The Walking Dead Episode 610 Recap: The Next World

Things are quiet in Alexandria. It has been two months since our group cleared out the town of walkers. Rick and Michonne are living together platonically; Denise and Tara are living together, non-platonically. Rick and Daryl are getting ready to go on a quick supply run. Denise is embarrassed that she wants soda for Tara as a surprise. Eugene wants them to bring back sorghum, thinking it will be a major boon to their food supply.

Rick and Daryl find a barn marked “sorghum.” A little on the nose, but inside, they find something better than the grain: they find a working cargo truck, packed full of supplies, including Michonne’s much-requested toothpaste. Rick believes that, after weeks with nothing, this is the law of averages catching up with them. They leave the car and take the truck back home. They will pick up the car later.

On the way home, the pair stop by a gas station for a quick supply check. Daryl finds an overturned soda and snack machine and remembers Denise’s request. They hook it up with a chain to the back of the truck to flip it over. It works, but a man with a bandana around his face half-tackles, half-runs-in-to Rick. Rick and Daryl hold their guns to the man, who insists he was running from the dead, at least ten of them. They are about a half-mile back; the man estimates they will be there in about eleven minutes. Rick lowers his gun and thanks him for the warning; Daryl doesn’t move. Rick asks if he has a camp. He says no, but he gives up his name: Paul, “but my friends used to call me Jesus.” Rick tries asking him his three questions, but Jesus has to split, which is just fine with Daryl; he doesn’t want to invite new people to Alexandria. Rick was interested: Jesus was clean and well-groomed. He had to be doing something right. Gunshots end the discussion and the men run to the other side of the gas station to check it out. It turns out to be firecrackers, left there by Jesus. Before they know what has happened, Jesus has stolen their truck, the soda machine still attached.

Daryl and Rick run after Jesus, desperate for their supplies back. Along the way, they find he released the soda machine. The guys stop, split a soda, then take some soda and snacks and continue running. Eventually they see it in the distance, Jesus fixing a flat. Rick and Daryl sneak through the trees and jump him from behind. Jesus has some sweet self-defense moves, but the guys get him down to the ground at gunpoint. All they want is the keys to the truck. Jesus promises he is not a bad guy, but he isn’t really proving his point. Rick ties Jesus up and promises the knots aren’t that tight; he should be able to free himself once they are long gone. Jesus wants to talk. Daryl flips him off as they drive away.

The guys are proud of themselves for winning back their truck. They share cookies as they head back home. There are a series of loud thunks, and Daryl realizes that Jesus is on the roof of the truck. Rick slams to a stop in a clearing, sending Jesus tumbling to the ground. Rick pursues in the truck while Daryl chases on foot. Rick finally gets out to help, but several walkers tied up to cars break free. Rick turns his attention to killing them. Jesus has made it into the truck. Daryl tries to drag him out… as a walker creeps up behind him. “Duck,” Jesus commands. Daryl doesn’t hesitate, and Jesus shoots the walker. Daryl thanks him, then they go back to fighting. Daryl has pulled him out of the truck, and they are too distracted to notice the truck is rolling away. Before they can do anything about it, the truck rolls into a lake and sinks. Jesus is unconscious; Rick and Daryl just stare at their lost fortune. Rick wants to take Jesus with them; after all, he saved Daryl and never pulled a weapon on either of them. Daryl relents and agrees to put him up a tree. They find a car and head home – with Jesus in the back seat.

Back home, Carl and Enid go out into the woods. “We are kids. It’s what we do,” Carl says. “We’re not kids,” she corrects him. Even still, they sit and read comics and eat snacks. A noise in the woods brings them both to their feet. Carl has his gun out; Enid hides. It turns out to just be Michonne and Spencer. Carl returns to his comics without a word, but Enid wants to go home. As they head back, Carl spots a zombie. Enid wants to leave it, but Carl can’t do that. He sends Enid back home while he has the zombie caught underfoot.

Michonne was on guard duty when she saw someone go out into the woods with a shovel. Intrigued, she follows, and discovers it is Spencer. He is readying to kill a zombie that Michonne takes care of. He won’t answer why he walks with a shovel, and he doesn’t want her to follow him. She does anyway; Michonne liked his mom a lot and wants to talk to him, forge a friendship. He sees Michonne has a life back at camp, and he hopes one day he will, too. But first, he has to “take care of something.” A noise causes her to draw her sword. It is Carl…and the zombie he had trapped. It all becomes clear to Michonne.

The zombie that Carl couldn’t kill was Deanna. That is who Spencer was looking for. He thought he saw her one night. Michonne holds Deanna back so that Spencer can say his final, silent farewell before he knifes his mother into death-death. Spencer buries her beneath a tree, and Michonne carves a marker into the bark. She left him a note: “You still know your way.” But Spencer never felt he knew his way. “You loved your family,” Michonne soothes him, “you knew your way.” He also promises him that he still has family, and a home. The two walk back to Alexandria.

Back at home, Michonne confronts Carl, who is on the front porch, looking at the stars with Judith. She is mad that Carl was leading Deanna through the woods; he should have left her or killed her. “I couldn’t kill her! It had to be someone who loved her; who was family.” He lowers his voice and tells Michonne he would do it for her. Michonne softens and holds the Grimes kids close.

Rick and Daryl return home and take Jesus to Denise for a check up. They leave him on a mat on the floor, tied up, with a note and a cup of water. Daryl takes first watch and Rick goes home. Michonne sits beside him on the couch. Both had “crazy” days, but neither wants to talk about it yet. The mood is vaguely jovial, and Rick remembers he has a present for Michonne: a pack of breath mints, since her toothpaste is at the bottom of the lake. They laugh, and Rick pats her hand. Their fingers interlock. The kissing begins. Some nervous giggling, then more heated kissing. Fast forward through the presumable sex, and Michone and Rick are sleeping beside each other, naked. “Rick, wake up,” a male voice says. Both Rick and Michonne jump out of bed, naked save for their weapons. Jesus is at the foot of their bed. “We should talk.”

You can watch a preview for the next episode, titled “Knots Untie,” using the player below.