If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Negan has to enlist the help of his lieutenants in solving a huge issue facing The Sanctuary; Rick and the group continue to enact the plan. (IMDB)
Writers: Matthew Negrete and Corey Reed
Director: Larry Teng
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 44mins
In a season that has been driven by questionable character decisions but instead of seeing the results of the crusade started by Daryl, Tara, Michonne, and Rosita, this episode focused a little too much on Eugene’s inner conflict. It’s not that it wasn’t compelling, it just shouldn’t have gotten the majority of the focus as there were a few other developments in the episode.
Eugene had been drinking to get through the day. As mentioned, he had pretty much figured out that Dwight was the traitor against the Sanctuary so he confronted him about it. Dwight told him that the Sanctuary was going to fall and the best thing for him was to let it happen. Eugene agreed to play along only if it meant not harming the people inside. There began a rush of feelings hounding Eugene on all sides. Gabriel, who is not dead from some unknown ailment that may or may not have come from walking through the herd of Walkers, wanted him to do the right thing for once. Negan’s respect for him was growing and he didn’t want Eugene to die.
Meanwhile, Daryl, Tara, Michonne, and Rosita were later joined by Morgan to enact their plan. It was a pretty brash plan in the last episode and Michonne and Rosita called out Daryl for the risky plan but still did nothing to stop it. They left and those who remained continued with the plan. Daryl drove a truck through a wall of the Sanctuary so the Walkers could come in. As this was happening, Eugene was on the room about to launch his remote controlled, music-playing airplane to try and lure the herd away. Dwight snuck up behind him with a gun, however, he chose to shoot down Eugene’s plane instead of killing Eugene.
Watching the crisis occurring inside the Sanctuary, just made Eugene more angry, lashing out at Gabriel. Doing the right thing had done nothing but kill people so Eugene was more concerned with self-preservation, which to him meant doubling down with Negan.
Last but certainly not least, Rick had managed to convince the Scavengers to join his side once again. Rick had been taken hostage and stripped of his clothes at the end of the last episode. At the beginning of this episode, they opened the doors to take pictures of him for whatever reason but at the end got the upper hand when he used one of their spiky Walkers against them. So they agreed to join him and they all went to the Sanctuary to meet up with the others. When he got there, he didn’t see anybody so he climbed up to a lookout tower. The last shot of the episode was of his reaction after seeing what had happened.
Overall, this was another decent episode that seemingly went nowhere until the end, choosing to focus on Eugene which was fine though he didn’t deserve the amount of time we got here. He was becoming a decent character but he’s been regressing ever since he aligned himself with Negan. The attack on the Sanctuary was much more interesting, however, it was almost an afterthought. This episode did not do a great job of setting up next week’s midseason finale so hopefully next week will be worth it.
Score: 7/10
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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.