It seems that Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) world isn’t what he thought it was on The Walking Dead. The Saviors have been disappearing leading the remaining Saviors to walk off of the bridge project. They felt unsafe and tried to force Rick to give them guns, but Rick didn’t budge.
Meanwhile Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) found out who took and killed the missing Saviors…the Oceansiders. They tried to follow Rick example and were trying to live with the Saviors. But then Maggie killed Gregory (Xander Berkeley) as justice for trying to kill her. That’s when Oceanside decided to carry out their own justice. They killed every Savior who killed the men and boys from their community. Maggie and Daryl heard their reasons and left them to it.
After leaving the Oceansiders to get their revenge, Maggie and Daryl decided they had done things Rick’s way long enough. Maggie decided she is ready to see Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).
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Michonne
Michonne (Danai Gurira) has been living a quiet life. She oversees the Alexandria community while Rick is at the construction site. She makes time to play with Judith. As the oversee, Michonne has to resolve issues among the residents. She even pitches in to help take care of the sick. You’d think that Michonne has a good life. So why is she going out in the middle of the night to kill walkers?
Michonne gets out of bed, careful not to wake up Rick and Judith. She takes her katana and sneaks outside of the walls. She doesn’t go to far, just far enough to kill a handful of walkers. One night she finds a walker hanging from a tree. The walker’s hands are tied, so he didn’t commit suicide. Someone killed him. Michonne is attacked by a second walker that takes her by surprise. She drops the katana and has to find something else to kill the walker with. After she kills the walker, she realizes she grabbed a bat that looks like Lucille. Michonne picks up her katana and goes home.
Maggie
Maggie starts her day spending time with Baby Hershel. She packs a bag and Jesus (Tom Payne) catches up with her to give her a letter from Georgie. He realizes that she is leaving and he knows why. Maggie won’t let him stop her though. She wants to make things right, but she’s not asking Jesus to agree with her. Jesus says he did agree that Negan deserved to die and Rick was wrong making the call he made. The only thing Jesus wants to know is if Maggie believes she is doing the right thing. Of course she believes it. Maggie leaves for Alexandria with Diane (Kerry Cahill) and leaves Jesus in charge of the Hilltop.
Campsite
Eugene (Josh McDermitt) has some bad news for Rick. Since the Saviors left the worksite, it will take more time to finish the bridge. The water levels are rising, making it more dangerous to try to complete the bridge. He has good news too, two walker herds, Thibault and Cordelia are on parallel paths that do not appear to be merging. Eugene apologizes for not being able to do more for Rick, but Rick says to give himself more credit. They wouldn’t have gotten here without Eugene.
Carol (Melissa McBride) informs Rick that she and the people from the Kingdom are leaving too. Rick asks what will happen to the Sanctuary. She says they have to learn to stand on their own. They don’t want Carol or Rick there and they don’t want Negan there either. It’s up to them to figure out who they want to be. Rick understands and questions if they are still doing the right thing. He says no one gives him hope like Carol does. Carol apologizes, saying she really wanted things to work out.
Jerry (Cooper Andrews) rides up to inform Rick that they spotted Maggie and Diane riding to Alexandria. Rick radios the lookout, Rachel (Mimi Kirkland) from Oceanside to radio Alexandria to let Michonne know. Rachel copies, but puts the radio away. Rick tries to radio Maggie to try to talk to her, but he doesn’t get an answer. Daryl overhears everything and offers to take Rick to Alexandria on his motorcycle.
Alexandria
Michonne gets a report that Negan is not eating. She goes to the cell to tell him that his hunger strike ends now. Negan says he’s not in the mood to eat. Michonne says she’s got things to do. When she comes back, she wants his food gone. Negan reminds her that he is their proof that they are building a new civilization. He says he will eat if she will sit and talk to him. Michonne gives him 20 minutes and he has to eat.
Michonne tells him about their projects and Negan thinks it’s boring. She says they are rebuilding the world and he’s rotting in a cell. Negan is glad his wife did not live to see him like this. She died of cancer before the end of the world. He says it’s for the best. She wouldn’t have survived in this world. He says they wanted a kid. He would have liked to have a kid like Carl. Negan says Rick and Michonne were lucky to have Carl.
Things take a dark turn when Negan realizes that Michonne had a child before the apocalypse. He says he and Michonne are the same. They were built for this world. If they are kept inside too long, they will die. But outside the walls … it’s like an addiction. He knows Michonne is grateful that Andre is gone. He would have made her weak. Michonne gets angry and leaves.
Michonne ends up going back to tell Negan that they are nothing alike. They do what they need to get things done, but he liked it too much. She is trying to make things better. She lives for the living. Her sons are gone, but she is going to build a better world for her daughter and any child that comes into it. Negan says she’s not scared that she’s like him, she’s scared that she will end up like him.
Michonne sees that he’s trying to connect with her. She says time’s up and commands that he eats. Negan starts eating and asks Michonne one more thing. He wants to see Lucille, the bat. That’s why he was trying to connect with Michonne, she’s his last chance. She tells him that they don’t have his bat. It’s probably still in the battlefield. Michonne leaves and Negan loses it! He starts banging his head against the wall.
Junkyard
Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh) tied Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) down the ground. She looks him over before kissing him on the forehead. She has a walker tied to a dolly with a bucket on its head. Anne moves the walker next to Gabriel. Gabriel wakes up and begs Anne to stop. Anne says there’s only one place for her to go and he’s the price for her admission.
