Instead of placing the focus on anyone in Alexandria (which means we have to wait even longer to find out just how much Tara told Rick last week), “Bury Me Here” returns the audience to the Kingdom. A supply run for the Saviors goes horribly wrong when one of the Kingdom is killed. Carol wants answers about the Saviors as well, but Morgan isn’t so keen on giving them to her.
The Kingdom has a weevil problem
King Ezekiel is made aware early on that his garden is full of weevils, which means they’ve got to burn the crops and start that area over before it spreads to the main garden.
While this is a nice, practical problem for the Kingdom to have, it’s also a nice metaphor for the growing unrest. There are a few within the Kingdom who want to fight. The idea would seem that if you cut them off, the rest of the Kingdom would be docile, right? Something tells me that that won’t be the case. Cut them off and the rest of the Kingdom will likely grow more restless - as one member of the group counts on.
Weevils aren’t the only problem though. At their routine meeting with the Saviors, the Kingdom members are light. They’re supposed to have 12 melons, but they only have 11. (Side note: why a meeting for as little as a dozen melons? Why agree upon that light of a load to begin with when you’ve been getting whole truckloads of supplies?) This, of course, is caused by Richard, who removed one melon in hopes of creating conflict and pushing the Kingdom to take on the Saviors.
It doesn’t exactly go well for the group as the youngest amongst them is shot and bleeds out on Carol’s kitchen table.
Now, this death is telegraphed pretty early on. Benjamin isn’t a character we know very well, and focusing on him and his little brother early in the episode, repeatedly reminding us that he wants Morgan and Carol to mentor him, and putting him smack in the middle of the showdown, and we all know he’s getting a bullet.
Does that make his death ineffective? Far from it. It makes it all the more tragic somehow. The effect of his death on Morgan is also heartbreaking as he flashes back to losing his son - amongst the many other tragedies that have befallen him - and eventually kills Richard in front of the Saviors and the representatives from the Kingdom.
Okay, so maybe all of the problems in the Kingdom are down to weevils after all.
‘Bury Me Here’
The title of the episode is born of Richard literally digging his own grave. When he blocked the road with shopping carts, he left them in an arrow formation where there was a hole in the ground and “Bury Me Here” written on cardboard. It’s morbid, and it does make you wonder just how he thought his friends were going to figure out he’d done it if he was the one killed. It’s dramatic, but not the most well thought out plan.
Carol continues to be amazing
We don’t see much of Carol in this episode, but what we do see is a reminder of how great she is. A nightmare leads her to doubt what Daryl told her about Alexandria, and though she asks Morgan, he won’t tell her the truth at first.
On her way to see Morgan though, she takes out a group of Walkers on the road with a sign and a stepladder, demonstrating to the Kingdom how valuable of an asset she really is.
By the end of the episode, Carol knows the truth about just who was killed by the Saviors, and she’s ready to fight, and to get the rest of the Kingdom to fight with her. The Carol the audience knows and loves is officially back.
The verdict and what’s next
The Kingdom episodes are particularly slow moving, and “Bury Me Here” is no exception, but if the end result is Carol and Morgan are ready for action again, then it’s worth the wait.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
“The Walking Dead” returns to the Hilltop next week with “Strong Threats” as the Saviors come looking for Daryl, and Sasha and Rosita plan an assassination.
