If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: A group of Alexandrians embark on a journey; One member of the group must make a heartbreaking decision. (IMDB)
Writer: Corey Reed
Director: Michael Slovis
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 44mins
Just a few things from last week’s episode, Jesus is gay which is fine and the shadow looming at the end of the episode wasn’t Daryl but more on that later. The episode took a different approach from most of the episodes this season as it approached the story from three fronts. It focused on the Hilltop, the Sanctuary, and Oceanside.
The Hilltop didn’t offer anything new this week as Maggie further established herself as a leader which of course didn’t sit right with Gregory who was still his slimy self. Maggie, being a farmer’s daughter, shared some of her knowledge with some of the residents who were planting some crops. She was then working outside the walls with Gregory taking the opportunity to talk with her in the hopes of presenting a united front after what had happened. He offered to protect her while she was working because she was pregnant. He had the chance to kill her but he took the cowardly way out and didn’t.
He was then further embarrassed when they were attacked by Walkers. At first, he tried to take charge, claiming to have killed Walkers before, but instead cowered in fear while Maggie disposed of them herself. Adding insult to injury, a few residents happened to walk by and noticed a distraught Gregory. Maggie tried to explain that he hadn’t killed Walkers but the residents told her that he told them otherwise. Near the end of the episode, it appeared that Gregory was planning to run away, looking at a map and asking his assistant to drive him somewhere.
At the end of the last episode, Sasha left Rosita behind before she tore into the Sanctuary but it looks like she barely made a dent, getting captured and placed in a cell. She was later greeted by a Savior who offered her water for certain favors but luckily Negan was there just in time to put an end to it. This behavior didn’t quite sit well with Negan so he took care of him accordingly. As with most people who storm into the Sanctuary, Negan liked Sasha and her massive “ladynuts”. He was short a man after what happened and so he offered her to join the Saviors.
She was later greeted by Eugene who explained himself. He just didn’t want to be scared anymore so he believed the best chance he had was to commit to the Saviors. He encouraged her to accept Negan’s offer. She didn’t want any of it. She later accepted but Negan didn’t believe she was completely on board yet. As a test, a “little birdy” told him what was going on with Rick so he wanted her help against him and the others but she didn’t seem to sure about it.
Perhaps as a last ditch effort, she tried to manipulate Eugene in giving her a weapon by claiming that she had regretted coming to the Sanctuary and that she had given up. She didn’t want to be forced to hurt their friends so she wanted to end her own life. Unfortunately for her, Eugene offered her one of the poison pills he had made earlier. She can’t really do much damage with one of those, except to herself and that’s not how she’s going to go out.
The last part of the episode was in Oceanside. Rick now knows about Oceanside and their guns so the whole Alexandria gang headed there. Tara went ahead because she knew some of the people there. She surprised Natania with a gun because she wanted to negotiate instead of having things go badly but they did anyway when they couldn’t reach a decision by Rick’s time limit. After that, a series of bombs went off outside to scare them and during that time, they rounded everyone up. Natania used it as a distraction against Tara and brought her to Rick and the others. There was a standoff where Rick and Tara tried to convince them to give them their guns and help them take on the Saviors but Natania wanted none of it. Cyndie, Beatrice, and Kathy appeared to disagree but then they were attacked by Walkers. They all got into formation, proving that they can work together and disposed of the Walkers. After seeing this, Natania gave up and let them take the guns.
When they returned to Alexandria, they were greeted by Rosita who told them what happened and that she had brought someone who wanted to see them. The person was Dwight and he wanted to help. In Rick fashion, he got him to go down on his knees and that’s how the episode ended.
Overall, it was nice to not have it focus on one subplot the whole episode, not all the subplots were compelling. The Hilltop subplot didn’t amount to much and was just another example of Gregory being slimy. The Sanctuary was a little underwhelming but could pay off in the next episode but I doubt it. Oceanside showed signs of Rick going back to who he was but it didn’t amount to much either. The Dwight reveal didn’t come as much of a surprise and there might be more of a payoff in the next episode. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the season finale next week to deliver based on all these moving parts possibly heading towards their conclusion. I doubt it will deliver on all of them but I’m hopeful.
Score: 7.5/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
