"The Walking Dead" recap: All life is precious

Get it, Morgan.(Photo: Gene Page, AMC)

Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for season 6 episode 4 ofThe Walking Dead. You can read the recap for episode 3 here.

The Walking Deadsometimes struggles with balancing action and character. Occasionally, it gets way too wrapped up in the action and the violence, too engrossed in the zombie guts and gore to spend time really understanding the people who are fighting them. Starting in season four, after the Governor"s assault on the prison, the show found a renewed interest in character-driven episodes, spending a solid hour getting into the mind of Daryl or Rick or Carl or Carol or Tyreese or Beth (RIP). That commitment to character-buildinghas paid off in spades, putting the show on the track it is now, where zombie violence and characters that feel real can live in harmony.

So potentially that"s why, a week after one of the most violent episodes of the series that saw the slightly ambiguous death of a fan-favorite character, the show took a 90-minute detour into Morgan"s past, chronicling what happened between Rick"s last encounter with him and his arrival in Alexandria. But what may have intended as a breather actually feels a lot more like an abrupt stop, taking the viewer out of ongoing narrative of the season at a moment when what happens next seems the most important. In this episode we learn nothing of Glenn"s fate (well, besides the fact that Steven Yeun"s name was not in the opening credits, for what that"s worth)orof Rick"s as he is surrounded by Walkers in the RV, the two cliffhangers the show left us with a week ago. I"m all for exploring these characters, but "Here"s Not Here" felt off in its timing and its execution (this, of all episodes, did not need to be 90 minutes long).Still, taken out of that context, there"s a lot to like in"Here"s Not Here," especially in the fantastic performances fromLennie James and guest starJohn Carroll Lynch. Plus itdoes helpfully explain to us how Morgan went from the slightly-deranged man we saw in season three to the cool, collected man of this season. I would have just rather gotten all that at a different time in the season, and in a tighter, more succinct episode.

Paradise lost

Before he started showing up at the end of episodes last season, the last time we saw Morgan was in the excellent season three episode, "Clear," and he was very, very different from both the man Rick met in the pilot and the man he is now. He was alone, his son had died, and he was very close to his own personal breaking point. "Here"s Not Here" picks up right after that encounter with Rickand we see Morgan continuing his self-destructive path, killing every Walker or man that he meets, even if he doesn"thaveto.

In the midst of this kill-everything-and-everyone phase, Morganhappens upon an isolated cabin with a goat out front (this goat will prove to be one of the best parts of this episode) that he tries to steal. But instead of getting away with a goathe is captured by a man named Eastman, who"s intention is neither to kill nor steal from Morgan, but actually to help him rehabilitate. After a bit of violence and lot of prodding from Eastman, Morgan eventually settles into a master/apprentice relationship with his new buddy, practicingaikido, becoming a vegetarian and generally re-learning how to be a merciful person. It helps that Eastman is a former forensic psychologist who used to work with violent criminals. He"s patient, intelligent, observant and incredibly insightful. And while he seems to be a generally good-natured and generous guy, you also get the sense that the apocalypse is getting to him, too. He needs Morgan just as much as Morgan needs him. He needs a companion, and he needs a project. Morgan works for both.

The art of peace

Because one might wonder why an INSANELY patient man just happens to be living in a secluded cabin with a man-sized cage, it turns out Eastman has his own tragedy to deal with. A criminal that he assessed for the state -- the only truly evil person he"s met -- broke out of prison just to kill his entire family. Eastmanbuilt the cabin, and the cage, with the intent to lock the murderer in it and let him starve to death. And yes, he did do it. It turns out he and Morgan have more in common than they thought.It was also this act, this murder, that led Eastman to become the man he is. It"s why he refuses to kill anyone or anything (he"s a vegetarian, even), and why he wants Morgan to do the same. All life is precious, he says, and he"s the man who"s killed atruly evil person. And Morgan starts to get it.

This episode may have really, reallyneeded to be edited down to the standard run-time, but I will say that this particular scene, where Eastman and Morgan discuss Eastman"s past over dinner, is truly excellent. For once I was glad that the show took a step back and let the scene just breathe. James and Lynch are what works the most about this episode, and it truly would have fallen apart without their performances to ground it.

The Wolf of the problem

Morgan"s newfound Walden-like existence at the cabin isall too good to be true. This is a show that has argued time and time again that selflessness and caring about others are sure-fire ways to die in this world. Eastman does not escape this trend, getting a bite in the back from a zombie as a direct result of his kindness towards Morgan. He saves Morgan"s life and soul, and as a resulthe and his goat get to die (Tabitha, you will be missed). By then Morgan has finished his transformation into the physically adept, emotionally stable man that we know today. He packs a bag and sets out on his own, handily finding one of those Terminus signs. And the rest is history.

Flash back to the present and we discover Morgan has been telling this entire story to one of the captured Wolves in Alexandria, in an effort to rehabilitate him, too. The only problem is that the Wolf seems even less interested in becoming a good person than Morgan was. He"s(and it is intimated, the rest of the Wolves, too) only interested in stealing from Alexandria and then killing every man, woman and child there. It"s a stance that puts Eastman and Morgan"s no-kill philosophy to the test, and Morgan leaves the prisoner clearly conflicted about what to to next.Out in the world is his attitude realistic at all? Maybe, maybe not. But so long as the rest of the characters (cough Rick Grimes cough cough) continue on their violent paths, they are going to look a lot more like the Morgan of "Clear" and a lot less like the Morgan we know now.

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