‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Look at the Flowers’

3/30/2020

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Often times in storytelling, once we’ve reached the end of a grandiose moment, or the climax of a particular storyline; our wonderful tale makes a point to get to the end as quickly as possible. That’s due to the fact that a cardinal rule in storytelling is to wrap it up once we’ve reached the apex, and for a great many stories, that makes total sense. After all, in an action movie, once the baddie is gone and the day is saved, there’s no need for a long denouement. It is best to just push toward the end credits and let the audience go about their day. But some stories require a little more finesse storytelling wise, and it is important to see what comes next and how the events of a big moment impact the characters and that is something that The Walking Dead excels at.

Because time and time again, we’ve seen our merry band of heroes endure incredibly difficult and emotional moments, and we’ve seen them fight back in epic fashion and win the day. And rather than just fade to black and move us along, the story has often taken the time to show us what comes next after a grand battle and/or horrific loss, and it just so happens that ‘Walk With Us’ set the stage for that exploration to return to the forefront of the series once again. For that episode saw the Whisperer War come to an end, thanks Carol and Negan’s daring plan, which meant that it was up to ‘Look at the Flowers’ to properly examine the fallout of Alpha’s death and thankfully it did so in grandiose and sweeping fashion, and that made for one fascinating episode to say the least.

One that saw some people hope to bounce back from these ugly events by focusing upon something uplifting, as was the case with Eugene. Because losing Hilltop was quite the blow and seeing its good citizens scattered to the wind didn’t quite sit right with him. So, he decided he needed to cling tight to notions of community and the possibility that there were good people still out there. Which prompted him to inform everyone about his radio dealings and that he was heading out to meet the mysterious Stephanie. A move that was met with a touch of skepticism and fear, something that Ezekiel asked everyone to put aside in order to hear Eugene out and his words resonated with the King and he opted to join Eugene on this trip, in order to see what would come out of this meeting.

It was a move that Ezekiel regretted to a certain extent, simply because he was no longer in the right physical condition to make this kind of journey. But he did it because he was hoping for something more, and what they found in Charleston was quite unique to say the least. Because someone took the dead and placed them around town in familiar positions, which offered some moments of levity and of course grand curiosity as to who took the time to make this happen and well, it would seem we will get the answers to that question next week. Since the trio did meet a mysteriously plucky woman with a gun at the end of their journey and really, it was just lovely to see Eugene try and restore everyone’s faith in humanity by going on a quest to find good people.

Yet while that alone could have carried an entire episode, there was more for this series to explore in regard to the fallout of the war. For Carol decided that there was no going back to Alexandria at this point, which caused grave concern for Negan. Because he needed her to tell everyone about their plan, and unfortunately for him, his pleas to have that truth come out fell upon deaf ears. Which left Negan on his own and to complicate matters further, he met up with an angry Daryl Dixon who was ready for blood and it took some incredible effort on Negan’s part to prove that he wasn’t lying to Daryl. But thankfully, Negan’s decision to save Daryl from some rogue Whisperers and his admission that he put down Alpha, may have bought him his freedom at last.

Speaking of Carol, she also went on quite the journey in this tale. Simply because, the darkness that she has battled for as long as we have known her, came back with a vengeance in this particular tale. For Carol had to deal with the age old of problem that comes with revenge in that; sometimes it leaves you feeling hollow once you’ve seen it through. And that guilt manifested itself in the form of Alpha, who was quick to taunt Carol and open old wounds every step of the way as she tried to reconcile what her plan cost the good people of Alexandria and Hilltop. But what truly made this segment powerful and unsettling in its own right, is that Carol’s mental manifestation of Alpha, made great efforts to point out that there was something far darker that Carol wanted in the end, and that this isolation was designed to help her accomplish that ultimate and unfortunate goal.

Which was stunning to say the least, because Carol had worked so hard to get to this point. But that little voice just kept on nagging and the more it cried out the more Carol seemed to lose her wits and her will. And this is where Carol had to make the profound choice of whether or not she should she should live and own up to her actions, or if she should finally give up and this broken world take her. But despite phantom Alpha’s best attempts to push Carol into the darkness, she eventually realized that there was still plenty worth living for, and that she did need to answer for her mistakes and it’s a wonderful thing that she chose life and returned home. If anything, it was just fascinating and wonderful to see new relationships and new beginnings be forged from tough times during this segment of the story.

But while it was magnificent to see optimism and honesty win the day in the face of adversity in this tale, there was one more plot thread for this story to dive into fallout wise, and that one involved the mysterious Beta. Because this once proud lieutenant to Alpha, found himself lost without her presence and guiding words. In fact, he was so distraught and broken by her death that he sacrificed a member of the flock in the hopes of making sense of everything and shortly after that poor soul was eaten alive, he made his way into an old-time hotel, one that revealed something that fans have pondering upon for ages now; his true identity. For a back room in this place, was a shrine to Beta’s former life. And as it turns out, that record reveal in Fear the Walking Dead was our first inkling into the fact that he was a country music superstar named Half Moon, and being in a place where someone worshipped him, and his music gave him pause.

For in this place he had to ponder on what would come next for himself, and the Whisperers for that matter as well. For without Alpha there to remind everyone why they endured bad weather and danger by being surrounded by the living dead, there was a fair chance her twisted vision for the future would fade away. Which meant he was faced with quite the choice. He could either keep that dream of death alive or finally return to his old life, one where he brought joy to others. And sadly, Beta chose the darkness and repaired his damaged mask with his master’s flesh and set out to build a new horde, one that will undoubtedly march on Alexandria and this… this really was one of hell of an episode. Because it covered so much in such a short time, and it offered some beautiful moments of character development all while setting up one ugly finale. One where good versus evil must face off once again and it should be interesting to see where all of these moments of growth take us as we close in on the end of season ten. Until next time.

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