AMC/Gene Page(NEW YORK) — (SPOILERS AHEAD) Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead starts with Daryl, Henry and Lydia running from the Whisperers’ camp. Daryl lambasts her for not telling her how big the Whisperer threat was. He also shoots down the idea of Henry running away with Lydia.
At the Whisperer camp, Alpha’s lieutenant Beta organizes a search party for Lydia.
Meanwhile, at Kingdom, it’s daytime, and the Fair is about to take place: Jerry, Diane, and the rest tell Ezekiel they’ve gotten jumped by bandits who threaten anyone on the surrounding roads: the Highwaymen.
Meanwhile, Tara and some of the other Alexandrians work to clear a road of storm debris.
Meanwhile, Connie, Daryl, Henry and Lydia make it into a residential area, looking to an apartment block to use as a choke point.
Ezekiel, Carol, and the rest debate what to do about the Highwaymen. Carol urges diplomacy — unless they respond with violence: “If they don’t listen, then we’ll kill ’em.”
At the apartment block, Connie uncovers a cache of supplies — she’s stayed there before. They plan to force the Whisperers into a choke point. Connie insists Lydia stays behind, but Daryl tries to convince her otherwise. “We have friends, she doesn’t,” Connie scrawls in response.
Meanwhile, at the Highwaymen’s HQ, Ezekiel, Carol, and Jerry address the shadowy figures hiding among mannequins. Ezekiel looks for an “alternative solutions,” without paying a toll. In response, they come from the shadows and pull guns. An arrow flies from the dark, spiking through a mannequin. Kingdom’s folks come out of nowhere and take the Highwaymen by surprise.
The King sets a bargain: keep the roads clear and they get access to the Kingdom and the Fair. “You’re going to have to do better than that,” their leader says menacingly. “When was the last time any of you have seen a movie?” Carol asks.
On the road with Tara and the Alexandrians, they run afoul of walkers. The walkers try to grab at the baby Earl and his wife saved from the Whisperers, but she defends them both.
Just then, the cavalry arrives, literally: the Highwaymen ride in and instead of doing the survivors ill, they clear the remaining walkers. “We’re here to escort you to the fair!” their leader tells Tara.
At the apartment block, Lydia and Henry keep watch, while sharing flirty glances, when Lydia spots Beta and the approaching Whisperers among a walker herd. Daryl picks one off and waits for the Whisperers to break ranks before luring Beta and them all into the building trap. Beta figures it out, and he and the few Whisperers climb past the barricades as Daryl predicted.
Daryl locks Lydia in a room, with Dog to protect her. In the building, Beta and the some Whisperers spread out. Henry takes one down before running from another, whom Connie kills with her slingshot. Daryl runs into a room to take aim, but Beta and his men burst in, with Beta using a door as a shield from Daryl’s crossbow bolt. Connie is nearly killed with a whisperer’s throwing knife, and Henry is tackled.
Daryl takes a Whisperer out with an axe. Locked in her room, Lydia looks for a way out and sets Dog loose, who takes out a baddie who stabbed Henry through the leg.
Daryl kills another before coming face-to-face with Beta, who asks for the girl. They battle knife-to-knife, and hand-to-hand, through the sheetrock walls.
Daryl uses the hidden panel to hide himself, then gets behind Beta, who approaches an empty elevator shaft. Daryl runs up behind him and gives him a shove to, presumably, his death. He spits for good measure.
At Kingdom, everybody’s united: Tara, the Alexandria teens, even the Highwaymen. They’re missing Daryl and the rest, who make their escape from the apartment, with injured Henry in tow.
Down the elevator shaft, a badly injured Beta gets to his feet.
The Walking Dead returns Sunday, March 17 at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMC.
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