You have loaned us your greatest mind --
Dr. Leo Bennett.
I'm sure Iris is helping someone.
[Growls]That's what you get.
And Hope -- I'm sure she's with friends...
[Growling]
...getting into some kind of trouble.
So, you admit it, you're one of them!
Yeah.
Will's scouting expedition was due back a few days ago.
I think it's possible we're being lied to.
Huck: Your dad's not in danger. Never was.
Hope: They need me to help my dad with his research.
Huck's mission was to get me there.
They think they need me to save the world,
but they have no clue what you can do.
This is how we give our lives meaning.
♪
Will?I thought you were dead.
Wait. Why? Why would you think that?
You don't know?
The ones that are still out there, they're not a threat.
We'll talk. A lot's happened since you left.
You Bennetts are going to
accomplish great things together.
Hope: Yeah, we are.
[Leaves rustling]
[Crow cawing]
Man: Clearing the lane.
Woman: Asset on vector at three clicks.
Ready egress charges.
[Helicopter blades whirring]
Man #2: Alpha leader, stand by for extraction.
[High-pitched beeping]
Woman: Asset on vector.
[Walkers growling]
[Growling continues]
♪
Both the Campus Colony and the Portland
are concerned about the communication break.
There's talk they're sending an envoy to investigate.
As we expected.
Clear Major Mullins to reach out,
offer to collaborate on the investigation.
And the lane to the Campus Colony?
Cleared.
We'll have the column there within 72 hours,
once its work is done here.
Good.
♪
Your decision not to inform Staff Sergeant Mallick.
Her mission is separate from this.
With any luck, she's, uh,
reached a minimum safe distance.
Man: Firing egress charges.
♪
[Explosions]
♪
New orders from Major General Beale.
Doing this...
and then again to the Campus Colony,
it's only the beginning.
[Weak groan, leaves rustling]
Alert delta team we found their escapee.
Help...
me.
Ho.
[Muffled gunshot]
♪
[Walker snarling]
[Grunting]
♪
[Breathing heavily]
♪
I thought I heard someone up.
♪
I'm sure she's okay.
You know it's her birthday today?
♪
Uh...
Yeah.
I'll bet your dad's doing something for her.
Will you promise me
you'll try to get at least a little shut-eye?
Little sleep?
I'll promise if you promise.
Alright.
Wish me luck.
♪
[Helicopter blades whirring]
♪
[Indistinct radio chatter]
♪
Hope: What the hell?
♪
Your research place is here?
Change of plan.
♪
[Helicopter blades slowing]
The hell?
Why are we here?
Hey, what the hell is this?
[Walker growling]
What this is, Hope, is a lesson.
Don't worry. I know you know don't like school.
Think of it as more of a field trip.
♪
[Wind blowing]
You said you were taking me to my dad.
Was that a lie, too?
Why am I even asking?
Kid, she's taking you to your dad.
No, I'm not.
Not yet.
You gave us the map.
You told us it was New York.
You pushed us, and you lied ab--
The other helicopters.
You said you went to the university alone.
What was that even about?
We're 10 years into this new world,
Hope, and there are dead columns.
You -- You call them mega clusters.
Others call them hordes.
Some call them herds -- roaming the continent,
and, as far as we can tell, the whole world.
And these columns, they're now so big, they --
they just break through everything,
just run through anything, whole cities.
The day after Monument Day, we were on our way to Omaha,
and we saw one such column.
So huge. It was like nothing we'd ever seen before.
It was unimaginable.
It had run through Omaha
and was headed for the Campus Colony.
We were mobilizing the rescue effort
and contacting Campus Colony officials
when a second column...
nearly just as big,
merged with the first.
There must've been over 100,000 in total.
We did everything we could to save as many lives as we could.
It wasn't enough.
For the few who came out alive, we airlifted them to Portland,
but, uh...
both Omaha and the Campus Colony are gone.
What?
No, that's crazy.What are you talking about?
Yeah, search and rescue are still --
still combing through, but at this point it's --
No, you're wrong.
Don't touch me.
Elizabeth: I'm so sorry, both of you.
It's small words for something so big.
[Sniffles]
I don't care.
I brought us here to Albany
because this was my home at the end.
I was here, working as an attaché for the UK
Ministry of Defence when everything fell apart.
And it was then that I realized just how quickly any chance
for a future can crumble,
even when everyone does their best.
You've been through so much,
but with everything that's happened,
Hope, do you still believe a future's possible?
I, uh... [Sniffles]
Uh, I did.
You should, because despite all of the fallen cities,
it still is.
And getting you to think differently,
think more positively about the future,
yeah, that was why we pushed you to go on this journey.
And I'm sorry, but now that you see how fragile civilization is,
I trust that you're understanding that no --
no one makes it alone.
No one.
It takes everyone coming together
to have a shot at that future.
No, no, you -- you said you were taking me to my father.
I hope I can.
You hope?
We both know you're not ready.
For a community with a long-term plan predicated
on generational education and -- and scientific progress,
geniuses are an invaluable resource,
but a genius who's a rebellious, strong-willed troublemaker,
that's a risk.
Used against us, those qualities can spread like rot.
And they make any kind of common goal unattainable.
We can't bring in someone who would jeopardize that.
Don't misunderstand me.
We want you to work with us.
Now, you have a lot to offer,
but I cannot bring you in to join your father
unless I know that, despite your grief
and despite your anger, you are fully committed
to being an asset for the future, right,
to dedicating the rest of your life
to learning, furthering his research,
and handing that knowledge onto the next generation
'cause only then --
only then will you be an asset to the future.
I am.
That's why I came with you guys, because I'm ready.
And I-I think you need more time.
For what?
To think about what you want, Hope.
What do you truly want?
I'll need your answer by dawn.
After all the shit you just put me through,
I can just walk away, and you're gonna let me?
[Chuckles]
Um, I'm giving you that option, yeah.
You'd have every reason to,
given the extent of our manipulation.
I'll take my chances.
Alone.
You think you can find your sister and friends?
You can't.
Out there on your own, you won't make it out of the city,
never mind to any kind of future.
Being alive today, that's a gift,
and you can choose to waste it alone, waste all of your gifts,
or you can fight for a future -- with others, for others --
so that what happened here
and to the 100,000 souls in Omaha
and your friends back home never happens again.
You don't have to like us, Hope, but you do
have to embrace what we're fighting for.
The choice is yours.
Hope.
The Dunn Memorial Bridge is the only way out.
It's eight blocks east.
I'm not recommending it.
You really doing this?
After everything I did to get her here?
She could die.Yeah, she could, or she could choose to join us.
We need her to choose.
Mission incomplete.
♪
Felix: Tell us what happened.
The CRM controls all communications in and out.
Each message is coded and scheduled to avoid detection.
They don't mess around.
I'm worried.
It's been weeks, and nothing.
Officer Campbell, I understand your concern,
but it could be anything -- sun flares, equipment failure.
I've been waiting on a security update from Omaha
that was weeks late.
As more time went by, they kept stonewalling.
I told them as much. That was my mistake.
Romano and I heard they were sending a team
to a relay station a few hundred miles
out to look into the communication break.
Leo gave us his blessing to go with them.
He, uh -- We downplayed it so he wouldn't worry,
told him it was a scouting mission.
Lieutenant, it was good to hear you had room for two more.
Looking forward to finally getting to the bottom of this.
Newton: You know the protocol.
Looking back, there were signs it was a setup.
They didn't put up a fight when we told them we wanted to go.
I overheard one of them make a cryptic comment
about picking up a patrol shift the next day,
but it was a three-day trip.
And for a three-day trip,
they were light on supplies.
♪
[All grunting]
[Gunshot fires, brakes squeal]
[Crashing]
[Walkers growling]
♪
[Muffled gunshot]
♪
[Muffled gunshot]
♪
I was on the run for a few days
when I heard the helicopters.
They were looking for you?
They were dropping off shipping containers,
containers full of equipment from the Campus Colony, Omaha --
generators, computers.
Some of it was covered in blood.
All of it was loaded up into trucks and driven off.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Blood? Are you sure?
I heard them call it a salvage mission.
♪
Said something about shit being messed up
by the giant column that ran through.
A few days later, they found me, took me in.
