'The Walking Dead' recap ('The Next World'): season 6, episode 10

That's the short recap. If that's all you need to know, there isn't much more to say. It was neither a terribly eventful nor a terribly interesting episode that felt more like a placeholder than anything memorable.

Here's the long version:

Two months have passed since the last moments of the last episode of "The Walking Dead."

Alexandria is now resembling something like "normal" following the one-two wolf/zombie invasion.

The neighborhood is cleared, the fence repaired. (That must have been some mighty big bonfire they must have had with all those stinking, rotting zombie corpses!)

Carl is now wearing an eye patch. Judith is looking older. Michonne jokes with Rick about toothpaste.

Rick and Daryl leave for a routine supply run. They hadn't seen humans in weeks. Egghead Eugene Porter suggests they find sorghum, a "criminally undervalued" food source that would make their food situation "hunky dunky." So conveniently, they find a truck with actual supplies. Better yet (and more inconceivably), the truck has keys and is driveable.

A guy who calls goes by Jesus bumps into them as they try to open up a soda machine. He claims he's alone but Rick thinks there's more going on after he leaves, warning of impending walkers. Instead, he had stolen the truck keys and driven off.

Daryl and Rick start chasing by foot. Luckily, the truck has a flat and they are able to catch Jesus by surprise. They tie him up instead of killing him. Bad idea because he apparently is an escape artist. He gets out of Rick's lame ties so quickly he is able to latch onto the truck before they even drive off.

Eventually, Daryl and Rick hear him on the truck roof and stop suddenly. He falls off and begins to run. Daryl chase after him. Some walkers get loose nearby in the field. Daryl tussles with Jesus in the truck. Jesus grabs Daryl's  gun and tells Daryl to duck so he can shoot a walker about to kill Daryl. Yes, Jesus saves Daryl's life. What does Daryl do? Punch him and gets his gun back. Gratitude!

And just their luck: the truck then falls into the lake. The open door knocks Jesus out.

Rick decides to take Jesus back to Alexandria despite Daryl's misgivings. Daryl has been a supporter of taking people in. Rick has been a skeptic. Now it's the other way around.

They bring Jesus to Dr. Denise, tied up and unconscious. Daryl watches over him.

Rick returns to his home and Michonne is waiting. They talk like a married couple about each other's day. Rick rewards her with some mints since the toothpaste is in the lake. He hands the mints to her, their hands touch and suddenly, they are humping away. Sure, we don't see that part but we see them naked a bit later.

While I have always sensed mutual respect between these two characters, romance was not something I would have anticipated.

And guess who shows up, loose again! Jesus.

"We have to talk," he says, with guns drawn on him yet again.

***

Earlier, Michonne catches Deanna's dopey but hunky son Spencer wandering outside the walls with a shovel.

Spencer's entire family is dead. But he knows Deanna the zombie inexplicably got away from the hoard and is wandering the woods by herself. (Why her and not the hundreds of other now dead walkers? Just for story's sake?) Carl sees her first and guides her to Michonne and Spencer. Spencer decides to kill his mom  as gently as he can with a knife. "That's why I'm out here," he says, stating the obvious. He now thinks he doesn't have family. Michonne says she's now part of his family and he still has a home.

Later, Carl explained to Michonne why he didn't kill Deanna. He says someone in the family should put her down. "I would do it for you," Carl said. "I would." And they hug.

***

And here are things I thought about while watching this episode:

"The Walking Dead" is technically three years into the apocalypse. And there are still so many questions.

For instance, gasoline should be in awfully short supply now. And even then, gas tends to degrade quickly. Most gasoline will be useless in a year's time.

So technically, the "Walking Dead" folks should now be in the 1800s now in terms of transportation: walking, biking, horse and buggy. But they never seem to have any issues while roving the countryside in all sorts of vehicles.

Plus, the roads should be pretty overgrown and rank with weeds. But they aren't.

I'm not even considering the whole issue of zombies themselves. How are they still even moving? We're now in Virginia, which gets pretty hot in the summer. Maggots should have chowed them all down by now. I've also wondered about hydration. Zombies seem pretty stupid when it comes to getting enough water. A few 90 degree days and they should quickly be reduced to raisins. Plus, shouldn't predators (wolves, rabid wild dogs, et al) have taken a few down now?

Alas, when I start thinking these things, the episode was pretty inconsequential.

TALKING DEAD

Danai Gurira explains why Michonne was ready for a romantic connection with Rick. Already, they are acting like family. Carl tells her how much he cares about her. She saw how Spencer felt about his family. All that together (plus the mints) got her in a randy mood.