Just like the season premiere, “The Damned” is fast paced as it follows the progress of Rick’s assault on Negan’s outposts. Rick has organized three separate attack groups to overtake the various outposts with Rick and Daryl leading one, Ezekial and Carol leading the second, and Jesus and Morgan leading the third. As they each moving further along in their missions, Morgan appears to be forgetting about his “all life is precious” mantra, and Rick runs across an old familiar face. A full recap of the latest episode of The Walking Dead is below… spoilers for The Damned follow…
The Damned (S8, Episode 2)
Tara, Jesus, and Morgan are at the outpost they overtook before, along with their unit. They are trying to figure out how to get in without being seen. Morgan volunteers to try to sneak in, and he gets all the walkers at the compound’s perimeter to come to him to serve as a distraction while two of the guards are taken out by arrows. Tara and Jesus then lead a crew inside the building taking out men with silenced weapons as they move down the hallways. The rest of the group comes in and spreads out through the building.
Morgan and another man open the door to a room where they hear voices. The men are ready for them and open fire on them. Morgan is shot. Meanwhile, Tara and Jesus find a man hiding in a closet. He comes out holding his hands up and has pissed himself. Tara wants to kill him, but Jesus tells her to wait as he holds the man at gunpoint. The man says he is from the sanctuary and was just brought here to work. Tara does not believe him and still wants to kill him. When the man has a chance, he knocks Jesus down, grabs his gun, and holds it to his head. Jesus quickly takes him down, and holds the gun to his head. He does not kill him though. Instead, he takes him as a prisoner.
Morgan lies on the ground from being shot, eyes closed, but then he suddenly wakes up. He lies there for a moment, and then sits up. He walks down the hallway, and is on a mission through the halls taking out each man he comes across while he remembers a conversation he had with Rick about winning this battle.
Outside, Jesus and the rest of the group confront the remainder of Negan’s and they lay their guns down in surrender. Inside, Morgan still taking out everyone he comes across in the hallways. He finally makes his way out to where the group has Negan’s men held at gunpoint. He sees the man that killed the kid in the kingdom and walks up to him and points his gun at his chest. Jesus stops him and says, “Its not what we do.” Morgan says, “Then what do we do?”
The Damned finds Carol and Ezekiel are getting up from the grenade blast that happened at the end of episode one. The blast has attracted walkers that are now pouring out of the buildings toward them. They take them all out, but they can’t locate Negan’s soldier who through the smoke bomb. Carol knows they need to find him before he can notify the compound they are heading towards.
Ezekiel and Carol are making their way through the trees, along with their group, not sure if they are walking into a waiting enemy or if they are taking them by surprise. Ezekiel is confident they will prevail, but Carol is apprehensive. They find blood along the way and know they wounded the scout. Shortly after spotting the blood, Ezekiel sees the scout and as he does, Shiva jumps out and takes him down. The find his radio and hear a message from the compound. Negan knows they are coming, but they decide to move forward anyway.
At another outpost, Negan’s group is prepping their weapons. The leader of the outpost tries to call their lookout, but he doesn’t answer. Just as she does start to tell everyone to be cautious and secure the compound, Rick’s crew rolls in with their armored cars and begins shooting up the place. Aaron is leading the attack outside while Rick and Daryl silently take out guards and enter the building behind the firefight.
Rick’s refers to Dwight’s note about the compound they are in. It says there are 50 caliber Browning guns at this outpost and it tells him exactly how to get to them. They aren’t able to find the way he told them so they climb up the elevator shaft.
Outside, Negan’s group is trying to shove their attackers outside backwards and they are gaining ground. As they continue to push forward, the leader realizes Rick’s group didn’t move in because they were waiting for the people they killed to turn and take them out, which they begin doing shortly after she realizes it. More of them are starting to fall… both from walkers and from the attack. As Aaron makes his way over to his boyfriend, Eric, he realizes in horror that he has been shot.
Daryl is investigating the upper corridors in the building and finds evidence that someone was tied to a pipe as a prisoner. Rick is doing the same and is suddenly attacked. He entually kills the man by shoving him into a shelving support sticking out from the wall. He takes a key from the man expecting the room it unlocks to house the weapons from the note, but in the room is a baby instead. The baby’s name, Gracie, is spelled out on the wall behind the crib. Rick is shaken as he looks at himself in the mirror in her room. He seems to be wrestling with the possibly that he just killed this infants father.
As he lingers in the room investigating it, he begins studying a picture. As he does, someone comes from behind him and puts a gun to his head. It is Morales from the original group outside of Atlanta. He tells Rick he has called the Saviors to come help them.
The question for me with this episode is “Who are the damned?” It could be that it simply means that it is Negan’s group who are beginning to get the payback that they deserve from years of mistreating people. Or, it could be that it is Rick’s group who seem to struggle even though they are trying to do the right thing. Rick, Morgan, and Aaron are all suffering for different reasons in this episode so it be a reference to them. Whoever it refers to, I have a feeling that Morgan is about to visit crazy town again!
One more thing… I’m thinking of what Jeffery did to Gabriel in Mercy, and find myself wondering… what is Negan doing to Gabriel while all this is going on?
Let us know what you though of the The Damned in the comments below!
