The Walking Dead, S07E13

“Bury Me Here” Isn’t As Dead On Arrival As it First Appears

 

Over a dusty guitar overture, we’re shown a brief montage of the denizens of The Kingdom, shot from the perspective of the rear of a truck. They solemnly appear and, one by one, each enact a small part in placing and securing a small box in the bed of the truck. Then, someone puts something in the box. It appears to be a… dinosaur egg? I dunno, but I do know that zombie’s don’t lay eggs and it’s too big and smooth to just be a rock*. Then Ezekiel closes the rear doors and the credits start. That’s it for the cold open. Seriously, it’s very short. It probably took you longer just to read this paragraph. I mean, especially now that I took the time to point that out. For sure. Not. A. Doubt.

The post-credits scene opens in darkness, but we can hear someone whimpering. Is it Baby Judith, trying to remind people she exists? Rosita wishing she was a better-written character? Michonne getting it on with a mercifully silent Rick? Nup. The lights come up and we see a teary Carol, reaching for a cigarette and silently wishing she’d died back in Season 2. Then we cut to daybreak in The Kingdom, where Morgan has now taken a young boy under his wing to learn the ways of the magic stick. Yeah, this should be painless.

Before we go any further: Morgan. Played with a stoic, unflappable cool by Lennie James, Morgan was once the show’s most well-deployed character. He appeared in the very first episode – which is easily one of the TWD‘s finest hours – as something of a saviour to Rick, a character who served to transition him and us into the new order of the zombified world. He made exposition sound exciting and vital and had a tragic backstory to boot, that of his wife Jenny, who he couldn’t bring himself to put down once she turned, which had devastating consequences later on. Before any of that could happen though, he disappeared. Like, didn’t come back for two and a half seasons.

It wasn’t until “Clear”, an episode on the back end of Season 3, that Morgan finally showed up again, now a grizzled, manic version of his former self. On their first encounter in over a year, he and Rick initially tussled because Morgan had basically gone crazy with grief. ‘Cause yeah, if you remember, he used to have a son, Duane. He was Morgan’s charge and only reason to keep living who, sadly, was eventually bitten by Jenny, for which Morgan blames himself as he didn’t have it in him to deal with her earlier. Yes, I know how contrived and silly that sounds, but on this show setting up a device like that and having it not pay off for almost three seasons, with actual emotional stakes, is a fucking miracle.

Anyway, Morgan took another long-arse break until Season 5 where, after a few snippets shown of him following the main group’s trail, he opened the finale of that season with one of the tensest, most assured confrontations in the show’s run. Accosted by two Wolves at his campsite, Morgan speaks to them calmly and without fear and, when they attack, kicks the shit out of them with his newly acquired staff (or, y’know, magic stick). From this point on, he’s been a series regular and, honestly, it’s more the pity.

Though “Here’s Not Here” – the flashback episode that follows Morgan’s transition from crazed wanderer to wizened magic stick man – does a pretty decent job of delving into his newfound philosophy of all life being sacred, from the very moment he starts on with that shit in front of the main group, it starts to grow tiresome right quick (for them and us). The main dichotomy formed here is between himself and Carol, a former abuse victim who has come to embrace the “kill or be killed” vibe this world forces upon people. In theory, there should be some flair or dramatic pull to their conflicts, but it largely fizzle for two reasons:

1. It’s hard to argue with Carol’s perspective when everytime Morgan decides not to kill someone, it comes back to bite them in the arse.
2. The show keeps running out of ways to naturally force this conflict, to the point where it had Carol run away from Alexandria last year for no fucking reason just so Morgan could chase after her.

   

I’m taking the time to say all of this because in this current episode, “Bury Me Here”, Carol has just walked back to The Kingdom to confront Morgan over something. It seems obvious to me that this installment will be setting up another inorganic situation where they each challenge one another’s worldview, most likely involving that small child from a few scenes back. At the very outset, it seemed like a good idea to just point out why I’m probably gonna find this a very shallow and unrewarding exercise. Anyway, moving on…

Carol and Morgan have a brief but, surprisingly, very subtly written exchange about why the main group wants to join forces with The Kingdom, about whether everything Daryl told her was true. “What was said between you and him was said between you and him”, sounds clumsy on paper, but the way Morgan says it makes it clear that Carol needs to get the full story from Daryl next she sees him. It’s also a nuanced extension of Morgan’s principles, not wanting to set in motion a chain of events that leads to more people getting killed, which is kinda neat. Then, just like that, Carol’s gone again. She’s being watched from the shadows by Richard, the dude who wanted to use her as bait for the Saviours a few weeks back, so that’s not ideal, but for now she seems to be headed back to her quaint little house.