Anne says she tried to change, but she’s not like Gabriel. He moved on from his past, opened his heart and let people in. Gabriel says other people made him that way. He’s a better person because of her. Anne says it was all for nothing. She lowers the walker to Gabriel’s face. Gabriel blames himself for this. She asked for help and he failed her. He asks for her forgiveness. Gabriel has already forgiven her for what she’s about to do. Anne pulls the walker up but covers Gabriel’s face with a cloth soaked in chloroform, putting him to sleep.
Rick
Daryl and Rick are riding down the road and Daryl misses the turn to Alexandria. Rick demands that he stop the bike. The two face off once the bike stops. Rick asks what he’s up to. He says Maggie won’t get past the gates because he’s already called it in. Daryl informs him that his message won’t get to Alexandria. Rick reaches for his radio and Daryl knocks it out of his hand, starting a fight. Their skirmish leads to a hill where they both fall into a hole.
While they are in the hole, they are forced to talk about their differences. Rick tries to blame Daryl for their predicament, but Daryl says it’s because Rick had to chase Maggie. Rick understands why Maggie needs to see Negan dead…it’s because of how he killed Glenn. Daryl reminds Rick that Glenn saved his life or did he forget. Rick says he thinks about that everyday. He hates what he did to Maggie and what he took for her, but it’s what he had to do. Daryl says Maggie is doing what she has to do.
Let Go
Rick reminds Daryl spared Dwight after what he did to Daryl. Daryl remembers, but he’s not keeping Dwight in a cell like Negan. He calls Negan a symbol that gives the Saviors hope that things will go back to the way they were. Rick argues that keeping Negan alive ensures that things won’t go back.
Rick says Maggie was coming around. Michonne talked to her. Daryl says she was trying, but she couldn’t live with it. Like the ladies at Oceanside. Rick realizes that Oceanside killed the Saviors. Daryl knew and he didn’t say anything. Daryl says he couldn’t live with it either. Rick doesn’t want Maggie to kill Negan because then he becomes a martyr. If he becomes a martyr, then everyone who died during the war, died for nothing. Carl died for nothing.
Daryl says Rick keeps asking them to have faith in other people, but Daryl thinks Rick doesn’t have faith in them. Not true. Daryl says he would die for Rick. He would have died for Carl. But Rick is chasing something for Carl that isn’t meant to be. He has to let Carl go. Rick says he never asked anyone to follow him. Daryl says he should have.
Camp
Carol and the other campers pack up the weapons and try to leave quickly. The Saviors try to sneak up on the construction camp. Jed (Rhys Coiro) has a gun that he got from Alden (Callan McAuliffe). He calls Carol weak and tells her to step aside. She lowers her gun and Jed reaches for a set of keys. He starts to walk past Carol. Carol kicks him in the knee and hits him in the head with her gun. The other Saviors move in on the camp and the other campers start shooting. Rick and Daryl hear the gunshots and work together to get out of the hole.
Thibault
Two walkers come at the hole and Daryl falls back in. Daryl kills the walkers as Rick hangs onto the roots that they are using to get out. Daryl is able to get back up, as more walkers fall into the hole. They continue to climb. Rick makes it to the top, but Daryl slips. Rick gets out. He looks around for more walkers. He can hear them coming. Rick grabs onto a large branch and reaches in for Daryl. He calls him ‘Brother,’ telling Daryl to grab his hand. Rick pulls Daryl out of the hole and they immediately have walkers to fight off.
They run to the road and see a horse and the herd behind it. Rick takes the horse. He’s going to lead the herd away from the camp. Daryl objects but Rick thinks its the best plan. Daryl tells him to lead the herd to the bridge, but Rick won’t sacrifice the bridge. He tells Rick to be safe and drives away.
Cordelia
Gabriel wakes up inside one of the storage containers. He gets out and calls for Anne. She’s gone. She left a note saying she needed to go fast, so she went alone.
In Alexandria, Michonne reads to Judith on the porch. She hesitates when she sees a picture of a bat, but finishes the story. She asks Judith for a kiss and hugs her tightly.
Maggie and Diane are almost to Alexandria. They see the dead walker bodies that Michonne left behind. Maggie rides by slowly to look at them and keeps going.
Rick leads the herd to a road, intersecting with a second herd. His horse is spooked by the two herds and starts bucking. Rick falls off of the horse and onto a piece of concrete from the broke bridge. He screams in pain and starts to pass out. As the episode ends, we see that Rick fell on a metal rod that is sticking out of his side.
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Thoughts
You can see the emotion in Josh McDermitt and Melissa McBride’s face. Those were obviously the last scenes they shot with Andrew Lincoln. I swear, Andy was about to cry in that scene with Melissa. They’ve been on this show together for nine years.
There is an obvious parallel between episode one and this episode. Rick rode a horse to Atlanta. When he got into town, he ran into one herd, turned around and straight into another herd. Rick fell off that horse too. He crawled under tank and was rescued by Glenn. Daryl mentioned tonight that Rick would have been dead had it not been for Glenn. He’s in that same situation, but this time he’s been impaled. Who’s going to save him now?
I have to admit, I wasn’t prepared for this to happen. I really hope there’s some way to save him. Here’s a few ways that could happen. 1. Daryl gets there in time to pull him from the herds. The near death experience would help to mend the friendship. 2. The Saviors come upon him and save him. This would help to heal between the communities. The others would see that the Saviors deserve a chance at a new life. 3. Anne finds him and her helicopter friends save him. The thing that scares me about this option is that she will leave with him and no one will know what happened to Rick.
I’m not ready for next week. I already have my tissues ready because of all of the characters coming back. Especially when they show Scott Wilson. It’s going to be so hard to get through the episode, but I have hope we will see Rick Grimes in the future.
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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