Warning: Spoilers ahead. There was some good news in Sunday’s episode of “The Walking Dead”: Daryl recovered both his bike and his crossbow. The man is complete again! The bad was everything else. Most notably that before Daryl (Norman Reedus) could get his hands on said crossbow, the thief used it to kill Denise (Merritt Wever). In terms of scope, pacing and tone, “Twice as Far” was fairly low key, yet it delivered two big shockers. In that context they came almost as afterthoughts. Maybe the show’s trying to tell us something about the cruel arbitrariness of death in the zombie world. In that case, mission accomplished. Denise (Merritt Wever) met her demise on the wrong end of a crossbow.Photo: Gene Page/AMC Denise died at the end of a drugs-foraging mission with Daryl and Rosita (Christian Serratos), which she’d initiated and insisted on joining, even though she was useless as a fighter. While outside, she didn’t listen to her more experienced companions and took unnecessary risks because she had something to prove to herself — and possibly to girlfriend Tara, away on her own supply run. We learned more about Denise in 20 minutes than in all her previous appearances combined. Lots of good that’ll do her now. Meanwhile Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) were also out of the compound, bickering like an old couple while searching for a place to manufacture ammo — Eugene’s new grand plan. Our uber nerd was one step ahead of Denise in that he thought he had nothing to prove anymore: “I’ve changed, adapted. I’ve become a survivor.” Overconfident, much? Abraham was skeptical. Both teams ended up running into trouble, because that’s what happens on “The Walking Dead.” That trouble was Dwight, a guy from earlier in the season — who, frankly, I’d completely forgotten about — with a diabetic wife and who made off with Daryl’s crossbow. The encounter didn’t turn out so good for Denise — with Lexa’s recent croaking on “The 100,” things aren’t all that great for lesbians on post-apocalyptic shows. But at least Eugene turned out to be able to bite off exactly what he could chew, gnashing his teeth directly onto Dwight’s groin long enough to create a distraction for Daryl and Co. to fight back against their attackers. Let’s just say Dwight probably won’t be able to have kids anymore. I’ve mentioned two shockers, and the other one is that Carol (Melissa McBride) is done with domesticity and goes…somewhere that is not Alexandria. Which is an odd choice if her issue is being stuck in a cycle of violence and killing. Like it’s better outside? In any case, we got the confirmation that last week’s hyperventilating crisis wasn’t entirely faked after all: The lady assassin has feelings. Too bad nothing up until last week had given us any idea Carol was so conflicted inside. In fact up until recently she was berating Morgan (Lennie James) for not wanting to kill. We’ll see if Carol’s new mode lasts when new arch-villain Negan enters the picture.
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