Hello friends and welcome to our discussion of the penultimate episode of The Walking Dead season 7! There have been rumblings on this blog all season about how it may have been overkill to have all of these isolated stories each episode. You're waiting weeks to see some of your favorite characters. This feels like the first time all season that we followed multiple storylines and it also felt like one of the best episodes of the season. That said, there was a lot of time put in previously on these 3 storylines that helped build up the emotional investment in all of the characters involved. There are trade-offs to both kinds of storytelling. It sometimes felt like a chore to get here, but all the pieces are in place now for a big showdown in the finale. We'll see if they can deliver. For now, let's discuss the key things that happened in this episode!
Discussion Points
Hilltop
- We catch up with Maggie's progress on "leading" the people of Hilltop. She talked to one guy in particular and helped him with his farming skills. Not sure if there was meant to be more to that exchange than to show Maggie's importance to the people there, but I caught a bit of a flirty vibe. And to that I say, "TOO SOON!!!!"
- Gregory went outside the walls to talk to Maggie who was doing some other gardening. Gregory was giving mixed messages through his words and body language. He asked why Maggie was still there when all her friends and Dr. Carson were gone. But, by the end of their talk he was discussing a united front and apologized for his behavior. And in the midst of all the "words" he also had a knife out to "protect" Maggie but was eyeing up stabbing her while she wasn't anticipating it.
- But, we found out Gregory has other issues. He's never killed a walker, let alone a living person. He hesitated on all opportunities to use the knife. Maggie had to save him from 2 walkers. Worse yet, some Hilltopians observed what happened. Maggie tried to help cover for it, but it only made matters worse when she said he's never killed a waker and is learning. The Hilltop folk bitterly called him out saying it's not what Gregory had told them.
- This was probably enough to inspire Gregory to get out the tequila, that paper from Simon with his address and a map. He called one of his boys in and told him to get ready for a road trip.
- I'm starting to wonder how this battle is going to go down next week. Will the Saviors be attacking 3 different locations instead of Rick and the Alliance taking the attack to them? Something tells me Negan will be headed to Alexandria, The Kingdom will take on the group they've been dealing with and Maggie and her new band of Hilltopians will have to take on Simon. So the battle may be on three fronts. It's a shame if it goes down this way considering Carol won't ever have teamed up with the core group all season. But, we'll see how it goes!
Sanctuary
- So Sasha is in Daryl's cell at Sanctuary. She is introduced to David who is offering some non-enticing trades in exchange for water. He makes a move on Sasha and gets a nice head butting. This only drives him to get more aggressive in his intentions, but Negan comes to the rescue. I mean, this guy isn't THAT bad right? He only bashed in a few heads with Lucille and threw a doctor into a fire. Other than that, pretty stand up guy! (does the sarcasm come through here?)
- That said, he does save Sasha to try and win over her allegiance. He stabs David in the neck and lets him bleed out on the floor in Sasha's cell.
- Best line of the night goes to Negan for telling Sasha twice that she has "beach ball sized lady nuts" on her. He provides Sasha with a knife and makes her an offer to use the knife to try and take out Negan, but we all know from Obi-Wan Kenobi that Negan currently has the high ground so she shouldn't try it. Let's all remember how Obi-Wan defeated Darth Maul (the 1st time if you count the canonical animated returns) from the LOW ground! Sasha's other options are to use the knife to kill herself or to use it to kill David again when he returns from the dead and assume a position among the saviors.
- Sasha has a talk with Eugene, who tries to convince her to join Negan. He knows it's not what Abraham would've done, but it's the way to survive. Eugene went into a lot of detail about his cowardliness. It doesn't seem like he has a hidden agenda here. He's just making things comfortable for himself. Sasha makes him leave when David begins to come back.
- Next we see of Sasha, Negan checks in on her and there is the knife in David's head. She tells Negan "you win". Of course, Negan doesn't fully trust her yet and takes the knife away from her. Then we found out that Negan knows Rick and crew are up to something. And he's going to need Sasha's help on that front. "Tomorrow is going to be a BIG day!" The question is how much does Rick know about the alliances and who is the little birdie? I would've said Eugene, but he was already captured when Rick started forming the alliances.
- I'll sum up the next few scenes. Sasha tried to trick Eugene into providing some kind of weapon to her to "kill herself" when she really needed it to take out Negan in her suicide mission. While Eugene did help her out on her request, he did so in his "poisonous pill concoction" instead of a blade of any sort. Sasha felt defeated.
- Now we know the Checkov's gun rule in television and movies. If something is introduced, it's going to be used. I'm not sure how this poison will be used and who it will be used on, but I feel like this wasn't just a LOSS for Sasha. She'll find a way to put it to use before the end.
