It’s been no secret that this season will be Rick Grimes’ last, and it’s beginning to feel as if things are ramping up, full throttle, towards the end of an era. “The Obliged” was another fast-paced, thrilling instalment of the latest season, furthering arcs for many of the core characters whilst throwing in some nail-biting action sequences and unexpected turns along the way. Warning: spoilers follow!
1. Live for the Living
The first of this week’s main plot focus was on Michonne. I remember being so excited by Michonne’s introduction to the show in season three, but she seems to have become something of a side character in recent years, so it was great to see her return to the spotlight, and Danai Gurira carries the weight of the character brilliantly. The episode opens by paralleling the previous episode’s beginning; instead of focusing on Rick’s morning ritual and family fun time montage, we see Michonne awake, happily taking care of duties, reading to Judith, researching history and laws. But these are jarringly interrupted with shots of Michonne’s restless nights, her getting out of bed, and leaving Alexandria to wage war upon the undead – severing heads, and not bothering to take names. As the blur between these two lives gradually disappear, we notice the one constant thread in each shot: her katana. Michonne might be living in Rick’s new world and helping to build it, but it’s evident she’s always ready to fight.
With Michonne in charge of Alexandria while Rick is away at the bridge camp, she’s left with the responsibility of visiting Negan. The scenes the pair share are atmospheric and well-acted, with both Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Gurira bouncing off of one another effectively. Negan continues to lurk in the shadows, with no clear shot of his profile offered to the audience, speaking in taunting, desperate whispers. It’s a vast improvement from the Negan we’ve come to know in previous seasons; the bravado is still there, but Morgan’s more restrained performance makes him all the more menacing.
Desperate to connect with Michonne, Negan talks about family and lost loved ones. It is evident that he is toying with her, trying to gain her sympathy. He speaks of Carl, and Michonne even opens up to him about her son, Andre. He is anxious to convince her that they are the same, to make a connection. But Negan couldn’t be more wrong; Michonne is tough and will get her hands dirty in a fight, yes. But she does what is needed because it has to be done, not because she enjoys it, and that’s what sets them apart. While she remembers and mourns her son and Carl every day, she looks to the future, telling Negan, “I live for the living.” It’s a short, simple phrase, but one that carries a lot of weight in the construction of this new world. Where characters are caught between looking forward and looking back, it’s a case of finding the balance.
Their interactions end with Negan asking Michonne to see “her” – yes, that’s right, he’s asking to see Lucille, his barbed wire baseball bat. Michonne tells him that she’s still out in the wild before leaving him alone once more. Nothing’s worse than nothing at all, and being left all alone with the knowledge his bat might be lost, the Negan who had previously been swaggering around his cell is reduced to a whimpering man, distraught at the loss of Lucille, and proceeds to violently bang his head off of the prison cell wall.
2. Maggie’s Plan
The second of this week’s main plot threads picks up from the end of the previous episode, with Maggie still determined to visit Negan at Alexandria with the intention to end things. She makes a brief pitstop at the Hilltop to pick up a few things (including a sharp-looking crowbar) before leaving again, but not without Jesus whispering some cautious words of advice. He agrees that Negan should have been killed and that his fate wasn’t Rick’s decision to make, but shares his concern that Maggie’s motivations might not fully justify his execution either. Nevertheless, she sets off – with Jesus along for the ride – determined to finish things once and for all.
Continued belowIt’s not just Maggie who is in on the plan. Although Rick is alerted about Maggie’s intentions at the bridge camp, his attempts to warn Alexandria are lost as the young Oceanside girl manning the first radio doesn’t relay his message. But Rick’s biggest betrayal comes from someone much closer. Watching as Rick prepares to leave for Alexandria, Daryl approaches, offering him a ride on his motorcycle – much quicker than taking a horse, they’d easily get there before Maggie. Trusting his long-time friend, Rick hops on, only for Daryl to ride at full speed away from Alexandria. When Rick finally realises what’s going on, the pair get into a fist fight at the side of the road, which eventually leads to a tumble through a wooded area, and their falling in a rather inconvenient giant pit with no easy way out. (More on this a little bit later.)
It’s really interesting to watch the conflict between the core cast members unfold, as there’s reasonable argument to be had on both sides. It’s possible to understand Rick’s motives for keeping Negan alive as a prisoner, but it’s also difficult not to sympathise with Maggie and Daryl who were perhaps most heavily impacted by Negan’s execution of Glenn and Abraham. In the post-apocalyptic world, there’s no correct way to do anything, and this murky ground that our protagonists explore in attempts to forge a new civilisation continues to build tension within the group.
