The first episode of AMC’s spinoff anthology series Tales of The Walking Dead has finally dropped.
This episode introduces Joe (Terry Crews) and Evie (Olivia Munn), an unlikely couple who come together after Joe decides to venture out one year into the zombie apocalypse.
He’s a doomsday prepper, she’s a vegetarian and together they manage to somehow form a bond — as well as adopt a goat!
Joe is introduced first up, and he is well prepared for the end times. After all, he has been planning for it all along.
Using online groups and chat rooms, he has quite the know-how when it comes to surviving an apocalypse. His fully-stocked bunker helps as well.
He’s not a people person and has his trusty dog Gilligan “Gilly” to keep him company.
Don’t get attached to the dog
As in The Walking Dead, in Tales of The Walking Dead, it is important you don’t get attached to the animals that crop up in the new series.
Joe’s dog is merely there to make sure that Joe has a reason to leave his little hideyhole and track down an online friend. So, when Gilly is attacked by walkers, Joe finally decides to head off on his bike and go in search of his fellow doomsday prepper that he only knows as “USHLDBSCRD.”
Perhaps he might even find some love in the zombie apocalypse.
After being the most stalkery to find her since they never exchanged locations online, Joe sets off after narrowing down her location but not exactly where she lives.
Evie has been living on the outside
While Joe has plenty to say about how people should have reacted at the start of the outbreak, he has been underground for a year and really has no idea how to function in the post-apocalyptic world.
This is why he easily gets trapped by Evie.
She is pretty airy-fairy but also super practical and handcuffs Joe even as she is telling him that they were destined to meet.
You see, she is on a mission to find someone too. She plans to take the bike and leave Joe on her organic veggie/weed farm.
Except, Joe has a kill switch, and now they have to travel together if she wants to ride the bike anywhere.
Luckily, Evie has a big crystal for him to wear to dispel all the negative energy she is sensing on him. As you can expect, this goes down a treat on the prepper.
The post-apocalyptic bike life
Once on their way, Evie instructs Joe exactly where they are going and Joe has no option but to go along because she has a gun.
On their journey, the pair have their ups and downs, but they eventually start to bond, to the point where Joe even lets her drive his bike.
Along the way, they also learn more about each other. Evie finds out about Joe’s plan to meet up with USHLDBSCRD, and he learns that Evie is trying to track down her ex-husband, hence the road trip.
Evie even manages to work out exactly where Joe’s prepper friend lives and they are all ready to set off — except Joe left the bike running and left it momentarily, and now someone has stolen it.
At least they left a goat in return. I guess that’s how bartering goes in Tales of The Walking Dead.
Joe and Evie part ways
Because of the theft, the pair are now back to bickering. Joe then leaves Evie and the goat, heading off on his own.
When he reaches “USHLDBSCRD’s” house, there is a hairy moment when the undead attack, but his online buddy quickly opens a trapdoor for him and lets him inside her platinum-level bunker.
However, things are a little … off. It turns out USHLDBSCRD’s real name is Sandra, but she has obviously been locked up a little too long, and this just might be a shout-out to everyone who went a little kooky when in lockdown during the global coronavirus pandemic.
Sandra, right off the bat, gives him a brownie, and things start to be a little weird after that as it is totally laced with weed. But, even weirder is the fact that Sandra has to put on freaky make-up before interrogating him as to why he needs her place.
Of course, Joe only wants Sandra, but she doesn’t believe that. Plus, she’s had to deal with a bunch of people trying to break into her bunker, so there’s a method to her madness, I suppose.
Meanwhile, Evie has found her husband’s house and he’s not there. Which is lucky because it means she can head on over to Sandra’s because Joe really needs some help.
Evie turns up just as Sandra is planning to gain another souvenir watch for her collection of people she’s killed. This distracts Sandra and she gives Evie a brownie and acts like nothing is wrong.
Except, Evie is a pothead from way back and it doesn’t affect her at all. Instead, she quickly overpowers Sandra and rescues Joe, who has the worst case of the munchies thanks to the edible.
Now, the pair of them are stuck with each other, but that’s perfectly okay with them as they set off on further adventures in Tales of The Walking Dead.
In next week’s episode, expect things to be turned on their head when AMC goes where it has never gone before in The Walking Dead universe.
Tales of The Walking Dead airs every Sunday night on AMC at 9/8c.