The Walking Dead is back and it has been quite a summer as AMC stoked the fire ahead of the season 10 premiere. Here’s your recap of “Lines We Cross.”
The season 10 premiere of The Walking Dead begins in an unlikely spot: Up in space. A satellite flies along peacefully, with the Earth there in the distance. But what does this mean?
Incidentally, this episode features a story by Angela Kang and it has been sectioned off in various segments, which you’ll see reflected below:
Training Day
A walker washes up on the beach. He’s waterlogged, to be sure, and he has also been pierced with driftwood. He’s an easy target for Judith, who kills him before returning to the formation of troops with her mom Michonne and the rest of the familiar faces from multiple communities. Daryl watches them march along the beach with their armor raised. (The armor looks like old oil barrels with spikes.
Ezekiel and Jerry release a few walkers from an old boat and the troops fall into formation, dropping on one knee under Aaron’s command so the archers can fire. The next round is the spear group. Alden is very good at using his spear. Round three is the group that goes and fights by hand: Michonne, Magna and Luke.
The boat starts to give way and Jerry and Ezekiel get ready to fight as a mini-herd approaches the troops unexpectedly. Daryl fights with his knives while the armored guards make a path for Judith to kill a walker. They’re triumphant.
Back at Oceanside, Luke hits up Jules in a conversation about the strangest things she has ever seen wash up on the beach. It’s easy, she says: A container of hot dog trophies. “Literally trophies with dancing hot dogs.” They’re flirting, and Luke has a good game. But she’s definitely initiating.
Michonne and Daryl discuss the day’s training. Tara would be proud. Michonne is glad they were able to bring the kids for their first trip to the ocean.
Judith and the other kids have pails full of shells and Judith sorts through her brother’s stash. Inside he has lots of shells, and a Whisperer skin.
Cue the credits, here we go! It’s important to note that in this season of The Walking Dead the credits are still in the animated style and they have been upgrades to featured new scenes from season 9 and some hints at what’s to come. Notably, there is a scene of Rick on the bridge full of walkers.
Skin
Aaron is on the radio reporting the Whisperer mask to Gabriel back at Alexandria, who asks what it means. Aaron doesn’t know, but he thinks the community should go on lockdown just in case the Whisperers are back. Michonne interrupts, noting that they don’t know what it means so everyone should be on alert just in case. They end the call and Michonne tells Aaron that she doesn’t want to start a panic. He rightfully points out that no one saw the Whisperers move out, so how would they know if they’re back? Michonne offers to take a search party out Daryl says he has to meet someone, and Michonne tells him to “tell her” that the next time she goes off she needs to say goodbye first.
Michonne leads a team of six riders on horseback across a green field. All signs of winter are gone now. They split off into three groups to search the area. Michonne kills a walker while Aaron contemplates whether they’re the good guys. The way he sees it, they’re “the villains of someone else’s story.” Michonne doesn’t care about the Whisperers, but he’s not talking about them specifically. Magna and Yumiko don’t see anything from their spot, and neither do Luke and Alden.
Aaron spots a group of walkers on the bridge. He rides off and goes to clear the bridge, leaving the horse behind Michonne tells him to watch their hands as he’s quickly overrun. She kills the walkers and he keeps walking. She tells him he was stupid for almost crossing their border, and she reminds him that she lost Rick on a bridge. He says that they have been holding their breath for months, for nothing. He’s tired of being the nice guy. Eric and Jesus are dead and he’s sick of being nice. She’s sick of it, too, but the Whisperers have a “nuclear weapon,” she says, and it’s all about keeping people alive.
She reports that they didn’t find anything, but Yumiko did. Michonne and Aaron join them at their location in the woods, and they see that there is evidence of a camp site. Alden and Luke follow along as they walk past skeletons and Luke wonders if the campers got into a battle with the walkers. But then they come to a body that has been skinned. It has been there a while.
Deeper in the woods Magna reveals a skin on a log. Aaron reasons that there was at least one Whisperer on their side of the border.
They return to Oceanside and Michonne tells Aaron that they need to manage the fear before it consumes them. She says that she has been thinking about who they are, and she says they are the good guys. She knows who Rick, Carl, Eric and Jesus were. Being the good guys is a decision, and when they question it, they lose sight of it. And that is scarier than the Whisperers.
