‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9: Episode 14 Explains ‘Scars’ Backstory, But Still Doesn’t Explain Group Tensions

For some episodes now, fans of AMC’s The Walking Dead have been wondering about Alexandria’s segregation from the other communities. Many fans had deduced that the backstory behind the scars that both Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) have would reveal the reason. However, this was not the case and after Episode 14 of Season 9 aired viewers were still wondering about the divide.

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses Episode 14 (titled “Scars”) of AMC’s The Walking Dead. Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed this episode and wish to avoid spoilers.

Episode 14 of The Walking Dead revealed the heartbreaking backstory regarding how and why Michonne and Daryl got their X-shaped scars. Revealed in a series of flashbacks, viewers discovered that Michonne had to kill a friend she had known since high school after the woman deceived herself and Alexandria. This deception led to Michonne and Daryl’s great mistrust of any newcomers to Alexandria and, as a result of this, the community is now actively turning away new survivors.

However, what it didn’t explain was why Alexandria has such a huge separation now from the other communities. After all, there seems no point in breaking contact with Hilltop and the Kingdom, since these communities have all been close-knit prior to Michonne and Daryl’s ordeal.

According to Inverse, the potential is there that Michonne, in particular, is so traumatized by the event involving her old friend, Jocelyn (Rutina Wesley), that she pulls away from the other communities rather than risk the same thing happening again. After all, Michonne ended up having to slaughter children alongside Jocelyn in order to save the kidnapped children of Alexandria. This theory can be backed up by the fact that, but the end of Episode 14, Michonne had decided to help Daryl’s group, which included members of the Hilltop community.

However, the potential is there that the full story has not yet been revealed regarding Alexandria’s split with the other communities. After all, it seems a bit extreme to have the likes of Aaron (Ross Marquand) having to sneak out in order to meet up with Jesus (Tom Payne), who belongs to the Hilltop community. In particular, there also appears to be some sort of rift that is unexplained regarding Michonne and Hilltop’s prior leader, Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan).

Potentially, with Michonne taking Daryl’s group to Hilltop, this could be explained in Episode 15 of The Walking Dead. However, viewers will just have to tune in on Sunday to find out for sure.

Season 9 of AMC’s The Walking Dead will return to AMC on Sunday, March 24. The show is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. ET. Episode 15 is titled “The Calm Before,” and AMC lists the following synopsis.

“The fair at the Kingdom is underway, with all four communities coming together in celebration for the first time in years; while some pacts are renewed, other deals will come at a much steeper price.”