JSS

"JSS" is the second episode of the sixth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the sixty-ninth episode of the series overall. It premiered on October 18, 2015. It was written by Seth Hoffman and directed by Jennifer Lynch.

Plot
Just when it looks like things might return to normal (or as normal as they can be), a new problem arises for the Alexandrians.

Synopsis
In a flashback, Enid's parents are killed by walkers while trying to jumpstart a car. Locked in the car, Enid cries as walkers devour them outside.

Enid wanders the woods alone, foraging for food and killing walkers. She repeatedly writes the letters "JSS" (Just Survive Somehow) in tortoise bones, dirt, and dusty windows. Enid eventually stumbles upon Alexandria's gate. She starts to walk away, but seeing "JSS" scrawled on her arm, changes her mind and goes inside.

In the present, Carol collects ingredients from the pantry alongside Olivia and Erin. Shelly Neudermeyer, also present, once again complains about wanting a fresh pasta maker. Carol offers to teach her how to make pasta without using a machine, and snidely comments that she should be more concerned about her "disgusting" habit of smoking indoors.

Later, Carol sees Sam moping on her porch and brusquely tells him to get over his abusive father's death.

Jessie tries to give Ron a haircut. He blames her for Pete's death and is angry that she's friends with Rick. She defends Rick and reminds Ron that his father was a dangerous man, asking him to lift his left arm above his head, which he is unable to do. She asks him to tell her why he can't, only for Ron to angrily ask her if Rick's her "friend" now. She says yes, and Ron storms off.

Maggie tells Deanna that they have vegetable seeds and suggests they start a garden once the town expansion is finished. She urges Deanna -- still in shock over the death of her son and husband -- to lead the community once again so that it can become the place her husband wanted it to be.

At the infirmary, Eugene and Tara meet Denise, the new doctor. She explains that she studied surgery in medical school but switched to psychiatry after having panic attacks.

Carl sees Ron and Enid sitting together outside. Gabriel asks Carl for self-defense lessons, apologizing for his selfish behavior and saying that he's ready to start living in the new world. Carl ignores Gabriel at first, then has a change of heart, inviting him to come by for a machete lesson.

From her kitchen, Carol watches Shelly Neudermeyer smoking outside. Suddenly, a man rushes up and cleaves Shelly with a machete; she falls to the ground in pain, but the man kills her by driving it into her skull.

Maggie and Deanna hear a commotion inside the walls, then Maggie sees the Wolves scale the fence and infiltrate the community. A guard is killed by a petrol bomb and falls burning to the ground, much to Deanna's shock and horror.

Back inside Alexandria, Carol tells Carl to stay home and guard Judith.

At home, Jessie and Sam hear a window break and hide in an upstairs closet.

As chaos erupts in the streets, Enid stops by Carl's house to say good-bye before leaving the community. But Carl convinces her to stay and help protect Judith.

Carol watches as the Wolves take prisoners in chains and one Wolf paints a "W" on his forehead with blood. She tries to save Erin from a Wolf, but arrives too late and kills the attacker after he slices Erin's stomach open with his weapon. Carol holds Erin and keeps her quiet so as not alert the rest of the Wolves, and then stabs her neighbor through the back of the head to end her pain.

From the lookout tower, Spencer attempts to snipe several members of the Wolves, one of which he sees carving a 'W' into the forehead of a dead Alexandrian, but only manages to kill one of them. Spencer notices a cargo truck as it hurtles toward the main gate. Spencer shoots the truck driver and the truck crashes into the wall, causing the horn to blare – the same horn that drew the walker herd Daryl, Abraham and Sasha were simultaneously leading away from Alexandria. Spencer tries to get out of the lookout tower to stop the horn, but the door is blocked.

One of the Alexandrians, Holly, is rushed to the infirmary after being saved from a Wolf by Rosita and Aaron. Denise asks Tara to stay behind and stand guard.

Spencer finally reaches the truck but hesitates when he finds a walker inside. Morgan arrives just in time to kill the walker and stop the horn. Sensing Spencer's fear, Morgan orders him to hide in the truck.

Inside the walls, Morgan confronts a Wolf with his staff drawn. The Wolf offers to let him choose either "quick" or "slow" with an ax in his hands, but Morgan orders him to leave. The Wolf shrugs, and settles on "it's gonna be slow". Carol, disguised as the Wolf that killed Erin, swoops in and stabs Morgan's opponent before the fight starts. Morgan angrily tells her they don't have to kill people, and that he could have simply knocked him out instead. "Of course we do," she snaps, and orders him to help her secure the armory.

Deanna decides to stay outside the walls since she lacks fighting skills. Maggie tells Spencer to keep Deanna safe inside the truck.

Denise panics after discovering that Holly is bleeding internally after having been previously assaulted. Tara and Eugene urge her to overcome her fears and operate on Holly.

Ron hides behind a tree as sounds of anarchy echo amongst the community. A Wolf sees Ron, and starts chasing him with a knife in hand. Right before he can catch up to Ron, Carl shoots the Wolf in the leg, incapacitating him and leaving him in agony. Carl moves in to finish the job, but the Wolf tearfully starts begging for his life and for help with his leg. Carl lowers his defenses, and the Wolf viciously grabs the barrel of his gun. After a brief struggle, Carl manages to shoot him in the head before asking Ron to follow him inside the house. But Ron sees Enid standing in the doorway and storms off.

