The war is getting intense on The Walking Dead. After Rick (Andrew Lincoln) ran Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) off the road, the two battled it out in a walker infested building. Rick went as far as lighting Lucille on fire that threw Negan over the edge. Negan got his beloved back and ran away…into the clutches of Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh).
Dwight reluctantly rejoined the Saviors. Dwight helped Daryl (Norman Reedus) lead the Alexandrians to the Hilltop to avoid being captured by the Saviors. Tara (Alanna Masterson) held him at gunpoint, threatening to kill him. Dwight had to reveal himself to the Saviors so Tara would not be discovered.
The Saviors were worried about Negan…for about a minute. Simon (Steven Ogg) had been talking the entire episode to Dwight (Austin Amelio) about ‘moving forward.’ Rick removed Negan from the picture, so Simon stepped up and moved forward with the plan to infect the Hilltop. The Saviors dipped their weapons in walker blood and took off for the Hilltop. Now Simon not only wants to infect them, he wants to wipe them out.
The Kingdom finally joined the Hilltop after Carol (Melissa McBride) and Morgan (Lennie James) saved Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) from Gavin (Jayson Warner Smith). Morgan knew Gavin had to die, otherwise, he’d come after them. Henry (Macsen Linz) beat Morgan to it and jammed a staff through Gavin’s throat. Now Morgan feels really guilty.
Maggie (Lauren Cohan) has 38 Saviors prisoner at the Hilltop. For the most part she has treated them fairly. Her people always come first, but they do get the same amount of food and time outside of the pen. Do they feel they can trust Maggie? Or will they turn on her the first chance they get?
Rick and Maggie try to turn the tide in their favor on “Do Not Send Us Astray.” They are not aware of Simon’s secret weapon that could change everything.
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The Hilltop community has been on alert since last week. Lookouts have been placed throughout the woods with instructions to honk their car horn when they see the Saviors. Morgan is alone, waiting to hear a car horn. He sees Gavin standing in front of him with blood dripping from his throat. Gavin tells Morgan that he knows what it is and that he was supposed to. Morgan attacks and Gavin disappears. A car horn is blaring in the background. Morgan’s sign to honk his horn. The signal is sent all the way to the Hilltop. The Saviors have been spotted.
The Hilltop prepare for battle. Henry tries to get in on the action asking Ezekiel for a gun. Carol and Ezekiel tell Henry to stay inside the house and protect the children. Dr. Dana (Peggy Sheffield) questions Siddiq’s (Avi Nash) abilities, but backs off when Siddiq stands up to her. When the sun goes down, the yard is clear and Jerry (Cooper Andrews) signals Maggie…the Saviors are at Hilltop
AKH vs The Saviors
The Saviors are stopped on the way to the Hilltop by a board with a lot of nails. While they move the board out of the way, Maggie calls for Negan on the radio. Simon tells her that he is representing Negan and it’s time for Hilltop to pay their bill. Maggie reminds him that she has 38 of their people. She tells them to leave or they die. Maggie lets Alden (Callan McAuliffe) talk to Simon, saying that this night is not a good night to die. Simon doesn’t care about the 38 prisoners. He calls them damaged goods and that won’t stop them.
Austin Amelio as Dwight, Steven Ogg as Simon – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Simon gets off the radio and reminds his people that they are there to kill everyone. Dwight speaks up saying this isn’t what Negan wanted. If Negan is still alive, Simon will have to answer for it. Simon says that’s a future problem and he doesn’t have time to care, because Daryl comes out of the Hilltop and shooting at the Saviors. They follow Daryl into the Hilltop and the battle begins.
As soon as the Saviors walk into the Hilltop, the shooting begins. The Hilltoppers are met with arrows. Some of the Savior prisoners are shot by the arrows. Alden begs Maggie to let him defend the Hilltop, but she tells Dianne (Kerry Cahill) to take them back to the pen. Maggie looks for Negan, but can’t see anyone.
Tobin (Jason Douglas) goes after the Saviors and is cut. Carol sees him and moves him to a safe place. Siddiq takes over his care so Carol can go back to fighting. The Saviors move in on the Hilltoppers, stabbing and shooting them.
Simon sees Tara and makes his way toward her. Daryl sees him and yells at her, but she can’t hear him. Dwight shoots and arrow at Tara, making her turn around to see Simon coming at her. She shoots at Simon and he runs away. Daryl shoots at both Dwight and Simon and they get away. Enid (Katelyn Nacon) gets Tara. Michonne (Danai Gurira) gets Daryl. Maggie gave a signal for the next step in their battle plan.
Rosita (Christian Serratos) shoots out all of the car headlights and throw smoke bombs. The smoke clears and Simon leads the Saviors into the courtyard of the Hilltop. He splits up his people to look for everyone. They head for the main house. A row of headlights turn on and the Hilltop shoots the Saviors from the windows of the house. The Saviors turn and turn towards the gates where they meet another set of headlights and gunfire.
Rick, Jesus (Tom Payne) and other Hilltop residents cut them off. As Rick and his people come in from one side of the cars, the Saviors sneak by on the other side. Rick and the others are fighting hand to hand with the Saviors. Rick comes upon Siddiq and mistakes him for a Savior. He stops himself from killing Siddiq and tells him to stay down. Morgan is one of the fighters and is still seeing Gavin. He continues to tell Morgan that he knows what it is.
The Saviors get away. Maggie and Rick run after them shooting until they are out of bullets. Maggie says she wants all of them dead, especially Negan. Rick tells her that Negan wasn’t there tonight. He broke away earlier and Rick went after him. He says he tried to kill Negan and Maggie thanks him.
