The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 9 "Honor"

There's gotta be something after.

Rick looks around teary-eyed. "My mercy prevails over my wrath." Future Rick walking with Judith. They run into Jerry and Siddiq building something. Present Rick digs alongside Michonne. Michonne cries. Flashback to Carl fighting one of the zombies in the woods with Siddiq. We see him get bitten by one of the two zombies he was fighting. Siddiq asks if he is okay and Carl replies that he's fine. Carl shows Siddiq the sewers. Siddiq is to stay there until Carl talks to Rick. Carl is now in his bathroom taking off his blood-soaked clothes for clean ones.  Tobin talks to Carl at the guard gate. Tobin gives Carl a note from Michonne that reads, "I had to see it for myself. I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye first. Will be back soon. Michonne." 

We see Carl writing notes. One is for Michonne and another for Rick. We see Carl and Siddiq in the sewers setting up a place for Siddiq. Carl adds a note to Enid to his pile. He sits with Judith on the rocking chair smiling. They make hand prints on the porch. He takes a selfie with Judith. He brings food to Siddiq in the sewer. They share a chocolate bar. Carl plants alongside Judith. He waves to Michonne as she comes back. He closes his eyes, lifts his head up towards the sun, and smiles.

Morgan looks at the zombies surround sanctuary. He sees Saviors gunning down the zombies. He calls over the walkies that the Saviors are making a path. The Saviors begin to shoot at him. He calls out for everyone to get out. He escapes his post. We hear music playing. He bangs on a fence so the zombies will follow him instead of the music. As Saviors run out they run into this group of zombies and Morgan gets away. Morgan sees a caravan of Saviors driving down the road. He follows them.

A zombie lies on the ground. It tripped on a wire of cans Carol set up. She tells the people of Kingdom how to get to her cabin. They will hide out there until she saves Ezekiel. Ben's little brother, Henry, says he wants to go with her. She says that's not going to happen. We go back to Carl showing Rick and Michonne that he was bitten by a zombie. Carl says, "It's alright. It's gotta be. I wasn't sure you would get back before. But just in case. I wanted to make sure I could say goodbye." He hands them the pile of notes. Rick blames the Savior but Carl says it wasn't them. He tells him it happened when he was helping Siddiq. "It just happened. I got bit." Gavin tells Ezekiel that Negan is going to kill him. Gavin liked Ezekiel. "You accepted things for what they were and you didn't get big ideas in your head. And then Rick went and planted one in there. Shits getting shittier and you're going to die." Ezekiel replies that he made a choice. Now it's Gavin's turn to decide. Morgan sneaks into Kingdom. He sees Henry sneaking among the buildings. Carol comes up behind him. Morgan tells Carol that Ezekiel is on the other side of the Kingdom. He says they can take them all. One by one. He tells her he saw Henry. She says they have to do this now.

Michonne and Rick place Carl on a cot. He is feverish. Siddiq has medication that will help with the fever. He says, "Please take them. Your son should have them." Siddiq was a resident before the zombiepocalypse. Rick asks Carl if he brought Siddiq back because he knew he was a doctor. Carl brought him to Alexandria because wouldn't have survived alone. Michonne yells at Dwight to make the Saviors stop. Rosita walks up to them. She asks Dwight if Hilltop is safe. He says yes but the Saviors are looking for them. He says it wasn't about destroying Alexandria. They need to wait until the Saviors are all gone. Rosita agrees. He asks Rosita if going to Hilltop is a good idea. To have all of them together in one location. Daryl replies, "All of us together. We'll be their worst damn nightmare."

