Rick and Michonne face THE WALKING DEAD at a carnival that offers everything in “Say Yes.” This week is mainly about couple’s time for Rick and Michonne. They take a van out on a scavenger run to find the weapons for Jadis and her group at the scrap yard. At first, they don’t find much usable. Michonne reminds Rick they don’t have to do everything in a day, they have time to collect. Rick isn’t sleeping well at night and he wants to push on, at least another day and a half.
However, it isn’t all work. Rick and Michonne enjoy numerous nooners in their cozy supply van. Michonne spots a deer at one stop, but Rick spooks it when he wakes up. They track the deer back to a carnival that has a large number of soldiers turned walker still carrying their weapons. They don’t spend much time considering what happened at this place, it’s the jackpot of weapons Rick was hoping to find. They also find several sealed pallets of canned goods and survival rations.
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 12 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Rick and Michonne spend the night eating, planning, and enjoying each other’s company. Sometimes I see a film or television show and I can really feel the love. I don’t mean the onscreen love, but the love of production. You can tell when people showed up and put everything they had into the day. In “Say Yes,” you can feel the fun. People had fun creating this episode, you can feel it. Rick and Michonne get to work early clearing the walkers and gathering weapons.
The first step is a safety issue; corral the walkers so they aren’t surrounded and kill them quietly. Rick picks one by a car and leaves eight for Michonne and her sword. Michonne takes on her group with expert precision but Rick has difficulties with a walker stuck in the windshield of a car he wants to use as a barricade. The walker’s head is protected with a Kevlar helmet and the rest of his body comes apart when Rick pulls on it. Rick pulls at the feet and a foot falls off. Rick pulls on his belt and the torso rips apart. Eventually, Michonne must help Rick move the car.
Their plan goes off the rails when a soldier walker steps into a stack of rebar and his M-16 begins to fire. Rick jumps in the car, Michonne hides in the trunk and the walkers surround them. Still, this is new, upbeat Rick. Michonne stays playful and they escape. Again, they split up for safety. Rick takes on a group of walkers by the Ferris wheel and Michonne takes on a group at a huge water slide. This would have been a great location for another community, carnival people.
At one point, Rick sees the deer again. He moves into position to shoot it, but that part of the wheel collapses and Rick falls into a herd of walkers. Michonne hears him firing his gun and rushes to help but finds a group of walkers huddled around a carcass, ripping it apart. She drops her sword, unable to fight for a world without Rick. Then, Rick kicks his way out of an upside down Ferris wheel seat. He throws her the sword and together they finish the last of the threats. They load the van and head back to Alexandria.
Rick delivers the weapons to Jadis, 63 in all, but she says she wants more. She also demands the return of a cat sculpture Rick took last time he was there. Rick agrees to find more, but he wants ten weapons for his team, plus he wants to keep the cat. Jadis negotiates for 9 and no cat but Rick gets her to agree to 20, but he gets the cat. Again, you can feel the fun. There are four more episodes left to the season seven and I’m sure at least one of them will end in tragedy. Rosita is a likely source of that tragedy. She spends a lot of this episode by herself looking for weapons. When she does engage with Tara or Father Gabriel, she’s very unpleasant. Rosita still grieves about Ford’s death and she knows she blew her first assassination attempt. Eventually, Rosita turns to Sasha for help. Sasha agrees to team up against Negan. Rosita gives her a new sniper rifle that Rick and Michonne found, to do the job.
Right now, there are several characters close to taking action that just need a little push to get them in the game. Carol, Ezekiel, Dwight, and Morgan to name a few. This week, it’s Tara we see with her struggle. Tara made a pledge not to tell anyone about the Oceanside community. This week she weighs the pros and cons of her integrity. I think if Michonne, Rick, or Rosita died while looking for weapons, Tara would spill about the armory hidden at Oceanside. At the end of “Say Yes,” she pulls Rick aside to tell him something. This could be the moment. There are many irons in the fire and The Walking Dead has a lot of momentum as it rolls into the third act of season seven.
Season 7, Episode 12 (S07E12)
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9PM on AMC
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Eric lives in a world where the television is great, the smiles are warm, the pizza is hot, the puppies are playful, and the zombies are slow and meander while he reloads.
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Eric Rodriguez | Contributor
