The Commonwealth may not have seemed that bad, at least at first. But Maggie, Negan, and crew are on their way to Meridian to look for food, And on the way, they’re attacked by masked men out for blood, seemingly materializing out of the forest. It’s a dire situation, but this is Walking Dead. Every situation is dire if you live in this universe.
**SPOILER WARNING** for exactly that.
1. Wait! Did Everyone Just Die?!
So uh… I think the party got wiped in about two minutes. Walking Dead is a show (and a franchise) known for its merciless body count, and the opening of this episode had me legitimately concerned for a bit. As Maggie leads the group towards Meridian, a group of masked Reapers appear from the woods, and almost completely dispatch the entire group. Their attacks are quick, coordinated, and intricate, leaving no one unscaved. The ones who do survive only barely do. Which as far as we’re aware, only includes Maggie. At least in the immediate aftermath.
We meet up with her again at day time; which might be another case of this show having weird issues with its own chronology. But however long it actually took for Maggie to escape, it’s not for long, because more attackers appear. Apparently these guys are just laying in wait all over town. After either following Maggie into the warehouse/department store she ducked into, or just having a few guys stationed there in case, the Reapers are fought off by none other than–
2. The Same Side
–Negan and friends. Adding another wrinkle in the ever complicating relationship between Negan and Maggie, Negan rescues her from the attacking Reapers. As he tries to convince her to turn back, she tells her they’re on the same side. And when Maggie decides to push forward, even with a wounded Alden, he goes along. But the tension still lingers as to whether or not Negan is the same person he was before. And in a way, Maggie gets to find out if she’s still the same person she was. They reunite with Agatha and Duncan, who are both quickly bitten by walkers. The Maggie who was willing to watch Gabe get torn apart by walkers quickly fades away as Agatha fights for her life against the horde. Granted the Gabe scene in the last episode was more than a little forced, but still.
Again, there’s a lot of inconsistencies that are a bit more palatable, thanks to Lauren Cohan and Jeffery Dean Morgan’s performances. Maggie is desperate, feeling the burden of leadership. And Morgan brings a sympathetic side to Negan that nearly makes you forget every awful thing he’s done in his tenure on the series. When he suggests leaving Alden for death, Maggie goes on a tirade, pointing out that Negan’s the entire reason they’re in this situation to begin with. And how being reckless with someone else’s life comes easy to him. All of which are right, and Morgan’s performance lets you wonder if Negan realizes as well. Though true or not, he reminds Maggie “You still have to decide.”
3. Gabriel
Gabriel survives until daylight as well, praying to himself as he pulls one of the Reapers’ knives out of his body. Though his spiritual seems to find as he confronts a wounded attacker. The Reaper claims to be blessed, asking the “Man of God” to pray for him. Gabriel, who mere minutes before was praying, tells the man “God isn’t here anymore,” before ending his life on the spot. Gabriel’s development alongside Maggie is interesting, because while Maggie hardened edge cracked this episode, Gabriel is seemingly experiencing no such conflict. He’s become what Maggie thinks she has. How this will play out later will be interesting; particularly considering his loyalty to her in the last few episodes. This is also his second action movie one liner in three episodes
4. Carol: Horse Hunter
Back at Alexandria, Carol sets out on a self-appointed mission: To round up the missing horses. The walls of the city are crumbling. The few MREs they have are dwindling. And without those horses, they couldn’t move more than a couple bags of grain. She grabs some of the residents and starts playing the worst game of Red Dead Redemption. They’re four lost horses deep by the time we catch up with them. And when they finally catch the horses, it’s because those horses walk themselves into the nearest dairy farm. We even get a complete slow motion shot of horses running against the sunflight. And while some horses were lost, not to mention the few eaten by walkers, there were some odd parts of the trip that everyone seemed strangely okay with.
5. Everybody Gets Real Cool With a Lot of Stuff Really Quickly
Like Rosita, who thinks her old partner Abraham is sending messages from beyond the grave. Or how fine Aaron was with Carol slashing the horse’s throat. Carol doesn’t seem overly weirded out by Rosita’s confession. Apparently dreaming about your long dead friend passing mysterious messages from the afterlife, only to be shot before they could mention it, isn’t enough to faze Carol. Which kind of makes sense given how much Carol has seen in her time. But Aaron not doing anything for the horse being killed is a bit odd. It’s never specified why she slit the horse’s throat in the first place. Hopefully it’ll be explained. If not, even when this show if goofy, there’s a strong cast to keep it grounded.
