The Walking Dead Midseason Premiere Recap With Spoilers: Rock In The Road

Father Gabriel stands atop the Alexandria wall and reads through a Holy Bible. He looks distressed but finds something which brings him peace and a sigh of relief. He climbs down and makes his way to the pantry, walking through the dark streets of Alexandria at night. Once inside, he moseys past the empty armory and into the room where all of the food is kept. Something comes crashing down. He stashes food into a big crate and reads through the log before tossing the remaining weapons into a crate, as well.

Outside, Gabriel tosses the crates into the trunk of a car. He gases it up and drives out of Alexandria.

UP NEXT: Who Cornered Rick’s Group Revealed!

Gregory swears off Rick’s attempt to bargain with him and fight the Saviors. He tells them their previous agreement is null and void. “We aren’t trade partners,” he says in addition to ruling out any other connections. Jesus calls him out for not helping save the community when Maggie and Sasha did. Rick insists the group can win and questions how Gregory wants to live. Maggie jumps in. Gregory has been calling them by the wrong name and insists his people don’t want to help. They grow things – they don’t fight. Tara insists people will step up, given a choice.

Gregory insists he is not going to participate, though he admits they would be better off without the Saviors. Daryl asks for a final ruling and Gregory says he made his position very clear and asks everyone go out the back as to avoid being seen.

Outside of Gregory’s room, everyone is frustrated. Rick agrees that they don’t need him. Enid barges in and invites everyone outside.

The community is waiting. Berty introduces herself and says she and others owe their lives to them. She heard they want to fight Negan and questions if they truly believe they can win. Maggie believes they can and the community is ready to fight behind Maggie.

On their way out, Daryl suggest blowing the Saviors up. Tara insists there are innocent people at the Sanctuary. Rick suggests they get more numbers and hide Daryl in the mean time. Jesus reveals a walkie talkie which listens in on the Saviors, revealing that he knows they don’t need to hurry. It’s time for Rick to meet King Ezekiel.

A truck arrives outside of the Kingdom. Jesus gets out first and Rick questions it being called, “The Kingdom.” Jesus tells them they’re at the outer edge. Daryl asks what they’re waiting for and Jesus points to Richard and another man riding in on horses. They begin questioning who Rick’s group is and Jesus requests and audience with King Ezekiel. Richard insists everyone gets out of the car and questions how they are like-minded. Jesus says they live and fight the dead, and sometimes others. Richard asks them to line up. Daryl is eager to leave and not waste time and Richard is okay with them leaving. Michonne is calm enough to buy into their scheme, prompting Carl and Rick to hand over the group’s only guns.

Richard speaks privately to Jesus on the way over and insists that pacts don’t matter if they don’t start fighting the Saviors. Jesus promises to make Richard smile for the first time.

Inside the Kingdom, Michonne realizes they have the numbers. Jesus promises they can fight but Daryl is skeptical. Rick looks satisfied but still questions the guy called, “King Ezekiel.” Morgan walks out and Rick is surprised to see him. “We go back to the start,” Rick tells Richard. Everyone goes inside but Rick and Daryl asks about Carol. He found her but tells them she left. She was unhappy. He found her and she was shot but the doctors helped her. Daryl asks if it was the Saviors and he replies positively, telling them he had to kill the man who was going to kill her. “Carol was here. She got help, now she’s gone,” Morgan said. Daryl is upset by the news.

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The group approaches King Ezekiel and Shiva in the theater. Jerry greets them and Ezekiel questions who they are. The group is startled by the tiger. Rick is slow to address King Ezekiel bt tells him “Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom. All three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the saviors. Alexandria already fought them once and we won. We thought we took out the threat.” He continues pleading his case and reveals his knowledge of Ezekiel’s pact with the Saviors. Ezekiel is angered because his people are unaware of the pact with the Saviors. It turns to Rick’s plans.

Rick asks the Kingdom to “join us in fighting the Saviors.”

King Ezekiel says this is a very serious request. Michonne pleads with him and says several of their people were killed by the Saviors. Morgan asks who and Rosita tells him Abraham, Glenn, Spencer, Olivia, and Eugene was taken. He says he is “real sorry they’re gone.”

Jesus asks Ezekiel to change the world. Rick wants to be honest. He says his people are strong but there are not enough of them. Richard chimes in, saying the Kingdom has people and weapons. Striking first can help beat them. “The time is now,” Richard said.

Ezekiel defers to Morgan for his opinion. “People will die,” Morgan said. “A lot of people and not just the Saviors. If we invite another way, we have to. Maybe it’s about Negan. Just capturing him. Holding him.”

King Ezekiel insists he needs time to think about all of this. Rick tells Ezekiel about a story his mother told him as a kid. On the way to the Kingdom, the was a rock in the road. People would hit it and lose their wagons and such. A little girl’s family hit the rock and lost their supplies. The girl sat there and cried and wondered why the rock was still there to hurt someone else. She dug at that rock in the road with her hands until they bled and used everything she had to pull it out. When she was going to fill it up, she saw a bag of gold.

Jerry loves the ending of the story.

