'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'Still Gotta Mean Something'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

I think it is safe to assume that every single fan of The Walking Dead has been wondering for some time now exactly how the show is going to evolve without Carl Grimes being a part of the narrative. After all, those who read the comics religiously are fully aware of the fact that several important plotlines past All Out War involve the young man, and those may no longer happen on screen or be severely altered as a direct result of his untimely passing, and really…the conclusion of this nasty war between the Allies and the Saviors has to happen before we truly get to see what kind of undiscovered country we are heading into. 
 
But it would seem, that the Writer’s Room on this series is eager to let us know what we can expect in the future, since last night’s episode featured a decidedly different kind of tale, at least when compared to the past couple of seasons. Because ‘Still Gotta Mean Something’, more or less took us back to the basics of this storied saga. Wherein the characters were king and the harrowing situation around them forced them to work together to provide a better and safer future for one another, one filled to the brim with potential, and it accomplished that, by forcing several characters in this story to face their past, and some of the sorrow that they are currently going through.
 
Take Carol for instance, who once more found herself rattled by death following Tobin’s unfortunate passing and resurrection in last week’s tale, forcing her to retreat to her safe place mentally in the hopes of healing properly this time around before King Ezekiel and Morgan pressed her into service once again when the possibility arose that Henry was headed back to the Kingdom following his decision to let the prisoners out. And while out there in the open with Morgan, she once again faced her painful past, since this in a way paralleled the loss of her daughter Sophia, to the point where Henry was hiding in a creek like her daughter did all those years ago. But what matters here is that Carol put aside her fears of finding Henry dead, and in doing so, saved the young man from a group of walkers, giving him a chance at another day and giving her a sense of peace that she rarely enjoys.
 
Yet the series wasn’t content to have only Carol revisit her emotional agony from days gone by, even the wicked were given an opportunity to face their pain since we also caught up with Negan in this episode, and we saw the man on display like never before, and no, I’m not talking about the fact that Jadis strapped him to a board and threatened to punish him in a uniquely disturbing way, what I’m referring to is that for the first time ever we honestly saw Negan as a man and not a monster. We saw him apologize sincerely for a change for Simon’s actions at the Junkyard and beg and plead to see Lucille remain unharmed and undamaged because that bat was in fact, the last real tie he had to his wife and it was just fascinating to see this villain weep over the possibility of losing the final memory of his wife and show such compassion and humanity.

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​Which is ironic, because a pair of our favorite heroes turned out to be the monsters last night when the tale took a few moments to explore what can happen to people when they let grief and anger consume their souls and that was accomplished by following Rick and Morgan in this tale. Because these two men, hell bent on revenge, went looking for the missing prisoners, and were eventually captured by them and after waking up in an abandoned bar near Hilltop, Rick made quite the incredible gambit to diffuse the situation by telling these men that if they let Rick and Morgan go, they could return to Hilltop and start over fresh without the fear of reprisal for their actions as Saviors and when the dead arrived, the former prisoners granted the duo their freedom…and quickly came to regret their decision.
 
Because this is when both men let revenge take control…with interesting results. Morgan for instance, took to revenge like a fish to water, savoring the opportunity to put down anyone within reaching distance of his stick, and this wanton violence also gave him the opportunity to deal with Jared once and for all in brutal fashion and while this seemed like another day at the office for Morgan, Rick’s bloodlust seemingly brought about regret. Because once the carnage came to an end, Rick wasn’t quite himself and this was compounded by an important moment between Rick and his unstable friend when he asked Morgan point blank, why he bothered to save Rick all those years ago, and Morgan’s reply was devastating to say the least when he admitted to the fact that Rick is alive because Morgan’s son was present on that fateful day.
 
It meant that Morgan wanted nothing more than to be a good father and teach his son the value of life in that moment, and well…the silence that came after that exchange was deafening since for a brief moment it seems that Rick was able to see a future where he became Morgan and that finally allowed for him to apologize to Michonne for going out into the world to seek revenge in the first place, and finally read the letter from his son. And one has to wonder now, if he’s ready to listen to what Carl had to say to him before he passed away and if Rick is ready to make peace after everything that’s happened and well, when all is said and done, I really have to give this episode a round of applause for being downright brilliant.
 
Because it’s been a long time since The Walking Dead gave us a quality character study, and this was a magnificent one to say the least. I really appreciated the intimacy this episode provided us with, almost as if, this was finally the time to for everyone to properly grieve and take inventory after everything that’s happened, and I also loved the fact that it pointed out in the darkest way imaginable that sometimes you have to let the anger within burn itself out before moving on, as it seems was the case with Rick. Either way, I feel like this story was more than just filler, that everything that happened here is going to be relevant in the next couple of weeks and quite frankly, if this is what the future holds for this storied saga, then I welcome it, because this was some damn fine storytelling through and through. Until next time.   

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