No Way Out (TV Series)

"No Way Out" is the ninth episode and mid-season premiere of the sixth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the seventy-sixth episode of the series overall. It premiered on February 14, 2016. It was written by Seth Hoffman and directed by Greg Nicotero.

Plot
With walkers inside the gates of Alexandria, Rick and the group are overwhelmed and outnumbered. Unfortunately, things are only getting worse.

Synopsis
As Daryl, Abraham and Sasha are driving back to Alexandria in the fuel truck, they are stopped by a group of armed men on motorcycles. The leader of the gang informs the trio that their guns and truck now belong to a man named Negan, before taking their sidearms. He orders one of the men to take Daryl to the back of the truck and inspect its cargo, while Sasha and Abraham stay behind. After some conversation between Abraham, Sasha, and the leader of the gang, the latter threatens to shoot them both.

Suddenly, the whole group of bikers explodes. Daryl comes out from behind the truck holding the RPG Abraham found. The biker who was escorting him is on the ground, dead. "What a buncha assholes," Daryl mutters, before leaving with Abraham and Sasha.

In Alexandria, walkers swarm the streets. Rick's group, still covered in walker guts, makes its way toward the armory. Rick announces a plan to herd the walkers away from Alexandria using vehicles from the quarry. Gabriel offers to keep Judith safe in the church while the others go on. Rick thanks Gabriel. Jessie tries to send Sam with Gabriel, but Sam refuses to leave her side.

Inside the townhouse, Tara insists they rescue Denise from Owen. Rosita points out they don’t have enough guns to fight walkers outside. Carol borrows Rosita’s gun to sweep the house.

On the street, Owen holds Denise at gunpoint as they hide from walkers.

Meanwhile, Glenn and Enid search a church for supplies to rescue Maggie from the lookout tower. Glenn gives an inspiring speech about the people he's lost who have influenced him, mentioning Dale, Hershel, Andrea and Tyreese. Enid opens up to Glenn about her dead parents. "They're still here because you're still here," Glenn tells her.

From their hiding spot, Owen and Denise watch walkers stream down the street. He tells Denise they'll make a run for the lookout tower, as soon as a gap opens up in the herd.

Glenn orders Enid to stay at the church while he rescues Maggie, but Enid refuses. They find a gun inside of a box near the altar, and piles of cloth that can be tied together to help Maggie climb off the platform.

Recalling an earlier exchange at the townhouse, Owen admits to Denise that she was right: He wasn’t born this way. "I changed, and now I want to help you change," he says.

As Rick’s group quietly walks through the herd, (while a narration of what Carol said to Sam about the specifics of being killed by walkers plays) Sam spots a young boy who's turned. He panics and stops dead in his tracks. Jessie begs him to keep walking, but he won't move. Walkers attack and tear into Sam. Jessie goes into shock at the sight of her son being eaten alive, and does nothing to stop the walkers from devouring her as well. This causes Rick to flash back on memories of her while sobbing, "No". As the walkers consume her, Jessie's hand remains firmly clasped around Carl's. Desperate to free his son, Rick hacks off Jessie's hand with a hatchet.

Amid the chaos, Ron picks up Jessie's dropped gun and aims it at Rick. Before he can pull the trigger, Michonne's sword bursts through his chest, and the gun goes off. As she removes the sword, Ron hit the ground and is instantly swarmed by walkers. "Dad?" Carl says weakly. Rick looks on in horror as his son, who's been shot through the eye by the rogue bullet, collapses on the road. He scoops up Carl and sprints through the herd, as Michonne clears a path with her katana.

Back in the townhouse, Eugene vows to Rosita they will fight their way out. "We will, not you," she says.

Owen spots a gap in the herd and sprints to the tower with Denise. He defends Denise when walkers attack her but his arm gets bitten in the process. Denise urges him to come with her to the infirmary so she can save his life, presumably by amputating the limb.

In the townhouse, Carol unloads on Morgan for saving Owen and putting Alexandria in danger. "I should've killed you," she tells him. Morgan replies that she can't, and then exits.

Denise and Owen take refuge in a house, where she ties a belt around his arm. She points out that he saved her, indicating that maybe he really has changed.

Denise and the Owen run outside toward the infirmary. Carol sees them from the townhouse balcony and shoots Owen in the chest. "Go!" he urges Denise as he tackles a walker and sacrifices himself.

Denise reaches the infirmary, where Heath, Spencer and Aaron are hiding out. Rick arrives with Carl and lays him on a gurney. Denise goes to work on Carl's wound. Rick, still shellshocked, strides outside with his hatchet and goes on a killing rampage. Michonne, Heath, Aaron and Spencer run outside to help Rick fight the walkers.

