The Walking Dead season 9 episode 6 recap: Who Are You Now
Gabriel opens the council meeting by noting that the room is crowded because it has been a while since they’ve had new people around and there’s a lot of interest in the proceedings. He asks which one is the leader, and Magna asks what makes them think there is a leader. Luke offers that they all came together over time, up until they lost Bernie the day before. In the audience, Judith looks down as she thinks about his loss.
Luke apologizes for getting emotional. He says there have been others but they also died. Connie sees Luke getting emotional and rubs Kelly’s arm.
Aaron asks who they were before. Luke was a music teacher, Magna was a waitress at a truck stop. Kelly says that Connie was an amazing journalist who exposed sleazy politicians. Kelly was a high school student.
“And who are you now?” Gabriel asks. Magna: A fighter. Connie: Kelly’s guardian angel. Kelly says it’s the other way around. Luke says he’s still a teacher, and that education never ends, even with the monsters.
They ask what they had to do to survive, and Magna says she did anything she had to do. Connie never gave up, and Kelly followed. Luke didn’t think he did anything special. He was lucky, in the right place, and then he met the right people. He says that before it all the could have been sitting together at a table in a restaurant but the only thing they had in common was that they were breathing. Which is a lot in their new world.
They’re about to vote when Michonne gets up. She says that they want to be kind and generous as a community but they have to be careful because there can be a price to pay, as they know. Fellow council members Aaron, Siddiq and Gabriel look away as she says those words. Michonne asks for Magna’s left hand and she reveals that Magna has a prison tattoo. “Screw you,” she says when Michonne asks if she got it at a truck stop. This leads to whispers among the group.
Aaron says it doesn’t matter, but Michonne tells Magna to put her knife on the table. Her belt buckle was a knife. Michonne says she remembers, and she tells them to vote. She stalks out of the meeting room, and when Magna asks if she can ask a question Michonne says no.
Rosita finds Gabriel tinkering with a radio. He says he’s thinking about more people out there. The survivors remind him that some people need help and Gabriel says that Michonne is wrong. Rosita agrees but the prison tattoo is hard to ignore. At least they’ll be there until Yumiko heals. Gabriel says that Eugene says they can boost the radio’s signal, but Rosita reminds him that it would be a security breach. Still, it could yield new people and new possibilities. Rosita grabs the map and says she’ll go out with Eugene to set it up. Gabriel tells her she’s amazing and they kiss. So Gabriel and Rosita are a couple now.
Judith goes to find Michonne in her bedroom, but she sees that she’s talking to someone. She watches Michonne pace back and forth talking to someone about what they planned and how he was, and after a few moments the little girl turns to walk away when the floorboard creaks. Michonne realizes that Judith is listening and hurries out to her, reminding her that it’s almost time for her lesson, and then homework. “Okay, Mom,” Judith calls, walking away.