Twice as Far

"Twice as Far" is the fourteenth episode of the sixth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the eighty-first episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 20, 2016. It was written by Matt Negrete and directed by Alrick Riley.

Plot
Two different groups leave Alexandria on supply runs. While both are concerned with the future of the community, immediate danger will derail them.

Synopsis
A new day begins in Alexandria: Olivia opens the pantry and smiles at the fully-stocked shelves. Gabriel walks the grounds with a rifle. Eugene, now sporting a ponytail, assumes his new post at the front gate and nods at Sasha standing guard on the platform. Morgan practices aikido by himself while, nearby, Carol smokes on her front porch swing, fingering her rosary beads.

Morgan lays the final brick in a jail cell that he built in the brownstone basement. Rick asks Morgan why he built a cell. "It'll give you some choices next time", Morgan says.

Another day begins: Olivia takes stock in the pantry. Gabriel patrols. Eugene assumes his post. Carol smokes on her porch swing. Tobin kisses Carol goodbye on his way to work.

Rosita gets dressed in her bedroom while Spencer sleeps in her bed. She shakes her head, like she might be having regrets.

Daryl rummages through his recovered motorcycle bag and finds the wooden figurine that D was carving before stealing his bike. Carol joins and asks Daryl about his encounter in the burned-out forest. "I should've killed them", he tells her. He then asks what the Saviors did to Carol and Maggie in captivity. "To us? They didn't do anything", she says.

Another day begins: The pantry opens. Carol grasps the rosary beads on her porch.

Denise stands on the guard platform, watching Abraham and Eugene leave the compound. Clutching a crumpled yellow page from a phone book, she focuses her attention on a walker caught in Alexandria's spike array. She eyes it like she's psyching herself up for something.

In the street, Spencer offers to make dinner for Rosita. Noting her aloofness, he asks whether Rosita is even interested in continuing their relationship. "Okay, we'll do dinner," she says dismissively.

Afterwards, Denise asks Daryl and Rosita to accompany her to a nearby apothecary that might be stocked with drugs. Daryl and Rosita ask Denise to stay behind, but she insists that she's ready to go outside the walls. And she's going to, with or without them.

The trio drives down the road in an old truck. Denise mentions that her brother taught her how to drive trucks like this when she was young. The group encounters a fallen tree in the road. Rosita reassures Daryl that it just fell, it wasn't put there by people. She finds some liquor bottles on a walker under the tree, but Denise isn't interested. She says alcohol was "more her parents' thing."

The group is forced to continue on by foot. Rosita suggests they take a shortcut following some railroad tracks, but Daryl insists on the road, telling her "I ain't taking no tracks." Denise follows Daryl while Rosita takes the tracks alone.

Abraham and Eugene walk down an alley in a local town. Abraham observes that Eugene's mullet has been fashioned into a ponytail. Not only that, but he's been taking on more guard duty shifts, knows how to use weapons, and has even been flirting with women. "I'm a survivor," Eugene says, touting his ability to adapt, describing himself being at "stage 2". Abraham still isn't convinced.

Rosita waits for Daryl and Denise after taking the railroad shortcut. Denise apologizes to her for choosing Daryl over her and asks her who taught her how to use weapons. Rosita says it wasn't Abraham. He was just one person in a long list of people who taught her a lot of things. They arrive at the apothecary and Daryl jimmies the door open.

Meanwhile, Eugene takes Abraham to an industrial machine shop. He proposes they use the equipment there to manufacture bullets, figuring that ammo is a finite supply and will soon become the "coin of the land." Abraham is impressed by Eugene's ingenuity. A walker approaches. Eugene takes out his machete, but the walker's head was drenched in liquid metal, now hardened, and Eugene can't get through. Abraham finally stabs the walker with rebar. An enraged Eugene insists he could have killed it himself and tells Abraham his "services are no longer required." Abraham leaves, telling Eugene to find his own way home.

Inside the apothecary, Daryl and Rosita raid the pharmacy shelves. Meanwhile, Denise finds a keychain with the name "Dennis" on it. Pocketing the keychain, Denise draws her machete and enters a back room, where she finds a walker in a leg cast and the words, "Hush Hush Hush Hush" written on the wall. She sees a child's shoe protruding from a blood and sludge-filled sink. Horrified, she flees outside.

Denise waits outside and tries to hide her tears. Daryl gently praises her for finding the apothecary. He correctly guesses that Dennis was Denise's brother and she notes that he was actually her twin. She says Dennis was brave, but also angry. It was a dangerous combination. "Sounds like we had the same brother," Daryl replies.

As they walk back, Daryl suggests they take the railroad tracks instead of the road.

Near the tracks, Denise spots a cooler inside a car inhabited by a walker. Ignoring Daryl and Rosita's warnings, she goes after the cooler. After an intense struggle, she kills the walker by herself and proudly displays a can of orange soda that was in the cooler.

