The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 9 “Rock in the Road” Recap
The Walking Dead returned this week with the second half of season 7 and it left us asking a few questions, and begging for a few answers.
It’s no secret that The Walking Dead is experiencing a bit of a slump. Typically this happens during a show’s second season, not the seventh, yet here we are, facing the lowest ratings of the AMC apocalyptic drama that we’ve ever seen. No matter why this is happening (although I, along with plenty of other fans, have a fair share of guesses), it’s clear that this season needed to be saved somehow; I think, so far, they’re off to a good start.
I finally found myself watching this show as I did the first 6 seasons — happily sitting in anticipation instead of clenching my fists at Rick’s wasted character development. I could breathe again and I remember why I first fell in love with The Walking Dead. If the show carries on as it did during “Rock in the Road,” I believe we’re about to see a dramatic redemption arc from the series as a whole.
The first half of season 7 wrapped up last year with our gang being reunited, and all of them having their unique reasons for wanting to fight back. This episode, the questions of ‘how?’ was finally answered. Kind of.
So, with that, let’s recap:
“We think it’s time to introduce you to King Ezekiel.“
We kick off episode 9 at Hilltop. Rick and his crew are trying to convince Gregory to join in the fight against Negan. Gregory isn’t having it, but Jesus and the some of the folk at Hilltop want to help so they plan to go behind his back. That’s still not enough people though.
That’s where King Ezekiel comes in. Rick and Jesus round up the gang and travel to The Kingdom. Richard meets them at the gate and lets them in. We’re finally reunited with Morgan, who tells them about Carol. I need to believe that we’ll see Carol more in the upcoming episodes because I just desperately need a Carol/Daryl reunion.
Rick makes his case to King Ezekiel and is fully supported by Richard, but Morgan is the one who’s throwing a kink in the gears. The King doesn’t seem to be budging from agreeing with Morgan but offers Daryl a home as everyone knows that the Saviors will come looking for him at Alexandria.
Rick leaves The Kingdom in hopes that Daryl can work his magic on the King.
Image via AMC/Gene Page
Rosita comes in clutch.
I’ll admit it — I didn’t like Rosita at the beginning of this episode. She’s being overly bitter and she’s taking it out on people who don’t deserve it. Sasha specifically. While they were at The Kingdom, Sasha tried to make small talk with Rosita and her response to that was, “What the hell you telling me for? We both had sex with the same dead guy. It don’t make us friends.”
Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not expecting them to sing Kumbaya and braid each other’s hair but can Rosita chill out?
Anyway, back to how Rosita actually saved everyone this episode.
On the way home to Alexandria, Rick and the gang face a road block of two of the Saviors’ traps. First, a line of cars that is cutting off the road. Second, a string of explosives. They decide to carefully move the line of cars to get their own car through and then to move them back like nothing happened. They also want to take the explosives so they can use them against Negan and the Saviors eventually. Luckily, Rosita knows exactly how to disarm a bomb. They gather up the explosives but a herd of approaching walkers is threatening them. Rick and Michonne decide to do something about it. They take the cars that the steel wire is attached to and drive it straight towards to walkers, slicing about 300 of them in half. With only less than a second to spare, the two hop into the car and they drive off towards home. There’s the drama we all know and love!
Image via Gene Page / AMC
Missing supplies.
So we return back to Alexandria with a decent amount of explosives. Now what?
Well first we have to deal with some Saviors, who are on the hunt for Daryl. They completely terrorize the houses of Alexandria and end up in the supply closet, which is looking oddly empty to Rick Grimes. Once the Saviors find no trace of Daryl, they head out and Rick begins questioning where the supplies went.
Rewind to the opening scene of this episode. Father Gabriel was on watch in the middle of the night. He heads into the supply closet and without showing what happens in there, we hear a crash. It then shows him quickly shoving supplies and weapons into boxes, loading a car, filling it with gas, and driving away. As he begins driving, a head pops up in the passenger seat. Perhaps the same person that was lurking outside of the Alexandria walls at the end of last episode?
Fast forward to the case of the mysterious lost supplies. The group realizes that Father Gabriel was the one on watch and begins to question if he just took off. Rick doesn’t buy it, so he searches for any clues of where he could have gone. Behold, a composition book that has the word ‘BOAT’ written in big, friendly letters. Back to the boat they go!
Image via AMC/Gene Page
Happy Rick.
As the group slowly creeps on the property where they found the boat of supplies earlier this season, they become surrounded by a massive crowd of people — a new community. The camera pans in on Rick’s face and he lets out a massive grin.
But why? We’ll have to wait and see.
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The Walking Dead airs on Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.