The Walking Dead season 9 episode 8 recap: Evolution

Since no horror story is complete without teenagers behaving badly, we find Henry and his new friends in their hideout in the woods. They’re drinking and playing games, and Henry is flirting with Addie. He doesn’t want to drink but he does, and it knocks him on his butt. Gage decides to reveal their main source of entertainment: A walker pit with a walker inside. It has arrows in its head and they play a game of ring toss with it. Addie walks away, clearly not a fan. Henry jumps inside and quickly puts it out of its misery, offering the walker an apology. Gage is furious, but Henry says that if he has to explain why he did it then Gage wouldn’t understand.

The search party manages to get Eugene to the crossroads. They can’t believe that the herd managed to find them so quickly. Eugene has a theory: The walkers have evolved. Though it might seem crazy at first, the fact that the dead have risen and are walking around makes it more than plausible. Jesus wonders if they can work out strategy too. The herd is moving too fast so Jesus proposes that they split up. Daryl says he’ll stay and divert them. He runs off with Dog while Aaron and Jesus help Eugene.

Back in Negan’s cell, Negan bounces his ball but then it goes outside the cell door. When he looks closely, he notices that the cell door is open. He moves toward it to confirm it, and one push sends the door open. He steps through. Negan picks up his ball and smiles, tossing it over looking at the door.

Tara brings Earl to the Hilltop drunk tank. She says Henry threw up on a pig and Tara’s favorite boots. She goes back to bed, leaving Earl with Henry. He wants to know why Henry was outside the gates in the first place, but Henry won’t rat his friends out. If he won’t talk, Earl won’t keep him on. Henry says he knows he messed up and Earl wants to know what got into him. Henry says he saw Carol crying today, which he has never seen. He’s only now realizing what a big deal it is for him to be at Hilltop and he needed a diversion. Earl understands. He has been in that drunk tank too. The sentence is two days. He’s going to stay there and will have a lot of work to catch up on when he gets out.

The herd moves down the road. Daryl and dog are ready to make some noise with firecrackers. When they go off, the herd starts coming toward them. Daryl and Dog make noise, but then they see the herd moving away from the noise. Daryl can’t believe his eyes.