Daryl admonishes her for risking her life for a soda. Denise explains that it's not about the soda. She came out here to confront her fears. "I have training in this," Denise says. She explains that she asked Daryl to take her on the run because he's brave like her brother was and he makes her feel safe. And she asked Rosita to join because she wants to help her cope with being alone for the first time ever.

She tells Daryl and Rosita that they, too, need to deal with their issues. "You're strong, and you're smart, and you're both really good people," Denise urges, "and if you don't wake up—" Mid-sentence, a crossbow bolt strikes Denise through the right eye from behind, killing her. Dwight, the Savior who stole Daryl's motorcycle in "Always Accountable", emerges from the woods with Daryl's crossbow and a group of 12 armed Saviors at his side: they have Eugene.

Dwight, whose face has been severely burned on the left side, orders Daryl to lead his group to their community. Spotting Abraham, Eugene yells out that they have a friend hiding behind some nearby oil barrels, He then urges Dwight to kill him first. As Dwight sends Neil to investigate, Eugene bites Dwight in the crotch. Having moved from his position in the woods, Abraham opens fire. A shootout ensues, and Eugene is hit in the crossfire. After Neil and seven other Saviors are killed, Dwight retreats with his remaining men.

Afterwards, Rosita keeps watch over Eugene in the infirmary. He soon awakens, and tells Abraham that he wasn't trying to kill him earlier. "I was just looking for our moment." Abraham apologizes for questioning his survival skills. "You know how to bite a dick, Eugene," Abraham says in awe. "I mean that with utmost of respect." He welcomes Eugene to "Stage 2."

Abraham, rocked by the day's events, goes to Sasha's house. "You said I had choices," he tells her on the porch. "You have them, too." She invites him inside.

Daryl and Carol bury Denise. She watches Daryl pocket the Dennis keychain and take an angry sip of booze. "You were right," Carol says, referring to Daryl's regret about letting Dwight and Sherry live.

In his house, Tobin reads a note from Carol in which she writes that she's leaving Alexandria. "I love you all here, I do, and I'd have to kill for you. And I can't. I won't," she writes.

As Carol narrates the letter, another day dawns in Alexandria. Rosita guards the front gate instead of Eugene. Sasha glances at Rosita from her post on the platform as the town's cars are lined up by the front gates. Several residents wheel carts of weapons around town.

Morgan looks at Carol's porch. The swing is empty.

Co-Stars

 * Robert Walker-Branchaud as Neil

Deaths

 * Dennis Cloyd (Confirmed Fate)
 * Denise Cloyd
 * Neil (Alive)
 * At least 7 unnamed Saviors

Trivia

 * First (and last) appearance of Neil. (Alive)
 * Last appearance of Denise Cloyd.
 * The title of the episode, "Twice as Far", comes from when Rosita says to Daryl "That's twice as far", regarding taking the road instead of the tracks.
 * This episode marks the return of Dwight, who has been absent since the sixth episode of Season 6, "Always Accountable". He also has a burnt face, similar to his comic book counterpart.
 * This episode also identifies Dwight by his real name, as he was previously known as "D" in "Always Accountable".
 * This episode marks Michael Cudlitz's 25th appearance on the TV Series.
 * Daryl reclaims his crossbow in this episode.
 * This episode marks the first time Merle Dixon has been mentioned since "Still", albeit indirectly.
 * The song that plays after Denise's death is "Chapel" by Nicole Dollanganger.
 * This marks the third time in a row that a character listed as "Also Starring" has died in the fourteenth episode of a season.
 * In Season 4, it was Mika and Lizzie Samuels.
 * In Season 5, it was Aiden Monroe and Noah.
 * And now, in Season 6, it was Denise Cloyd.

Comic Parallels

 * Abraham and Eugene leaving Alexandria to go to a bullet factory is adapted from Issue 97.
 * Eugene's plan of manufacturing ammunition is adapted from Issue 97.
 * Denise being shot through the eye with a crossbow bolt by Dwight is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 98, where Abraham is killed instead.
 * Dwight and a group of Saviors ambushing Daryl and Rosita after killing Denise is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 98, where Eugene is ambushed instead.
 * The Saviors taking Eugene hostage and using him to try to gain entrance to Alexandria is adapted from Issue 98.
 * Eugene biting Dwight in the crotch allowing the group to counterattack is adapted from Issue 98.
 * Dwight and the Saviors escaping into the woods is adapted from Issue 98.
 * Daryl burying Denise is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 99, where Abraham has a funeral instead.

Goofs/Errors

 * Rosita is shown first zipping her jacket with her right hand then in the next shot she's zipping it with her left hand.
 * When Denise decides to go for the cooler and struggles with the walker, the cooler originally falls close by Denise during her struggles. In the next scene, the cooler is much further away from Denise and the walker.
 * When Denise takes the orange soda from the pack, there are 5 more black sodas in it, but when the angle changes, there are 3 black ones and the pack looks different.
 * When Eugene tells Dwight where Abraham is hiding he has his crossbow, but when he reaches for his pistol and tells Neil to go check it out it seems to have vanished.