‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9, Episode 11 ‘Bounty’ Recap: A Terrible Exchange

The Walking Dead is back on its feet. This might have rung true for most fans in the past episodes of season 9, but tonight’s episode, titled “Bounty,” made this another peak. It’s not only an excellent episode to usher in Alpha (Samantha Morton) into the fore, but it’s a chapter that raises all stakes and elevates the show’s narrative.

“Bounty” follows Alpha and the Whisperers as they demand Lydia (Cassady McClincy) back from Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) custody. It’s a tricky deal since they are offering Alden (Callan McAuliffe) and Luke (Dan Fogler) back in exchange for Alpha’s daughter. But given Daryl’s concern over their abusive relationship, it’s something that hinders him from making the right call.

Meanwhile, The Kingdom is gearing up for the community fair, and Ezekiel has one last mission before things are set—a quick supply run for a film projector bulb at an abandoned theater. After all the bullshit that the zombie apocalypse has given them, surely the Kingdom dwellers deserve to see a movie right? It’s almost a bad plan, but Carol (Melissa McBride) seems to bank on it even if it sounds absurd.

The Deal

Alpha is dead set on getting Lydia back. After she introduces herself, she threatens to rain hell on Hilltop if Lydia isn’t returned. The balls on this bitch, huh? Daryl and the others have none of it. After all, they have all the necessary firepower to wipe the Whisperers out. They’re just choosing to be more human as what Rick Grimes would have wanted.

Alpha calls for more backup when Daryl refuses. And with Luke and Alden in their custody, the de facto leader has no other choice but to consider all options. As the negotiation drones on, Connie (Lauren Ridloff) hides safely in the corn patch.

Gene Page/AMC

However, Alpha brought her A-game into the situation. She’s a master manipulator. She’s not interested in violence at the moment, but she did bring a Whisperer who’s with a baby. Alpha knows the cards too well. She might’ve stalked Daryl and the group too long to figure out that they are humane people, still holding on to the hope of things getting back and taking the world from the dead. As Daryl evaluates his strategy, Henry (Matt Lintz) wonders if he is giving Lydia up.

As a show of good faith, Alpha brings out Luke and Alden. But things get a little bit off-the-rails when a group of Walkers arrive, seemingly drawn to the baby’s cries. And in what appears to be one of the most heinous crimes to have ever been committed by a Walking Dead villain, Alpha orders the Whisperer to leave the baby for the Walkers—to which the Whisperer obliges. So Daryl decides to cave into Alpha’s request and sets off to hand Lydia over to them. When he goes back inside, Lydia and Henry are gone. Of course, Henry’s acting on his teenage urges!

The Escape

Daryl alerts the entire Hilltop to look for Henry and Lydia. When they don’t turn up, he decides to look for them outside the walls. However, Enid (Katelyn Nacon) and Addy (Kelley Mack) offer to look for them, since Addy knows where Henry took Lydia (remember that drunken night that got Henry locked up?).

Tensions rise as the Walkers close in on the baby. Alden and Luke try to reason with Alpha, but she doesn’t care. Luke signs to Connie, who runs towards the baby and picks her up. Connie returns to the cornfield, but Walkers swarm around her. Just as we thought she’s done for, Daryl, Tammy (Brett Butler), and Kelly (Angel Theory) extract Connie from the fields.

Gene Page/AMC

Later, we see Henry and Lydia holed up in the abandoned house. Lydia is now dressed in regular people clothes, and it feels weird to her. She then wonders why Alpha broke her rules to find her. Enid and Addy arrive, talking some sense into Henry. Enid stresses that if Lydia isn’t returned, Luke and Alden will die. She also gives a monologue about what Carl’s death taught her. Lydia then surrenders herself and asks for her to be brought back to her mother. She then kisses Henry, who I think only needed that little sexual rush in the first place. His desire to be with someone is too strong after failing at it with Enid.

The Reluctant Exchange

Finally, with Lydia back at the Hilltop, the exchange happens. Luke and Alden are back, with Yumiko and Enid greeting them. As Lydia trots back to her mom, Alpha slaps her and then hugs her, insisting that Lydia calls her Alpha and not “mom.” Daryl and Henry look on as the Whisperers leave. Later that day, Henry confronts Daryl about what they just did. “The world is just shit sometimes. And you live with it. Sometimes that’s all you can do,” Daryl says as he storms off.

Gene Page/AMC

That night, we see Daryl, Henry, and Connie obviously bothered by the day’s events. And since Henry couldn’t live with it, he leaves Daryl a note and sets out to look for Lydia. Addy finds the letter and hands over to Daryl. He then goes to find Henry, but Connie offers to come with. They all couldn’t live with what they did either.

The Quest

Elsewhere, we’ve got the Kingdom’s side of the episode, where Ezekiel (Khary Payton) readies the Kingdom dwellers for the fair. A flashback opens the episode, where Jerry (Cooper Andrews) also tells Carol and Ezekiel that Nabila (Nadine Marissa) is pregnant with three kids and Jesus (Tom Payne) and Tara (Alanna Masterson) meeting with them about the fair. Jesus then hands over a scroll to Ezekiel, which turns out to be a set of rules that Maggie and Michonne made before Rick disappeared. The empty signatories show Hilltop, Alexandria, Oceanside, Sanctuary, and the Kingdom.

Back in the present, Ezekiel rounds up the supply run crew of The Kingdom for one last stop. Dianne (Kerry Cahill) informs Ezekiel about the Elk that they need, but they have to retrieve it before the Walker horde arrives. Is it me, or are the Walkers becoming more mobile even without the guidance of the Whisperers? Carol then offers to come along during the hunt. Oh, Jerry’s kids have all grown up now, and Carol misses Henry more at the sight of his kids. With that, Ezekiel marches on with his crew.

Gene Page/AMC

As soon as they acquire what they need, Carol sees that Ezekiel and Jerry have a side mission in mind. At first, they didn’t want Carol knowing about it since it’s such a trivial thing to risk one’s life for. It turns out that they need a new projector bulb. It’s good for morale, and Ezekiel fears that the kids don’t even know what a movie is anymore. It’s easily accessible, except for one thing—the bulb is located in a theater overrun with Walkers. Despite Carol’s qualms, the group marches on.

Now here’s the fun part of this whole ordeal. Jerry uses a boombox to lure some of the Walkers out. I mean, I’d probably kill more zombies with Eddie Harris blasting in the background. The group infiltrates the theater and sees no projector bulb. But Jerry finds the projector room and has Dianne help him retrieve the bulb as Ezekiel and the others watch. But just as they successfully wrap the bulb, a Walker comes bursting in, overwhelming Dianne and Jerry. He also drops the bulb in a chute that leads to the theater area.

With all hope lost, Carol tells them to finish what they started. All hope is not lost. The group proceeds to wipe the Walkers and retrieve the bulb. They make their journey back to the Kingdom with the bulb safely in tow. As they pass by, though, there’s a sign that’s painted on a street stop. It looks like a headless hangman. Could this be a foreshadowing of Ezekiel’s comic book fate?

Gene Page/AMC

With the bulb now in the Kingdom’s projector room, Jerry beams in happiness to see that it works perfectly. Ezekiel and Carol kiss as they are illuminated by the light.

‘The Walking Dead: Bounty’ Overall Verdict

“Bounty” is arguably the best Walking Dead episode to date. Not only does it establish Alpha as a compelling villain, but it also shows us how she differs from the Governor, the Terminus freaks, the Wolves, and Negan. She has no moral code, and she’s willing to sacrifice humanity in exchange for survival. It’s a feat that’s never been done or portrayed in the vast Walking Dead universe, and that makes it the show’s overall redemption arc.

But if there’s one thing that I’d love to see over and over, it’s Connie’s cornfield sequence. Seeing her hugging the baby and fighting off Walkers with one hand is more than enough stress that one could ever stomach in one episode. I’ve never felt this on edge since the Governor laid his siege on the prison.

The Walking Dead continues next Sunday, March 3rd, with “Guardians” at 9/8c on AMC.