The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 4 "Here's Not Here"

The Art of Peace

Now
Morgan speaks to the wolf he met he last season in the woods. He knows the wolf likes to talk and that he wanted everything Morgan had. Well here it is. Every last bit.

Then

"Clear" written on the wall. The crazy house where Rick found Morgan. He is talking to someone. Himself or possibly Duane. A fire consumes the wall that says "Here's not here." while Morgan screams "We weren't supposed to be there! You had the knife! You had the gun! You were supposed to! You know you were supposed to!" He is seems to be referring to the pilot when he had the gun and was going to shoot his zombie wife but couldn't do it. In his mind, if he had killed his wife then Duane would still be alive.

Morgan walks through the woods with a gun and helmet on. He comes upon some zombies and kills them all with the barrel of his rifle. He piles them up in a clearing and sets them on fire. Zombies are attracted by the fire. He kills them. The next day we see he has set up spikes by his fire pit. A zombie with tied hands walks by and he kills it. It joins the pile of dead zombies. He has written the word "clear" on a rock by the fire pit. He walks through the woods. He is being followed by two men. He hides behind a tree waiting of them. He kills one by stabbing him in the neck with his stick. The other man apologizes but he strangles him anyway saying, "You don't." Another fire with bodies. The next morning he grabs the zombies that have trapped themselves on the spikes. He writes "pointless act" on a rock and "here's not here" on another. He marks trees with the letter A written in blood. He walks into a beautiful clearing. He mumbles "You know what it is." He waves his stick around at no one. He hears an animal bleating. As he walks he comes upon some cans tied with string. He steps over them and finds two cabins. One of them has solar panels on the roof. There is a fence and a goat is tethered within. A man tells him to step away from the goat. It does not belong to Morgan. He still is trying to figure out how to make cheese (Is this the cheese maker that taught Morgan how to fight with his stick and not kill things? I think it is). Morgan shoots at the man. The man asks him to put down his gun and invites him to eat. The man says they can work this out  but Morgan keeps walking around the cabin with his rifle. The man gives him one last chance. The man hits Morgan from behind and apologizes.

Morgan wakes up on the floor of a cell in the cabin. He sees a child's drawing on the wall. The cheese maker walks in and asks Morgan's name. Morgan replies, "Kill me." over and over again. The man tosses a book ("The Art of Peace") inside the cell. He tells Morgan his name is Eastman. Eastman tells Tabitha it is okay. Tabitha is the goat. Eastman kills a zombie approaching Tabitha. Morgan eats the food that Eastman left in the cell for him. Morgan mumbles, "It's yours so you take it. It's yours or it's his so you take it. 16 hours in the 19 on the floor. You know what it is." Eastman brings Tabitha inside and places her in a pen he made for her. Eastman says that Morgan shot at him and he fed him so please don't hurt the goat. The next morning we see Morgan looking out the window at Eastman practicing with his stick. Morgan eats and watches Eastman. Morgan says, "16 hours in 19 on the floor." We see Eastman attempting to make cheese. The cheese is terrible.

Eastman tells Morgan he is from Atlanta and a forensic psychiatrist. Now he lives here because of the zombiepocalypse. He asks Morgan what he did or does now. Morgan says he clears. He kills walkers or anything that approaches him. Eastman asks why. Morgan replies that is why he is still here. Eastman calls that a load of crap. Then he gives Morgan his lunch. Morgan snaps off a piece of his zipper. He uses it to cut away at the bars on his window. He stops the minute he sees Eastman coming back in. Eastman tells Morgan that he (Morgan) has PTSD. Morgan tells him about killing the two men. That's what he does. Eastman asks if Morgan has killed a lot of people. Yes, not everyone was attacking him though. Eastman asks if he saves people. Yes. Morgan replies, "Pointless acts. Everybody turns." He noticed a wedding ring and guesses that Morgan had kids and saw them turning. He relives that moment over and over again. Eastman tells Morgan that his body is here but his mind is still there. "There's a door and you want to go through it to get away from it and you do and it leads you right back to that moment. And you see that door again and you know it won't work and you step through that door and it happens again. And you feel it every time. So you stop opening that door and you sit in it. But I assure you one of those doors leads out, my friend." Eastman wants to be Morgan's friend but Morgan says he will kill Eastman because he has to clear. Eastman says we were not built to kill. That is why soldiers come back with PTSD. Killing causes trauma. But we can all heal. "It's all a circle and everything gets a return". He tells Morgan that the cell door is open. He can leave or stay. The door has been open all along. "You stay or you go. Those are the choices. I will not allow you to kill me." Morgan opens the door and runs at Eastman.

