“Splinter”
We’re back at the trainyard where Ezekiel and the gang are still surrounded by Commonwealth soldiers. The group gets separated and Yumiko is pistol-whipped for trying to save Princess, who is violently thrown into a train car by herself. She slumps down in a corner and wonders what’s next.
Princess gets up and recalls the state capitols as a memory exercise. She overhears one of the soldiers tell the other, “You can tell Mercer.” Princess then cuts herself removing a board and hears Yumiko from the train car next to her…but she sounds distant, like this is a dream or hallucination. Still, Princess tries to keep her awake by telling her stories from her past, including one where her step father hit her and her mother starved her. When Yumiko doesn’t respond, Princess hears the soldiers take her somewhere else as she yells at them.
The next morning, Princess discovers an out-of-place board in her train car and removes it. She escapes as Eugene whispers that she needs to stop before they get caught, reminding her this is probably just part of their process. Princess hides as two soldiers walk by and returns to Eugene when they pass. He reiterates that they need to prove they’re trustworthy, so Princess returns to her car just in time for the soldiers to fetch her. They take her to a room where she strips naked and they examine her for bites. When they don’t find any, she puts her clothes back on and sits at a table.
The soldier across from her asks her name and she says Princess, before asking where Yumiko is. He then asks her age. “Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, I could be fifty. I don’t know man, I lost track a long time ago,” she says, before asking about Yumiko again. The man then asks about her group but she’s silent, so he commands his soldiers to take her away. When she yells about Yumiko, the man slaps her and calls her a bitch. “You should have answered our questions,” he says.
Princess wakes up in her train car and escapes again to check on Eugene – he’s gone. She returns to her car just in time for Ezekiel to hop down from the hatch. The two embrace and Ezekiel tells her, “Not the most fun interview I’ve ever had,” before suggesting they bounce. Princess tells him the soldiers have Yumiko and that she didn’t do them any favors in her interview. He looks angry until she tells him they hit her over the head. “No one is going to hurt you anymore, not while I’m here,” he says. Zeke tells her they’ll make their move during the shift change, and when she asks about the others he claps back at her, reminding her they’re HIS friends. The two realize they’re out of pocket so they make up and wonder aloud if Eugene trusted the wrong people. A little later, a soldier drops off food for Princess, which is when Ezekiel knocks him out and closes the train door.
Ezekiel handcuffs the soldier and points his gun at him, demanding answers. Princess sees he’s scaring him, so she does the talking. The soldier says Yumiko’s fine and that, “If you just stay calm, we really can help you.” He goes on to say this is all standard protocol, and it’s their job to keep their community safe. Princess and Zeke aren’t convinced, so they prod further. The man claims he’s just a rookie before hitting Princess across the face. Ezekiel lunges on him and starts choking him out as Princess yells for him to stop. Zeke then punches the man, screaming, “No one’s going to hurt me anymore!” Princess then realizes Ezekiel wasn’t even there – it was her who was interrogating and beating the soldier. Ohhh boy.
Princess escapes the train again and ponders whether she should save the others. Her mind manifests an Ezekiel hallucination to help her decide. She asks Ezekiel if she’ll be just like mom if she leaves, and he says yes. Eventually, she decides to stay, so she returns to her train car and removes the soldier’s handcuffs. He tells her he’ll have to pay the price for his screw-up while she and her group return to wherever they came from. Princess offers to answer his boss’ questions in exchange for his help, and he says, “I can work with that.” So, Princess tells him everything she knows and hands back his rifle. He tells her she passed the test and is ready to see her friends. He opens the train car and Princess sees Zeke and the gang with black bags over their heads. The soldier puts a bag over her head annnd cut to black.
What did you think of this week’s insane new Walking Dead? Let us know in the comments!
This episode simply confirmed what I already knew…Princess is a nut job.