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- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for “The Walking Dead‘s” season nine, episode 11, “Bounty.”
- INSIDER breaks down some of the smaller moments and nods you may have missed on Sunday’s episode of the AMC zombie series, including a mention that Oceanside’s still intact and parallels to season four with another villain.
Jesus returned! (Sort of.) Sunday’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” “Bounty,” kicked off with a nice flashback sequence which showed us more of Tom Payne’s dearly departed Jesus, who was killed off the show in November’s mid-season finale.
The majority of Sunday’s episode was split between the Hilltop’s standoff with Alpha and King Ezekiel’s side mission to an abandoned theatre to gather an important item for his upcoming fair to bring the communities closer.
We’re mixing it up a little bit this week. In addition to some nods and references to past episodes, I’m adding in a few plot details you may have overlooked, which I think may be good to keep in mind as the season continues. Keep reading to see what you may have missed on Sunday’s “The Walking Dead.”
The Easter eggs start right as the episode opens with Ezekiel’s watch.
If you weren’t looking at your screen right as the episode started you may have missed Ezekiel’s watch turn to 9:11 a.m. “Bounty” is the 11th episode of season nine.
Tara hands over a stolen charter for the new communities to King Ezekiel. A close look at the words on it call back to season eight.
We first saw Michonne start to work on that charter before Rick left the show. Michonne had first looked at a poster highlighting the US Constitution on the season nine premiere for inspiration as she and the group raided Washington, D.C. for supplies.
According to “Talking Dead,” if you look closely at the finished charter, part of it reads, “The world is ours by right.” That’s something Rick famously said on the season eight premiere when addressing multiple communities against Negan.
As he’s discussing plans for the upcoming fair, Ezekiel mentions Oceanside in passing.
I thought this was a significant mention that may be overlooked. We haven’t seen the ramifications of the time jump on Oceanside or its leaders since Rick departed the show on the helicopter. It wasn’t clear whether or not the group even still existed. They could have been wiped out similar to the Sanctuary.
Here, Ezekiel makes it clear at least some of that group is intact when suggesting gathering enough food to share with them.
A lot of people started pointing out last week how the Daryl and Alpha showdown paralleled Rick’s standoff with the Governor from season four.
When the first teaser for “Omega” was released last week, it showed Daryl walking down to a gate to meet with Alpha. The ensuing confrontation reminded many, including INSIDER, of when Rick similarly went to the prison fence to negotiate with the Governor.
It was supposed to have that effect, according to episode director Meera Menon.
“It was definitely brought up while we were talking about this episode, and just in terms of a reference point, that this is a similar kind of setup, or at least it’s reminiscent of that confrontation,” Menon told INSIDER.
At the time, the Governor was holding Hershel and Michonne prisoner. Similarly, Alpha and the Whisperers were holding Alden and Luke hostage. The parallels are very similar when you put images from the two episodes together, as Reddit user Majkl523 did.
We finally learn what Carl’s letter to Enid says.
After waiting for episodes on end, Enid reveals to Henry what Carl wrote to her in one of many letters he left for loved ones before dying.
“Someone else close to me died, someone special, with a big heart,” says Enid, referring to Carl. “He left me a letter reminding me that ‘just surviving,’ it isn’t living. It took me way too long to get what he really meant.”
Katelyn Nacon, who plays Enid, told INSIDER during the show’s hiatus that Carl’s letter affected the person she became during the time jump.
“I think it shaped her to what she is,” said Nacon of Carl’s lasting affect on Enid. “I think Glenn and Carl were two of the most influential people in her life at that time. She was going through a really rough patch, lost her parents, and didn’t know how to really cope with any of that. She’s 15, 16. It’s a lot for a child to kind of take in and be on your own for so long.”
“It took her more than six years to get over Carl,” she added of being able to move on with Alden.
Enid recalls losing her parents from three seasons ago.
“When I was about your age, I saw my parents die. It changed me, became all about surviving somehow,” Enid tells Henry on Sunday’s episode.
“JSS,” an acronym for “just survive somehow,” was the title of season six, episode two. At the start of that episode, we see a lost and confused Enid crying and making her way on her own. She was writing JSS everywhere as a reminder to keep going, even eating a turtle. She’s come a long way.
It’s important to note that half of the episode focuses on Carol and the Kingdom while the other half focuses on Alpha.
For the second week, Alpha and Carol’s stories have become intertwined through juxtaposing arcs. The backhalf of season nine is exploring stories of abuse from several different angles.
Two of the main opposing stories have featured that of a survivor (Carol) and an abuser (Alpha). On last Sunday’s episode, Henry recalled Carol had grown her hair out because she felt safe for the first time in years. She used to keep her hair relatively short because her ex would grab it to slam her against the wall. At the same time, viewers received a backstory about the mysterious Alpha who killed her husband in cold blood and was abusive to her daughter, Lydia.
Is the show setting up a showdown between the two?
“Well, I’d certainly love to see one,” Gale Ann Hurd recently said on “Talking Dead” when asked if the show is hinting at bringing the two together. “They are both incredibly resourceful, and Carol will do anything for her group, as we’ve seen in the past.”
Hurd compared a potential Alpha and Carol meeting to Carol’s previous encounter with Mary, one of the cannibals at Terminus, from season five.
“Remember Mary? From Terminus? I think this is a matchup that would put that one to shame,” Hurd added.
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