“Negan’s not the dying type.”
Ok, after this episode it’s going to be really tricky to try and defend Eugene. He seems to have almost gone fully to team-Negan. Who would have thought a few seasons back that we’d be wanting Dwight to shoot him? Elsewhere Daryl’s inane plan comes to fruition and we have some half-naked walker fighting.
Some people don’t like Eugene. It feels weird to be me but some people have never liked Eugene. I love him, I think he’s great. I love that he sounds like he’s starring in Deadwood, his mullet is impressive, and I think his motivations feel realistic. He’s stuck with The Saviors but he doesn’t hate them, he knows a lot of them are just normal people. Eugene has the unenviable task of getting rid of the walkers for Negan. And he almost does it. With a bit of technical wizardry and Eugene goofiness he almost saves the day. Until Daryl comes along.
It’s not even that I disagree with Daryl, at least his reasons. He was tortured, thinks he’s doing the right thing. And last week they did find the truck with the speakers on, and we know that Eugene almost got rid of the walkers, so I guess there’s an argument that the Saviors would of escaped anyway. But everything was going so well and it feels like Daryl messed it up! If a main character dies next week, I don’t see how he isn’t directly responsible. And oh Michonne. I can believe Tara would go along with Daryl, and Rosita too, but not you. You’re the smart one! Luckily she saw sense and bailed on him, and surprisingly so did Rosita. Is this the sign of a new, intelligent Rosita? I believe in Rick Grimes indeed.
To cut a long story short, the walkers get into The Sanctuary. There is an excellent scene as the walkers break in and Eugene has a bit of a breakdown. It’s some marvellous acting from Josh McDermitt as he sees that his old travelling companions aren’t above dirty tactics – a theme that this season has played around with a lot. Maybe that’s the point of the season. It’s war, no one is coming out of it looking like heroes. Even your favourite characters.
Elsewhere we meet up with Rick as he’s being painted like one of Jadis’ French girls. It’s bizarre, but fits really well with the trash people’s storyline. Again, this is something not everyone enjoys. But I think Jadis’ crush on Rick earns a lot of laughs and the trash people have a lot going on. There has to be people out there who aren’t heroes or villians, just lazy neckbeards who paint and sculpt and live in a dump. Yeah they talk weird but that’s their thing, they don’t actually talk like that. It’s like Ezekiel, it’s an act. And if they wanted to seem like a weird Mad Max trash cult then mission accomplished.
Rick’s escape is great. He actually fights his way out (kinda) which is a nice change from him having his ass handed to him. We got some Rick Grimes crazy eyes at the end too, as he see’s that his siege on The Sanctuary has failed. I hate to think how he’s going to react if he finds out it’s Daryl. Poor Daryl better hope Negan gets to him before Rick.
Overall, I really liked this episode. It was strong and it had a lot of different character moments in it. It also puts the gang in a difficult position for the mid-season finale. Now it makes sense that Negan would go straight to Alexandria, but how will the show handle it? We’ve already seen Negan attack, hopefully it’s done a bit differently. But there are rumours that a big character is getting bumped off next week, and if it’s as crazy as it’s being hinted, we’re in for a great episode.
Reviewed by Jack
MyCreativeRamblings 