The King, the Widow, and Rick
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"The King, the Widow, and Rick" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...
horror
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
'' The Walking Dead'', which aired on
AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...
on November 26, 2017. The episode was written by
Angela Kang Angela Kang (born March 23, 1976) is an American television writer known for serving as showrunner on the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' for the final three seasons. Early life Kang was born and raised in Irvine, California, the ...
and Corey Reed, and directed by
John Polson John Polson (born 6 September 1965) is an Australian actor, director and founder of Tropfest. As an actor, Polson's best known role is probably starring opposite Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson in '' The Sum of Us'' (1994). In February 2001, ...
.


Plot

In the days after the onset of the war against Negan and the Saviors,
Rick Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...
, Maggie, and Carol correspond with each other to report on their victories and losses, and make plans to launch the next phase of the plan in a few days: Aaron returns to Hilltop with baby Gracie;
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
keeps watch over the Saviors they have captured, secured on the fence outside of the community; Rick has traveled to the Scavengers' base to meet with Jadis. Maggie expresses disappointment that Jesus is using their supplies to provide them food and water, while Gregory suggest they build
gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...
to hang them. However, Jesus reminds them that by killing their prisoners they would be no better than the Saviors. Maggie later decides to allow the Saviors inside, imprisoned within in a makeshift cage, as long as they do not cause trouble. She then sends Gregory into the pen to be imprisoned with the Saviors, despite his loud protests, as she cannot trust him either. In private, Jesus thanks Maggie for keeping the Saviors alive, but she sees them as future bargaining chips. In the Kingdom, Ezekiel has secluded himself in his home, refusing to allow others to see him. Carol works to prepare other able-bodied residents to help in Rick's plan. Henry, Benjamin's younger brother, desperately wants to participate despite her hesitation, but she relents. Afterwards, Carol is able to approach Ezekiel and tries to encourage him to take up leadership again, even if he just maintains his act. Ezekiel remains reluctant to participate and tells her to leave him alone. At the Scavengers' base, Rick shows Jadis the Polaroid photos of their victories and offers to deal with them in his war despite their previous actions; Jadis refuses to deal. With no options left, Rick is taken and kept prisoner inside a shipping container, stripped down to his boxer shorts. Meanwhile at Alexandria,
Michonne Michonne ( ), later revealed as Michonne Hawthorne, is a fictional character from '' The Walking Dead''. The character also appears in media adaptations of the series, most notably the television series of the same name, in which she is portra ...
is anxious to know what is happening, feeling responsible for the war as she had urged Rick to take a stand toward the Saviors. Rosita offers to come with her to see what is happening at the Sanctuary. Tara is surprised to find
Daryl Darryl is an English name, a variant spelling of Darell. Male variations of this name include: Darlin, Daryl, Darrell, Darryl, Daryll, Darryll, Darrell, Darrel. Female and unisex variations of this name include: Daryl, Darian, Dareen, Darell ...
, fixated on taking his own actions outside of Rick's plan, waiting on her porch. When she vows to kill Dwight after the war is over, Daryl proposes they kill him together and suggests that they don't have to wait. Elsewhere,
Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...
goes scavenging outside Alexandria and encounters
Siddiq Siddiq ( ar, صِدّیق, ; meaning "truthful") is an Islamic term and is given as an honorific title to certain individuals. The feminine gender for Siddiq is Siddiqah. The word is sometimes used as a title given to individuals by the Islamic pr ...
. Carl apologizes for Rick's previous hostility toward Siddiq, and offers him food and water. Seeing that Siddiq was trapping a walker, Carl asks Siddiq the three questions that Rick uses to judge potential members of his group and is satisfied with his answers. Carl decides to lead Siddiq back to Alexandria, promising to vouch for him once they get there. En route, they are attacked by a small group of walkers, some of which pin down Carl before he dispatches them; appearing uninjured, they continue on. On the way to the Sanctuary, Michonne and Rosita hear loud music and find two Saviors nearby trying to load a truck with speakers, which they plan to use to lure away the walkers surrounding the Sanctuary. Michonne and Rosita kill one of them, but the other escapes with the truck, until it is sideswiped by a garbage truck driven by Daryl and Tara, killing the other Savior. The four travel together to the Sanctuary, seeing the walkers still surround it; Daryl decides they need to take action now. In a library at the Hilltop, Aaron shares his feelings of loss with Maggie, who understands his pain firsthand. Taking Maggie's words to heart, Aaron decides to go on a personal mission. Before departing, Enid offers to join him; Aaron agrees.


Reception


Critical reception

"The King, the Widow, and Rick" received poor reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it holds a 36% score with an
average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
of 5.80 out of 10, based on 28 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "The King, The Widow, and Rick" spreads itself between too many storylines, and thereby doesn't accomplish much in the process. It is also the worst reviewed episode of the series on the website, tying with " Diverged" (season 10, episode 21), which has an average rating of 4.60 out of 10, based on 14 reviews.


Ratings

The episode averaged a 3.6 rating among adults 18-49, and had a viewership of 8.28 million viewers, which marked an increase from the previous week which was a six-year low for the series.


References


External links


"The King, the Widow, and Rick"
at
AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, the Widow, and Rick, The 2017 American television episodes The Walking Dead (season 8) episodes