggie immediately springs into action against the other walkers nearby.

They hear someone else coming in search of Paula and Molly, calling their names, and Maggie creeps along the wall toward the door, ready for their approach. It’s Chelle, and she and Maggie struggle against each other. Chelle manages to cut Maggie’s shirt with her knife, right at Maggie’s stomach, and Maggie starts breathing heavily. Carol’s against the far wall, and walks forward without hesitation and shoots Chelle in the head.

Paula groans, then laughs, and they turn to see her sitting up. Carol points her gun at Paula as Paula pulls herself up to stand. She tells Carol, “You’re good,” that she had been a nervous bird, but not now. “Me too,” she adds. Carol walks toward Paula, pointing the gun at her. Paula asks her if she could do all this, what was she afraid of. Carol says she was afraid of this, but doesn’t pull the trigger.

As soon as Carol’s within reach, Paula lunges at her, and the two struggle. Paula ends with speared on one of the spikes that a walker had been held on, and a walker immediately begins eating her.

Just then, a voice on the radio asks if she copies. It’s meant for Paula. Carol pretends to be Paula, and tells him to meet them on the Kill Floor.

Carol and Maggie are standing side by side, staring forward. Carol says she might have killed 18 people, then corrects the figure to 20. She says she should’ve killed Donnie in the woods, as well. Maggie tells her not to think about it, but Carol says she can’t stop. Maggie says “We’re almost done.” They hear several men go past the door they’re standing behind, hear them say that the floor is slick. 

Carol lights the cigarette that’s in her mouth, then the women quickly close a heavy sliding door, trapping the men inside. Carol throws her cigarette into the room just before the door closes, lighting the whole room on fire.

Maggie and Carol stand outside the room, hearing the men scream as they’re burned alive, then walk together toward the exit of the building. They have to pass the bodies and the walkers again. Maggie stabs a few of the walkers as they pass by. They’re both in shock.

They open another door and come face to face with Glenn and the others, and they can all finally lower their weapons. Glenn grabs Maggie, only able to say her name. 

Suddenly Daryl’s in front of Carol, his hand on her shoulder, asking if she’s okay. She doesn’t reply. He tells her that they got their trail, asks her if they started a fire. Carol just says “yeah.” She’s not looking at him, and he puts his fingers under her chin to get her to raise her eyes to his. “You good?” he asks, to which she simply replies, “No,” and Daryl hugs her tightly.

Maggie tells Glenn that everyone who took them are all dead, then in response to the question “Are you okay?” she simply says, “I can’t anymore.”

Rick tells Primo that his friends are dead so he might as well talk. He asks Primo where he got the bike – Daryl’s bike – and he says they found it, which Rick doesn’t believe. Even though Primo’s not answering questions, he asks him if Negan was in the compound they attacked the previous night, or if he was in the one they’re in now. Primo replies “Both,” and tells Rick that he’s Negan. Rick wastes no time in shooting him in the head.

Next: The Ultimate Walking Dead Fan Vacation

Carol is still holding the rosary beads, squeezing them so hard that blood drips from her hand. That’s when we all realize just how long we’d been holding our breath!

To me, this episode was just another display of the amazing talents of Melissa McBride and Lauren Cohan! Melissa was one of the guests on Talking Dead last night as well, and she talked about what was going through Carol’s mind in this episode. You can read more about that in Undead Walking co-editor Susan Graham’s Talking Dead recap by clicking here. To read a review of this episode by Undead Walking co-editor, Adam Carlson, click here.

So what did YOU think? Click on our poll and leave your comments – they may end up in an article later this week!