‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Rest in Peace’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the series finale of ‘The Walking Dead’. To revisit the show’s penultimate episode, click here.
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Over the course of its illustrious eleven season run, the AMC series, The Walking Dead, has posed one particular question time and time again… are we worth saving as a species? And it makes sense as to why this question continues to pop up within the framework of the show. After all, this is a world where a man-made virus, a desperate attempt to cheat death… bastardized it and transformed it into an absolute nightmare. And the subsequent fallout of living death that came forth from this desperate attempt to cheat our biological destiny, led to incredible suffering and darkness. Where the modern world collapsed at the mottled hands of the dead and where those that survived faced new and heartbreaking challenges… at the hands of the living.
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For the end pushed humanity to its most desperate point and prompted unsettling choices to survive. Some… turned to cannibalism. While others turned to feudalism. Plus, some used the collapse of everything to become the hero they always thought they could be in their minds with disastrous results. While others used fear to seize power and became their own little despots and some… were lost to the winds and abandoned their humanity in favor of chaos. And worst of all… some tried to replicate the world as it stood for so long, regardless of the fact that it failed everyone in its time of need. All of which truly set the stage for that question, since those cruel and misguided individuals and their acts showcased the worst parts of who we are and posed the possibility that our time had come and perhaps it was time to step aside. 

But even then, the heroes that rose from the ashes of the old world, the ones that we’ve called our own television family over the past eleven years, counterbalanced those thoughts, and gave us hope and well, after 177 episodes… this iconic series finally took the time to answer that all-important question, in the most harrowing manner of all. For ‘Rest in Peace’ is a story that tested humanity like never before. For when we caught up with everyone in this tale, death and carnage were everywhere to be found and there were of course, losses. Since Jules and Luke didn’t make it and they weren’t the only ones to fall to the wanton rotten chaos that was wandering the streets of the Commonwealth, for Rosita took a bite from a walker while saving her baby, putting her on borrowed time and the darkness only grew from there.

Since our heroes came to learn that Governor Pamela Milton had isolated herself and her cronies in the heart of the Estates, leaving the good people she swore to protect and made promises to, to die and return at the hands of living death, for those that weren’t torn apart. Which really cast a horrible cloud over this story, one that began to lean toward the negative once again since there seemed to be no hope for tomorrow in this place or anywhere for that matter. But seeing the innocent suffer and realizing that something could be done if someone just tried and stood tall, inspired Ezekiel to inspire others and just like that… a different kind of standoff took place. One where the old guard was challenged, as was downright human decency over a common foe and well… something incredible happened thereafter. 

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For the Governor was arrested at last and the people of the Commonwealth did what no one else had done ten years ago. In that, they actually worked together to defeat a common foe. A feat accomplished by dropping personal agendas, and politics and religion and foolishness. All because everyone finally recognized that the only real fight was against the living death that robbed humanity of their chance at a better tomorrow, and because they did just that… mankind won the day at last. And drove the dead into oblivion and began to pick up the pieces. Wherein we finally saw justice for Glenn Rhee through Negan and Maggie’s powerful conversation when the dust from the battle settled and there were also tears to be found in that moment by way of Rosita’s beautiful farewell from this world. 
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Not to mention, a year after that fight, the world changed for the better. Since Ezekiel traded in his crown as King for the title of Governor of the Commonwealth and had good friends and family at his side to watch this new chapter begin and to help this new chance to grow get underway and even back in Alexandria, where so many memories hung heavy over the walls, there was peace and happiness again. Plus, Hilltop was growing and thriving once again, giving rise to a second chance at last for the survivors and really in the end, the horror we witnessed in this tale, and the sorrow and the ugly… and the joy, all helped to finally answer the question that this series has been struggling to answer when Rick Grimes first set foot in the city of the dead that was Atlanta. In that, are we worth saving as a species?

As it turns out… the answer is a resounding yes. Simply because… while we are a very young and very dumb species at times, who tinker too much with what works and are filled with misunderstanding and sometimes hate… we are also capable of stunning wonders. For we can offer reason to those who think they need to tinker further, we can teach one another, and we can shun hate and help people who aren’t lost to it to find their way back from the anger. Not to mention, we are capable of endless love and caring. And we have seen us at our best when times are at their worst. Where we step in and help others in need without giving it a second thought, and feed and protect those less fortunate than us. Because as Daryl so succinctly put it in this tale, ‘we ain’t the walking dead’.

We are instead, living and breathing miracles, that when inspired will shun the nonsense and unify and that is… the perfect message to inject into this story and the perfect way to end this long and winding saga. For it frames this series in a vastly different light. In that, it was never about death and the terror of it and our fear of it. It was never about our cruelty and our misgivings. It was instead… about life. About the impact we make and the legacy we leave behind. Because the universe is chaos and can change the course of everything in a matter of minutes and rob us of so much, but we can’t worry about that. We can only worry about this moment, and what we do within it. For in the moment, we can engender hope and inspire a better tomorrow… all because… ‘we’re the ones who live.’

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