Michonne (Danai Gurira) finds herself trapped during a high-stakes mission with the suspicious Virgil (Kevin Carroll) in a first look photo from The Walking Dead 1013, “What We Become.” After setting sail with Virgil from Oceanside in the midseason 10 finale, “The World Before,” Michonne has reached a naval base on Bloodsworth Island home to Virgil and his family. In a twist revealed in a clip from the episode, Michonne learns the wife and children Virgil was so desperate to return to are dead — victims of the same sickness that turns the infected living into the undead — and now Virgil needs Michonne’s help putting down his family, who have turned into “rippers.”
“My family is still in there. My wife. My babies. That’s why I asked you to come,” Virgil confesses of the real reason he struck a deal with Michonne. “Needed you to come.”
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The original plan was for Michonne to set sail with Virgil using a borrowed boat from Oceanside, returning him to Bloodsworth Island, where Virgil said she’ll find weapons capable of wiping out Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) walker horde. But when Michonne arrives, she learns the island isn’t clear — and she might have to go through armed enemies if she hopes to retrieve those weapons she was promised.
As shown in the episode’s preview, Michonne is lured into a room — by someone — and the door shut and locked behind her. Whoever it is who has captured Michonne, whether it be Virgil or someone else on the island, photos from the episode show she’s at least given food:
Michonne decided to trust Virgil when he made a comment about mercy being “in short supply these days,” reminding her of “my mercy prevails over my wrath,” a phrase passed from Siddiq (Avi Nash) to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln).
“Michonne, at heart, is a person who is a good person and she was helped by strangers herself. She has helped strangers, so there is that aspect,” showrunner Angela Kang said when explaining Michonne’s dangerous decision on a November episode of Talking Dead.
“The part of Michonne that is the head of security for Alexandria is thinking, ‘OK, if this guy has stuff that we could use, like munitions, big weapons, things that can take out massive numbers of zombies at once,’ she feels like it’s her responsibility to check it out,” Kang continued. “But it might be dangerous, so it should only be her, because she has absolute faith in herself. She knows that she can get out of a dangerous situation. She feels like she’s got a pretty good beat on this guy, and she’s not going to let an opportunity to maybe end the war just pass her by.”
“What We Become” premieres Sunday, March 22 at 9/8c on AMC. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.