I joined a hunting party to help out when I ran into you.
Wait, you're saying that Omaha...
that empties just ran through?
I don't know how else to take it.
How?
How can it just be gone?
Wait, wait, my dad, is -- is he okay?
There's no reason to believe he's not okay.
Same with Hope. [Inhales sharply]
I kicked the hornets' nest, asked too many questions.
Must've made me and Romano targets.
Did CRM know the whole time?
Why would they lie?
I don't know.
All I know is they want me dead...
...and I will be if they find me.
[Branches snap, walkers growing]
We should go.
♪
Will: Whole place is secure.
Storm last night knocked some trees onto the wall.
It's possible some empties breached,
but we got it patched up pretty quick.
That's a Jean-Charles.
It's a Haitian sculptor I read about in a book back home.
That one's called "Vérité."
♪
What is this place?
The Perimeter.
[Dog barking, sheep bleating]
♪
It was an abandoned farm town back in the day.
Before things fell apart, it was bought,
turned into an artist colony.
They've built things up since then, brought people in.
Felix, Iris, this is the head
of the council that runs this place.
Indira.
A runner gave us a head's up you were coming.
So sorry about your home.
But with Will vouching for you, you have one here,
at least until a more permanent solution presents itself.
I can't tell you how much we appreciate that.
You may keep your knives,
but for the safety and comfort of others,
we do ask that you surrender all other weapons
while you're on our land.
You agree to this?
[Sighs]
There's a spare bedroom in the house Will's staying in.
Once you're cleaned up and fed,
I'll send someone to look at that leg.
The council will want to ask you both some questions,
but I'll hold them off till morning.
Come on. It's just ahead.
Uh, let me ask you something before you go.
What do you live for?
Living takes effort now.
It takes everything.
Those still alive have their reasons,
and I realize I need to know those reasons
if you're going to be with us.
What do you live for?
These two.
And a few others.
And you?
I guess I live for hope.
The world is nothing without hope.
Go.
Will: Come on.
[Horse neighs in distance]
♪
[Inhales sharply]
♪
[Sniffles]
♪
Hi.
♪
[Sobbing]
♪
How safe are we here?
It's pretty rare for the CRM to cross into Perimeter territory.
It's part of the deal Indira struck with them.
Her people cleared the area of the dead
and ward strangers away from the facility.
In return, the CRM gives them supplies and neutrality.
They don't bother the CRM,
the CRM doesn't bother them.
They're risking everything by harboring us.
Iris: So I finished decoding these books.
Anything?Supply-depot locations, fuel inventories,
stuff we could use once we get Hope and my dad back.
Nothing to help get Hope and my dad back.
And you're sure?
Come on. There's got to be something, right?
We should scout the facility while it's dark,
see for ourselves what we're up against.
How far is it? Now, come on.
You said you were drawing up a layout, right?
Yeah, but...
there's nothing any of us can do just yet.
I want Hope and your dad safe from those assholes
as much as you do, but I know that place.
I'm not -- I'm not just gonna sit here and wait.
They've got guards, patrols, long-range security.
Getting within a mile of it is dangerous,
and I won't tell you anything that I don't already know.
Okay. Hey.
This is about the long game, not just how we get in
but how we get them out and where we go after.
It's not just about Hope and Leo's safety or ours anymore.
It's about the safety of everyone here giving us shelter.
One wrong move, and it's over...
for all of us.
♪
[Rattling in distance]
♪
[Soft thud]
♪
[Gasps]
[Walker growls]
Aah!
[Flashlight clatters]
Aah!
[Groans]
[High-pitched ringing]
[Muffled audio]
♪
[Exhales sharply]
♪
[Groans]
[Crow caws in distance]
Iris?
Felix?
Dad?
[Walkers growling]
♪
Think about what you want, Hope,
what you truly want.
[Grunts][Blade plunges]
♪
[Muffled audio]
♪
Hello?
[Walkers growling]
♪
You thinking of going after her?
You said we needed her to keep her dad motivated,
to maybe even take over his research someday.
I said we could use her for those things, yeah.
So, what, none of that matters anymore?
It matters that you succeed, Jennifer.
It was your idea to get the girl across country this way.
