The Walking Dead Airs Another Love Scene

Romance is in the air on The Walking Dead. Two weeks after airing a shocking pre-sex scene between Whisperer Alpha (Samantha Morton) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in the midseason 10 premiere, "Squeeze," the once fairy tale romance between Carol (Melissa McBride) and King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) was reignited in 1011, "Morning Star." The former queen and king of the since-shuttered Kingdom, Carol and Ezekiel's marriage ended over the murder of their son, "prince" Henry (Matt Lintz), who was among the first murdered by Alpha when she infiltrated the Kingdom's community fair before abducting and then decapitating nearly a dozen victims.

In "Morning Star," having finally severed all ties with daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy), Alpha marches her Whisperer and walker army onto Hilltop to wage war against the survivors. When Carol overhears Daryl (Norman Reedus) tell a panicked Hilltop the Whisperers are closing in after blocking all the roads, she looks on while Earl (John Finn) barks orders at the militia: "Do whatever you need to get your heads on straight. This is gonna be the fight of our lives."

Finding Ezekiel with armor that once belonged to their son, Carol tenderly unwraps the scarf around his neck, revealing the secret that died with Siddiq (Avi Nash): a mass caused by thyroid cancer.

"It's nothing," Ezekiel says, knowing Carol doesn't buy it. She tells him, "Never bullshit a bullshitter." She makes the first move, kissing him and moving him to the bed. Later, a smiling Ezekiel is sprawled out when he tells Carol she's lost her sense of humor. She denies it.

"I left it on a dresser on the Kingdom, and then it burned down," she quips. "I always hated that stupid dresser anyway."

"Would this have happened if it was any other night?" Ezekiel asks. "If we didn't think we were gonna die tonight." Carol smirks, replying playfully, "Wait. We're gonna die tonight?"

Ezekiel is on the frontlines when the militia assembled at Hilltop attempts to halt the walker horde advancing on the community. "Morning Star" ends when the Whisperers, using tree sap and flaming arrows, set fire to the Hilltop, trapping our heroes between a blazing fire and Alpha's walker army.

"I think they really have a beautiful relationship and it was a wonderful fairytale for Carol. The magic of the Kingdom, the liveliness of the Kingdom... I don't think that they're finished," McBride said on an episode of Talking Dead that aired after The Walking Dead's Season 9 finale. "She got to keep the ring. He said that he'll continue to love her. And I think it was what she needed at the time, certainly. I don't think it's finished."

Here's what Walking Dead fans are saying about the "Carzekiel" comeback: