The Walking Dead recap: 'Start to Finish' 

'Walking Dead' prologue scene sets up Negan, second half of season 6

'The Walking Dead': Did the midseason finale satisfy?

'The Walking Dead' recap: 'Heads Up'

Well, at least the Greene family midseason-finale streak has been put to rest with “Start to Finish.” But that doesn’t mean the Alexandrians got away clean from the events of season 6’s midpoint. As the walkers spilled into the streets of the Safe Zone, Deanna did not go gently into that good afternoon, and Father Gabriel made a

If season 6 has been building up to any central ideas, it’s been a twofold approach — Rick having to come to terms with whether he considers the Alexandrians part of his group and the question of whether Morgan and Carol can hash out their differences. “Start to Finish” addresses both those throughlines, one to the possible benefit of Alexandria and the other, at least in the immediate future, jeopardizing one of the townsfolk.

And that omnipresent danger made itself a hassle from the start, forcing most of the main players to split up and run for the nearest shelter available. For some like Maggie, that means lone wolfing it up to a watch platform (which occurs in a protracted sequence of walkers grabbing at Maggie’s feet; it’s meant to be tense, the surviving Greene scraping by to save her life, but knowing the show just revealed the pregnant woman’s husband had survived after a weeks-long cliffhanger saps the scene of any tension it’s meant to have). For others, like Rosita and Tara, it means holing it up in a garage with Eugene, who reveals he’s still too scared to fight and happens to be the “Always Accountable”-ending cliffhanger voice over the radio.

And for a much larger group, which includes Rick, Carl, dumb Ron (I believe it’s his official character name), an injured Deanna, and Michonne, shelter means running to Jessie’s house. She saves the group from becoming walker lunch by creating a path in an encirclement to escape through into her house. For the moment, they’re saved from the horrors attacking their streets, but plenty more terrors lurk within the walls of the house.

Keep up with all the latest from last night’s television by subscribing to our newsletter. Head here for more details.

Among them are Deanna’s injuries, which reveal themselves to be more than a few combat wounds. She’s been bitten, delivering one of the series’ best reactions to the reveal with a perfectly timed “Well, s—.” Deanna quite calmly accepts her fate, mostly consoled by Michonne at her side. Rather than dwelling on her dimming light, though, Deanna wants to focus on bolstering the fire inside Michonne.

Then there’s the still frightened Sam to consider, as Jessie’s son won’t stop playing old records (and attracting a gross bug problem) while refusing to be the brave boy his mother needs him to be. But the most pressing problems lie in the garage, where dumb Ron is crying his eyes out believing Enid to be dead. He believes they’re all dead, in fact, including Carl, so he might as well take him out now, as he intended to before the walkers flooded their town.

Dumb Ron locks the door and pulls his gun on Carl, but Rick trained the boy well, and he’s able to wrestle it out of dumb Ron’s grasp before he can actually use it. He replaces his lost gun with a shovel, but misses Carl and instead whacks apart the glass window of the outer door, alerting passing walkers to their presence. They begin to come for the house as dumb Ron tries to choke out Carl, but luckily Carl escapes his and the walkers’ clutches.

\'Quantico\' postmortem: Who\'s gone from the Academy?

\'Walking Dead\' prologue scene sets up Negan, second half of season 6

\'The Walking Dead\': Did the midseason finale satisfy?

See My Morning Jacket cover Eagles of Death Metal

Sinead O’Connor found safe after posting that she had ‘taken an overdose\'

See Tracee Ellis Ross perform on stage with mom Diana Ross

John Legend serenades Chrissy Teigen for her 30th birthday

What If Michael B. Jordan Played Carl Weathers\' Son in Other Movies?