Michonne moves on and realizes that Judith is telling her brother a story about “the brave man” who saved the day when fighting against the walkers. RJ asks if the brave man went to his friend’s house afterwards but Judith says he died and went to Heaven, and he lives in all of their hearts. Michonne walks up, blinking back tears, and hugs her kids. RJ tells Michonne that he doesn’t like that the brave man died and she explains that some people would do anything to save the day. They hug again.
The hug is interrupted by a boom in the sky. Judith asks if it’s a meteor shower, but that’s not it at all. There are pieces of debris streaking through the sky. Someone calls Michonne to tell her that Eugene is on the radio and he has to talk to her right away.
Bird Wisdom
We return to the moment when Aaron was on the radio earlier in the episode. Instead of following the story we just saw in Oceanside, everything shifts to Alexandria. Father Gabriel is on the other end listening to Michonne’s orders.
Elsewhere, Rosita kick boxes while Eugene measures the baby. We see Eugene taking all kinds of measurements and calculations, and he even tries to sneak a peek while Rosita is feeding baby Coco. He’s keeping detailed notes on her sleep patterns, eating habits and growth. He watches her while Rosita works out.
Gabriel ends the transmission and walks into the house to find Eugene reporting his findings to Siddiq, who appreciates all of the detail even if he won’t use it. Rosita jokes that Eugene is the one who fixed the radios and all Gabriel does is talk. But Gabriel’s expression reveals that there’s something very wrong.
The meeting room has been transformed into a school and Lydia is with a bunch of young kids learning how to read. She struggles and then closes the book, noting that she made it this long without knowing how to read. The Council comes in and clears the room, but they wonder if Lydia should stay. She doesn’t stay.
Outside, Lydia works on her stick skills (in a nod to Morgan). She’s frustrated and angry. Negan notices and calls to her. He’s nearby tending tomatoes in the garden. He asks if everything is ok, and she lies and says everything is fine. He saw the big meeting and that people are giving her the side eye. He gets called back to work, but Lydia approaches and tells him that everyone is on alert because they found a skin. He asks what it means, and she asks what she should know. “It means you should watch your back, kid,” he tells her. The council leaves, and Negan gives them all a wave.
Siddiq puts Coco to bed, starting up the whimsical hanger and paper swan mobile over the crib. He starts to have flashbacks of the time in the barn as Alpha was killing everyone. He sees a spiders and has flashbacks, but he’s interrupted by the new doctor who came into town. He’s new, so he wants to know what the “yellow alert” means and the whole deal surrounding the Whisperers. He jokes that Siddiq should kiss him already because of how he’s looking at him, but the shellshocked Siddiq tries to shake it off.
Gabriel finds Negan in his cell and he’s surprised that he ended work early today. Negan says it’s all starting. He wants to share what this all means. People get mixed up on who they hate, he says. Yesterday it was Negan, and now he works in the garden. He wants to remain in the “semi-us” category while the focus is on the Whisperers again. “People are puttin’ their shittin’ pants back on” and he says that the council needs to make people feel secure. Gabriel thinks Negan wants them to lie, but Negan says you do whatever it takes to keep people alive even if it’s an omission of the truth.
Gabriel tells everyone outside to lock the gates and double up security for the night.
There’s a boom in the sky and Eugene takes off running. He calls Oceanside and Rachel answers, and he says he needs to talk with Michonne immediately.
Sea Dogs
We return to Aaron on the radio talking about the skin they found. This time we follow Daryl to the beach with dog. He watches as Kelly almost trips on some coral. Connie notices that Kelly doesn’t hear the women trying to warn her and they have a conversation where Kelly admits that when there is a lot of noise around she can’t hear things. It has been getting worse and worse, but Connie assures her that she will be fine. Kelly worries that no one will be able to interpret for her but Connie sees it as a superpower.
Dog runs up and greets Connie, and Daryl gives a little wave. Kelly wiggles her eyebrows at Connie, who smiles and pushes her way.
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On the dock, Daryl and Ezekiel have a conversation about birds and bird poop. Ezekiel admits he never liked working with the birds at the zoo while lions and tigers never bothered him. Daryl suggests he eat more birds to show them who’s boss. Connie walks up with Dog and tells Daryl he lost something. Daryl signs back that Dog likes her better. She smiles and writes out that Daryl signs with a “southern accent” which gives him pause.
