‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Scars’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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I’ve always found it funny how easy it is sometimes to lose one’s self in a great story. You know how this goes, because there is that moment, when the tale is taking you to such incredibly wonderful places that all you can think about or talk about are the stunning moments you just experienced, and what they might mean for the future of said story, and that’s on my mind today, simply because, that’s precisely where all of us are at when it comes to The Walking Dead. Because the Whisperers and everything they have to offer has left the audience stunned and curious about what their arrival will mean for the communities we know and love, to the point where we have outright forgotten about some of the important moments that have happened in season nine.
 
Which is fascinating, because this season has been nothing short of a powerhouse rollercoaster ride. One that saw a fragile peace between the communities begin to collapse before Rick Grimes disappeared from the everyday lives of the family, he fought alongside to bring that peace to fruition. Plus, we were also witness to one incredible time shift that clearly altered the perceptions and the feelings of so many, following Rick’s believed demise, and sadly, before we could discover what made Michonne and Daryl Dixon so angry and isolated and quite frankly, fearful, Alpha showed up on Kingdom’s doorstep. But, with an exciting battle behind us, it became clear during last night’s episode that now is the perfect time to explore what happened in that six-year gap without Rick in everyone’s lives and this exploration of the past made ‘Scars’, quite the compelling and powerful episode.
 
For this particular tale, finally answered some incredibly important questions that the audience has been pondering upon for some time now, specifically, what motivated Michonne to close the Alexandria Safe Zone’s borders, and how exactly she and Daryl received those ugly X shaped scars on their backs and it turns out, both of these elements came forth from the same problem, an unexpected visitor that showed up at the gates six years ago. This visitor, named Jocelyn, turned out to be an old friend of Michonne’s from high school and her arrival in Alexandria seemed to be exactly what a pregnant and emotionally fragile Michonne needed at this point in her life with Rick now missing from the picture.
 
Plus, it seemed as though Jocelyn had plenty more to offer the community outside of supporting Michonne since she also directed a search party toward an important location where a group of young children she was traveling with, were holed up for their own safety and the return of these kids to Alexandria was the gift in question. For now, it seemed as though Alexandria had a solid foundation being built and for a time, it seemed as though everything was going to be all right. But alas, Jocelyn had other plans for some of the kids in this quiet town, since she kidnapped Judith and a few other kids, and robbed the people of their food, prompting Michonne and Daryl to head out into the wild to find the town’s missing babies and well, that’s when this tale went to some supremely dark places. 

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​Because eventually, this dynamic duo caught up with Jocelyn and the kids and were able to learn her dark secret, in that, Michonne’s old friend firmly believed in doing anything necessary to survive these dark times, and that included teaching innocent children how to kill and lie and cheat their way into another day. And while they were Jocelyn’s prisoners, she had these young kids brand both Daryl and Michonne with the giant X’s on their backs as part of their murdering process and while this might like seem like doom for any other character out there, I think we all knew that it was only a matter of time before this duo escaped their restraints and made Jocelyn and her ‘Children of the Corn’ pay for everything they had done up to this point, but even that, went a route that I didn’t expect it to go.
 
Sure, Michonne did indeed make Jocelyn pay once she was free, and it was satisfying to see this double-crossing friend fall at Michonne’s hands, but I was ill prepared for the horrors that followed her demise. Because she taught her children too well, and they refused to stand down, despite having their leader fall and when faced with the choice of either losing Judith and her life at the hands of these tiny terrors, Michonne did the only thing she could in this instance, and dropped those kids with her blade and well…this was stunning and dark and powerful to say the least. And now we know exactly why she no longer trusts anyone, and why she felt the need to make Alexandria a safe zone, for only her people going forward and all of this came about in this particular tale, because of the fact that Daryl’s arrival with Henry and Lydia and Connie, helped to dredge up those old memories, as did a bold act on Judith’s part.
 
Because that little lady, outright had enough of seeing her mother and others stand on the sidelines with trouble brewing and took it upon herself to dive into the heart of chaos in order to help Uncle Daryl and his buddies. Which of course, prompted her mother to step in and save her, and that, led to the most powerful moment of the night, wherein a child took the time to teach an adult some important lessons on what it means to do the right thing and Judith’s lovely insight finally broke down Michonne’s barriers, and she was finally ready to help her friends and the other communities. But we all know that happy endings such as this have a short shelf life on The Walking Dead, and this one is no exception to that rule. For while there is unity and joy and a Fair to celebrate, the Whisperers are at the gates of the Kingdom now, and I’m fairly certain Alpha is about to put a damper on the festivities. 
 
In the end however, this is one of those rare episodes that freed itself from social commentary and an examination on the human condition. Instead this one presented a dark moment in the raw, one that clearly served as the tipping point for Michonne’s fragile psyche and everything present here made for one powerful tale, one that moved you, and left you uncomfortable and one that also serves as a fine reminder to be careful for what you wish for when it comes to this universe. Because we all were dying to know how Michonne and Daryl got their scars, and now we know they came at a great cost to say the least and well, I fear the next couple of episodes are only going to get darker from here. Because Alpha will undoubtedly expect the return of her daughter, and revenge for what Daryl did to Beta, and that means the Fair may turn out to be quite the disaster, when the Whisperers come calling. Until next time.  

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