Rick says the king put that rock in the road because the person who removed it deserved to have their life changed for the good forever.

Ezekiel invites Rick’s group to stay the night and promises to deliver his decree “in the morn.”

One of the Kingdom’s young soldiers, Benjamin, ventures through the woods and comes across Carol with a rifle. They almost shot each other. He thought she was a zombie and she questions why he didn’t run the other way. She tells him it’s going to be dark soon and he should go. Benjamin tells her Ezekiel is going to continue checking on her despite not wanting to bug her. He cares about her. Carol offers a few last tips on how to be quiet and sends Benjamin on his way.

At the Kingdom, Ezekiel speaks to a kid in bed about allowing freedom to ring, quoting Martin Luther King. Benjamin looks on from the doorway. Ezekiel asks why he missed supper and is proud of him for going out alone. He says he saw Carol and Ezekiel asks about her. He says he carries food and water for the same reason they should say “yes” to Rick. The look in their eyes said they’re going to risk everything regardless of their responses. If they stand by while the Sanctuary defeats Negan, they’ll have done nothing. Ezekiel hugs him, thanks him, and tells him his father would be proud and the king is proud.

The next day, soldiers jog through the community. Others train with a bow and arrow. Ezekiel is showing everyone around. “This is life here, everyday, but it came at a cost,” Ezekiel said. He explains how he wanted more than this but men and women lost limbs. Children lost parents because they were sent into battle when they didn’t need to be. Rick tells Ezekiel that outside of the Kingdom people don’t have this good. Daryl questions Ezekiel calling himself a king. Ezekiel defends himself. He tells Rick he has to hold on to this community and cannot offer soldiers for war, however, offers Daryl asylum to hide from the Saviors.

Everyone walks away, including Morgan. Only Jerry stays with King Ezekiel.

Sasha and Rosita talk. Sasha says she knew he ould say no but she is still pissed off. Rosita asks why she’s telling her. “We both had sex with the same dead guy. Doesn’t make us friends,” Rosita said.

Behind them, Rick, Morgan, Richard, and Michonne discuss options. Richard is eager to fight. They catch up to Daryl and the bunch. Daryl is going to stay behind and Rick asks him to try and talk to Ezekiel, promising to come back soon.

“For anyone out there who loved the obese bastard as much as I did, I just want to say a few words,” Negan says over a radio, delivering Joey’s obituary. “Things will not be the same now that he’s dead.” Rick’s group drives to a blockade of cars but Rick elects to move the cars and move them back as to avoid alerting whoever put them in the road.

Michonne hands Rick a pair of binoculars and tells him to look at something. They’ve spotted dynamite. Carl realizes this is for a herd. They need to explosives and begin trying to disarm it. Rosita starts digging into some wires while Negan radios to send a search party for Daryl. She quickly removes a battery and tells everyone to carefully but quickly remove the dynamite casings. They have to beat Negan back to Alexandria. One by one, they remove the explosives from the wire across the road they’ve been tethered to. Carl sees a herd in the distance and the group hurries to pack the dynamite, put the cars back, and get on the road. Rick insists they might need the herd. Rick sends Sasha and Jesus to the Hilltop on foot with a message for Maggie that they haven’t given up.

Rick and Michonne come up with a plan to attract the herd with the cars attached to the dynamite. They hot wire their cars while the rest of the group hides in the truck. Rick and Michonne drive down the highway using the wire to cut through the herd. They quickly hop out and push through a crowd of walkers to get into the truck and escape. Michonne tells Rick to smile because they made it. “We can make it. We can. We’re the ones who live,” Michonne said.

Just as Rick arrives at Alexandria, the Saviors show up. Simon is there acting as Negan and asks for Daryl. Rick insists that they don’t know where Daryl is. Simon launches a search for Daryl and tells everyone to find a buddy so they can see Daryl die. The Saviors tear apart the Safe-Zone and destroy furniture and more on their search.

Simon heads to the pantry and sees that it is empty. Rick promises to find more but Simon tells everyone to relax because they are not here for a pick up. Simon heads to the gate, apologizes for the mess, and hops in a truck. Before driving off, he tells Rick that if Daryl shows up here there is no statute of limitations on the punishment.

Rick asks where Father Gabriel is and Tobin tells him he is missing since the pantry was emptied. Rosita is quick to accuse him.

Back at the armor, Rick looks at Gabriel’s Bible. Tara and Michonne discuss what could have happened. Rick asks why he would leave the Holy Bible behind. He finds a note inside of it that says “Boat.” Rick and Aaron question how he would know they’re out there.

Aaron packs a bag to set out with Rick and Eric catches him. Aaron insists the others need him. Eric wants the truth about what’s going on and Aaron reveals the truth that there’s a plan to fight the Saviors. Eric doesn’t support the plan. He just wants both of them alive.

At the lake, Rick, Michonne, Rosita, Tara and Aaron search for Gabriel. Rick finds a lead in the form of a footprint in the ground. They follow the tracks and stay alert. Eventually, they find themselves surrounded by a heavily armed group dressed in dark clothes. The group quickly closes in on them without saying a word until the camera gets tight on Rick who smiles.