You insisted she was worth the risk.
You convinced me that this trip was the only way to change her.
It did change her.
Not enough.
This little nudge?
I think, with this, your mission can still be a win,
like Omaha was,
and it'll all but erase what happened before you left.
[Scoffs]
I've only ever wanted the best for you.
You know that?
[Chuckles softly]
She reminds me a bit of you at that age.
Is that why you took her on?
She was lost.
Angry.
She needed someone to look up to, someone to believe in her.
I could relate.
♪
[Distorted rushing]
♪
[Gunshots fire]
♪
[Walkers growling]
♪
How come you didn't tell me about the Campus Colony
or Omaha before, when we met for the debriefing?
It would only have been a needless distraction,
and it would've made your mission that much harder.
Being under for an extended period...
...it's easier to form attachments, blur the lines.
If you want to go after her, I won't stop you.
What about the others?
You said you found one.
Who was it?
Based on the description you gave us,
we believe it's Silas Plaskett.
Plaskett's an innocent.
He doesn't know anything.
He's been interrogated.
He's stonewalling.
We've gleaned nothing, which is why I'm focused
on finding the others.
If they know too much or if they're still resolved
on saving Dr. Bennett or now Hope...
they'll need to be dealt with.
♪
So, tell me, how much do they know about us?
About the mission?
Hope: She's CRM.
Five miles north, you'll find safety.
♪
[Walkers growling]
♪
[Growling continues in distance]
[Rattling in distance]
♪
[Screams]
[Both grunting]
♪
[Walkers growling]
♪
[Grunts, gasping]
♪
Why are you doing this?
I want what you have.
You have a helicopter.
I heard it.
You have clothes and food,
and when you have it, you fight to keep it.
And when you have nothing, you take.
You have to take.
You have to feed!
Aah! [Thud]
♪
You.
You're her.
♪
I saw your picture. It's you.
I know it's you.
You're wrong. I'm not.You're Candice.
No, I-I'm not her.
I can't be, because youare.
[Both grunting]
♪
See?
You can't run away.
There isn't anyplace better.
You know that.
You got out and had to come back
and come back and come back, come back, come back.
You should've done so many things at the start.
So many things.
You should've done them, Candice,
but couldn't.
Stop. Why couldn't you?
Please stop, stop. I don't want to hurt you, okay?
I just want to go.[Scoffs] Go where?
You'll just die.
Someone else gets the clothes, the food, supplies, the meat.
Don't make me kill you. Please don't make me kill you.
Tell me what you're doing out here.
What are you doing here if you won't feed?!
I'm just trying to make it.
[Chuckles softly]
Oh, Candice...
you stupid little bitch.
Aah!
[Walkers snarling]
[Screams]
♪
You...fed.
Stay, Stay.
This is your home. [Groans]
It's yours now.
[Screaming][Flesh tearing]
♪
[Birds chirping in distance]
♪
[Sobbing]
♪
[Sniffles]
♪
[Muffled screaming]
♪
[Walkers growling]
Elizabeth: Think about what you want, Hope,
what you truly want.
♪
[Sniffles]
I was very happy to get your call.
You were right.
I wasn't gonna make it alone.
But I don't want this to be all there is.
I don't know if that's what you want to hear,
but it's the Goddamn truth.
Did I pass your test?
Can I see my dad now?
It's okay to hate us, Hope.
You should.
But the bad things we do must be done.
We carry that burden so that others don't have to,
so there can still be good in the world.
And maybe one day this won't be all there is.
I'm willing to offer your sister
and Officer Carlucci a home with us,
seeing as they don't have one to go back to.
I would imagine you understand that very differently now.
Huck: You wanted to see if I'd go after her...
...if she and the others have changed me.
♪
I'm really glad I was wrong.
♪
[Helicopter blades whirring]
♪
I've been thinking about Silas, what we can do with him.
No more loose ends, like you said, right?
I'm afraid I have some tragic news about the Campus Colony
that I need to share with you.
It is tempered by some very good news about your family.
Hey.
How you feeling?
Doc said you have a concussion.
[Sighs]
Look, got every reason to hate me,
but I need you to listen.