Carol and Morgan sneak around Kingdom. They see Saviors putting out fires with fire extinguishers. Morgan says if they don't go through them they have to go exposed through the courtyard. They quickly take out all of the Saviors. Two more Saviors come and they take them out. Morgan is now willing to kill in order to protect Henry. Gavin asks Ezekiel if things are going to go bad. Ezekiel says, "You are the author of this nightmare, Gavin. Its close shall be fashioned by your start." Carl says Michonne is supposed to be resting. He says, "It's gotta stop, Michonne. It's not supposed to be like this. I know it can be better." The Saviors are quiet outside. Rosita says they might be leaving. Daryl hands Judith over to Rick and goes out to take a look. Morgan and Carol make their way through Kingdom. Just as they are about to enter a building they hear some Saviors. Carol tells Morgan to leave it but he walks up to the two Saviors and stabs them while Carol shoots the third one. Morgan stabs the third one. Is he marking them? Making sure they're dead? Gavin tells Ezekiel, "It always comes down to this. It always has to get dark, ugly, and inhuman. You know I don't like this, right?" Ezekiel says, "It's not too late to walk back from something decided." Gavin calls over the walkie but he doesn't get a response. He knows something is up. Ezekiel repeats, "It's not too late to walk back from something decided." Gavin orders his men to get Ezekiel back inside. They run inside and we see Morgan and Carol arrive at their location.

Rick crying. Future Rick continues his walk with Judith. They come upon Eugene planting. He hands Judith an apple. Present day Rick and Michonne continue digging. Rick holds Judith. Michonne tells him the Saviors are gone and they need to go to the Hilltop. Rick says Carl won't make it. He has to stay with Carl. Michonne says they will both stay. Rick asks her to take Judith to Hilltop. Daryl says he will take Judith and keep her safe. "I got this." Carl wants to say goodbye to Judith. He tells her to be good for Michonne and Rick. "You gotta honor him. Listen when he tells you stuff. You don't have to always. Sometimes, kids got to show their parents the way." He gives her the sheriff hat. "Just having it always kept Dad with me. It made me feel as strong as him. It helped me. Maybe it'll help you too. Before Mom died, she told me that I was gonna beat this world. I didn't. But you will. I know you will." She begins to cry and reaches out for him. Rick hands her to Daryl. Daryl says to Carl, "These people. You saved them all. That's all you, man." Siddiq tells Carl he was helping him to honor his mom. Carl says he was honoring his mother as well. Carl gave Siddiq a chance. "I know I can never repay you. But I can honor you by showing your people, your friends, your family that what you did wasn't for nothing. That it mattered. That it meant something. Because it did. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna honor you, Carl." Carl reaches out his hand and says, "Congratulations. You're stuck with us." Rick gives Siddiq a nod and Siddiq leaves to join the others. Now it's just Rick, Carl, and Michonne in the sewer.

The Saviors lead Ezekiel into the auditorium. Gavin tells Ezekiel, "This is it. It is too late. I'm the author, you're the dead man. I live, you die." Ezekiel responds, "The petty compromises I made to avoid conflict were always done in the name of saving my people's lives. Now I realize I was saving yours. No more." The auditorium doors bust open. The Saviors shoot. Gavin points a gun at Ezekiel's head and tells them to give up or Ezekiel dies. Morgan and Carol bust in from the stage and begin shooting up the place. A gun falls by Ezekiel. Morgan and a Savior fight. Morgan shoves his fingers in the Saviors abdominal wound and pulls out the Savior's intestines. Everyone stops and looks at him. Gavin limps away. Morgan picks up a gun and shoots at him.

Michonne wipes away the sweat from Carl's face and neck. They give him water to drink. Rick kisses Carl on the top of his head. Carl tells Michonne, "I don't want you to be sad after this, or angry. You're gonna have to be strong for my dad, for Judith, for yourself." Michonne says she will. He tells her, "Don't carry this. Not this part. You're my best friend, Michonne." She replies, "You're mine too. You're mine." Rick wants her to help him get Carl out of the sewer.