Alexandria residents watch from their homes as Rick and the others take on the walkers. Many residents, including Eric, Olivia, Bruce, Francine, Kent, and Barbara, venture out and join the fight. “We can beat them!” Rick cries.

In the church, Gabriel watches the battle unfold as Anna, Tobin, Bob, and several other residents wait out the horde. He hands Judith to Anna and picks up a machete. “We've been praying, together, praying that that God will save our town," Gabriel replies, when Tobin asks him what he's doing. "Well, our prayers have been answered! God will save Alexandria...because God has given us the courage to save it ourselves,” he proclaims to the group, and heads out to join the fight, followed by Tobin.

Carol tells the townhouse group that Rick is making a stand. Everyone – including Eugene -- joins the fight. Morgan finds Owen, who is now a walker. "I'm sorry," Morgan says, before bashing Owen's head in with his staff.

Enid rescues Maggie while Glenn distracts walkers away from the tower. Maggie cries out as walkers surround Glenn. Abraham and Sasha suddenly appear. Standing on top of the fuel truck, they’re able to gun down the walkers and save Glenn.

Safely inside the truck, Glenn proposes to Daryl that they use the vehicle to lead the walkers away. But Daryl suggests an alternate plan.

As the fighting intensifies, Daryl dumps fuel from the truck into the pond in the middle of Alexandria, then launches an RPG into the water. A ball of fire erupts into the sky, distracting the walkers. Rick’s group and all the Alexandrians keep killing and killing as the walkers flock to the fire, going up in flames as they stumble into the lake.

The next morning, the street is littered with walker corpses. The town has successfully been reclaimed by the living. A group stands quietly outside the infirmary, holding vigil. Michonne holds Judith inside, while Denise stitches Daryl's back, where he received a cut while fighting with one of Negan's men.

Carl lies unconscious in bed with Rick at his side. Rick tells Carl that he underestimated the Alexandrians, and vows to rebuild the community, just like Deanna planned. Rick adds that for the first time since before waking up in the hospital in King County, he feels truly hopeful for the future. "I want to show you the new world," he says, crying. Carl’s fingers grip Rick’s hand.

Co-Stars

 * Vanessa Cloke as Anna
 * Ted Huckabee as Bruce
 * Mandi Christine Kerr as Barbara
 * Dahlia Legault as Francine
 * Brody Rose as Young Boy
 * David Marshall Silverman as Kent
 * Jordan Woods-Robinson as Eric Raleigh

Deaths

 * Timmy
 * Sam Anderson
 * Jessie Anderson
 * Ron Anderson
 * Owen (Alive and Zombified)
 * Ted (Off-Screen)
 * Maya (Off-Screen)
 * Pascal (Off-Screen)
 * Lucy (Off-Screen)
 * 7 unnamed Saviors including Lead Savior

