‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6, Episode 15 Recap: Does Dwight Kill Daryl In ‘East’

The Walking Dead “East” picked up after last week’s shocker in which Denise (Merrit Wever) was killed by a poorly aimed arrow, and Carol (Melissa McBride) left a Dear John letter for Tobin, explaining why she’s decided to leave Alexandria.

The Walking Dead Season 6, Episode 15 Recap

“East” begins with frantic conversation, a shattered windshield, a growing pool of blood near Carol’s rosary beads and a bloody wooden spike that could only belong to Morgan. Flashing back, Carol is in her bedroom sewing up a hole in a jacket seam, the letter meant for Tobin waiting on her desk. She packs provisions for her trip into a bag, which she hides under the bed when Tobin arrives. He tries to open up to Carol about Denise, who he’d known since the beginning of the Alexandria settlement, but distracted by her own plans, Carol zones out as he goes on. While he sleeps later that night, Carol makes her escape.

While Johnny Cash’s “It’s All Over” plays, Sasha (Soneque Martin-Green) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) man the watch post, Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) shower together and Carl (Chandler Riggs) grabs a pistol from the armory. As the music stops, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) wake up in bed together, sharing an apple. Michonne then tells Rick that Maggie is worried about another attack. While Rick doesn’t dismiss the concerns, he seems to think that even if there is an attack, they have made the preparations necessary to keep the relative safety and comfort of their life inside Alexandria intact.

Daryl (Norman Reedus), who’s been holding onto Denise’s keychain, decides to take off from the community without telling anyone where he’s going. Worried about his safety, Glenn, Michonne and Rosita take off after him, leaving a fearful Maggie at the gate. When Tobin tells Rick about Carol, he and Morgan go off to find her, leaving even fewer people to protect the community. Left behind, Maggie chats to Enid inside the armory, explaining that she has to double up on shifts now that so many have had to leave the compound. Enid offers to take over for her, urging the pregnant Maggie to get some rest. Later on, Maggie, still anxiously waiting for Glenn, asks Enid to cut her hair. She then doubles over in excruciating pain.

Carol, meanwhile, has already met some armed human enemies, who’ve blocked her car in the middle of the road. Without a clear alternative, she exits the car with her hands raised. They want to know where she’s from and where she’s going. She says she’s Nancy from Montclair, but that she’s bounced around a lot since. They don’t buy that she’s a vagabond, and deduce that she must be from the gated Alexandria. Sobbing and clutching her rosary beads, Carol looks poised to pass out. Instead, she opens fire from a hidden gun in her coat, killing all but three. She dispatches one of the survivors with one of Morgan’s spikes that are jutting out of the car she stole from Alexandria. She shoots another dead, leaving one injured man alive.

In the car, Morgan and Rick disagree with the direction that Carol took off in. Eventually, they come upon the scene that she left behind – the dead and dying, her car. The two decide to follow a bloody trail into the fields, unaware that they’re following the lone surviving Savior and not Carol. Morgan is doubtful that Carol would have killed all of these people after leaving the note that she did, but Rick knows Carol will do what she has to do to survive.. Instead of finding Carol or the surviving Savior, Rick and Morgan encounter a guy dispatching walkers, claiming to find a horse. Morgan stops Rick from killing him, and once again makes his plea for life, explaining that the Wolf he saved ended up saving Denise, who saved Carl. He then urges Rick to return home while he continues to search for Carol.

On the other mission, Glenn, Rosita and Michonne have arrived at the spot where Denise died, continuing to track Daryl down. They’re successful in finding him. He plainly states that he blames himself for Denise’s death, and insists on tracking down the guy who did it, the guy he had let loose before. Glenn and Michonne urge him to rethink his rash plan for revenge, and to instead come back with them and plan something that has a bigger chance of success and less risk. Daryl tells them he can’t let it go, and Rosita echoes his sentiments, following him into the forest. Glenn and Michonne elect to leave them, and wind up surrounded by saviors, including Dwight. Rosita and Daryl eventually find Glenn and Michonne tied up, and then they too become surrounded. “Hey Daryl,” Dwight says from behind him. As Daryl turns around, a shot is fired and blood, potentially Daryl’s, spurts everywhere. “You’ll be alright,” says Dwight.