Eastman fights off Morgan and tells him to stop. He gave Morgan two choices. Morgan runs to the fireplace to grab a poker but Eastman stops him. They fight and Morgan starts to choke Eastman. Eastman gains control and pins Morgan to the ground. Morgan concedes. The child's drawing lies broken on the floor. It upsets Eastman to see it broken. He looks like he is about to hurt Morgan. Morgan says, "kill me." Eastman stops and tells him he has the choice of the door or the couch. Morgan gets up and walks back into the cell and closes the door. Eastman picks up the broken drawing and opens the cell door but Morgan kicks it shut. Later that night Eastman tells Morgan it was akido that he used to kick Morgan's ass. He tells Morgan about his 5 year old daughter finding him in the garage crying after a hard day at work. His daughter gave him a rabbit's foot for luck . The next day he found a flyer for akido. Morgan asks if his daughter and wife are dead. Eastman says Morgan will need akido if they are going to make it on this trip. Morgan asks where they are going. Eastman doesn't know. He just knows there have got to be more people out there. He turns off the light and bids Morgan a good night. Morgan walks out of the cell and sees that Eastman was repairing the drawing he broke during the fight.

The next morning Eastman talks about the cheese he is making. "There is potential here. Where there's life there is potential." Eastman tells Morgan how he will continue trying to make cheese. He has become a vegetarian but he won't give up chocolate. Goo goo clusters will remain on the menu. He invites Morgan to go on a run with him. When Morgan doesn't respond he asks him to look after the goat. Morgan watches him go. He looks down at the book that Eastman gave him. He picks up the book and on the first page titled "The Art of Peace" Eastman has written: "Aikido means not to kill. Although nearly all creeds have a commandment against taking life, most of them justify killing for one reason or another. In Aikido, however, we try to completely avoid killing, even the most evil person." We hear zombie sounds and the goat bleating. Morgan rushes outside just as two zombies make their way to the goat. He kills one zombie and as he fights the other he hesitates for a moment but then looks at Tabitha and kills the zombie. Morgan takes the zombie body into the woods. He finds a shovel propped up against a tree. He finds a makeshift graveyard. Eastman finds Morgan digging a grave for the zombies and thanks him for saving Tabitha. He says, "Progress." As Morgan goes to put one of the zombies in the ground Eastman stops him and pulls out the zombies wallet. He grabs their IDs and writes their names on grave markers. When they get back he tells Morgan to fix the tomato plants he ruined and hands him a new spear (he took off the pointed end).

We see Morgan digging in a garden with Eastman. Eastman teaches Morgan aikido. You have to care about your opponent and yourself. You have to believe that all life is precious. . . What we've done we've done." As the voice over continues we see Morgan reading in the cabin and practicing with his spear. Morgan voice over " We evade it by moving forward with a code to never do it again. To still accept what we were. To protect everyone. To create peace." Tabitha now lives in the cell. Morgan asks Eastman why he has a cell in his cabin. He built this place before his daughter was born. In his job he talked to many people convicted of terrible things. One patient, Crighton Dallas Wilton, that was up for parole and was very likable. But Eastman saw that he was in fact a psychopath. When Crighton realized that Eastman knew what he was he attacked Eastman. Eastman saw evil in his eyes. He pulls out the rabbit's foot. He tells him the aikido move he used to save himself. He made sure Crighton would never get out but broke out anyway. He killed Eastman's wife, daughter, and son and then surrendered to the police. He only broke out to destroy Eastman's life. He built the cell to bring the psycho there and watch him starve to death. Morgan asks if he did that. Eastman replies, "I have come to believe that all life is precious."

