‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: Season 6, Episode 5 – ‘Now’

On Sunday night, “The Walking Dead” managed to wrap up one of its big cliffhangers from two weeks ago, but the show left its big mystery unsolved.

No, we still don’t know if Glenn managed to crawl under the dumpster and survive being chucked into hundreds of undead eating machines following Nicholas’ suicide, but the newest episode brought a resolution to the Rick nail-biter involving the herd and that RV that wouldn’t start. 

Titled “Now,” the new episode also showcased a lot of growth for many Alexandrians, who were forced to decide who they are in the new world, years after everyone else did. And with no word about Glenn, Maggie was put through an emotional rollercoaster that brought her closer to friend Aaron.

Here’s what happened in Sunday night’s “The Walking Dead” Season 6, Episode 5 – “Now”: 

It’s not Maggie’s reaction that the show focuses on when Michonne comes back to tell her the bad news (Glenn was supposed to send them a signal. He didn’t. Michonne fears the worst, and she’s sorry she didn’t push harder to go in his place on the mission). We hear this conversation take place, but what we see is s a distraught Deanna as she looks at her own loved one’s name – Reg’s name – carved at the top of Alexandria’s fence.

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Shouting down below knocks her out of her daze. “Open the gate!” 

It’s Rick. He’s forced to dodge walkers left and right as he sprints across a roamer obstacle course to get to Alexandria’s sliding red fence, which Michonne opens. 

We’ll have to assume that what happened when the mobile home wouldn’t start — just as half of the walkers from the quarry emerged from the woods — was that Rick got out of the RV and started running. With thousands of walkers now outside of Alexandria’s walls, the people inside are understandably frightened. “I know you’re scared, you haven’t seen anything like this, you haven’t been through anything like this, but we’re safe, for now,” Rick says, trying to reassure them. Some of the Alexandrians aren’t buying it, though, so Aaron steps in to note the herd broke loose. Rick’s plan forced half of them in another direction. And, the attack they just survived? It’s his fault. He left his bag behind – the one with the photos in it – while out with Daryl. That’s why the wolves found Alexandria. 

Upon hearing Aaron’s confession, Deanna turns and walks away. Tobin looks to her to make a call on the situation, but she just keeps walking. And with no leadership, the Alexandrians immediately step out of line. A few of them head to the pantry and start stocking up so their families won’t “starve.” It’s Spencer who stops them with some powerful words about how looting the food will get them to the point where “nothing matters” anymore. Leadership runs in the family and Deanna, who shows up around this time, looks proud to see her son take charge.

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Elsewhere in Alexandria, while processing his guilt, Aaron happens to come across Maggie. She’s gearing up to go out and find Glenn, and Aaron insists on going with her. 

As Maggie and Aaron get ready, Deanna, who is now back at her house, starts drawing a map of the future of Alexandria. Crops will go here, the education and medical area in that corner. “Dolor Hic Tibi Proderit Olim,” she scribbles at the bottom (be patient and tough; someday, this pain will be useful to you). The crash of broken glass, though, sends her hurrying to the kitchen. Spencer’s there. He’s wasted on booze he stole from the pantry. “So what you just told everyone — that was just bullsh**?” she asks him. Spencer says his speech was more about group stealing. If it’s just one person raiding, no one would ever know. “So why not me,” he replies. And from there, he loses it, shouting at his mom that everything that happened, including the death of his brother Aiden, and father, Reg, was her fault.  

Outside, Carl ends up arguing with Ron over Enid, who is missing. He wants to find her, Ron doesn’t. Ron threatens to tell Carl’s dad if the young Grimes heads out beyond the walls. 

Elsewhere, there’s trouble in Alexandria and Jessie (Ron’s mom) has to act when she sees that one of their neighbors is now a walker. Opening the door to the woman’s house, Jessie pulls out her knife and puts the roamer out of its misery, as a small crowd watches. “This is what life looks like now. We have to see it, we have to fight it. If we don’t fight, we die,” she tells her fellow Alexandrians. 

Maggie is getting ready to fight – with Aaron. At the underground tunnel, she refuses to let him come with her, but he does enough convincing (pleading) that she reluctantly allows him to accompany her. And it’s a good thing. When they’re attacked by soggy walkers in the sewer moments later, Maggie’s hand gets stuck inside her undead attacker’s flesh and Aaron has to jump in and save her. 

On one of the lookout spots, Rick radios for their friends. “Daryl? Sasha? Abraham? Copy?” There’s no reply but silence. Ron quickly comes over, and tells Rick about Carl’s plan to leave to find Enid. The young man also uses the moment to ask Rick to make good on his promise to teach him how to defend himself (Jessie previously said this was not OK!). Rick pulls out his six-shooter, takes the bullets out and hands it to Ron to practice, using the walkers at the gate as targets. 

It’s a learning day for so many Alexandrians, but now, Dr. Denise, who managed to help make one of her neighbors better (with some encouragement from Tara) and her MD books, steps outside for a breather. “How is he?” Tara asks about Denise’s patient. She answers by kissing Tara on the lips. “It’s the end of the world,” Denise tells her. “No, it’s not,” Tara insists. “Being afraid sucks,” Denise adds, as Tara smiles back at her. 

Back in the tunnel, Aaron and Maggie reach the exit. There are walkers nearby, and that’s when she cracks. As Aaron tries to open the bars and head out, Maggie shouts, “No” to draw the attention of the walkers. “It’s over,” she tells him before dropping some very, very big news. “I’m pregnant. He didn’t want me to go out there, and I said yes, and if I would’ve gone, if I was with him, maybe I could’ve helped him. I don’t know if he’s alive. He would’ve shown me by now. That’s what Michonne said,” Maggie says tearfully. Maggie says they’ll both never know why things happened in their respective situations, and they’ll both have to live with it. As he watches the heartbroken Maggie cry, Aaron embraces his friend.

As night settles in Alexandria, Deanna heads out with the basket of items her son swiped from the pantry, when she’s attacked in the street by a walker. Lucky for her, the bottle in the basket breaks on impact and she’s able to use what’s left of it as a weapon. An enraged Deanna puts everything she has into stabbing the walker, as its blood coats her face. Rick runs up and saves her, stabbing it in the head. “I want to live. I want this place to stay standing,” Deanna tells him. She needs to lead, Rick notes, but she says it’s actually him they need as leader. “What I wanted for this place, was it really just pie in the sky?” she asks him as she picks up what’s left of the basket. “No,” Rick replies. 

And to Maggie, hope isn’t pie in the sky either. She heads over to the wall of remembrance that the young people of Alexandria made earlier and scratches Glenn’s name off of it. Aaron goes to help. “When he gets back, it’s worth remembering Aaron — Erin works for a boy or a girl, depending on the spelling… Just saying,” Aaron tells the hopeful-again Maggie. 

In a garage, Rick heads over to Jessie to explain why he didn’t want her to bury some bodies of the attackers (earlier in the episode). It’s because his friends aren’t back. Jessie tells him they could still be alive, and after a little more dialogue where Rick quotes Jessie’s speech from earlier to her neighbors, and she talks about hope, he leans in for a lengthy smooch. 

But all is not settled on this night. Deanna heads to the fence and pounds on it, to get her frustrations out. As she walks away, she strolls past an odd trickle of blood that dribbles down the wall from a tiny opening. 

“The Walking Dead” continues Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

— Jolie Lash