'The Walking Dead' Season 8, Episode 4 recap: The Kingdom feels the consequences of war

Khary Payton as Ezekiel in "The Walking Dead," Season 8, Episode 3. (Gene Page/AMC)

After last week saw a series of victories for our heroes, “The Walking Dead” showed the price of war in Season 8, episode 4, “Some Guy.”

The episode opens revealing even more of what’s becoming the most eventful day in the series’ history. We see King Ezekiel giving the people of The Kingdom a rousing speech about how their bravery will lead to victory. That’s quickly juxtaposed with an image of the present, where most of his soldiers were cut down by .50 caliber machine gun fire from The Saviors.

The king wakes up in a pile of his own people's corpses, who sacrificed themselves for him. He tries to see if anyone is OK, but the giant holes in their bodies are a bit of a giveaway that no one made it. Suddenly, he finds himself with a wound in his leg, surrounded by brand new walkers. Luckily one member of The Kingdom is still alive and manages to get him out, despite Ezekiel’s protest.

Meanwhile, Carol, having survived the attack, made her way inside to flank the machine gun nest. With a tricky move that sees her hiding in the ceiling, she guns down five of the Saviors who hit them. However, she’s only able to snag a new rifle before reinforcements arrive. They let her go, though. Apparently they need to get the guns back to HQ to rescue Negan and the other generals, who are presumably still bogged down with walkers from Rick’s attack on the Sanctuary.

She gets away clean, which is more than can be said for the king. As they’re walking, the soldier who rescued him is gunned down from behind. Just like that, the king is a captive of the Saviors. The character is one fans haven’t seen before, but he seems to know everything about the king. He forces him on a death march back to the Sanctuary, confirming that Negan’s plan is to use the big guns to clean up the mess Rick made. As they walk, he taunts the king, rubbing the deaths of his men into his face and calling him nothing but a con man with a fancy back story.

“Your people? You mean all those people you rooked into thinking you’re a king?” he says, gesturing to the walkers following them. “You got them all killed and they’re still following you.”

The king continues his march as Carol follows the guns outside. She’s about to attack the truck carrying the weapons when she’s spotted by Saviors and pinned down. The firefight isn’t doing them any favors. Just as things look bad for Carol, the noise attracts walkers and turns the tide of her situation.

At the same time, the king and his new enemy have reached the fence, and Ezekiel can’t get over. That’s when the Savior decides he’s taken his prisoner as far as he can and prepares to execute him. Unfortunately, he makes the classic bad guy mistake and starts to monologue, allowing Jerry, the king’s axe-wielding muscle, to approach and split him in two... Literally. The duo stand up and prepare to fight off the dead for as long as they can with their backs to the fence.

"Thank you your majesty," Jerry says.

"For what?"

"For being such a cool dude."

Carol catches sight of them and sees how dire their situation is. She sacrifices her superior position and lets the guns get away so that she can save her friends. She mows down enough walkers to get Jerry and Ezekiel through the fence. As they begin to hatch a desperate strategy to alert Rick to the guns’ whereabouts, they get their first break of the whole episode -- Rick has arrived.

Last week he and Daryl learned where the guns were. Together, they tear off after the jeep carrying them away from Carol. It’s a bit of a mess, but they manage to run the Saviors off the road, almost killing Rick in the process. Now they’ve secured two of the .50 caliber machine guns. However, the Saviors mentioned three more and other guns at the Sanctuary.

While Rick and Daryl clock in another victory, Carol and Jerry are having a tough time getting the crippled king back to the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the words of his former captor are ringing in Ezekiel's ears. He keeps telling them to abandon him, and even loses his trademark Shakespearean speech pattern. As they cross a small, walker-infested stream, he finally breaks. He yells at Jerry to go on without him and that he’s not a real king, he’s just some guy who found a tiger. Almost on queue, Shiva arrives to take over the task of holding off the dead. Unfortunately, she pays the ultimate price for her loyalty to Ezekiel - a loyalty he does not feel worthy of.

The episode ends with only three survivors returning to The Kingdom, and the king is unable to face his subjects to tell them what happened. He walks away as the credits roll.