East

"East" is the fifteenth episode of Season 6 of AMC's The Walking Dead. It aired on March 27, 2016 at 9/8c on AMC, and on March 28, 2016 at 9pm on Fox.

Plot Synopsis
A car idles on the road, its windshield shattered by a bullet. Blood drips on the ground. A woman’s voice orders a man to come out. The man screams. A gunshot rings out.

At home, Carol packs her bag in preparation for leaving Alexandria. She hides her bag when Tobin enters the room. He reminisces about Denise, whom he knew from the start of Alexandria. Carol only pretends to listen.

Later that night, Carol slips out of the bedroom as Tobin sleeps.

The next morning, Sasha and Rosita guard the gate. Carl examines one of the Savior’s guns and pockets it. Glenn showers with Maggie; noticing bruises on her abdomen.

Daryl mounts his motorcycle, clutching the “Dennis” keychain that Denise found at the apothecary.

Abraham takes over Sasha’s post at the gate. She smiles and hands him a cigar. Rosita watches their exchange.

Rick and Michonne snuggle in bed. Michonne gets dressed so that she can help Glenn and Maggie beef up security. She tells Rick that Maggie is worried about an attack. Rick assures her that they’ll be able to handle the Saviors. “The world’s ours and we know how to take it,” he declares.

Michonne joins Maggie and Glenn outside, where Maggie has collected a bin full of guns. Maggie suggests they create caches of guns throughout the community, to guarantee they’ll have weapons in the event of an attack.

Despite Rosita’s protests, Daryl opens the front gate and leaves on his motorcycle. Glenn and Michonne go after him, along with Rosita, who claims to know where he’s heading.

Tobin shows Carol’s farewell note to Rick. They convene with Sasha and Abraham at the gate and deduce that Carol took a car and snuck out when the guards changed shift. Rick and Morgan leave to find Carol.

Carol drives down the road and runs into a truck full of armed men – more Saviors --who shoot out her tires. Carol steps out with her hands up. The men demand that she lead them back to Alexandria. Carol begs them to return home. When they don’t comply, she opens fire with a gun she had hidden in her coat sleeve. After the shootout, she orders a surviving Savior to come out from hiding. He grabs a knife and charges at her.

Maggie stops by the pantry to eat lunch before beginning another shift. Enid insists on taking Maggie’s shift so that Maggie can rest.

Rick and Morgan follow Carol’s tire tracks east -- the opposite direction of the Saviors’ compound that Rick attacked, Morgan notes. Rick asks why Morgan wants to help find Carol, whom he barely knows. Morgan insists he knows more about Carol than Rick thinks.

At the scene of the shootout, another injured Savior staggers out of the truck and sees Rick and Morgan approaching.

Rick and Morgan arrive at the scene. They discover Carol’s car, but no sign of Carol. Uncertain whether she’s alive or dead, they follow a trail of blood leading away from the road. The injured Savior emerges from a hiding spot, grabs Carol’s rosary beads from the ground and follows Rick and Morgan.

Rosita, Glenn and Michonne arrive at the spot where Dwight killed Denise. They find Daryl’s motorcycle hidden underneath some branches, confirming Rosita’s hunch that Daryl came back to kill Dwight. Rosita points in the direction that Dwight escaped, but wonders if they shouldn’t let Daryl complete his mission.

Rosita, Glenn and Michonne catch up to Daryl in the woods. Glenn tries to stop Daryl from going after Dwight, but Daryl refuses to stand down, explaining that if he had killed Dwight in the burned-out forest, Denise would still be alive. Rosita decides to join Daryl.

Glenn and Michonne reluctantly turn back. Before they reach the car, however, Dwight and the Saviors ambush and capture them.

Rick and Morgan follow the blood trail. Morgan recalls that Rick banished Carol after she killed two of their people at the prison, and asks what Rick would do if that happened today. Rick says he would thank her. Morgan makes the argument that because Rick spared Carol’s life, she was able to return later and save them at Terminus. “People can come back,” Morgan says.

Rick and Morgan encounter a man at a farm overrun with walkers. Rick orders the man to drop his weapon, but he says he’s only looking for his horse and flees. Rick fires at the man, but Morgan intervenes. Rick guesses the man was a Savior based on his weapon, but Morgan insists they had no way of knowing who he was.

Morgan confesses to Rick that he took a Wolf captive during the attack on Alexandria. Rick seethes, but Morgan explains that the Wolf later saved Denise from walkers — and Denise then saved Carl. Morgan vows to find Carol on his own and tells Rick not to come looking if he doesn’t return. Rick hands Morgan a gun.

Rick returns to Alexandria and learns from Abraham that Michonne hasn’t come back. Staring at the gate, the two share their fears over getting close to someone again. But, Abraham says, “I think I’m that much more ready to tear the world a brand new asshole.” Rick smiles and nods.

Maggie asks Enid to cut her hair. “I have to keep going,” she explains, examining her new look, “and I don’t want anything getting in my way.” Suddenly, she doubles over in pain. To Enid’s shock, Maggie collapses to the floor, screaming.

In the woods, Daryl and Rosita creep up on the Saviors’ camp where Glenn and Michonne are being held. Glenn tries to scream a warning to Daryl through his gag, but Daryl is caught off-guard by Dwight sneaking up behind him. Dwight has a gun trained on Daryl’s back. “Hi Daryl,” he says, firing telling him "He'll be alright"

Co-Stars

 * Daniel Newman as "The Man"

Uncredited

 * Robert Walker-Branchaud as Neil (corpse)

Deaths

 * Miles
 * Jiro
 * 2 Unnamed Saviors

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Neil. (Corpse)
 * Maggie gets a haircut from Enid
 * Maggie possibly has a miscarriage.