3. Trouble at Camp
Carol’s also leaving the bridge camp, returning to the Kingdom with her people, which means the Saviors will be left to govern themselves. She packs in hope they can return to the Kingdom before nightfall if everyone moves quickly. Her plans, however, are interrupted by a large group of armed Saviors who have discovered that Oceanside were the ones murdering their people. Believing it to be a declaration of war, the Saviors want revenge. Carol and Jed stand face to face, guns aimed at each other, in a tense moment as Jed reveals their plans to “overthrow” Carol. Unfortunately, he makes the crucial mistake of calling Carol “a weak little woman.” In response, Carol quickly kicks him in the leg and moves to disarm him, while all hell breaks loose around her.
Melissa McBride has been consistently excellent throughout the entirety of The Walking Dead and Carol Peletier has had one of the most interesting overall character arcs, so it’s always fun to see her play moments of strength, both physically and emotionally. We as an audience know she’s anything but a weak little woman.
4. Brothers in Arms
Meanwhile, Rick and Daryl are still stuck in the ground, finally airing frustrations that both have held since the war against Negan began. Daryl thinks Rick’s decision to keep Negan alive is a way of giving the Saviors hope that things might one day go back to the way they were, making him a symbol of what could be. He questions Rick’s motives, reminding him that if it hadn’t been for Glenn, Rick probably wouldn’t be alive in the first place, and believes that Rick no longer has faith in his original post-apocalyptic family – something he lost while chasing a Utopia that isn’t meant to be purely for the sake of Carl’s memory. What’s most striking about this particular scene is that, instead of beating each other to a pulp, these two alpha males move past the punches thrown earlier and talk with emotion and passion about their motives, reasoning, and beliefs, portraying a respectful and healthy relationship between the two men, no matter how hurt they might be.
Their heated discussion is put behind them, however, as they hear gunshots coming from the direction of the bridge camp. The pair work together to get out of the pit. But this is The Walking Dead, and nothing is ever simple. The noise of the gunfire has attracted the attention of a huge herd of walkers, and it isn’t long until they begin to stumble into the hole that Rick and Daryl are trying to escape. It was another truly tense and exciting moment as a growing group of grabbing, deadly walkers congregated underneath our heroes’ feet. It felt like a moment of genuine threat and I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen; if one of them were to fall, there was no way they would survive, no matter how thick the plot armour.
Continued belowEventually, the pair work together and escape, only to find the rest of the giant herd is walking right towards them – and towards the camp. Daryl mounts his bike once more as Rick grabs a nearby horse (who had conveniently run in their direction, but let’s not allow that to detract from the weight of the scene). The plan is to split up; Daryl will return to the camp to see what’s going on, and Rick will lead the walkers away. The bridge would be an easy solution to the walker problem, but Rick is determined not to sacrifice everything they have built together. He’ll find a way to lose them. The scene is incredibly emotional. These characters have been together for a long time now and deeply care for each other – no doubt the same can be said for the actors themselves. Perhaps it carries extra weight knowing that this could well be Rick’s last time speaking to Daryl. The task he faces is ominous and we’re all counting down to Rick’s final moments – a last “Hey, be safe” from Daryl didn’t instil confidence, either.
5. Rick Grimes
The final moments of the episode harken back to the final moments of season one, episode one, as Rick rides horseback while being stalked by a giant herd of walkers, the horse growing ever uneasy. Despite Grimes’ departure from the show being common knowledge, it still came as a real shock as the parallels continued and Rick was thrown from his horse. Only this time, instead of landing near a tank he could seek refuge under or in, he found himself on a concrete slab, impaled by a rusty looking rebar, with walkers closing in from either side. This time, there is no Glenn to rescue him. Rick is alone, stranded, and badly injured. As the episode comes to a close, we see that he is still able to move his arms and legs before he passes out and the screen goes black. It’s unlikely he’ll be coming back from this one.
The Walking Dead is notorious for fake-outs, but this felt like the beginning of a genuine ending, with next week’s episode no doubt being a fond farewell for our fearless leader through this challenging, heart-breaking, grueling, and sometimes hopeful new world. Whether dead or somehow alive, next week’s episode is no doubt going to be an emotional one.
