If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: A Heaps prisoner makes a discovery; Carol searches for someone in the nearby forest; Rick and Morgan find themselves in the company of strangers. (IMDB)
Writer: Eddie Guzelian
Director: Michael E. Satrazemis
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 51mins
Airs: Sundays at 9pm on AMC (Canada/United States)
The episode starts off with massacre of the Scavengers from a few episodes ago. Jadis played dead until it was over. Then she went to her surprisingly clean shipping container that she called home. Keep in mind that she took Negan a few episodes ago so she also had possession of Lucille. Later, she took Negan and wheeled him somewhere. He tried to apologize for what happened and offered to help get her back what she lost but she wanted none of it.
Negan found himself a gun and a flare to try and put a stop to whatever Jadis’ plan for him was. He just wanted to talk. Negan’s wife’s name was Lucille. He named the bat after her as they had both gotten him through life. Jadis needed the flare to call the oncoming helicopter but it got put out during a struggle with Negan. There were pictures that were important to her right next to him for whatever reason that he could have burned and didn’t so he didn’t want Jadis to burn Lucille. Negan, now untied, offered her to join him though she wasn’t interested.
At the Hilltop, Ezekiel was worried about Henry after he went missing. Carol wasn’t as hopeful for him. She didn’t want to go with Ezekiel but she went with Morgan to try and find him. Tara doesn’t seem to be facing any effects from the arrow she took from Dwight. She still defended him to Daryl who still hadn’t changed his mind about him. Rick was struggling with reading Carl’s last letter to him. They weren’t worried about another attack by the Saviors as they had surely used most of their ammo in the last attack.
When it looked like Morgan had found Henry, he was just another hallucination. Carol revealed that she didn’t tag along to find Henry but rather to keep an eye on Morgan. Morgan shared his hallucinations with her. Michonne stopped Rick from leaving the first time, however, he couldn’t take it anymore so he set out to find the Savior escapees. He got a tip from Alden who asked Rick to avoid killing them.
Carol noticed Henry’s stick wedged through a walker. They disagreed on the path to take next and what it would mean. Rick ran into Morgan in the forest and decided to finish the escapees together. Unfortunately, the both got knocked out and taken captive by Jared and the other escapees. They thought they could redeem theirselves by delivering Rick to Negan but Rick tried to recruit them back to his side. Jared didn’t believe Rick. That didn’t change the fact that a walker herd was coming. The other Saviors overrode Jared and gave Rick and Morgan their weapons so they can help with the herd although they also killed most of the escapees. Jared died in an especially gruesome way. Once everything was over, Rick asked Morgan why he saved him and it was because his son was there.
The other path led Carol to Henry who was overrun by walkers. She saved him but he apologized for everything. Ezekiel was happy to see Henry once her returned. Carol opened up to Ezekiel about her daughter. Then Rick and Morgan returned. Morgan told Henry that he killed the man who killed his brother and Henry was just sorry.
Jadis returned home to her shipping container while Negan drove home and picked up someone. He wanted his arrival to be a surprise. Meanwhile, Rosita and Daryl surveilled Eugene’s ammunition outpost. Finally, Rick decided to read Carl’s letter.
Overall, this was an okay episode that tried to do a lot but not all of it landed, like almost every episode of The Walking Dead. Many character motivations weren’t very clear here as they all seemed to be wavering out of nowhere. Rick’s ignoring Carl’s wishes, Carol’s caring of Morgan and/or Henry, and Morgan is afraid of the person he’s becoming. The best part of the episode was more of Negan’s backstory but was it? His scenes with Jadis felt a little too one-sided and like he was just trying to talk himself out of trouble and what’s up with the helicopter? Characters never seem to acknowledge what’s right there. Oh well, there’s only two episodes left to the inevitable showdown between Rick and Negan and hopefully it won’t be disappointing.
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.