Oceanside
- Rick and crew pulled out all the stops for the Oceanside invasion. Everyone is joining the cause including home grown Alexandrians (i.e. not from Rick's pre-Alexandria crew). Tara made her case and she did say she felt bad about ratting them out due to her promise. Rick told her she doesn't have to feel bad. And after that statement, she really didn't. (So I'll take back my comments from weeks ago when I thought Rosita or Sasha's death would cause remorse for Tara. But if Sasha dies and Tara feels bad in the future, I WILL still say "I told you so!")
- We see Aaron got his man Eric out for the help this time. He made a comment about seeing what this cause is all about now. I have a bad feeling about Eric in this season. Due to Jesus starting to develop attachments with Rick's crew and coming out to Maggie last week, something tells me he's going to be looking for a love next year. And a grieving Aaron seems like a perfect fit to me.
- This was a well-run operation to claim the guns. Rick never intended on hurting anyone and really no one did get hurt in the end besides a hit over the head from Cindy to Natania.
- Tara snuck into Natania's house and had an unloaded gun pointed at her. She made the very compelling case that they're going to take on the Saviors and they would love the Oceansider's help. She begs Natania to talk to Rick. I don't think we ever expected Natania to comply.
- She turns things around and gets a loaded gun on Tara. Meanwhile Cindy is a convert and does want to help.
- There are planted explosions outside the walls of Oceanside that do not hurt anyone but puts panic into the residents. Rick and crew surround the oceansiders and talk nothing but peaceful comments and "we want your guns" of course.
- The explosions did bring in the walkers which provided the opportunity for Cindy to knock out Natania an save Tara. Then Alexandrians and Oceansiders worked together to take out the walkers. Little girl Rachel was the most impressive in her walker kill.
- In the end, Rick successfully got all of the guns. They didn't leave one for the Oceanside crew (something tells me this will come back to bite them) Oceanside, due to Natania, refused to fight along with them. Cindy felt conflicted but said she has to stay with Natania. Tara promised to return the guns when the fight is over.
- Rachel got a nice flip off from Tara when she asked if they were going to leave any guns.
- There was a 1-off exchange between Carl and Enid in this episode. I'm not sure if it was just to give them lines of dialogue. But Enid asked Carl in the beginning of the episode if she thought about the people he's killed. He nods. At the end of the episode he responds to her saying that he thinks about the people he hasn't killed yet either. These guys are getting deep here!
Alexandria
- Rick and crew returned home to Rosita who opened the gate for them. Of course, we're all wondering what she's doing back there. Then we find out she brought someone with her.
- I forgot to mention that Daryl and Jesus were part of Rick's Oceanside invasion which pretty much ruled out Daryl as the person who came to Rosita. Most people last week, including me, went through the process of thinking the person that Rosita saw was Daryl to realizing it's probably Dwight.
- Dwight is in the Alexandria cell and is offering his help to Rick in taking out Negan. Now, what we've seen of Dwight this season I would be inclined to agree that he does want to help. But, he has tricked Daryl before. And we know someone is giving Negan information too.
- In any case, Rick is happy to take his help but he is going to put a gun to Dwight's face first. AAAAAAAND SCENE!
Well that's it folks. Negan is gearing up to have another talk with Rick, Gregory is getting ready to go see Simon, The Kingdom has Carol and they're preparing for war, Rick has a bunch of guns and a few key alliances including a possible newly recruited ex-savior. Things are in position for an explosive finale with casualties on both sides. Will Negan fall? I doubt it just yet, but we shall see. I have read comments from Andrew Lincoln about the finale. He claims it is satisfying. I feel like they say that every year. (maybe not last year. They just said it was horrific to film!) Until then, we have the comments to talk about stuff. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week!
11 comments:
Agree - think with Maggie and the farmer was kind of odd really.
Nice to know that Negen has a non-rape policy. LOL And welcome back JDM - he's been off for awhile. What did I miss or forget with Sasha ? how'd she get caught ? And Eugene - bringing her that poison ! Idiot ! LOL But yeah - this pill will be seen again.
yeah - who can be this birdie singing to Negen or Negen's people ? I don't think any one from Alexandria so maybe someone from Hilltop or the Kingdom. Unless he is referring to Gregory telling Simon last week that his people were starting to not back him ? That doesn't make sense though.
Oceanside - i didn't even remember or recongnize these people. LOL Totally forgot what they looked like.
LOL - no takebacks Mike ! And yeah - Aarons boyfriend or Aaron himself are dying for sure. But they should not have taken all the guns - could have left them a few for protection.
Glad it wasn't just me with Maggie/Farmer!
Yeah...JDM wasn't really utilized too much this 2nd half. I guess the Eugene episode was the last time we really saw him? (doc burning episode?)
Yeah...I don't think it's Gregory either, but that's the only thing that makes sense. Unless we have a rat in our midst where there was no on-screen evidence. Or the saviors have been spying.
Oceanside - I vaguely remembered them. But I think we were only meant to recognize Natania, Cindy, Rachel and that other short haired girl that shook hands with Rick.
