The Walking Dead Episode 706 Recap
Remember Tara and Heath? We haven’t seen them all season. They headed out on a scavenging trip shortly after Alexandria took out the Saviors’ satellite location. They have been gone for two weeks with virtually nothing to show for it. Heath is frustrated and having a hard time dealing with the attack. He thinks that no one is in this together anymore.
The pair go out for one last scavenge and find a camp set up on a bridge, walled off at either side. The place seems empty, and it looks like the people here had plans for something they didn’t get to finish. They find a couple of enormous trucks loaded with sand that had been dumped over. Tara pulls out a bag peeking out from under the sand, and it causes an avalanche that reveals dozens of dusty zombies. Free from their sandy tomb, they are ready to chomp and set off after Tara and Heath. They fight them off as best they can, but get separated. Heath is cornered on top of a car, out of bullets, while Tara fought off two zombies by hand. She promises Heath she is coming for him, that they are in this together… then the two zombies push her over the bridge, into the water.
Some time later, Cindy and Rachel, a child, are walking on the beach and they see Tara, alive but unconscious. Rachel wants to kill her, as is their way, but Cindy stops her, promising they don’t have to. Rachel isn’t going to snitch, but she also isn’t going to help Cindy, and runs home. Cindy drags Tara out of the water, and leaves her behind some driftwood on the beach. She leaves her two bottles of water, a dried fish, and a spear. Tara has been faking her unconsciousness and when Cindy leaves, Tara grabs a bottle of water and chugs it while pressed up against the driftwood. She sees Cindy in the distance, seemingly crying, then she leaves. Tara follows from a safe distance.
Tara follows Cindy to a hidden community in the woods. There are children playing, chores being done, handicrafts being made. One thing that sticks out immediately is that the community is all women. Tara watches and is excited when she sees one of the women open up doors leading to an impressive armory. There are some clicks, and the women rush to the armory, arm up, and fan out. They start shooting at Tara and she runs. One of the women, Beatrice, surprises Tara, and she knocks her down with her spear. She gets Beatrice’s gun and is dared to shoot. Instead, Tara pistol whips her. It doesn’t matter. She spins around and finds herself face to face with Rachel, who is aiming a gun at her. Cindy steps between them and tells her community to lower their guns. The matriarch of the clan steps in, and Tara offers to just go. No one backs down.
Tara is taken into a house and chained to a radiator. Beatrice is there, as is another woman, Kathy. The matriarch introduces herself as Natania. Tara says that she is from Atlanta, and her and her friend worked on a fishing boat. They stayed on the move to survive. She needs to go back to get her friend. Natania doesn’t know what to do with her; normally they shoot strangers on sight. She tells Tara to rest up.
It is night when Kathy moves Tara to a different house, where a table is set for dinner. Natania serves fish stew, and seems much nicer over the dinner table. Tara scarfs her stew, and the other women are amused. Natania is hoping to convince Tara to stay. It would be the perfect solution. They wouldn’t have to kill her, and Tara seems pretty handy. She didn’t kill anyone, though she could have. They even offer to help her find her friend, and he can stay, too. Tara asks what happened to the men, and the women look at one another. Natania finally answers diplomatically: they got into a skirmish with another group and none of the men made it out. After that, they decided to protect themselves no matter what. They found this place and thought if they could stay hidden, they could stay alive. Natania still wants Tara to stay, even though she knows she is lying about where she is from. She finally admits she came from a community, that she has a girlfriend, and that her community has “done things” like they have. “There were these people threatening us, using an old satellite station.” She explains they took them out, every one of them, and they got what they deserved. The ladies look a little startled when they hear this, and Tara suggests the two groups could start working together. Natania comes up with a solution: Tara will go out with a guide and they will find Heath. Then they will go with Tara to her community and check things out. Cindy wants to go, but Natania, her grandmother, won’t let her out. Instead, Beatrice and Kathy will go. Tara promises Cindy there will be other chances.
The trio head out in the morning. About halfway to the bridge, the ladies hear a zombie. Tara offers to take care of it, and heads out. Seeing the zombie is hopelessly tangled in tree branches, Tara instead runs. The girls fire at her, then give chase. Beatrice finally gets the drop on Tara, and holds her at gunpoint. “Your people are dead,” she insists, telling Tara she has “no idea” what they started with the Saviors. That was just an outpost and there are more. Beatrice explains that it was the Saviors who killed their men. Every man, every boy over ten years old were lined up and shot in the head. They tried to fight; the Saviors won. They were supposed to keep working for the Saviors, but they ran away in the middle of the night and found the community they now live in. Beatrice is worried that Tara will lead them back to the women, but before she can shoot, she is tackled by Cindy, who suggests Tara runs.
The two meet up a short distance later, and Cindy makes Tara swear to never come back, and never tell anyone about them. Cindy doesn’t believe that people are evil, but Tara has seen it. Tara swears she won’t tell, and Cindy gives her a pack of food and water and takes her to the bridge. At the bridge, Cindy decides she has come this far and isn’t going back until Tara is safely on the other side. They roll out, killing zombies. Cindy gives Tara cover as she runs through the gauntlet of zombies. She runs out of bullets just as Tara reaches the end. Perfect timing. Tara is on the other side of the trucks and sees Kathy and Beatrice collect Cindy. Tara freezes when she thinks she sees Heath, stumbling about zombie-like, but it turns out it is just a woman with similar dreadlocks. She finds his glasses on the ground, and car tracks leading away. She pockets a keycard on the ground, with PPP written on it, and follows the tracks.
Tara has an otherwise easy, lighthearted trek back to Alexandria. She finds a curio shop to stay in overnight, and finds a doctor bobblehead and sunglasses to take back with her. In her supply pack from Cindy, she also finds a seashell bracelet. It is the sunshine happiness before she returns to Alexandria and discovers all the losses. Tara strides up to Alexandria like she owns the place – until Eugene meets her at the gate, crying. Her smile of triumph is shattered.
Tara sits sadly in the doctor’s office, staring at the bobblehead that was meant as a gift for her deceased girlfriend. Rosita is with her and begs her if there was a place she saw that has guns, ammo, anything. Rosita is desperate to make this right. But Tara lies. She didn’t see anything like that, anywhere.
You can watch previews for the next episode, titled “Sing Me a Song,” by clicking here.
