The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 6: Swear

Many people have been calling “Swear” a filler episode, but to me, this just opened up the world of “The Walking Dead” even more. Okay, so between Alexandria, The Hilltop, The Kingdom and The Saviors, it’s safe to say we have enough communities integrated into the show already. I guess the writers just figure that this is a good point to bring in the newest community: Oceanside. And what better way to introduce a new community than having one of our beloved Alexandrians wash ashore on the outskirts of its location? Although this community isn’t even mentioned until later in the comic book series, it’s starting to feel like now is the time to introduce everyone, so we have a plethora of characters to care for and learn more about.

Even though we have a whole new community to discuss, we must slowly work our way there before doing so. Back in Season 6, Tara and Heath left Alexandria in search of supplies, completely unaware of everything that had happened back at the homestead (Abe, Glenn, Tara’s lover Dr. Denise Cloyd). They promised themselves that after two weeks, they would make their way back to Alexandria, empty handed or not. While Tara feels they should not return empty handed, Heath could care less and keeps replaying the murdering of multiple Saviors in his head, unable to shake the horrid feeling that comes with taking a human life (even if the people murdered were complete and utter scum).

Tara attempts to relieve Heath of his current rising stress levels, but nothing will make him forget the things he has done, and the reasons he’s done them. Although Heath and Tara find it hard to come to an agreement on this matter, they are instantly able to move past it and continue scavenging. Their exploration soon comes to a halt, after attempting to retrieve a backpack from a sand mound, only to unleash and awaken the undead that rose from said pile, sand seeping through every groan and opening. This debacle quickly spirals out of control, and as it does, the screen cuts to black as Tara falls over the bridge, which she explains, and makes sense as to how she woke up on the beach, to begin with.

Tara is approached by a girl who appears to be a teenager, observing her as she lay motionless upon the sand. Not knowing her from a hole in the wall, she leaves bottles of water, a prewrapped fish and a spear at her side, before disappearing off into the distance. Of course, Tara wakes up the second that this girl is nearly out of frame, leaving her perplexed as to why she was gifted with such items rather than treated like a complete and utter stranger. Though this girl has already confronted her, Tara feels the need to sneak around, for she knows not a thing about the girl, or where she is heading.

This new escapade leads Tara directly into the woods, where she discovers a community comprised of only women. Not knowing these women, or anything about them, makes Tara continue to patrol the area in a rather sneaky manner, in the hopes she isn’t spotted and called out. After eventually being sighted and shot at, she is led to a dead end: a gaggle of ladies waiting to pull the trigger. As their humble female leader steps forward, it is decided Tara will be brought into the community for 

further questioning, such as what her intentions are snooping around the place, etc.

The leader of Oceanside, Natania, and Tara eventually come to an understanding that neither person is out to hurt one another, but rather they have the same goal(s) of making it through this life, unharmed. The reason the location of Oceanside appears to be so “off the grid”, is because that is exactly what their intentions were upon discovering this area. Additionally, why are they all women? The Saviors came into their old community, killing every boy/man over the age of 10, leaving only the women left to fend for themselves. They knew they would never last in the society Negan is ultimately attempting to construct before their eyes, so they all got up and left, relocating to a much quieter, more hidden area of land. Tara’s unknown presence is an immediate threat to a group that thought they were far enough away from everyone and everything, so we can finally understand why the first instinct of these women was to defend their land. As the younger one said, they were taught to shoot on sight if the person seemed unfamiliar, therefore eliminating every possible threat.

After the group agrees to let Tara go back home to Alexandria, it is decided she will have two scouts from Oceanside follow her, one of them named Beatrice, who’s life Tara spared from her first attempted escape. Out of absolutely nowhere, Tara leads the pack to take down a nearby walker, only to escape from the two women as they relentlessly open fire. Altercations ensue, and it is decided that Tara will go back alone, but not before she “swears” to Beatrice that she will not say a word about her endeavors and anything that involved the community of Oceanside.

By the final few minutes of the episode, Tara is seen returning to Alexandria, with Heath still out there somewhere. As she is introduced by Eugene at the gate, his tears say it all. Tara is suddenly hit with the realization of everything all at once: Abraham and her best friend Glenn have had their lives took at the hands of Negan, as well as the sad and untimely death of her doctor girlfriend Denise. All of this news hits Tara at full-throttle; stripping her of the happy smile she entered Alexandria wearing. Will this piss her off enough to take action, join forces with someone like Rosita? Will she spill the beans about the Oceanside community, even after Beatrice had her “swear” not to? Time will tell, and granted events don’t drag, we should know soon enough.