The Walking Dead season 9, episode 14 recap: Scars

The Walking Dead took us down a dark path this week as the secret behind Michonne and Daryl’s scars are revealed.

The Walking Dead was a tough one to watch this week as “Scars” literally revealed scars of the past. Fans of the series have been curious as to how Michonne and Daryl got those nasty scars on their back, and in this week’s episode, it’s all exposed. The truth isn’t pretty but it proves and solidifies one thing for sure–Michonne will do anything for her kids.

The episode picks up not long after Rick disappears/dies/something with a pregnant Michonne and an eager Daryl looking for any sign of him. Whether it’s looking at every zombie, looking for any sign of his body, or anything in between, they are hoping to find anything at all. While they don’t find him, Michonne does stumble across Rick’s gun.

“Scars” goes back and forth between the past and present which explains and clears up so much that’s been driving us crazy. In the present, Daryl shows up at the gates of Alexandria with Henry, Connie, and Lydia, and even though Michonne is against letting anyone in, she can’t seem to tell Daryl no.

Heading back to the past, a pregnant Michonne greets Rosita and a group of kids by the gates, with them is a lady that Michonne seems to happily recognize–Jocelyn. Despite being injured, Jocelyn insists that she be allowed to leave to retrieve the other kids that were left behind. It turns out that Jocelyn and Michonne were college roommates (how small is the world of The Walking Dead?!), and seems very proud of the kids under her supervision. They’re strong, they’re fearless, and they’re resourceful.

A sleepover goes very wrong when Michonne goes to pick up Judith only to learn that Jocelyn and all the other kids are MIA. With Daryl by her side, Michonne finds one Alexandrian murdered and the entire infirmary raided. After finding their hidden location, the cute, innocent children turn into “Children of the Corn” as Chris Hardwick and the Twitterverse called them. I’m not sure about all of you, but those kids freaked me out. Kudos to those child actors for doing such an amazing job.

Capturing Daryl and Michonne as their prisoners, we see the moment that their scars came to fruition, and it was horrifying. They were literally branded by these children but managed to escape a short time later. This escape led to a very tragic and emotional scene that we haven’t seen on The Walking Dead in quite a while.

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In pursuit of Judith and the other kids, Michonne is attacked by one of the children, aka getting slashed in her very pregnant belly. And as someone who watched the episode closely, Danai Gurira’s performance in this scene is out of this world. She displays the desperate, heartbroken emotions Michonne is feeling so perfectly which bleeds into what happens next. The kids are relentlessly attacking her, with Jocelyn right there alongside them.

Feeling like she has no option left, Michonne kills her old friend…and all the kids along with her sans one named Winnie, who runs away. It’s such a gut-wrenching scene because while they don’t vividly show what is happening, it all feels too real, and it hurts. But Judith and the other Alexandrian children survive, so there’s that.

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In the present, Daryl waits for Henry to get patched up and decides to head off to the Kingdom as planned. But his parting words to Michonne are to talk to Judith about the past, but Michonne doesn’t feel like she or Judith are quite ready for that conversation.

After all, how exactly does one go about that kind of talk? And Michonne doesn’t get that option as Judith runs away to “find their friends” and when she decided to confront Negan about it, he only reminds her that Judith is just like her mother.

Michonne does eventually find Judith, who is having no trouble at all handling the walkers and decides to talk to her about the past. But come on, Michonne, for how intelligent Judith is, did you really think she wouldn’t remember?

Judith remembers the horrors of that day but knew her mom did it to protect her, and it only meant she would do anything. Literally anything.

After having a heart-to-heart talk over Carl’s grave and reflecting on the horrors Michonne has faced since Carl’s death, she makes the decision to go to the Kingdom with Judith and to give Daryl and his group a ride there. It’s unexpected but it’s exactly what needed to happen. Unfortunately, some Whisperers are lurking in the shadows, and they can’t wait to tell Alpha what is going on.

The Walking Dead airs every Sunday at 9 PM EST on AMC!