Now Morgan’s about to go along on a supply drop to the Saviours, with a truck full of cantaloupes. Yep, turns out I can’t accurately distinguish dinosaur eggs from fruit at a mild distance. Who knew? Beforehand, we get a quick convo between Morgan and Richard about family, before Richard helpfully hangs a theme on the episode for us: “I think you’re wrong about killing. The day’s coming when you can’t be that good.” So, maybe Carol’s not gonna be the one to drive the action this week. Something tells me Richard’s about to get fucked up though. Well, either him or Benjamin, the older brother of the young kid Morgan was chilling with at this start of this ep. Let’s see, I guess.

The scene that ensues has some tension, undercut by the frustration inherent to watching people put themselves in fucking stupid situations where they’re forced to do whatever the Saviours tell them. Anyway, one of the cantaloupes is missing – and from the look on Richard’s face, I’d say he knows where it is – and Benjamin gets shot in the leg for everyone’s troubles. They bring the injured dude to Carol’s house, where he bleeds out, sending Morgan into a shame spiral that could also double as a My Chemical Romance music video, right as he finds the missing cantaloupe and puts the pieces together… somehow? Yeah, it doesn’t really explain why he now knows it was Richard, other than it was pretty obvious, right?

When Morgan confronts Richard, he tearfully explains how inaction has lead to so much death that his actions leading to one dude’s death isn’t that big of a deal, right? “You. Have. To. KILL!” he says, with an irrational imperative that leads Morgan to contemplate by candlelight what this unstable background character just told him. Now we’re back where we started, with the one lonely cantaloupe being place into the truck, and there’s actually some palpable anticipation in the upcoming meeting because who knows what will…

Oh… Morgan just… beat the living shit out of Richard, in plain view of everyone. See, ’cause he had to kill. Just like Richard said. Irony! In all seriousness, though, that’s a fairly satisfying way to round out this journey for Morgan, using the guy’s own dickish advice against him. Everyone watches in horror then, weirdly, just kinda takes Morgan at his word when he explains why he just strangled the dude to death. Then he drags Richard’s body to the “Bury Me Here” spot of the title and makes a trip to see Carol.

See, I was clearly wrong about this show setting up an episode-long spat between his and Carol’s ideologies but, after Morgan’s broke his one rule, it still brings him back right back to his magnetic opposite. He’s shattered his entire notion of himself, abandoned the path of most resistance in a world that invites nothing but struggle and death. He can’t be that person anymore, which we’ve all known for a while, but at least he’s finally caught up. And what he tells Carol now, based on that newfound willingness to kill or be killed, will clearly lend some steam into the season going forward: “Negan killed Glenn and Abraham.”

 

Quotes & Random Thoughts

 

• *[Gasp] Maybe it’s the stone from that shitty parable Rick shared in the mid-season premiere. (Spoiler: it’s not).

• I know that Carol clearing out the zombies at the front of The Kingdom was meant to be badarse but, honestly, seeing her perched up in a tree holding a “One Way” sign was pretty silly.

• If people get zombie blood in their eyes or mouth, do they turn? ‘Cause Carol got a butt-tonne of it right on her face just then.

• That was some really superb acting by Melissa McBride in the scene where Morgan’s explaining to Carol that he doesn’t feel comfortable telling her what happened to the Alexandrians when they came up against Negan. Of course, she knows now that Daryl lied to her about everyone being alright, and the way she silently conveys that is nothing less than extraordinary.

• King Ezekiel overlooking the tranquility of his Kingdom to that swelling score is quite lovely, and a keen reflection on the times of peace back in the prison in Season 3 and 4, when Rick thought they finally had found their sanctuary.

• “Ok, I think I just pissed myself.” People reacting to Ezekiel’s tiger is always great.

• “Leave the cobbler.” “…really?” Is Jerry as the tubby comic relief getting a little easy? Not yet. Love that guy.

• “It is mere luck we are not all insane.” Ezekiel upon discovering the empty grave with the words “Bury Me Here” scrawled on a makeshift tombstone above it. Dude sounds like he’s stepped out of a particularly grim Russian novel.

• That Rat-Faced Prick in the Saviours crew is legitimately the most annoying character currently on television. I mean, I know that’s the point, but still…

• God, I tried, I reeeeally tried, to pay attention to Richard’s sob story. Couldn’t do it. Honestly, why would I care? What’s this guy had, like, thirteen minutes of screentime? And he’s always kind of a dick. Meh.

• Upon learning that Benjamin died ’cause of Rat-Faced Prick, Gavin tells him to start walking back. “You say one word or throw one look, I’ll kill you right here.” Then the dude totally throws a look and he does nothing. Pussy.

• That last shot of Morgan, framed in a doorway and sharpening his stick, is mighty foreboding.