The Walking Dead Spoilers Recap: "Trust"
THE LIE
A crime scene. The Commonwealth Army investigates the murder of Toby Carlson, his broken body torn to shreds by Riverbend rotters. Trooper Dixon reports to the roof where Lance Hornsby questions Aaron (Ross Marquand) and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam). Hornsby runs through their story one more time.
"You went in. Things got tense. A firefight broke out. Then the people here killed every last one of our trained, armed, and armored soldiers. But not you two, the one-armed guy and the priest. Then the killers escaped. You called me over the walkie. We drove up. And here we are. That's your story?"
But Hornsby is skeptical. He questions why crazed, violent strangers would keep the two of them alive, but it doesn't make sense for them to lie to protect a bunch of crazed, violent strangers… unless they weren't strangers.
"Are you calling us liars?" asks Aaron. After a beat, Hornsby perks up. "I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here," he says, being the nice guy. "I've just got a job to do. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing, right? Justice."
Hornsby orders the troops to move out. "There's monsters running loose," he says of the escaped killers. "We need to smoke them out." They're headed to Hilltop.
THE TRUTH
At the Commonwealth, Mercer (Michael James Shaw) and Princess (Paola Lazaro) lay in bed. She points out he stays awake at night staring at the ceiling. "Maybe I'm just basking in the afterglow," he jokes, blowing off her concern.
Elsewhere, Kelly (Angel Theory) and investigative journalist Connie (Lauren Ridloff) are called to a clandestine meeting with Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Rosita (Christian Serratos). Recalling the events from last episode, Rosita tells Connie how Sebastian Milton (Teo Rapp-Olsson) forced her and Daryl to steal cash from an abandoned house outside the perimeter. "They had sent civilians in, and none of them made it out alive," Rosita reveals, including April (Wynn Everett), preyed upon because she was in debt.
"There are good people here," Rosita says. "They need to know the truth."
Connie hands over the list of names someone slid under her apartment door earlier in the season when ex-Trooper Tyler Davis (Cameron Roberts) went missing. On the list of dozens of names: APRIL MARTENS. According to Rosita, there are more names on the list than people Sebastian sent into the mansion. "Maybe it's related," says Rosita, "but there's something else going on here."
Kelly translates for Connie. "If the Miltons are involved, they'll keep it locked up," she says of Sebastian and his mother Governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins). They need access to dig it out.
Eugene just might know someone.
A LOT MORE GRAY
Carol (Melissa McBride) walks RJ (Antony Azor) and Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) to school. She meets with Ezekiel, still recovering but feeling better after his surgery removing a tumor the size of a grapefruit. "Still got a ways to go, but prognosis is good."
The king thanks his ex-queen for making it happen and tells her he's been "doing something extra with this time I've been given." But Carol is busy with her second job she can't tell Ezekiel about: working with Hornsby. "You'd think this place would make life easier, huh?" Ezekiel remarks. "Feels like there's a lot more gray instead."
With a smile, he reminds her, "I'm getting healthy again. You're stuck with me." Carol smiles back. "I guess I can live with that."
En route to Hilltop, Hornsby tells Aaron and Gabriel to take care of a small walker horde. The troopers have to save their ammunition, naturally, and "I was told you can handle yourselves."
Daryl steps out in front with Aaron and Gabriel. They cut down the pack of walkers without firing a single bullet. Hornsby stares intently. He orders Daryl to wear his helmet as the unit of Commonwealth Troopers walks up on Hilltop.
At the hospital, Dr. Tomi (Ian Anthony Dale) stuffs away a bottle of alcohol as Ezekiel enters. It's not a good day. Ezekiel has come to him for a favor: a friend is sick but can't afford the procedure without going into debt. It's a "small procedure" — an appendectomy — and he's found a way to take care of it outside the system. He has the equipment and a sterile operating area, but they need a few extra supplies — and a thoracic surgeon.
Tomi warns it's "incredibly risky." Not just for Ezekiel's friend, but for everyone involved. He lost a patient this morning, here, in a hospital. Humbly, Ezekiel asks again: "Tomi, you're the only one that can do this."
Elsewhere, Eugene gets with Max (Margot Bingham). They shouldn't be seen together in public, so he took precautions: he's posing as a delivery boy. He's come to ask Max to look for secret files — and steal them. She resists until Eugene reveals this coverup involves the Miltons. People have died and more are missing. Her brother, General Mercer, can corroborate.
TRUST
At Hilltop, Hornsby marches his army to the gates. He's hunting down escaped killers and the property they stole. Maggie and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) stand guard as Hornsby attempts a quick look around to "rule you all out. For the paperwork."
Maggie looks down at him. "I gave you my answer."
When Hornsby reconvenes with his men, Maggie looks to Elijah. Without a word, he sneaks away. Daryl steps up. "You're gonna get people killed if you force your way in there. He'll talk to Maggie. "Because I don't want to shoot anybody here today. Let me do this. We go in, nobody gets hurt. Deal?"
It's a deal. Daryl walks towards the gate.
"Open up."
Maggie stands her ground. "It doesn't have to be this way."
Removing his helmet, Daryl tells Maggie, "Yeah. Yeah, it does. Ain't nobody leaving until they look around. It'll be quick, I promise."
"You expect me to trust him?"
"I ain't asking you to trust him. I'm asking you to trust me."
She does. The gates open and the Troopers step foot into Hilltop.
JUST A SOLDIER
Back at Commonwealth, Max approaches her brother about Sebastian's heist and the missing people.
"Why would you keep something like this from me?"