There’s a bell in the distance. The boat is coming in. Daryl whistles and waves while Ezekiel stands behind him with a look of uncertainty. Carol waves excitedly. Ezekiel is there to help her off the boat and they share an awkward moment of silence before she runs over to give Connie and Daryl hugs. She asks if Daryl missed him. “Not really,” he says. They laugh.
She tells him about the back breaking work and the chance to sleep under the stars. They went down South, she says, to a port where Oceanside has been getting letters from Maggie. Daryl thinks Carol was there looking for Alpha, but Carol won’t admit it. She tried to forget what happened and has been trying to forget the Whisperers entirely. Daryl has to tell her that they found a mask today and Michonne is looking for signs of them. Carol says she’s only there until the next boat leaves, so Daryl asks what they should do.
Next we see Daryl and Carol riding through the woods on the motorcycle. She wants him to go faster. This is a new area of forest that they just cleared. Soon we see more walkers, and they get to work clearing them out. “Watch their hands,” Daryl warns.
New Mexico
Still in the woods, Daryl shoots a deer with an arrow but the animal runs off. They follow the blood trail to the road, which is one of their borders. The animal slumps over and dies on the Whisperer side, and Carol wants to grab the deer before the walkers get it but Daryl says it’s too late. She walks away, disgusted.
Later, Daryl apologizes for upsetting her. He tells her that there’s no point in stirring up a fight, and she admits that it’s why she ended up leaving. He tells her it’s time to come home, and he doesn’t want his best friend to be away. She suggests making friendship bracelets, with little seashells, and tells her to forget it. He suggests they eat and not talk. All the while, though, he’s toying with a piece of twine.
She asks if this is all there is, just killing each other. He thinks they’re just surviving, but he thinks there has to be more out there. He gets what Maggie is doing with Georgie. Carol invites him to go out on the boat, but that’s not him. She says they could go on the road with the bike, go west to New Mexico to people who make bracelets. He says there should be no more fighting. He hands her a bracelet he made. “Sounds good to me,” she says.
There’s a boom and the satellite goes blazing through the sky.
Lines We Cross
Now it’s nighttime and there’s a big fire. Now we know that the satellite hit the ground and started a forest fire.
Everyone comes together despite the risk and works to put out the fire, which started on the Whisperers’ side of the border. The problem is that if it spreads it will take out their hunting grounds and hit Oceanside.
The satellite is on the ground and it’s an old one from the USSR. There are flaming walkers to contend with along with the fire itself. Earl tells Alden that it’s going to be a long night. They have to work to cut the brush away while they use portable tanks to spray the flames. Aaron gives orders and Magna and Yumiko are there to run the lines.
In the morning, the fire is still burning but the flames are being contained by their efforts. Jerry watches out for Ezekiel, who gasps for air. He won’t let this fire damage Oceanside the way it destroyed the Kingdom. Jerry convinces him to take a break.
Cyndie spots a herd coming and they all brace for a fight, not knowing if this is a regular herd or not.
Embers
The herd advances and the group splits up to start defending the fire zone. There are too many, but they have to fight. Daryl has an ax, Alden a stick and even Earl gets in with his bucket. Carol has a bow and arrow. Together they work to keep the walkers away while the rest of the group works to put out the fire. It’s all hands on deck while they fight this battle. Carol uses walker blood to put out a fire.
The trees start to break, and Daryl uses one to pin the walkers down. Michonne uses her impressive sword skills to kill as many as possible.
Later, when the fire is out, Michonne orders everyone to pack up and move but Eugene wants to salvage equipment from the satellite. They all work to move the satellite while Luke asks about radiation, but Eugene points out that they already have something that will convert them into walkers so it’s kind of a moot point.
Aaron asks Michonne if they made a mistake, but Michonne says they did it to defend their people. She looks around and notices that Carol and Daryl are missing.
We see Carol on the precipice where Alpha showed Daryl her massive herd. The canyon is empty now. He asks if she still wants to run away, and she says yes. Tomorrow. He tells her to stay, and to think about it. Or he’ll poke holes in the boats. He walks away.
Carol takes one last look into the canyon and spots Alpha walking in. Alpha looks up and sees Carol there. She puts her hands on her hips and stares at Carol.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.