‘Walking Dead’ Recap: There’s A New Sheriff In Town [Spoilers]

The Walking Dead episode this week set us up for the big season finale coming next week, but there was still some action among the casseroles and puppy love. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) was on the verge of going postal till an unexpected character put him in check, and Daryl (Norman Reedus) found another ominous butchered walker with a “W” carved in her forehead. Spoilers for the March 22 Walking Dead episode follow.

“Try” opens where last week’s Walking Dead episode left off, with Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) and her family mourning the death of Aiden, who was shish-ka-bobbed on steel poles when he shot a walker with a grenade. Carol (Melissa McBride) continues the Donna Reed sham, making a casserole for the grieving family with a sympathy card, but Deanna is having none of it, burning the card.

Last week on The Walking Dead, Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) warned Deanna about Rick’s group, so she is surely having second thoughts about letting them in, especially after Aiden’s death, and she reviews the tape of Nicholas’ version of the supply run.

What is it with Deanna videotaping everything?

Anyway, as expected, Nicholas (Michael Traynor) lies and says that Glenn (Steven Yeun) distracted Aiden when he was shooting a walker and that everyone else wanted to run and he was the only one who wanted to stay and help Deanna’s son, which is exactly backwards.

Meanwhile, Glenn tells Rick the real story of how Nicholas got Noah (Tyler James Williams) killed and injured Tara (Alanna Masterson), who is still unconscious but stable. Rick is more than a little displeased, saying the Alexandrians are weak and can’t take care of themselves, so they shouldn’t bother following Deanna’s rules. Glenn doesn’t agree with Rick, telling him they have to make this place work.

Glenn also puts Nicholas in his place, telling him the four deaths on the previous run and Noah’s are on his shoulders, and he will never leave the walls again.

“People like you are supposed to be dead. These walls went up just in time.”

Nicholas asks Glenn if he is threatening him, and Glenn tells him he’s saving him.

Meanwhile, Carl (Chandler Riggs) is trying to be a typical teenage boy for once, which means chasing girls — which means chasing Enid (Katelyn Nacon) as she’s about the only one to chase close to his age on The Walking Dead. When a group of walkers forces them to hide out in a hollowed tree, Carl brushes Enid’s hand and almost kisses her as walkers pass by outside the trees.

“It’s their world and we’re just living in it,” Enid tells Carl.

Nothing like a bunch of flesh eating dead to help a teenage boy out in The Walking Dead, post-apocalyptic world of romance.

The Walking Dead bromance between Daryl and Aaron (Ross Marquand) continues while they are out scouting for more community members, but Aaron notes they seem to be running into more and more walkers, and they come across a naked, half-eaten woman tied to a tree with the “W” mark.

This is where most Walking Dead fans are likely saying, “Do you think maybe this is a sign something is really wrong here?”

Then the fireworks really begin in Alexandria, between Rick and Pete (Corey Brill). Rick had approached Deanna to tell her that he’s a problem, and they discussed his possible exile as opposed to Rick killing him. But the tension between the two finally ends up in a fight that sends then crashing through the window of Jessie and Pete’s house, drawing a crowd of spectators.

Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) is trying to pull Pete away while Carl is trying to pull Rick away, and the wise Sam hides behind Carol. That kid knows who is the meanest of them all on The Walking Dead when push comes to shove.

Rick gets Pete into a choke-hold, and when Deanna tries to break up the fight, Rick pulls his gun on her and goes off on the weak, pampered Alexandrians, telling them how clueless they are. “You fight or you die,” he yells at them. “I’m not going to stand by…” and BOOM! Michonne (Danai Gurira) knocks him out cold.

Rick wasn’t the only one who didn’t see that coming. Looks like Michonne is taking her new constable uniform seriously and trying to take over the Ricktatorship. But what will happen to Rick now in The Walking Dead season finale next week?

[Photos by Gene Page/AMC]