Trivia

 * First (and last) appearance of Lucy.
 * Last appearance of Jessie Anderson.
 * Jessie is the second main character to be killed off in a mid-season premiere, the first being Tyreese Williams in "What Happened and What's Going On".
 * This is the fourth time two main characters have been killed in two consecutive episodes.
 * With Jessie's death, none of the Anderson family members are alive, by following Sam and Ron.
 * Last appearance of Sam Anderson. (Alive)
 * Last appearance of Ron Anderson.
 * Last appearance of Owen.
 * With Owen's death, all known members of the Wolves are now dead.
 * Last appearance of Timmy.
 * The title of the episode, "No Way Out", comes from Tara mentioning "There's no way out of the house".
 * It is also referencing the nature of the episode, in the fact that many residents are trapped inside their homes with no way out, and the fact that Rick's group had tried to escape but were unsuccessful. In the end, the group takes on the walker herd and secures Alexandria. Referencing that that was the only solution, since there was no way out.
 * This is the fifth episode to share the same title of a Comic Series volume, after "Days Gone Bye", "Made to Suffer", "This Sorrowful Life" and "Too Far Gone".
 * This episode, along with "Days Gone Bye" and "A New Beginning" are the only episodes to be directly adapted from the respective comic volumes of the same name. The other seven used the titles for episodes that are not directly related to the source material from that volume.
 * As of this episode, Tovah Feldshuh (Deanna Monroe) is no longer listed under "Also Starring".
 * Katelyn Nacon (Enid) is upgraded from "Co-Star" to "Also Starring" in this episode.
 * This is the first mid season premiere episode to not have more views than mid season finale's.
 * This episode marks Alanna Masterson's 25th appearance on the TV Series.
 * This episode marks the first time that a child character has been seen devoured alive in the TV Series.
 * Unlike Sophia, who was bitten and turned both off-screen, and Meghan, who was severely bitten and died from blood loss.
 * This is the first episode of Season 6 that Glenn, Abraham, Sasha and Daryl appear in Alexandria in the current timeline of the story. The scenes in which they all appeared in Alexandria during the premiere were all flashbacks, and technically took place before the Season 6 narrative.
 * This is the first episode since "First Time Again" that all of the credited actors appeared.
 * When Rick carried an unconscious Carl throughout the herd, Andrew Lincoln was actually carrying a dummy of Chandler Riggs.
 * On a Reddit post, Chandler Riggs confirms that it was scripted & filmed for Carl to lose his eye jumping in front of Rick to protect him from Ron, but this was edited out later.
 * The way Abraham and Sasha saved Glenn reflects the way that they saved him back in "Us".
 * Excluding walkers, there were two characters that became amputees in this episode
 * Jessie Anderson got her hand chopped off by Rick Grimes.
 * Carl Grimes got his right eye shot out by Ron Anderson.
 * This is the highest ranked The Walking Dead episode in IMDb (9.6), alongside "Too Far Gone".
 * When Rick is talking to unconscious Carl at the end of the episode, he says "there's gotta be more after". This is likely a reference to Jessie's words to him in the episode "Now", before the pair kissed.
 * To help eliminate the walkers, Daryl uses a tanker's oil to start a massive fire so that they get attracted and consumed by the flames. This is similar to the story Dwight told Daryl about how he burned the forest in "Always Accountable".
 * Furthermore, they both used one of A.A. Pattrick Fuel Co.'s tankers to execute the plan.

Comic Parallels

 * Daryl blowing up the group of Saviors with a rocket launcher is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 97, where Rick's group shoots them all instead.
 * Sam getting scared in the herd and being devoured is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 83, where Ron gets scared and devoured instead.
 * Jessie being devoured and having her hand cut off is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 83, where Jessie begs for Rick to help her instead.
 * Ron accidentally shooting Carl in the eye is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 83, where Douglas accidentally shoots Carl instead.
 * Rick rushing to the infirmary and begging Denise to save Carl's life is adapted from Issue 84.
 * Rick fighting the herd alone, prompting everyone else to get out and help is adapted from Issue 84.
 * Eugene telling Rosita he will join the fight is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 84, where he tells this to a scared Gabriel instead.
 * Rick's speech to an unconscious Carl about wanting to show him the new world is adapted from Issue 84.

Goofs/Errors

 * The cold open with Sasha, Abraham, Daryl, and The Saviors takes place at the curve of a road, while the post-credits scene is on a straight one. The time of day seems to have changed as well. This is likely simply a production oversight.
 * When Daryl blew the Saviors up in the beginning of the episode, we do not see the rocket impact. The explosion appears to be spontaneous.
 * When Rick walks out of the door (and pulls out his hatchet), his hatchet appears to be clean even though he previously used it to chop off Jessie's arm, and there was no seen point where he could have cleaned it.
 * After Rick has hacked off Jessie's arm to save Carl, the somewhat-muffled voice of a crew member can be heard telling Carl to "turn around," so that he can observe Ron pointing a gun at him.
 * Ron was not aiming at Carl's eye, more his stomach/groin area when the shot was fired. The bullet should not have hit his eye.
 * Right after Rick picks Carl up from the floor to carry him to the infirmary, Michonne slashes at walkers to clear his path. Michonne slashes five times, but the third and fourth slashes leave no corpses behind, as if she had slashed at nothing.
 * After Eric and Olivia come out of the house to help Rick and the others, Rosita and Carol could be seen fighting walkers behind them, while in fact at that moment, they were still with Morgan, Tara, and Eugene.
 * After Eric and Olivia come out of the house to help Rick and the others, Aaron is shown as fighting alongside them. In the next frame, however, he is back in the main circle of survivors fighting off walkers
 * When Abraham and Sasha appear on the wall and save Glenn with assault rifle fire, their stances are flipped with Abraham using his rifle right handed and Sasha using hers left handed. In the next shot of Abraham, he returns to using his left hand.
 * After Owen is shot by Carol, it is shown that he was devoured by a group of walkers, however after Morgan comes across him as a walker, his corpse does not appear to have any damage whatsoever.
 * Near the end of the episode, when all survivors have gathered on the porch of the infirmary, the pregnancy of Alanna Masterson (Tara) is clearly visible when Tara is pacing back and forth.