‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Here’s Not Here’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Ask a variety of people what they know about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and you’ll get back some fascinating and diverse answers. Some of which, will be detailed and enriched as they educate you on the illness and how it works. But they will be in the minority. For a bevy of others will simply speak to being familiar with it, while others will get it wrong and grossly mis explain the ailment and believe it or not… some will just claim it doesn’t exist. But the reason for why such a bevy of answers would come your way is what matters more here. Because that speaks to the fact that we don’t really understand PTSD or discuss it enough, and we need to. For it is very real and very much a problem in our world and that is why the next episode of The Walking Dead is of note.
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Because ‘Here’s Not Here’ is a story that takes the time to really explore PTSD and its power and the difficult road to recovery that accompanies it and it brought forth that examination, by taking us back in time to catch up with Morgan Jones. Who in this tale, was back in the world of the dead. Simply because his struggles led to the burning down of his home and likely the town that he and Rick once called home and well, once he was on the road again… Morgan went to an even darker place than we saw in ‘Clear’. For he was suddenly ten times more violent with the dead and the living and it took an unexpected encounter with a man named Eastman to finally address that darkness through medical diagnosis.

Since Eastman explained to Morgan the fact that he had been badly traumatized and couldn’t sort out that trauma and that brought him to this place mentally and therein lie the grand exploration. Since we were privy to incredible analysis on the causes of PTSD and how it manifests in all of us and how when untreated and unchecked, it can break us and prompt us to harm others. Granted, we won’t murder others in our darker state… but we could lash out, say things we don’t mean to, all in the name of trying to use negativity to heal our soul and our internal wounds. But what matters more here, is that it was finally put on proper display and we came to learn so much about the nuances of this illness and of course… how we come back from it.

Which involves a great deal of personal work and cognitive behavior therapy and working to live with triggers and how to break Automatic Negative Thoughts when we encounter them, since that did begin to heal Morgan… and his journey back also featured an important truth about this we discuss less than the illness itself. In that, we will fail and experience setbacks along the way. But as long as we acknowledge that and put in the work again, we’ll find that peace and eventually, our way back. And we do get to come back from this when we put in the work and we do deserve that peace and that second chance and it was wonderful to see Morgan find that here and finally gain the upper hand over his ugly thoughts and aching emotions here, and of course… it was equally as amazing to see a horror story be the beacon of hope regarding this difficult illness.

If anything, this remains quite the brilliant, and poignant, and powerful episode. In large part because of its core subject matter, since this conversation needed to take place. But also, because, it was what we needed in this moment back when season six aired. We needed that hope, we needed that breath of fresh air, and as for the power… well that came forth via the acting. Because Lennie James just puts on a clinic here and he is balanced out wonderfully by the always delightful John Carroll Lynch. For he brought such a wonderful innocence to this world and an outlook upon it that we haven’t seen since and well, it is best we bask in the intelligence and the wonder of this tale for as long as we can. For the darkness awaits us, and it is only going to get uglier from here. Until next time.

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