"Diverged" is the twenty-first episode of the tenth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the one-hundred and fifty-second episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 28, 2021. It was written by Heather Bellson and directed by David Boyd.[1]
Plot
At the lowest point in their friendship, Daryl and Carol come to a fork in the road and head their separate ways. Carol returns to Alexandria, while Daryl stays on the road, each going into their own type of survival mode.
Synopsis
Daryl and Carol walk back to Alexandria in silence. Daryl gives Carol his pocket knife to open her canteen and says he's going to keep looking for supplies. He starts to apologize for their argument at the cabin but Carol stops him. They split up and take different paths. Dog follows Carol.
Daryl gets on his motorcycle.
Carol returns to Alexandria. She goes home and tells Dog that Daryl meant what he said during their argument. Dog licks her.
Carol asks Jerry if she can help out with work around Alexandria. Jerry says all the tasks are already being taken care of. Carol begs Jerry for a task and offers to make him soup for lunch. Jerry warns that she will have to cook without electricity, since the Whisperers damaged some solar panels.
Daryl's motorcycle breaks down as he rides through the woods. He leaves the motorcycle to go look for spare parts.
Carol collects ingredients in her pantry and starts to cook soup. She hears Dog barking in the living room and finds him tearing the room apart in search of a rat. She admonishes Dog and starts cleaning up. Dog races to the pantry and paws at a spot in the wall where the rat is hiding. Carol sends Dog out of the pantry and starts building a rat trap.
Carol collects supplies from the living room and finishes building the rat trap. She sets the trap on the pantry floor and leaves.
Carol heads outside with a bucket and tells Jerry she's going to forage for soup ingredients.
Carol picks herbs in a field and sees walkers approaching. She slays all the walkers then returns to her bucket of herbs.
Daryl looks for spare parts in an abandoned car, then checks a nearby truck. A walker sits in the front seat. Daryl goes under the truck to look for parts. The walker climbs into the back seat, tipping the truck backwards and pinning Daryl. Daryl bangs the underside of the front seat to attract the walker's attention. The walker climbs back into the front seat, tipping the truck forward. Daryl shimmies free.
Carol returns to Alexandria covered in blood. Jerry asks if she's okay. She assures Jerry that she's fine and keeps walking with her bucket of herbs.
Carol dumps the herbs in her pantry and checks the rat trap. It's empty.
Daryl returns to his motorcycle with the spare parts then remembers that he gave his pocket knife to Carol. He wheels his bike down the road.
Carol uses the pocket knife to fix a solar panel. Jerry asks if she needs help. Carol says she's fine.
Carol returns to the pantry and turns on the light. It works.
Daryl spots a group of walkers and studies them through binoculars, in search of a walker that might have a pocket knife. He gets out his crossbow and approaches the walkers.
The walkers hear Daryl and come after him. Daryl makes his way to a walker dressed in military fatigues, then falls into a pit. The walker attacks him. He kills the walker and finds a pocket knife on its body.
Daryl returns to his motorcycle and uses the pocket knife to repair it. He kills some walkers with his crossbow and continues working into the night.
Carol returns to the pantry and starts cooking. She hears the rat scratching and checks the trap. She screams as the rat scurries out. She chases the rat around the pantry before it disappears into the wall. The power goes out. She unplugs the crock pot and plans to continue cooking when there is more solar power the next day.
Carol retires to her bedroom at night. Dog jumps into bed with her. Carol admits that she misses Daryl and says he always comes back. She wonders if she should leave Alexandria so that she can be out of everyone's way.
Daryl works on his motorcycle through the night.
Dog wakes Carol in the middle of the night. She grabs her flashlight.
Daryl fixes his bike and cruises down the road.
Carol and Dog go downstairs. Carol hears the rat in the wall and cuts a hole in the wall to find it. She cuts a bigger hole, then starts tearing out insulation. She demolishes the wall and sinks to the ground.
Carol cooks soup the next morning and begins cleaning the debris from the wall. Jerry checks in to see if she's okay. Carol admits she had a bad day. Jerry says he noticed that she came home without Daryl and guessed that she was having a bad day. Carol worries that she's a broken person. Jerry hugs her and assures her that he is still her friend. The rat scurries outside. Carol invites Jerry in for soup.
Daryl returns to Alexandria and parks his motorcycle. Dog races up to Daryl. Carol greets Daryl and notes his disheveled appearance. Daryl notes her disheveled pantry. Carol tries to return the pocket knife but Daryl lets her keep it. Daryl goes inside to sleep.
Other Cast
Uncredited
- Seven as Dog
- Kevin Cheek as Alexandria Resident
- Marcus Tyler Estes as Alexandria Resident
- Michael Cosmas Ananicz as Alexandria Resident
Deaths
- None
Trivia
- The title of the episode, "Diverged", refers to Daryl and Carol splitting up in the episode, i.e. their paths "diverging".
- It also can be a nod to "The Road Not Taken", a famous poem by Robert Frost, talking about two roads that diverged in a wood.[2]
- This episode was made available for streaming to subscribers of AMC Premiere on March 25, 2021.
