‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Chokepoint’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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Sometimes, it is important for a television series to take the time to remind us precisely why we fell in love with said series in the first place. Because in doing so, is shows that the people behind the scenes fully understand why the fans are invested in this epic journey and also because, it serves as a fun trip down memory lane when all is said and done, since we are instantly reminded of the early days when this particular saga hit the airwaves and we would rush to our couches or our tablets to get our respective fix, and it just so happens that The Walking Dead felt the need to pull off this particular feat during last night’s episode, ‘Chokepoint’.
 
Because if there’s one particular element that we all fell in love with when it comes to this series, it would have to be the air of danger that was present in the first couple of seasons of the show. Wherein our characters were vulnerable to a zombie attack, or some other wild surprise at just about any given moment, and the show was able to resurrect that particular sense of dread by way of two key storylines. One of course, was set up during the finale of last week’s episode, since we all knew that Daryl’s rescue of Henry would lead to great trouble with the Whisperers, but this episode also had another dangerous storyline waiting in the wings for all of us this week, one that involved the Kingdom, since we finally learned what that mysterious symbol near the movie theater was all about.
 
As it turns out, I was wrong, it wasn’t a symbol related to the Whisperers marking their territory as I first conjectured. Instead, it belonged to a new rival group known as the Highwaymen, and they made their presence known to the good people of the Kingdom by roughing up and robbing Jerry and his scouting group before sending them back to the King with a well-written letter outlining their demands for food and supplies, and that letter also included a threat that others would be turned away from the fair if they didn’t receive their supplies, and in true TWD fashion, that immediately led to the prospect of conflict. Because the King couldn’t spare a morsel of food at this point in time, and was prepared to fight to keep the fair safe and to keep his people fed.
 
However, the sense of danger hanging over this particular part of the show ended up serving as quite the misdirection. For before a fight could break out, Carol pondered upon a different approach when it came to this new foe, simply due to the fact that the Highwaymen really didn’t really harm Jerry and his group, and they took the time to calmly outline their demands, leading her to believe that perhaps negotiation was a better tactic and she was right. For after a little back and forth, Carol was able to finally strike a deal with these men by offering them access to the fair, and a movie as well, because who doesn’t love a movie, and this was quite the lovely twist to say the least since it harkened back to the greater themes revolving around community and togetherness that have served as the connective tissue for season nine.

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​But while the Kingdom’s storyline took the high road in the end, Daryl’s journey is where that classic sense of danger remained. Because shortly after the dead attacked Whisperer HQ, Beta led a team out into the wild to bring Lydia home and this entire sequence of events led to some phenomenal tension building to say the least. Because Daryl and his pals made the decision to fortify a building that Connie and her friends once used as a safe house to make a stand against Beta and the other Whisperers that would arrive with him, and since the ‘search party’ was traveling with the dead, it allowed for that sense of dread to steadily build since you knew they were on their way, moving at the unsettling pace of the dead and well, when Beta arrived, that’s when things got interesting.
 
In fact, his arrival was the grand payoff when it comes to the tension in question, since the Whisperers went right to work in trying to bring Lydia back ‘home’ and my goodness, this led to some intense fighting within the building, the kind that allowed for us to understand just how talented and badass Connie is since she dispatched her foes with ease and it also led to one hell of a showdown between Beta and Daryl. And it would seem that Beta met his match in Daryl since our plucky hero was able to hold his own against this beast of a human being, which is quite the feat to be honest since Beta was able to take a knife to the chest and stay in the fight. But what matters most here, is how the fight ended, because seeing Daryl knock Beta down an elevator shaft is about as awesome as it gets, and it was nice to see our favorite crossbow slinger kick a little Whisperer ass.
 
However, what was truly fascinating when it comes to this particular sequence of events, is that it allowed for us to learn a great deal about Beta and I’ll be damned if he isn’t one tough hombre. Because not only is he able to keep his cool when he’s under fire walking amongst the dead, he’s a cunning opponent through and through. After all, he was able to figure out exactly what Daryl was going to throw at him and holy cow, the man is simply unstoppable. I mean come on, not only did he brush off every blow that Daryl got in during the fight, he flippin’ survived falling down an elevator shaft, you simply cannot get any tougher than that and well, now that’s he hurt and angry and dealing with the failure of his mission, I wonder how long it will be before he heads back out into the world to exact a little revenge and/or attempt to complete his mission.
 
Either way, this episode really was a lot of fun. It brought back that sense of danger, it was filled to the brim with action and adventure and it even found a way to tie itself into the overall themes present this season and I loved every single minute of it. If anything, the addition of the Whisperers really seems to have injected new life into the series since they’re forcing some of the characters into some difficult moments and decisions, and you can never go wrong with challenging your characters in a story. The only question now, is what kind of retaliation and trouble is going to come about from Lydia’s escape, because this kind of problem won’t settle well with Alpha, and we know she’s willing to go the extra mile to get her hands on her daughter, and that means that sense of danger is only going to grow as all of the groups barrel toward conflict with the Whisperers. Until next time.   

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