'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'The Well'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

When a show decides to go for broke and deliver its darkest episode to date, shattering the minds and hearts of its entire fanbase, where does it go from there? It's something that was on all of our minds after last week's devastating season seven premiere of The Walking Dead and thankfully the show decided to answer that question quickly, by giving us an episode that allowed for our tender hearts to heal. 

How it accomplished such a feat however, came about in the most unexpected ways possible, by allowing us to laugh again, by giving us a shred of hope when we thought there was none left and by introducing a few new colorful characters into the mix and all the while continuing in the tradition of giving us a smart story that analyzes how mankind would deal with the chaos of the end of the world and even providing us with answers as to why Carol snapped at the end of last season, making last night's episode, 'The Well' a brilliant hour of storytelling that managed to captivate its audience with a sense of wonder. 

All of that, was accomplished by giving us a new world to explore in this universe in The Kingdom. This tiny out of the way berg is another thriving community much like Alexandria, save for one caveat, they truly live in a fantasy world. They are ruled, yes ruled, by a man known as King Ezekiel, an eccentric and proper King who is quite frankly a sight to behold. It's safe to assume that everyone's jaw dropped with wonder, surprise and skepticism when we first laid eyes upon his majesty mainly because hey...it's 2016 and a dude has declared himself King and also...he has a freakin' tiger named Shiva at his side as well. The notion of Ezekiel is in fact such a wild venture that it almost seemed downright absurd in this show and perhaps Carol's reaction summed up so many of our own with her 'you've got to be kidding me' face.

But Ezekiel's outlandish behavior seemed to serve a purpose. For the people of The Kingdom followed him happily, each person doing their part to make sure that everyone is fed and has a purpose in life once again and well, this was the beginning of the show's analysis as to how people cope with disaster, because despite how silly this place might seem, filled with song and dance and odd customs, the people here are happy. Not once were there discussions of the nightmares that wait outside their walls, or how badly their world has become. They were just happy to be alive and happy to thank Ezekiel for allowing them to see another day, but we'll get back to how exactly Ezekiel gives them this joy in just a moment.

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Because despite all the unexpected fluff and joy that the Kingdom has to offer, there are real threats still to be found in their lives, ones that King Ezekiel wants to keep quiet so as to not interrupt the harmony this wonderful place enjoys. Because as it turns out, Negan's reach is far and wide and once a week the King meets with the Saviors to hand over their respective half to keep the good citizens of his Kingdom, safe.

In a way, Ezekiel's deal with the Saviors indicated that nothing was quite what it seemed in The Kingdom and in many ways that would be correct, because Ezekiel harbored a secret, one that Carol discovered as she prepared to leave this quaint little town. Her need to flee came about from one thing, the fact that all of our suspected fears about Carol were one hundred percent correct. Years of making the tough choice and putting down both walker and human had shattered her spirit. She could no longer differentiate the living from the dead and still saw herself as a threat and that's when she inadvertently uncovered Ezekiel's biggest secret in the midst of his last ditch effort to reach her on a fundamental level and save her from making a big mistake by disappearing into the world on her own.

The secret in question, is that Ezekiel is no King, just a regular man who found himself in one strange position. This former zookeeper and part time actor saw that a different persona evoked something special in people. It gave them an opportunity to tell tall tales, ones that inspired hope within, ones that gave them an escape from the horror of the world and he was happy to indulge them in that if it made their lives better. His admission came without shame, because of all the good that it has done and continues to do for the people that serve him, but the truth also came out of his mouth as a way of teaching Carol that hope is still possible in this awful world and that...given the right circumstances, she can heal and have her life back once again.

It was, an absolutely beautiful message to see after last week, and an unexpected one at that considering that hope was virtually robbed from this world with the deaths of Abraham and Glenn and truthfully, while I think we've all enjoyed seeing Carol pull off the innocent act because it has paid off in spades, it was simply magical to see someone call her on it for a change and in the process, actually reach her. Either way, it's fascinating to see a contrast of two worlds now, one shadowed in darkness in Alexandria, and one that found a way to keep the light shining bright in The Kingdom and hopefully what Ezekiel has started in his little world will spread to Rick's, because right now they need it more than ever. Until next time.

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