You ever want to see Iris and Felix again,
we got to get on the same page about something.
Before we left them at that farmhouse,
I sent them to a settlement a few miles from here.
People there will keep them safe.
Wait, what?
And my mother...
I told her they didn't know anything.
It guarantees their safety if she finds them,
long as they don't divulge what they know.
Why? What happens if they do?
The CRM finds out you decoded their intel,
that you all knew that I had orders
to take out Iris and Felix
if that's what it took,
and that I let them live, knowing that,
I don't know what happens,
but I know we've killed people for less.
You really think I'm an idiot, huh?
You're just trying to cover your own ass.
Mm, that's not what this is about.
Why shouldn't I tell your mother
how bad her daughter screwed up her mission?
Why shouldn't I screw with your life
just the way you did with mine?
Just told you why.
You go to her, you could be putting a target
not just on my back but on yours,
on Felix's and Iris', and on your dad's, too,
if you tell them what really went down.
You'll have to lie to him about where they are,
about what you know.
It's the only way you can be sure he stays safe.
You and me, we're just tiny pieces of a big mosaic,
little players in the game that will be played out
over decades, maybe centuries.
But this place, it's safe.
It's good for everybody,
long as we play by the rules and don't stir shit up.
Is that a threat?
It's how it is.
After last night, I thought you got that.
No, I got that I wanted to get to a future,
maybe help work for one.
But there is no way in hell
I'm working with you assholes to make that happen.
I knew I wasn't gonna make it back there.
You were just my ticket out.
♪
It's past midnight.
Happy Birthday, kid.
♪
[Door opens]
♪
[Door closes]
♪
Will you promise you'll try to get at least a little shut-eye?
Little sleep?
I'll promise if you promise.
Wish me luck.
[Sighs]
Felix.
Felix?
Yeah?
Why do you think the CRM would cover up
what happened back home?
Just doesn't make sense, does it?
No, it doesn't.
I keep thinking about everybody who's gone,
and the only reason we're not is 'cause we left.
We took a risk.
Maybe that's how we keep living,
how we get Hope and my dad back.
We do what we need to do no matter the risk.
Look, it's great that the council is letting us stay here.
We can only sit tight for so long.
The rules are different now.
CRM changed the game.
So we change how we play.
♪
Will: Said something about shit being messed up
by the giant column that ran through.
♪
Felix: That empties just ran through?
I don't know how else to take it.
♪
[Indistinct radio chatter]
♪
[Door opens]
♪
[Twigs snap]
♪
[Walker growls]
[Groans]
♪
[Grunting]
♪
[Blade draws]
♪
[Grunting]
♪
[Blade plunges]
♪
[Breathing heavily]
♪
[Sobbing]
♪
[Both chuckle]
♪
[Sighs]
[Sniffles]
[Sputtered breathing]
♪
It wasn't empties.
[Sniffles] It was you.
[Grunts][Blade plunges]
♪
[Sniffles]
♪
[Sniffles]
That's what you get.
Hope: I think I'm starting to get it, why it's so important.
Iris: I killed one of them, he was the enemy that is what they are.
Percy: They're the reason the only family we've got is dead.
Leo: We're working to stop the monsters.
And to save people from turning into monsters.
Jadis: If we don't hold the line, we could lose everything.
[Grunts]
[Walker growling]
Felix: Go, go, go!
Iris: This is war.
♪
The lane to the Campus Colony?
Cleared.
We'll have the column there within 72 hours.
♪
Negrete: As we were talking about
what we should do this season,
one of our directives was really to, like,
let's catch up the audience.
And in episode three last season,
we confirmed that the Campus Colony
was deliberately destroyed by the CRM.
But one of the things we were never really specific about
intentionally in season one was the fact that
it wasn't just the Campus Colony that was destroyed,
it was also the city of Omaha.
And the CRM did this intentionally.
You know, we're talking about over 100,000 people,
and that's hugely significant in "The Walking Dead" universe.
Why would anyone do this,
especially an organization that believes in the future?
And that's the central mystery of season two.
Being alive today, that's a gift,
and you can choose to waste it.
It seems pretty crazy
that Elizabeth would say "life is a gift"
after we've just seen her kill 100,000 people.
