And it was all going so well.
Remember last week on The Walking Dead when Maggie (Lauren Cohan) was convinced that the deal she brokered with the Hilltop to take out Negan and the Saviors would cost her people something? We knew she wasn't wrong. We just didn't know it might be her who does they paying.
The plan of attack tonight was one hell of a risk from the jump: Find a walker with a face as similar to Gregory's (Xander Berkeley) as possible, remove head from walker, trick the Saviors into believing said head is Gregory's, attack and kill all Saviors. What could've possibly gone wrong?
Who knew it would be that final step in the plan that would prove the hardest? They found a walker with relative ease, were able to trick the Saviors at the door to Negan's compound with it after some helpful face-mangling courtesy of Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) fist, and managed to take out a handful of sleeping Saviors with relative ease (aside from the moral murkiness of it all). But then lovesick Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) had to bungle the plan by failing to keep an eye on all doors while the object of his affection, Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), was prying a locked door open. A Savior found them, pulled a fire alarm in the ensuing knife battle, and all hell broke loose.
Just when day had broken and our guys thought they'd won out, their worst nightmare was realized: Carol (Melissa McBride) and pregnant Maggie, who were keeping watch on the perimeter of the compound during the attack, were somehow abducted when the crap hit the fan. And something tells us when all is said and done, both of them won't be walking out of Negan's lair—alive, that is.
Let's talk for a moment about how Jesus (Tom Payne) and Andy (Jeremy Palko) reacted when Rick punched in the face of that severed head. "The Saviors, they're scary, but those pricks, they've got nothing on you," Andy told him, as he stared in utter disbelief. Rick and his people essentially became ruthless murderers tonight, blurring the line on who is good and who is bad in this new world. Yes, we're rooting for these people because we've been with them longer and we've been told Negan and his gang murder, as well. But, really, are Rick and his people any different from the Saviors at this point? That's a moral quandary worthy of a much longer essay, but it's definitely worth thinking about.
Tonight, Glenn (Steven Yeun), Heath (Corey Hawkins), Aaron (Ross Marquand), and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) were all forced to kill the living. However repugnant and dangerous they might've been, they were still the living. That's going to weigh heavily on these people—perhaps more heavily than whatever it is that Negan himself has in store for them down the road. It's like Jesus said: "This is the next world." And it's only just begun.
Spare Parts:
- The producers have to just be playing with us now, having Glenn be the way to find that wall of Polaroids of people with their skulls bashed in. By the time we meet Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan and his trust barbed-wired baseball bat, Lucille, they'll have teased the monumental moment he and Glenn share in the comic books an approximated 763 times.
- We have another new couple joining Richonne on the Surprise Hook-Ups list. Carol and Tobin (Jason Douglas) got closer tonight and even shared a kiss all thanks to Mama C's beet and acorn cookies. (Man, food in the apocalypse is so depressing.) Are we demented for thinking that Tobin telling Carol "You can do things that just terrify me" was kind of romantic? Oh, we are? OK.
- Abraham ditching Rosita (Christian Serratos) the way he did was just cowardly and cruel. And his way of explaining to her? "Why are dingleberries brown? It's just the way s--t happens...When I first met you, I thought you were the last woman on Earth. You're not." Cold-hearted and repulsive. You're better off without him, Ro.
- What was Morgan (Lennie James) up to, welding in that basement? After the strong opposition he showed to Rick's plan, he's a wild card for the people of Alexandria. Whatever he's working on, it probably won't be to their benefit.
Do you think Carol and Maggie will make it out alive? Sound off in the comments below!
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m on AMC.