LOL - My take back was admitting I was "PROBABLY" wrong. lol Didn't think about it going the other way and Aaron dying instead of Eric.
Yeah...taking all the guns had to be for a reason - writing-wise. Oceanside is defenseless. It can't go down as simple as "Rick wins, then brings guns back. No one is affected." lol But yes...Rick didn't have to take them all. They even made it clear it was more than enough.
Finally, a decent episode with better pacing to it!
I didn't consider that Sasha was asking for a weapon from Eugene to try another attempt at Negan. I thought she had come to the conclusion that it was her time to go.....off to Star Trek! That whole rape scene was straight out of the comics but with a different female character.
I think it will be Eric that takes the hit not Aaron but we'll see.
Hard to think of anyway someone could be snitching about the upcoming war to Negan...his spies are always out keeping him updated on the whereabouts of the various communities, so maybe it's just that simple....yeah right :)
I really wish they had spent more time at Oceanside dealing with those folks. I think they could have fleshed out that story line a little more, showing how much they suffered at the hands of the Saviors, still surprised that some of them did not follow Rick and the group into battle.
Negan....enough with the bending over backwards every time you make a snarky comment! The lady balls comment was pretty solid, though.
Do you really think there will be any actual battle in next weeks episode? I've got a bad feeling that it will just be a tease until season 8, which is also episode 100. My best guess is there might be some small conflict/battle where a regular or semi regular character(s) is killed off....followed by an appearance on The Talking Dead.
The whole taking all their guns is probably going to come back and bite Rick's group in the behind...hopefully Oceanside doesn't get discovered and slaughtered because they are basically defenseless.
How odd was it that Sasha is just in that cell? We didn't see her get caught or anything.
i thin k Dwight is legit and really wants to go against Negen. I don't think it is a ruse.
Agreed Plumbarius! Good pacing all around.
Yeah but Sasha was smiling on the other end of that cell. Like she totally fooled Eugene. She clearly asked for a weapon and when she got a pill she was upset.
I agree on Eric. But yes we'll see.
I really am clueless on who the mole could be. Or maybe he was just "guessing" something was up. lol
I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the standout characters showed up to the battle somehow. (Cindy, the other girl that shook rick's hand) Their story doesn't seem to be finished. But yeah, more fleshing out would've been good. They had so many stories to service this year I'm sure it was tough.
lady balls was classic! lol
I'm sure whatever starts in this finale won't be finished until next season. but Andrew Lincoln did mention (I'll note spoiler even though it's not really. Just kinda makes you consider what might happen)
*******************mild spoiler about Andrew Lincoln's finale comments**************
He said it's a satisfying finale with no cliffhanger. I really don't know if that implies they defeat negan or maybe they achieve a victory over him leading him to retreat to regroup or something like that. But it sounds like we won't have him swinging a bat as a cliffhanger. lol
****************************end spoiler*********************************************
Yep...that's my thoughts on Oceanside too. We'll see!
I wasn't sure if I missed Sasha getting captured so I didn't talk about it. Good to know I'm not going crazy! But I guess it was bound to happen. Would've been nice to see though.
Sasha - I thought the same thing ! Have I lost it ? LOL
You see the comings from Talking Dead ? Don't want to say unless you have - but directly goes to something we talked about in last couple of weeks. So here is spoiler alert
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Kingdom going to what looks like a battle and Shiva is on a leash walking with Ezekial ! And Carol is on the other side of Shiva (pretty close to her actually which is crazy) and she looks totally bad ass ! LOL
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I did not see the comings, but I read your commentary anyway. Sounds exciting!
On the farmer at the beginning - his name is Eduardo, he's a comic character that has showed up a few times on the show, but I don't remember if he had any lines before last episode. I think that they just included him in the scene to give him some screen time and lines haha. But I guess you never know for sure with the things they change on the show.
As far as Negan's "little birdie," my guess is that The Hilltop storyline this episode was a little bit behind everything else chronologically. In which case Gregory left The Hilltop and told Simon some things, which were then told to Negan. That's huge though, because The Saviors weren't even sure that The Hilltop and Alexandria knew about each other. I would think that Gregory would get in a lot of trouble for that as well, because of the satellite outpost situation. So I don't know, maybe it was someone else. I have no idea who though, most other options don't make sense.
I can't believe that the finale is already this weekend. To me it feels like season 7 just started! But I am excited for it, I think that it will definitely be a good one.
LOl - you are funny reading the comment even ho you didn't watch the comings on Talk Dead.
Eduardo the farmer ? No recollection of him on the show. Only farmer was hershel
Woops haha I didn't mean to say "farmer." I meant the scene at the beginning of this episode, where Maggie was teaching the guy some farming skills. You guys were talking about the interaction between him and Maggie, and I was just trying to say that I don't think it was meant to be flirty.
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