"Because," Mercer says, "it's not your business. What you want to hear? This place ain't perfect? That we're lucky to have some parts of the old world, warts and all? Ain't none of this shit new. People hurt each other. People kill each other. Happens all the time. It's part of the job."
He softens. "People lost their lives because I failed them. I missed it. The weight of that is mine to carry, not yours."
She wants to help, but Mercer can't move against the Miltons. "I got 50,000 other lives to think about," he reminds her. If he goes after the governor's son, what then? "You think that kind of insubordination is gonna slide? Then what? What if I disappear? Who keeps this place running? If the Commonwealth falls, a lot more people are gonna wind up dead than the ones in that house."
Max reminds her big brother the people of the Commonwealth look up to him. Literally: Uncle Sam-style propaganda posters are all over the community.
"I am just a soldier," Mercer tells Max.
"But you could be so much more. You could change this place. But maybe that's just me being naive… maybe you are really just a poster."
At the hospital, Ezekiel and Tomi almost get away with their supplies heist when they're busted by a trooper.
GOOD TROUBLE
Hornsby peeks under the hood of a truck Maggie says doesn't run. "This new? You know, we found tire tracks at the scene. Not a lot of cars running these days." The truck sure is clean for a hunk of junk just sitting here.
Hornsby figures out the problem and reconnects the starter relay. "Let's test it out. See if I've got the magic touch." Maggie and Daryl watch in breathless anticipation. He plugs the key into the ignition. Finally, he turns it. Nothing. "You and your people have 'til sundown," Maggie tells him. "Then you can be on your way."
At the hospital, Carol springs Ezekiel and Tomi. "I was hoping this new job of yours had connections here," Ezekiel tells Carol. "I might have mentioned your name."
With a smile, Ezekiel tells Carol, "Not all trouble is bad trouble."
Ezekiel takes Tomi and Carol to the petting zoo. Behind pens of animals is a veterinary treatment area done up as a makeshift operating room. A small team of workers help the sick too poor to go through the system. "I've got a debt to repay," Ezekiel says.
Outside Princess' apartment, Mercer apologizes and cops to the truth. "I killed two of my men. And I covered it up… I had certain lines that I didn't let myself cross. Until now." He wonders if maybe he's part of the problem, the rotten core of the Commonwealth. "Maybe this place needs something else."
STAND OFF, STAND DOWN
At Hilltop, Hershel (Kien Michael Spiller) sits at his father's grave. Hornsby introduces himself with a gift: a child's hat found at Riverbend "where the bad things happened." A perfect fit. He tries to pressure Hershel into revealing the truth about what happened back at the apartment complex.
Elijah rushes over and pins Hornsby for putting his hands on Hershel. "He said something bad was gonna happen," Hershel tells Maggie, latching to his mother's side.
It sparks a standoff. Troopers draw their guns on Maggie and Elijah. Daryl, siding with Maggie, turns his gun on the troopers with orders to back off.
"I'm a nice guy, Maggie," Hornsby says, back to the wall. "I'll even let you back down so no one gets hurt."
Maggie keeps her gun pointed at Hornsby. "Plenty others have made the mistake of threatening my family. Most of them are dead now."
Daryl sticks his gun in Hornsby's face. "You turned this place upside down and you found nothing. So unless you want to die for nothing, tell them to drop the guns before something really fucking bad happens."
Hornsby looks around. He orders everyone to lower their weapons. They're moving out.
"Sorry there was any miscommunication," he says, smiling. "Shame we couldn't be friends." Daryl stands with Maggie as the Commonwealth rolls out.
NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT
That night, Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel meet in private at the Trooper camp. "We ain't going back to the Commonwealth," Daryl whispers. "They're keeping us out here to search."
Aaron chuckles. "Until they find the killers. If we can't give them the killers, what about those guns? We find them, maybe it buys us some time."
Gabriel says it's a big maybe. Daryl warns them to keep their eyes open. Something is about to go down.
In the stables, Ezekiel and Carol have a quiet moment after Theresa's surgery is a success. "It feels special. After all we've been through, as close as I came, got a fresh start. And it was important to me that my friend know just how much I appreciate her."
Carol smiles. She says the light suits him after all the years of darkness.
"This light here," he says, "came from a spark that you helped me find. Darkness is heavy. Some of us carry more than others because we're strong enough to hold the weight. But we make the light. You make the light, Carol."
Suddenly, an emergency. Theresa's appendix has burst. If they don't clean it now, peritonitis sets in. Moving her to a hospital will be too late. They have to do it right now. Ezekiel and Carol assist Tomi as he flushes the cavity. Finally, it's over, and looking good. "See? Small procedure," Ezekiel chuckles. "Nothing to worry about.
SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT
Max meets with Eugene."We know what we know. And because of that, things have to change. I can't wait around for someone else to step up and help." Eugene knows Max is risking a lot to expose the Miltons. "Whatever we find, whatever comes our way," he tells her, "you will not face it alone. I'll be by your side, hell or high water."
She's ready. "What do I need to steal?"
In the woods, the Troopers take Hornsby to a one-person camp they came across in their search. When they come under fire, he speaks into the darkness, hands up. "We're here to talk. We've come a long way to find you. You were not easy to track down. But since you've caused me more than a handful of trouble, the least you can do is hear what I have to say before you kill us."
The sniper is Leah. Gun raised, she tells Hornsby to talk fast. "My name is Lance Hornsby," he smiles. "And I'm here to offer you a job."
END OF EPISODE.
The Walking Dead mid-season finale, "Acts of God," premieres April 10 on AMC.
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