Eastman says they need more gear and should try looking in the islands up the coast. Morgan says he knows a way they can find all they need. We see his old fire pit. Morgan had a bag there with gear. Eastman asks who Morgan lost. He wants to know their names. "Jenny and Duane." Eastman tells him to do forms. Morgan doesn't want to do them there but Eastman insists. They stand up, face each other and Morgan begins to do forms with his spear. Eastman puts him in the proper position and then tells Morgan he will hold a baby again (that came true in Alexandria). A zombie comes out of the woods and Eastman tells Morgan it is all his. Morgan freezes when he realizes it's the man he strangled. Eastman steps in but the zombie bites him on the back. Morgan yells at him "I said not here! That wasn't for you to do! You can't just step in! Tell me how it is!" Eastman says they are going back home, "You are done with this. You made it out." Morgan attacks him and they fight. Eastman beats him and Morgan screams "Kill me!" Eastman drops his stick and picks up the zombie. He places the zombie in his wagon. Morgan says, "I said not here." "That's the thing Morgan, Here's not here."

Morgan sharpens his spear against the rock that says pointless acts. He stalks the woods and finds a zombie. He kills the zombie and we see two people. The man has a crutch. It looks like Morgan is about to attack them but he just stares them down. The woman opens her backpack and offers Morgan a can soup and a bullet and says thank you. They walk away. Morgan goes back to the pit for a spear. Then he runs back to the cabin. He finds a zombie eating Tabitha. He kills the zombie. He carries Tabitha to the graveyard where he finds Eastman. Tabitha figured out the cell door was open and got out. Morgan orders Eastman to sit down and he continues to dig the grave. He notices a grave marked Crighton Dallas Wilton. Eastman tells him that he kidnapped Crighton and brought him to the cabin. He put Crighton in the cell and let him starve to death. It took 47 days. Then Eastman was gone. He was crazy like Morgan. Killing Crighton didn't give him any peace. He found peace when he decided to never kill anything again. On his way to turn himself in he found out the world had ended. Morgan says, "But the world hasn't ended." Progress.

Eastman tells Morgan that his daughter drew the picture on the wall of his house. He put a frame around it. When the apocalypse happened he walked through 30 miles of the dead to get it. It was the scariest and the best thing he ever did. He tells Morgan he could stay in the cabin but he shouldn't because he'll be alone. "Everything is about people." Everything matters. Eastman is ready to die. He has a gun in the lock box. Morgan helps him to his feet. Eastman gives Morgan the lucky rabbit's foot so it will give Morgan luck in whatever he decides to do. Morgan has already decided. We see Morgan doing formations outside. He leaves the cabin with his backpack and spear. We see a grave marked Eastman. Morgan walks through the woods and looks at the rabbit's foot. He stumbles upon the railroad tracks and reads the sign for Terminus. He walks down the track towards Terminus.

Now

"And that's it. Every last bit." The wolf asks if he thinks it can work out that way with him. Morgan thinks it can. The wolf says he is shaking and sweating a little. He lifts his shirt and shows a bite mark. When he saw the pictures of Alexandria he thought there might be medicine. So now he knows he is probably going to die. "But if I don't. I am going to have to kill you Morgan. I am going to have to kill every person here. Every one of them. The children too. Just like you friend Eastman's children. Those are the rules. That's my code. I'd say I'm sorry but you said it, right? Don't ever be sorry." Morgan stands up and walks out of the cell in Alexandria. He hesitates, but then locks the door. He looks back but then he hears Rick screaming "Open the gate!" and runs towards the sound.

Final Thoughts
- I loved the dialogue in this episode. While I wanted to know what happened to Glenn it's episodes like this that end up being my favorite. Just two people talking. I can see this being one of my favorite episodes of the season, maybe even the entire series.
- I liked the use of the prison metaphor. Morgan stayed in the cell because he assumed it would be locked. He didn't even try to open the door. Morgan was trapped in his own mental prison. Like Eastman said he kept going through the wrong door. All he had to do was open the cell door and be free. He needed to find the right door (with the help of Eastman) so he could free himself and stop clearing.
- My sister pointed out that when Morgan arrived at Gabriel's church he place the bullet, rabbit's foot, and a Goo Goo cluster on the altar.
- So how long do you think it will be before Rick or Carol find the wolf in the cell and kill him?
- What does "16 hours in the 19 on the floor" mean?
- What do the blood letter As on the trees mean?