I have complained a lot this season about wanting to see what happened between Negan and Gabriel in that trailer. Now that I got my wish, I think I’ve also reached my Negan Tolerance Quota for a while. Let’s check in on everyone else, shall we?
Mail Call
The episode opens with everyone getting letters from Rick about how they’re so close, they can do this, they will succeed, blah blah blah.
If I sound overly cynical, it’s because Rick once and for all proved himself to be a complete idiot. While everyone else fought The Saviors or protected their territory, his brilliant next step was to meet with The Scavengers.
Yep. The exact same people who betrayed them before. Even Jadis, she of the weird haircut and questionable fashion choices, didn’t seem to understand what Rick was thinking. She even brought up (quite bluntly) that she SHOT HIM.
But Rick was persistent. As The Scavengers surrounded him, he held up those Polaroid photos he took a few episodes ago, claiming it was proof that The Saviors were about to lose.
It was an objectively dangerous and ridiculous play, I apparently shared this opinion with quite a few folks on Twitter, including the official Walking Dead comic book account.
Nothing drives your point home to a hostile, traitorous army like a couple of grainy, out of context Polaroids #TheWalkingDead #TWD
— Nick Nafpliotis (@NickNafster79) November 27, 2017
As expected, Jadis (who you may remember is named after the evil witch from the Chronicles of Narnia) has Rick thrown into a shipping container and locked up as their prisoner. She also had him stripped completely naked, but I think that was just for her own amusement/enjoyment.
Prison Transfer
Back at the Hilltop, Jesus is feeding the Savior prisoners from their community’s surplus stockpile of beets. (I would have figured he go with bread and fish, but what do I know).
This angers Maggie, partly because her pregnancy is causing her to crave strange foods, but mostly because she doesn’t want to give these people anything. Jesus says something about how they have to make sure if they win that the world they make is worth living in. I say if you’re primary food source is beets that you might as well pack it in and give up.
One of the Saviors seems like he might be coming around to this whole “being a good prisoner thing. Jared (long hair, smug grin), on the other hand, seems determined to get himself killed by trying to be the biggest douchebag possible.
Back inside the Hilltop, Gregory tries to cozy up to Maggie by trashing Jesus. He also says something about how you can’t have people you don’t trust running around free before pulling out a giant whiteboard and writing the words ‘FORESHADOWING’ and ‘ME’ on it.
Sure enough, Maggie sets her people to work building a pen to hold The Saviors. The next day, she tells them they’ll be treated well as long as they behave…and sends a crying Gregory inside with them. She also beats the hell out of Jared with the butt of her rifle, which is decision anyone can and should support.
There was also some moment with Aaron and Enid that was supposed to be emotional, but I honestly just zoned out for that portion.
Carl Papa
Carl wanders into the woods and finds the dude his dad scared off at the gas station a while back. He gives him food and learns his name is Sadiq. The two have a conversation about children honoring their parents and/or finding their own way before they’re set upon by zombies.
As expected, one of the zombies gets the drop on Carl, but refuses to bite him because main characters who are still under contract taste yucky. Despite needing Sadiq to rescue him, Carl confidently declares to his new friend that he is now responsible for him.
Caroltaker
After getting ticked off over how pitiful Ezekiel was being, Carol goes out into the woods. I’m honestly not sure why, but it did give a chance for that red-haired kid from a couple episodes ago to beg her to let him come with her.
She refuses, which of course means she later finds him in the woods fighting zombies with a stick. After admonishing him for being a walking ad for birth control, Carol gives the little boy a gun (!) and heads back toward the Kingdom.
Guess whatever she was doing out in the woods wasn’t that important after all.
Anyway, Carol is about to shoot open the door to Ezekiel’s Shiva-less Lair of Sadness when Jerry points out that the door is unlocked. She storms in and attempts to give the fallen king a pep talk. She also starts to cry, which seemed a little odd, especially when put into harsh perspective by the always hilarious @BlkNrdProblems Twitter account.
LOL, Did Carol cry when she shot a 10 year old in the back of the head? I'm not sure what we're doing here or who this white haired woman is supposed to be. #TheWalkingDead #DemDeadz
— Black Nerd Problems (@BlkNrdProblems) November 27, 2017
Unfortunately, not even Carol’s tears could inspire Ezekiel to rise to the throne again.
The Fat Lady Finally Sings
If you actually expected Michonne and Rosita to sit on the bench during the opening attacks of the war, you were sorely mistaken. Despite both women being severely injured, they still wanted to see for themselves if The Sanctuary really was overrun with walkers.
On their way there, they hear music. After following the noise, the come upon a Savior outpost, where two Saviors have rigged up the equivalent of four Best Buy car audio departments onto one truck. It’s obviously that this “fat lady” could easily make enough noise to draw the walkers away from The Sanctuary along with any lingering dubstep or EDM fans.
A fight ensues. One of the Saviors starts doing that stupid whistle thing, which completely gives away their position. Fortunately for her, Michonne’s weakened state allows her to get away.
Meanwhile, Rosita finds a rocket launcher and OBLITERATES the other guy with it.
Seriously, she kills one dude at close range with a rocket launcher. I haven’t seen that move since my multi-player Halo days back in my early 20s.
Unfortunately, the other Savior is getting away in the truck…until Daryl just happens to show up at the exact right time with a truck of her own and rams into it. He gets out with Tara and kills the Savior. Turns they aren’t exactly keen on following Rick’s orders, either. They want to end this war now–and Tara wants to make sure she kills Dwight herself.
The Verdict
This episode could have been really bad. Thankfully, it always managed to cut away from whatever plot line it was on just as it began to unravel.
That being said, Rick’s decision was all types of stupid.
Maggie’s decision was awesome, but took way too long. Why was Gregory even allowed to walk around and give his opinion on things?
I have no idea what’s going to happen with Carl and Sadiq, nor do I really care.
The kid Carol just took under her wing might as well put on a red shirt that says ‘I am a plot device for Carol’s character arc’ and smother himself in zombie-friendly BBQ sauce.
I did really like the stuff with Michonne and Rosita, although Daryl showing up when he did was so absurd that it actually made me laugh. That being said, Daryl, Tara, Rosita, and Michonne seem to be the only people on this show right now whose actions make any sense.
I sure hope we end up spending more time with them next week–or maybe we could get a hint about what that random helicopter from last week was up to…
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