Check out our review of the last few weeks of episodes “Bury Me Here” of The Walking Dead on AMC.

The Walking Dead – Season 7 episodes 13: “Bury Me Here”

Warning: There will be spoilers.

Some quick recapping then we’re just diving right into it…

Robert: This entire episode was amazing. It showed the unbelievable talent that is Lennie James as Morgan Jones on The Walking Dead. From start to finish, this was a powerful Morgan episode that was needed for the coming war. For Negan & the Saviors to go down, the old Morgan needed to come back in some way. To acknowledge that he needs to fight and there WILL be deaths for all their freedom.

Robert: Alright. Quick summary. Carol awakens from a nightmare, makes her way to the Kingdom to see Morgan. Outside the Kingdom walls, Carol shows how much of a bad ass she is, quickly taking care of a handful of Walkers with ease. Carol asks Morgan what happened to those at Alexandria. Morgan decides not to tell her. The Kingdom group head off for their latest delivery to the Saviors but come to a road block. While clearing the road block, the stumble across an intentional grave marked “Bury Me Here”. They quickly make it to the randevu point for the Saviors and upon meeting, the Kingdom crew find out that they’re short ONE cantaloupe. For this, the rat faced Savior who took Morgan’s stick, shoots Benjamin instead of Richard who confronts him. Tensions are high when the Saviors leader, Gavin tells Ezekiel that he MUST delivery the missing cantaloupe by tomorrow. The Kingdom group with Morgan head to Carols place as it’s the nearest place for aid. Sadly, Benjamin dies as he bleed out. Morgan looses it and walks off, finds himself at the blockade the group hit earlier in the day. In Morgan’s rage, he kicks a box and voila, there’s the missing cantaloupe. Morgan realizes that Sir Richard set up the blockade and removed the cantaloupe so the Saviors would kill Richard when confronted about it. Richard hoped his death would lead the Kingdom against the Saviors. Morgan confronts Richard who confesses to it all, explains his actions, his life before The Walking Dead and how he wanted to make emends and help spark the war. Next day, at the meeting with the Saviors, Gavin finds out that Benjamin died and orders Rat Face Savior to start walking back home then Richard steps up to hand over the missing cantaloupe when Morgan jumps Richard and strangles him to death in front of everyone. Morgan then lets Gavin know that they understand their deal and let’s everyone know Richards betrayal. Morgan stays to bury Richard in his grave as he obviously asked when they all found the strange un-buried grave. Morgan does this as part of his many rituals he did in the past. Morgan then goes to see Carol, tells her everything, tell her about Abraham & Glenn’s deaths at the hands of Negan & the Saviors and that Rick & crew came to the Kingdom to gain an alliance in war against the Saviors. Morgan is then about to leave on a suicide mission to kill as many Saviors as he can when Carol persuades Morgan to leave but not leave, same quote King Ezekiel told Carol. With that, Carol returns to the Kingdom, to Ezekiel and tells him it’s time to get ready for war. Morgan is last seen in Carols house, sharpening his staff for war.

Robert: The side story was of the Kingdom losing their crops to some bugs which in the end would impact their deliveries to the Saviors. I wonder if King Ezekiel noted this as writing on the wall that their deal with the Saviors is about up and war is next. A good note from this side story was that the crop would be razed & burned but would grow back. Same for the Kingdom before and after a war? I think so.

Robert: As mentioned, this was one of the best episodes for Lennie James as Morgan Jones on The Walking Dead, I feel as it shows how much he’s grown, accomplished with both Benjamin, Carol and the Kingdom. It also showed the despair that Morgan is now lost in, the desperate rage that he’s now holding onto. Will Morgan ever be able to recover from this OR is this entire episode just foreshadowing of Morgan’s inevitable death during the upcoming war with Negan & the Saviors? Sadly, I think it’s the latter. I don’t feel that Morgan is coming back from this latest turn to the darker side of himself.

Robert: Carol on the other hand might be just what the Kingdom needs both in it’s upcoming time of war and after. I feel that Carol could embrace what Morgan was trying desperately to believe that no life should be lost in the new era of The Walking Dead. All life is precious, as long as you don’t try to kill us – then YOU’RE the one who’s dead because Carol can and WILL bring it!

Robert: One point that I am bummed out about is that this was such a powerful episode that’s come SO late in the season. The entire build up / Rise up for Rick vs the Saviors has taken longer than I believe it should. Very decompressed storytelling that I’m a touch tired of on The Walking Dead. The WAR won’t happen until next season starting around end of October. That’s a LOONG wait for such a big upcoming storyline, fingers crossed it’s worth watching!

Ian: Felt like a mixed bag as TWD tries to ground itself to build up some strong character moments as Carol and Morgan resolves are tested once again. It feels flimsy in some sense as the mental breakdown of Morgan in the ruins of a small town are really well done but how we get there tends to ask a lot for the audience. Back at the junkyard, while Rick was fighting an arena battle against a giant metal spike covered walker – he cut his hand on some of the scraps of metal with no worse for wear, just bandages it up and back to getting shit done.

Ian: Meanwhile, the plucky kid Ben gets shot in the thigh and dies from bleeding out. I’d totally be down with this if he didn’t already wear some insulated layers of road warrior armor and if Rick actually had to deal with possibly losing his hand but again, it’s just a way to push the soap drama. TWD as a tv adaption manages to tackle a problem that the comic can’t deal with as the attention to character detail and giving them an arc while also dealing with a large cast. The comic tends to have some spotlight moments but a mere few panels compared to nearly hour allows the show to hit some solid character building and in turn, the fans will turn up ravenous for any scraps.

Bits & Pieces

• Morgan teaching Benjamin’s little brother how to fight with a staff was touching & tragic as it foreshadowed Benjamin’s death.
• Gavin barking at the Rat faces Savior who killed Benjamin shows the only compassion we’ve seen from the Saviors lately.
• Katy’s backpack, Richard’s daughter was another touching moment that Morgan quickly buried away, literally.

Next Week… on AMC’s The Walking Dead: Ep. 714 “The Other Side”

Rosita & Sasha go after Negan & the Saviors. This will NOT end well. Not at all!