What Can We Live With

"Your people crossed into our land, there will be no conflict. Your people killed our people, there
will be no conflict. I'm done talking. Bring me my daughter, or there will be conflict." - Alpha, "The Walking Dead"

"The Walking Dead" returned for the second half of its ninth season on Feb. 10. Each week I'll be looking at the episode, the deeper themes, and the world.

I've said before that I wouldn't want to have to live in the world of "The Walking Dead." There are a lot of ways in which I might die. But last night, watching the latest episode "Bounty," I couldn't help but smile at Ezekiel's (Khary Payton) side mission to get a projector bulb. The world is brutal and full of threats, but if you want to make life normal, if you want to bring things back, you have to bring back the trappings of normal life.

For Ezekiel, that means the power of cinema. I could well imagine myself risking (and probably) losing my life for a bit of the trappings of the world that was lost. Because, like Ezekiel, I see it as hope. Ezekiel is one of the last true optimists in this world. We got an opening that took things back in time to when the fracture began. Ezekiel was entrusted with the community constitution, something he still keeps in good condition. He hopes it will be signed. He hopes that this community day celebration will bring everyone back together. He is full of Hope and belief that the world can change. And I hope he is proven right.

That opening also eluded to the feud between Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) that caused a rift in the communities. But we still don't totally know what that's about, and that is a question I'd also like to see answered as we move toward the end of this ninth season. (Especially knowing Gurira is leaving.)

But that was sort of the B story to the whole thing. The A story involved the confrontation between Alpha (Samantha Morton) and those at the Hill Top. She arrived at the end of the previous hour asking for her daughter, Lydia (Cassady McClincy).

In the previous episode Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Henry (Matt Lintz) learned about Alpha, Lydia and the abuse she suffered. And when Alpha came calling, Daryl was reticent to return the girl to her abuser. But when presented with the trade for two of their own, men who would be murdered if he didn't comply, Daryl felt compelled to make the trade.

They did make the trade, as Lydia didn't want to be the reason those people died, either. But it was hard on Henry, who wanted to protect someone he saw as vulnerable. When he pressed Daryl how he was OK with sending her back, Daryl said you have to find a way to live with it. A similar sentiment was echoed by others earlier in the episode as well.

And as the hour closed, we saw the various folks trying to live with it. But Henry found he couldn't, and he set off to make it right. Of course, by the end Daryl, too, had set out to recover them. That will inevitably lead to another confrontation with Alpha and the Whispers, though it was foolish to think that chapter would be over anyway.

And the question now become whether Lydia can truly change. Will she choose her new friends, the ones who showed some kindness and risked themselves to find and protect her? Or will the sway of her mother be too strong?

There are five episodes left this season, and plenty of ground left to cover.