Aftershock
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
The next morning, a group of walkers ascend on the Hilltop gates. Maggie assesses the damage and the injuries. So many people were hit with the arrows, but everyone seems to be okay. She tells Enid that they don’t have the resources to survive another attack.
Daryl checks on Tara. She says it was just a scratch. She wonders about Dwight, saying he is with the Saviors because of her. Daryl says he went back because it’s who he is. Tara defends Dwight. She believes he tried to save her. Tara compares this to when she and Merle were with the Governor, but Daryl says it’s not the same. Tara figured out who the governor really was. Daryl believes Dwight tried to kill her.
Michonne finds Rick removing boards from the windows. She tries to give him food and offers to look at the wound on his hand, but he won’t let her. He says the children need fresh air in the room because Maggie turned off the power. Michonne starts helping him and he tells her how he went after Negan.
Jerry digs graves for the Hilltop’s dead. Dianne brings Alden outside and Maggie allows him to bury the Saviors. Alden tells her that these aren’t his people anymore, but he’s happy that she sees them as people.
Dianne takes the opportunity to let Maggie know that she is a great leader. She saved a lot of lives. Maggie says she had to sacrifice Hilltop lives to save lives. She sent the Savior body back to Negan to bring him to the Hilltop. She wanted Glenn’s grave to be the last thing that Negan saw even it came at a cost. Her only regret is that Negan is not in the pile of bodies.
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Carol and Tobin have a heart to heart about their brief relationship. Tobin asks if she’s going to leave. Carol says she may have to accept that some of them will live, some will fight, but it doesn’t end. Tobin says the end of the fight is what they are fighting for. Carol says winning means they get tomorrow…one more night…one more morning. There are no guarantees. As she’s talking, we see Henry find a gun and take it.
Siddiq offers to look at Rick’s cut, but Rick won’t even look at him. Siddiq starts to tell him a prayer that starts with “Do Not Send Us Astray. Rick stops him and walks away.
The Cost
Jason Douglas as Tobin – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
That night, everyone at the hilltop settles in and goes to sleep. In the medical trailer, Tobin dies in the middle of the night and turns. Another patient is having difficulty in the bed next to him. One of the Hilltoppers checks on him and says he’s going to get the doctor. Tobin gets up and grabs the guy, killing him. Dr. Dana sees the medical trailer door open. She walks in and sees blood. Tobin grabs her and bites her too. More Hilltoppers die and make their way into the house, where other Hilltoppers are turning.
Henry takes his gun and goes to confront the Saviors. Gregory (Xander Berkeley) wakes up and asks Henry to let him out. Henry demands to know which Savior killed his brother. Gregory and Alden reason with Henry, saying that killing won’t make him feel better. They hear screams coming from the house and watch.
Rick and the leaders wake up and start putting down the walkers. Siddiq tries to save as many people as he can, he even has Rick cut off someone’s arm to save them. Jesus and Michonne lead people out of the house.
Jared (Joshua Mikel) smiles when he hears the screaming. Henry opens the gate and demands that the killer come forward or he will start shooting people. A prisoner turns into a walker and bites another prisoner. Henry starts shooting, but Jared tackles him and takes the gun. All of the Saviors and Gregory escape the pen, leaving Henry behind.
Carol finds Tobin and puts him down. Everyone convenes with Carol to talk about what’s going on. They are confused as to why their people have died and turned in the middle of the night. Rick remembers that Negan’s bat was covered in walker blood. They come to the conclusion that the Saviors put walker blood on their weapons to infect the Hilltop residents.
Rick and Daryl find Tara and tell her what the Saviors did to their weapons. Tara says it’s okay. She wanted Dwight dead this entire time and now…karma is a bitch.
Maggie finds Alden helping Siddiq fight off the walkers. She asks him where the other Saviors are. He tells her that they left, but he and others stayed behind to close the gate. He wants to join Maggie and defend the Hilltop.
Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Khary Payton as Ezekiel – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
The next morning, Carol, Ezekiel, Jerry and Morgan look for Henry. Enid lets them know that Henry is the one who let the Saviors out. They continue to search, but Morgan stops. He sees Gavin again, yelling at him that Morgan knows what it is.
Jerry and Jesus dig more graves. Maggie gets a funny look on her face. She tells Dianne she realized the cost as they look at all of the graves they’ve had to dig.
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Thoughts
I am blown away! Negan’s plan worked and it was devastating! However, I have to wonder if the fact that Simon carried out the mission will change how the Saviors see him. With Negan gone, will other “top guys” try to challenge Simon for leadership? Or will the loyalists emerge to defend Negan’s vision. I smell a civil war brewing.
As for AKH (Alexandria, Kingdom, Hilltop), they have lost a lot of people this night. The effects of what the Saviors can and will do should scare everyone. Will they stay at the Hilltop and defend it til their last dying breath? Or will they strike back?
Rick’s people don’t have the ammo to take on the Saviors, but the Saviors have Eugene. I think now would be a good time for Eugene to have a change of heart.
OH MAN! RIP Tobin. He was one of the last Alexandrians to survive. Now it’s just Aaron…who is still watching Oceanside from a tree.
And what is Tara’s fate? Dwight knew about the bio-weaponry, but did he dip his arrows in the walker blood? Or did he shoot her with a clean arrow to save her life? I believe Dwight is doing everything he can to help Rick win. I doubt he would kill Tara, one of two people who he needs forgiveness from. Daryl on the other hand, won’t be so easy to warm up to.
OMG! It’s getting good at the end of the season. Two more episodes! I cannot wait until next week!
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