'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'The Next World'
— -- SPOILER ALERT
Life in Alexandria has gotten back to normal, weeks after the events of last week's bloody episode.
Looking to stock up on necessities and not-so-necessary items -- Dr. Denise wanted soda for Tara, as she talks about it in her sleep, and Michonne's keen on some mint toothpaste. Eugene offered advice as well, telling the guys to look out for a plant called sorghum.
With fighting for their lives on the back burner for now, Enid's taken to writing in a journal, apparently, and Maggie offers the younger girl an opportunity to confide in her.
Not long into their supply run, Rick and Daryl stumble across a fully-stocked truck in a barn marked "Sorghum." They trade their car for the truck then find a vending machine at a gas station and attempt to raid it. They're surprised by a masked man, who bumps Rick from behind then immediately surrenders.
The stranger says his friends used to call him Jesus, and that he's fleeing from walkers hot on his heels. Instead, the guys are distracted by the sound of what they think are gunshots, and while they peel off to investigate, they realize too late that Jesus picked Rick's pocket -- and the truck quickly rumbles away.
While standing watch at an Alexandria gate, Michonne notices Deanna's son Spencer wandering away, carrying a shovel, and she pursues him. He can't explain to her for what he's searching.
Also outside the walls, Enid and Carl continue their nature walks and bond over a found balloon; a message written on it has been blurred by rain, but proof, Enid says, that people are still out there.
Meanwhile, Rick and Daryl track the truck thief, taking time to raid the vending machine that Jesus left behind.
Back in the woods, Enid confesses she doesn't want to hang there the way they did, and just then they spot a walker that Carl confronts but can't kill. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" a disgusted Enid asks. He sends her away.
Rick and Daryl, meanwhile, catch up with the truck thief, and he proves to be quite a handful in the hand-to-hand department, until they take him at gunpoint, tie him up and leave him by the side of the road.
However, Jesus soon reappears on the roof of the truck. They ditch him in a field filled with walkers tied to abandoned vehicles, and the heroes soon tussle with Jesus for control of the truck once more.
Daryl pulls the stranger by the boots to get him out of the truck, only to have Jesus pull a gun on him -- and then tell him to duck. The newcomer fires over Daryl's head, killing a walker.
For his help, Daryl punches him, and the fight continues outside. The truck gets kicked out of gear in the scrum and begins rolling down a hill. A door clocks Jesus in the head and knocks him out before the stocked truck slips down a hill and vanishes under the water of a lake.
Daryl is set on leaving Jesus out cold and up and tree.
Meanwhile, we find out what Spencer had been looking for with his shovel -- and what Carl couldn't bring himself to dispatch earlier -- a zombified Deanna.
With Michonne's help, Spencer finally puts his mother at peace at the end of a knife to the base of her neck, and they bury her properly. "You still got a family," Michonne tells him. "You still got a home."
Back at that home, Michonne confronts Carl as to why he didn't kill Deanna. "It should be someone who loves her," he says, explaining if her time ever came, he'd take care of Michonne the way he took care of his own mother before she turned.
Meanwhile, Rick and Daryl return home and bring the unconscious Jesus with them to the infirmary.
Michonne and Rick relax at home. "Crazy day," Rick reflects, as the pair unwind on the couch as would a married couple.
Rick hands her the only thing he salvaged from his crazy day: a roll of mints. The pair's fingers intertwine around the candy, and they soon start making out. Naked in bed, the pair wake up to someone calling Rick's name. They draw their weapons. It's Jesus. "We should talk."
"The Walking Dead" returns next Sunday, Feb. 26 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.