It's pretty twisted, her logic, but there is a logic there,
and her logic is essentially, life is a gift in the apocalypse
because what you do with that matters,
and sometimes you have to do
very bad things for the greater good.
She oversaw the destruction of 100,000 people,
which is a horrible, horrible thing,
and we saw in episode three last season
that she was shedding a tear over it.
She's not this cold-hearted person with no feelings.
She does have some misgivings about what she does,
but this, in her mind, serves the greater good.
At this point in time, we don't know exactly how,
and that's the big question hanging out over the season.
♪
Hope.
What Elizabeth does to Hope on that roof
comes as a shock to Huck.
A big portion of this season
is really about their mother-daughter relationship.
And it's a little twisted in a lot of ways, as we'll see,
but for Elizabeth this mission, yes, is about Hope,
but it's also, for her, about Huck.
This mission was actually Huck's idea.
It wasn't Elizabeth's idea at all.
We start to get a sense
that maybe why Elizabeth went along with this
is that she wanted her daughter to succeed
and for people's opinions to maybe change about Huck
if people were doubting her commitment to the cause.
This little nudge?
I think, with this, your mission can still be a win.
So for Elizabeth, the stakes are how the CRM sees her daughter.
If the CRM sees her daughter as successful,
I do think, in a way, that will help Elizabeth
see her own daughter as successful.
I've only ever wanted the best for you.
If you want to go after her, I won't stop you.
The thing we wanted to hit in this story
is that this is an experience unlike any
that Hope has gone through.
You know, we wanted her to start this mission, as it were,
in one place and end up in another place.
Like, she is basically saying, you know,
"F you" to the CRM, "I don't need anyone.
I can survive."
And what she realizes at the end is that that's not the case.
[Walker growls]
Aah!
We see Hope hit her head.
That instigates the trauma and these hallucinations.
She hallucinates this girl.
She saw a poster of this girl named Candice,
and, you know, she was this achiever
who had a bright future ahead of her,
who has now digressed into, basically,
this sort of feral monster.
What Hope's ultimate takeaway from this encounter,
which turns out to be in her head,
is that no one can survive alone.
You were right.
I wasn't gonna make it alone.
But I don't want this to be all there is.
She realizes she needs them to live,
and that's a springboard that could take her down a path
that's very different than Iris.
♪
When we first met Iris way back in the pilot in season one,
we were introduced to her
dreaming that she was essentially dead.
She was an empty, roaming the earth kind of aimlessly.
And that was a testament to how she was really feeling inside.
She felt dead inside
because she hadn't really found her purpose.
And so I like the parallel
of starting with another dream for Iris,
but difference is now in season two
she's fighting the dead, she's not one of them.
And that's intentionally to show how much she's changed,
and that also it's what she reveals in that dream as well,
which is she's pulling the face off an empty,
and we see her hand connect with the empty's face,
rip apart that flesh, and underneath we see a CRM helmet.
And what that's telling her is, behind these empties,
behind this empty attack, is the CRM.
The seemingly random horrible event
that happened back at the Campus Colony
wasn't random at all.
It was a deliberate event, and the CRM was behind it.
She has turned into a bit of a leader, bit of a fighter.
She's not that girl throwing up on empties anymore.
She knows what she wants.
She wants to get her dad and her sister back,
and she's willing to do pretty much whatever it takes
to get what she wants.
[Grunts]
Not only is she killing empties, she kills a person.
That's a huge deal,
and that has a huge impact on who you are as a person,
and it's starting her potentially
down a slightly darker path than we've seen her.
♪
Felix, Iris, this is the head
of the council that runs this place.
Indira.
Negrete: For Indira, when Iris and Felix first meet her,
she asks them this question.
What do you live for?
Living takes effort now. It takes everything.
Those still alive have their reasons,
and I realize I need to know those reasons
if you're going to be with us.
We're 10 years into the apocalypse now,
and it takes a lot to live.
It's not just about survival anymore. It is about living.
And so it's an important question that actually
kind of hangs over all our characters in the season --
What do they live for?
One way or another,
they're each going to have to answer that question.
And a lot of those answers in some ways will be surprising.
[Crying]
♪