The fallout of last week’s attack on the Hilltop continues on The Walking Dead. After Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was captured by Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), Simon (Steven Ogg) went ahead with the plan to attack the Hilltop. Negan’s new weapon of choice was tainted weapons that killed Hilltop residents, turning them into walkers. In the midst of fighting off Hilltop’s dead, Henry (Macsen Linz)went to the Savior pen seeking justice. He inadvertently released the Saviors when he opened the gates to kill them. Most of the Saviors ran, some of them stayed behind.
Both sides have had heavy losses. The war is still going. Carl’s death is still being felt. In “Still Gotta Mean Something” Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Morgan (Lennie James), and Carol (Melissa McBride) still struggle with keeping their humanity.
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Jadis vs. Negan
Jadis has lost everyone she cares about when Simon ordered the Saviors to kill everyone in the Sanctuary. That day, Jadis only got away because she pretended to be dead. Afterward, she went on a quest for vengeance. Jadis found Negan and took him hostage. In her mind, Negan ordered Simon to kill her people. Now she’s ready to punish him. She prepares by packing a bag, writing in her journal and crying a little bit.
Jadis has Negan tied up in a trailer on a rolling cart. He has no idea what she has in mind and looks scared. Negan tries to reason with Jadis saying he didn’t give orders to kill her people. He thinks of people as resources. Negan admits he made a mistake by taking a chance on Simon’s leadership. He apologizes to her and says he will make it right. She swings Lucille at Negan and stops short of his face.
Hilltop
The cleanup continues at the Hilltop. Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) is ready to run out and find Henry. Carol says there might be another attack and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) needs her there. He tells Carol to not believe that Henry’s fate is so dark. Ezekiel questions Carol’s bravery.
Tara (Alanna Masterson) tells Daryl (Norman Reedus) that she will be okay and there’s no sign of a fever. Tara knows that Dwight (Austin Amelio) was saving her by shooting her with a clean arrow. He’s still on their side. Daryl thinks she got lucky. He says Dwight should have warned them if he were really on their side. In Daryl’s mind, Dwight is no good and was never looking out for them. Tara says if she had killed Dwight, she’d be dead right now. She tells Daryl to do what he needs to do, but she’s over it.

Rick finds Michonne (Danai Gurira) reading the letter that Carl wrote to her. She asks if he wants to read the letter, but he says he can’t. Rick gets emotional and tries to shut off again. He prepares to leave on a food run. Michonne says she knows what he’s running away from the pain. She did it too. Andrea stopped her and brought her back. Now Michonne is stopping Rick. Rick opens a drawer and pulls the letter out.
Maggie, Rosita (Christian Serratos), and Dianne (Kerry Cahill) assess their weapons and resources. They don’t have the ammunition to take on another Savior attack. Daryl joins them and says if the walker guts were the Saviors only option, then they must not have ammunition either. Rosita remembers that the Saviors have Eugene (Josh McDermitt), the bullet maker. And she knows where the bullet making machine is.
Morgan is leaving to search for Henry. He says he feels guilty because he was supposed to kill Gavin, not Henry. Carol says she wants to go with him. They walk through the woods and find the trail of the Savior prisoners. Morgan sees someone up ahead and thinks its Henry. He runs to catch up and it is Henry. He’s been bitten. He tells Morgan he knows what it is and he was supposed to. Morgan starts yelling, saying Henry isn’t really there.
Carol catches up and doesn’t see anyone. Morgan says they both know that Henry is dead. Carol tells him that she’s not out there to find Henry. She wants to look out for Morgan. Morgan doesn’t die; he just sees the dead. They continue to find more clues that they are closing in on the Saviors.
Rick watches Judith playing and sees the sheriff’s hat in her bag. He gets angry and leaves the room. Clearly he didn’t read Carl’s letter. He grabs a gun and goes to speak to Alden (Callan McAuliffe) . Rick wants to know which way the Saviors would go. Alden is reluctant to tell him at first. He says there was talk about going back to the Sanctuary. Rick asks if there was a place between Hilltop and the Sanctuary that they could have gone. Alden admits there was a bar that he’s been to once. Alden asks Rick to not kill any more than he has to. They made a mistake. Rick can make them see that and bring them back.