Jessie hears Ron arrive home. She emerges from the closet to warn Ron away. But when she gets downstairs, a Wolf woman attacks her and knocks her gun from her hands. Jessie grabs a pair of scissors and repeatedly stabs the woman in the chest as Ron looks on before stabbing her in the head to prevent reanimation.

En route to the armory, Morgan leaves Carol to save Gabriel from a Wolf. He spares the attacker's life.

At the armory, Carol loads a bag with guns. She shows Olivia how to use a gun and instructs her to shoot if anyone comes through the door.

Gabriel helps Morgan bind a Wolf. The Wolf wakes up, and starts explaining that his group is "freeing" them from being "trapped", and that "people don't belong here any more". But to Morgan's dismay, Carol shoots the prisoner and starts distributing guns. Morgan gives his gun to Gabriel.

Meanwhile, Rosita and Aaron kill Wolves who've looted a house.

Morgan encounters a group of Wolves near the main gate and takes them on with his staff, ordering them to leave. One of the Wolves recognizes Morgan, having been one of the two that had attacked him before he came to Alexandria. "You keep choosing this life, you will die," he says. "We didn't choose," says the Wolf. The Wolves flee, but not before the blond one grabs a gun on his way out. Morgan shuts the gate behind them.

With the Wolves defeated, Carol stands over Mrs. Neudermeyer's body and tears up.

A shell-shocked Aaron walks down a street littered with bodies. He stabs one in the head to keep him from reanimating and notices he has the backpack he lost escaping the truck ambush with Daryl. Aaron finds the photos of Alexandria inside and, horrified, realizes that's how the Wolves found the community.

Back in the infirmary, Holly dies on the operating table. Denise asks Tara, Eugene, and Eric for a moment alone. Tara reminds her to destroy Holly's brain.

Maggie, Deanna, Rosita, and Spencer patrol the perimeter. Spencer asks Rosita how she is able to live in the face of such despair. She explains that her friends give her something worth dying for.

Carl finds a farewell note from Enid: "Just Survive Somehow," it reads.

In a house, Morgan encounters the other Wolf he met in the woods outside Alexandria. The Wolf taunts Morgan for not killing him when he had the chance. The two fight and then Morgan knocks him unconscious.

Later, Morgan and Carol stride down opposite ends one of Alexandria's corpse-strewn streets, refusing to acknowledge each other as they pass.

Co-Stars

 * Jesse C. Boyd as Blond Wolf
 * Claire Bronson as Mom
 * Jason Alexander Davis as Dad
 * Ann Mahoney as Olivia
 * Tiffany Morgan as Erin
 * Katelyn Nacon as Enid
 * Alec Rayme as Red Jacket Wolf
 * Elena Sanchez as Satchel Wolf
 * Labrandon Shead as Shaved Head Wolf
 * Susie Spear Purcell as Shelly Neudermeyer
 * Lance Tafelski as Black Bearded Wolf
 * Jordan Woods-Robinson as Eric Raleigh

Deaths

 * Enid's Mother (Flashback)
 * Enid's Father (Flashback)
 * Shelly Neudermeyer
 * Richards (Alive and Zombified)
 * Park
 * Dan
 * Aphid
 * Erin
 * Dinesh
 * Adrian
 * Stacy (Off-Screen)
 * Michael (Off-Screen)
 * Natalie Miller (Off-Screen)
 * Bobby (Off-Screen)
 * Samantha (Off-Screen)
 * O'Hara (Off-Screen)
 * Charlyne (Off-Screen)
 * Jeffery (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
 * Holly
 * At least 14 unnamed Wolves
 * 1 turtle

Trivia

 * First appearance of Denise Cloyd.
 * First appearance of Charlyne. (Corpse)
 * First appearance of O'Hara. (Corpse)
 * First appearance of Adrian. (Corpse)
 * First appearance of Samantha. (Corpse)
 * First appearance of Jeffery. (Zombified)
 * First (and last) appearance of Holly.
 * First (and last) appearance of Park. (Alive)
 * First (and last) appearance of Richards.
 * First (and last) appearance of Dan. (Alive)
 * First (and last) appearance of Aphid.
 * First (and last) appearance of Dinesh. (Alive)
 * Last appearance of Shelly Neudermeyer.
 * Last appearance of Erin.
 * Last appearance of Michael. (Alive)
 * Last appearance of Stacy.
 * The title of the episode, "JSS", refers to Enid's mantra "Just Survive Somehow".
 * This episode marks the second time that the episode title is given a "Coded Letter Title", the first being "TS-19".
 * After three mentions in earlier episodes, Holly finally makes an appearance on-screen; however, she goes uncredited, having no lines, and was killed later in the episode.
 * Two actors who portrayed Wolves in this episodes have also portrayed other characters in past seasons, including a soldier for the Governor in "Too Far Gone" and a prison resident in "Inmates".
 * This episode's events occur at the same time of the events of "Thank You".
 * This episode ties with "Too Far Gone" for the most living character deaths (excluding Enid's parents), with a total of at least 31 deaths.
 * There are several more Alexandrians killed in "JSS" than the number of names posted on the memorial wall in "Now".
 * This episode marks the first time Jessie, Spencer, Aaron, and Rosita are shown killing living people.
 * One of the burning corpses in the streets can be seen laying atop of a mat, most likely a prop error.

Comic Parallels

 * The Wolves invading Alexandria and then being killed is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 78, where the Scavengers try to invade Alexandria although they are all killed outside instead.