The Walking Dead: Season Six, Episode Four – “Here’s Not Here”

First Aired November 1st, 2015.

Flashbacks show Morgan’s (played by Lennie James) life during his self-imposed solitude and scavenging in the woods. The guilt over his son’s death haunts him as he continues his mission of clearing walkers wherever he finds them.

While in the woods, Morgan kills two men who attempted to attack him and take his supplies. He later encounters Eastman (played by John Carroll Lynch) who knocks Morgan out when he refuses to lower his rifle. While locked in a cell Morgan begs Eastman to kill him but he ignores his request. Over the next few days Morgan observes Eastman’s skills with his fighting stick but the two men barely speak to each other. Morgan eventually tells him that his purpose is to “clear” whatever area he’s in of walkers and people, and about the two men he killed which Eastman attributes to PTSD. Despite Morgan’s threat to kill him, Eastman reveals he’s worked with hundreds of people like him and that Morgan can come back from his trauma. He reveals the cage door was never locked and gives Morgan the choice of staying or leaving. Once freed, Morgan attacks. Eastman manages to subdue Morgan who again begs to be killed but Eastman refuses, so Morgan locks himself back in the cage.

Morgan has only appeared in a handful of episodes before season six and an episode devoted to his character was definitely needed. But this episode feels out of place given all the action in present day Alexandria. The momentum of that storyline was halted and Morgan’s backstory could have been explored after that was resolved. Aside from that this was a solid episode of The Walking Dead. These bottle episodes flesh out the central characters which is needed in a large ensemble cast. It’s a stark contrast between pacifist Morgan and the Morgan in this episode who resembles a wild animal. Had Morgan met the Wolves instead of Eastman he could have easily joined them. I also liked how the episode shows the different ways that isolation can affect people; Morgan descending into madness and Eastman’s emotional anguish being without human contact.

Eastman tells Morgan personal stories about his daughter and the hardships of his work with prisoners. He plans to take Morgan with him on a trip presumably to find other survivors to live with. While Eastman goes to get supplies Morgan thumbs through a pamphlet called “The Art of Peace” and later rescues Eastman’s pet goat from walkers. Morgan begins to adapt to his new surroundings and Eastman begins teaching Morgan his fighting style but stresses that the basic tenant is not to kill others. Eastman recounts how it helped to defend himself against a sociopathic prisoner who attacked him; that prisoner later broke out to murder his family as revenge. Eastman built the cage to kill the prisoner but couldn’t able to bring himself to do it because he believes all life is precious. One of the men Morgan killed in the beginning of the episode appears as a walker, Morgan freezes and Eastman steps in to kill it but gets bitten in the process. Morgan is enraged that Eastman sacrificed himself and reverts back to his old persona, but spares the lives of two people he comes across. He returns to the cabin and finds the goat dead and Eastman slowly succumbing to the infection. Eastman reveals he did kill the prisoner but that it didn’t give him peace; only vowing never to kill again did.

Eastman was clearly not going to survive past this episode but his death was able to further Morgan’s story. Morgan had clearly adopted Eastman’s motto of never killing anyone but something had to happen to make it stick, which led to the story of Eastman’s family being murdered. Killing the man who slaughtered his family tore Eastman apart, which had a profound effect on Morgan who was killing anyone who got near him. Of course what I got from that story was take care of your enemies while you can to make sure they don’t come back for you. Ironically, although Eastman’s isolation took a toll on him, it was what kept him alive so long. Eventually he would have let the wrong person live and they would have taken him out. Overall this was a great episode that really helped expand Morgan’s character. Even though his philosophy seems ridiculous we can now understand why he’s so passionate about it. And while he only lasted one episode, Eastman made a lasting impression. He was kind of like the Obi-Wan to Morgan’s Luke Skywalker.

Eastman requests a gun from his lockbox to kill himself before he turns. Shortly after, Morgan finds signs for Terminus on the road and begins his journey there. Morgan was telling the entire story to the Wolf (played by Benedict Samuel) he had captured in the hopes of rehabilitating him the way Eastman did for him. The Wolf reveals he’s dying from an infected wound and claims that if does survive he will kill Morgan and everyone in Alexandria. Not only did Morgan not kill the Wolf he is keeping him in his home knowing he will kill everyone he can. He clearly wants to follow in Eastman’s footsteps but he picked the worst person imaginable to take on as his peace and love protégé. Sadly, I get the feeling that unless Morgan changes his ways he won’t make it to the next season, which would be a shame because he’s a great character.

Quotes & Thoughts

“What’s your name?” “Kill me.” “That’s a stupid name. It’s dangerous. You should change it”

No matter what action Morgan chooses, people die directly or indirectly because of him. He’s like a mini plague.

“Walkers, people, anything that gets near me, I kill them.”

I get the feeling Morgan is going to become a cult leader in Alexandria preaching peace and love, and the people there are just naïve enough to buy it.

If you enjoyed Manny’s peace and love, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Friday Fiction: Snowfall In The Living Room
• “It Came From The Archives” Doctor Who Special Reviews: The Church on Ruby Road
• Review: Lucky Girl, How I Became A Horror Writer by M. Rickert
• Friday Fiction: Frozen Army
• Foundations: The 5 Best Artifact Cards