Jadis/Negan
Negan is still tied up and talking to Jadis. There is a walker wielded to a cart next to him and Lucille is in a wheelbarrow with wood stacked up next to it. Negan has a gun in one hand and a flare in the other. He wants Jadis to talk to him. He knows she doesn’t want to kill him just like she doesn’t want him to burn the pictures he found. She comes out and tells him not to burn the photos. That’s all she has left. She says he took everything from her, including herself. Negan gets it. He tells her that he named the bat Lucille after his wife. Lucille got him through regular life. And the bat does the same for him now, it gets him through.
Jadis’ watch alarm goes off and they can hear a helicopter in the background. She pushes the walker towards Negan and jumps for the flare. The flare falls into a small puddle of water. Jadis jumps and runs away. Negan sees the helicopter flying over the heaps, looking for someone. Jadis returns with another flare and waves it in the air, but the helicopter leaves. Jadis turns the flare on Lucille ready to light it on fire. Negan says he didn’t burn her photos and begs her not to burn the bat. He says he can settle the matter with Simon. Jadis pulls away and starts crying.
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Morgan and Carol
Morgan finds more clues of the Saviors and finds a herd of walkers. Carol suggest they wait for the walkers to cross, but Morgan doesn’t want to wait. They find a walker with Henry’s stick stuck in it. Carol tries to convince Morgan to go back and continue their search for Henry in another direction. Morgan says Carol saves people and he watches them die. That’s what he’s supposed to do. Carol reminds him that he saved her. He brought her back. Morgan says that wasn’t really him. He’s not as strong as Carol. Morgan says he knew the Saviors were going to do something at the Kingdom. He knew it and he let it happen. Morgan says he has to go after the Saviors and kill them. He gives Carol Henry’s staff and leaves.
RICK AND MORGAN!
Morgan finds Rick, but is unsure if he is real or not. Rick convinces Morgan that he’s real and they talk about taking out the Saviors together. They head to the bar that Alden told Rick about. They found random limbs but before they can investigate, someone knocks out Rick. When he wakes up, Rick is tied to the bar next to Morgan. The prisoners are there talking about what they need to do. Some of the Saviors have been bitten and are laying on the ground. The others talk about not going back to the Sanctuary. Jared tells they they have to go back. They have Rick and they will be rewarded when they deliver him to Negan.
Rick speaks up and tells the Saviors that they can go back to the Hilltop and become a part of the community. They need to make the choice now because there is a herd of walkers headed their way. Some of the Saviors are listening, but Jared says Rick and Morgan came to kill them. Morgan agrees. He says he came to kill every last one of them. He tells him to save their bullets and starts yelling that the herd is coming. They will all die and it will be a shame because there will be no one left for Morgan to kill.

Jared tells him to shut up and puts the gun in Morgan’s face. The other Saviors start arguing with Jared and the herd enters the bar. Jared turns the gun on Rick. One of the other Saviors knocks him over. Jared runs and the others cut Morgan and Rick lose. They all fight of the walkers and when it’s clear, Morgan and Rick start killing the Saviors.
Morgan goes after Jared and sees Henry again. Jared attacks Morgan and almost kills him. Morgan pushes Jared into another room and closes a gate between them. Walkers are approaching Jared, so Morgan grabs Jared to hold him in place. Jared begs Morgan to let him go, but the walkers get Jared. Rick finishes off the rest of the saviors, telling one of them that he lied about letting them back in the Hilltop. Morgan comes back and reminds Rick that everybody turns. Rick asks Morgan why he saved him back in Atlanta. At first Morgan says it doesn’t matter, then reveals the only reason he saved Rick is because his son was there watching.
Negan/Jadis
Jadis unties Negan and gives Lucille back to him. He prepares to leave and tells Jadis that she didn’t lose herself. He asks what happened there, but Jadis remains quiet. Negan invites Jadis to return to the Sanctuary with him. She declines. He promise to come back in hopes that she’s ready to share. Jadis goes back to her trailer. She cleans off her bag and lays down. Negan drives back to the Sanctuary. He stops and picks up someone on the side of the road. When they get to the Sanctuary. He tells the guards to not tell anyone that he’s there. He has some surprises to roll out.
Carol
It’s dark and Carol is still looking for Henry. She finds a knee pad then hears him calling for help. Three walkers have him trapped under a log in a creek. Carol fights off the walkers, saving Henry. He apologizes for letting the Saviors go. Carol apologizes for doubting Henry, saying he can survive. They go back to the Hilltop. everyone is happy to see Henry.

Later Carol tells Ezekiel about losing Sophia and herself. She says the people she was with brought her back, and she found a better version of herself. She feels like she could lose it all again, but it doesn’t mean she will. Carol knows she can find herself again.
Daryl and Rosita scope out the warehouse where Eugene is making bullets. They decide to kill the men instead of taking out the machine.
The gates open and Morgan returns with Rick. He sees Henry and has to be sure it’s really him before expressing how happy he is to see him. Morgan says he killed the man who killed Benjamin. Henry says he’s sorry, but Morgan tells him to never be sorry. Morgan goes off to cry alone.
Rick looks at Alden as he walks into the house. Alden knows Rick killed all of the escapees. Michonne watches him walk by and knows he didn’t read Carl’s letter. Rick cleans up and Michonne joins him. He apologizes for not doing as she asked. Rick tells Michonne that he loves her. Michonne loves Rick too. She kisses him and leaves him to finally read Carl’s letter.
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Thoughts
So here’s what we know…Jadis knows it wasn’t Negan who gave the order to kill her people. And Negan knows Simon took out the Scavengers, but doesn’t know why. And he’s about to find out about Dwight. He picked up someone he knew on the side of the road. My guess is it’s Laura (Lindsley Register). Laura was with Dwight at Alexandria and witnessed his betrayal. We haven’t seen her since. How long does it take to walk from Alexandria to the Sanctuary? It’s been at least 3 days since that night in Alexandria. With two of his generals betraying him, what will Negan do to his own people now? Will others join Simon and Dwight in their mutiny? Or is everyone really that loyal to Negan?
Rosita knows that Eugene can make bullets. She asked him to make her a bullet in Season 7 and went with him to make sure he did it. This could be a turning point for Eugene. He can either go full Savior and fight back against Rosita…one of his better friends. Or he can turn on the Saviors and give Rosita the bullets. I’m hoping Rosita can talk some sense into him.
The overall theme of the week was about losing yourself and being able to come back. In doing so, Carol, Morgan and Rick have all paid a high cost. Can they find their way back for good? Can they convince the other? Tara found forgiveness, can Daryl? What about Maggie? Even Jadis? At some point, even Negan has to realize that he’s not the person Lucille wanted him to be. It seems to be about redemption now. Being the person that makes your loved one proud. We’ll see who believe that.
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