Gavin stumbles through the halls of the auditorium Morgan follows him. Rick and Michonne help Carl through the smoldering streets of Alexandria. They go inside the church. Gavin hides from Morgan. Morgan drags his bloody stick on the ground behind him. We see his shadow. Gavin falls back and there is Morgan waiting with his stick. Carl lies on the floor of the church. He says, "Thanks for getting me here." Rick says, "I'm sorry, I just didn't want you out there." Carl says, "No, for getting me here. For making it so I could be who I wound up. Back at the prison, when we got attacked. There was a kid, a little older than me. He had a gun. He was starting to put it down, and I shot him. He was giving it up, and I just shot him. I think about him. What I did to him and how easy it was to just kill him." Gavin cries out that Morgan is a sick man. Morgan says nothing and walks towards him. Gavin says he kept his word. Morgan just circles around him. Ezekiel and Carol come towards them. Gavin says, "You think you can beat Negan? You can't." Morgan replies, "No."

Rick says Carl, "No, no. What happened, what you've lost. All those things you had to do. You were just a boy." Carl replies, "And you saw it. What it did. How easy it got." Gavin says, "You just killed all of those men because of the kid? Killing me won't make any of it go away. You'll still wake up in the same shit tomorrow." Carl tells Rick, "That's why you changed. You brought those people from Woodbury in. You brought them in and we all lived together. We were enemies. You put away your gun. You did it so I could change, so I could be who I am now. What you did then, how you stopped fighting was right. It still is. It can be like that again. You can still be like that again." Ezekiel tells Morgan to stop. "Ending him is the cowards way. We've won. We don't have to kill him." Rick says, "I can't be who I was. Carl says, "You can't kill all of them, Dad. There's gotta be something after. For you and for them. There's gotta be something after." Carol says," You don't have to do this. You told me we can be better than them. You don't want to do this. I know it. I can see it." Morgan replies,  "I have to. I have to. I have to." Gavin is stabbed in the neck from behind by Henry. Carl say, "I know you can't see it yet. How it could be. But I have. You have a beard. It's bigger and greyer. Michonne's happy, Judith is older. Alexandria is bigger. There's new houses, crops, and people working. Everybody living helping everyone else live. You can still be who you were. That's how it could be. It could." We see the vision of the future. Rick says, "It was all for you. Right from the start. Back in Atlanta, the farm, everything I did, it was for you. Then at the prison, it was for you and  Judith. It still is. It's gonna be. And nothing is gonna change that." Carl says, "I want this for you, Dad." Rick answers, "I'm gonna make it real, Carl. I promise. I'm gonna make it real." Carl looks at both of them.

Ezekiel tells Henry it's okay. Henry says he had to kill Gavin. Carol gets mad at him. He was supposed to stay at the cottage. Ezekiel tells Henry, "All will be resolved." He hugs Henry. Rick says, "Carl I'm sorry, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. A father's job is to protect his son." Carl says, "Love. It's just to love." They all cry. Carl grabs his gun. Rick says no. Carl interrupts Michonne, "I know it should be somebody you love.When you can't do it yourself. But I still can. I grew up. I have to do this. Me. I love you." She says she loves him too and cries. Carl looks at Rick. "I love you, Dad." Rick says, "I love you, Carl. I love you so much." He kisses Carl on the forehead. "I'll make it real. I will." We see Rick and Michonne outside and hear the silencer go off inside the church. They both flinch at the sound and cry. The future vision shows Judith saying good morning to Negan. Sometime in the near future Rick sits under a tree. He is bleeding from a wound at his side.

R.I.P. Carl Grimes

Final Thoughts
- What a powerful ending for such a great character as Carl. He was a child growing up the zombiepocalypse that had to grow into a man very quickly. It's hard enough to be a teenager let alone a teenager in the zombiepocalypse. For all he went through he turned out well. He lost his way for awhile but he had a good father that realized his son was heading down a dark path and helped him to turn back to the light.  Chandler Riggs is an amazing actor and deserves some recognition for his work over these past eight years. I am sure we will see many good things to come from this fine young actor.

- I'm glad Morgan's time in the dark side was short-lived. It seems to me that every time an adult in this show becomes killing happy they stop the minute they see a child kill someone. Rick changed when he saw how easy killing became for Carl. Carol was hesitant to teach any child to kill after Lizzie.
- I wish this episode had just been about Carl. The part with Morgan could have been absorbed into another episode. I found those scenes almost a distraction. Not to mention this war needs to be over now because I am getting bored and frustrated by it.