Tonight we reach the end of the season and the end of the All Out War on The Walking Dead and all I can say is...FINALLY. Though I can't tell you I understand the "whys" involved in what happened this hour, I'm at a point where I wanted to move on from this rivalry in just about any way possible. Who survived this final battle? Here's what went down in "Wrath."
The episode opens with a shot of Rick, back in his sheriff's deputy days, walking down a long road with a very young Carl. Hand in hand they look like they don't have a care in the world. Rick's voice-over says "I remember" and we cut back to present day in Hilltop where Rick is hanging out with baby Gracie. Siddiq enters the room with formula for the little one and Rick finally asks him what happened to Carl. Siddiq explains that Carl was helping him honor his mother by releasing the souls trapped in the undead. "He died paying respects to a woman he never knew. But it was dangerous. It was dangerous and I didn't think about that. I should've." Rick (genuinely) thanks Siddiq and heads out to start this last day of battle.
As what's left of The Kingdom army prepares to fight, Henry's attitude seems to have changed and he's no longer in danger of becoming a mini-Morgan. He asks Carol to come back to The Kingdom with them once they win the war and gets a "maybe" in response. I dunno. Carol's cottage is pretty sweet. She should consider locking Morgan up in that cottage...dude flips out when he sees what I like to call the Hilltop Saviors entering the gates, and he almost attacks Henry in the process. Alden (the hot one) had asked Maggie if he and the other Saviors could clear the Walkers outside of the gates before everyone began heading out. I guess Morgan somehow thought these guys were staging a rebellion. Rick floats the idea of Morgan staying back at Hilltop, but Morgan insists on joining this final fight. He tells Rick: "We are worse than we were. Me and you. We are. Giving your word to those men back at the bar..." Yes, Morgan. There were a few things wrong with what you did at the bar. Morgan tells Rick they can't go back at this point. "So let's just finish this."
We catch up with The Sanctuary now, where Dwight is donning Daryl's yellow sweatsuit. Negan wants Dwight loaded in one of the vehicles so he can witness Rick's group being slaughtered and right on cue, Eugene shows up and tells Negan the bullets are ready. He hands the boss man a handgun to test them out himself and Negan shoots up a target labeled "Rick."
Negan chooses Laura, Eugene and Gabriel to ride in his car as the Saviors make their way to the final battle. Negan wants to "confess" to Gabriel before shit hits the fan. As part of the trap he's setting up for Rick, he admits to sacrificing a group of Saviors who think they are setting up a roadblock/Walker obstacle. Don't get me started on the blue-haired Savior or how that's a thing people would maintain in an apocalypse. Anyway, these guys are sitting ducks and Rick's group takes them out quickly. Morgan even slits the throat of a Savior who quickly surrenders and I'm wondering how he's going to bounce back from this thirst for blood. Jesus suggests that Morgan should use the pointy end of his stick for Walkers and the non-pointy end for people. What a mind-blowing idea that is. Morgan actually gives it a shot at one point.
As Negan is giving his confession to Gabriel, a Walker appears in the middle of the road and Laura has to swerve and slow down to avoid it. Personally I feel like their vehicle could have plowed right through the zombie with no problem, but nonetheless, Gabriel takes the opportunity to jump out of the moving car and blindly start running through the woods unarmed. My palm can't get to my forehead quick enough. Eugene catches up with him right away and holds a gun to his face. Okay Eugene. I've had about enough of you. I need someone to punch you in the face as soon as possible. Negan punches Gabriel in the gut instead and the priest is loaded right back into the car. On they go.
We have an all-star group of Maggie, Rick, Michonne, Carol, Jesus, Morgan, Ezekiel, Jerry, Siddiq (why?) and Smokin' Hot Rosita heading to the location they believe Negan will be. They look over a clearing at one point and see a huge mass of Walkers in the distance. Rick notes that he's never seen a group quite that big before and says things are changing all around them. They get to another clearing and hear that familiar whistle...our heroes are out in the open and they are surrounded by Negan and his army who are standing up in the hills ready to fire.
Meanwhile a large convoy of Saviors arrives at Hilltop and somehow Tara is the one left behind to lead the people there. She actually leads them into the woods rather than engage in a fight and Tara volunteers to stay behind to hold the Saviors off. Alden (the hot one) stays with her and the other Hilltop Saviors do the same. They are just about to shoot at the enemy Saviors approaching the gates when someone starts throwing....flaming liquor bottles at the enemy? Oceanside has arrived with Aaron! And they've brought fire bottles because Rick took all of their weapons last season! No seriously, Aaron has a gun and Cyndie has a gun. Everyone else has some sort of torch or burning something. THIS is the cavalry? Tara and the Hilltop Saviors couldn't have just shot those fools and called it a day? Good grief.
Have Gone Out The Window
Negan has transitioned to a new magical walkie talkie and there's a fair amount of shit talking that I don't have the strength to recap because it's nothing new. Negan stands ready to blow Gabriel's head off and he gives the order for everyone to fire at the same time....then something strange happens. All of the guns backfire on the Saviors. So Eugene isn't completely an asshole after all! Our heroes take advantage of the situation right away and the majority of Negan's army surrenders. Somehow Rick and Negan end up off by themselves and another one on one fight ensues because why not? They are near the tree we've been seeing bloody Rick leaning against in a flash forward all season, and Negan does hit Rick in the gut with his bat, but Lucille is clean now for whatever reason so Rick is wounded but not done for. At this point Negan has ample opportunity to bash Rick while he's down on the ground, but he talks instead and Rick gets the upper hand for about 2 seconds. Negan has another opportunity to bash Rick...but then he talks some more. And then Rick talks. He asks Negan to give him 10 seconds "for Carl" and Negan agrees. Dude. Negan. I don't want you to win but damn you sure are missing your shot. As Rick talks about Carl's dying wish, Negan approaches Rick and hesitates, considering the peace Rick is proposing. Then Rick slits Negan's throat and I scream "WHAT THE HELL?!?" Rick! Seriously! Your "10 seconds for Carl" peace talk was bullshit too?!? God help me with this show.
I assume, like many, that Negan is done and I'm wondering what the last 15 minutes of the episode will entail. Instead, Negan is lying on the ground holding his throat when our heroes and their prisoners arrive. Rick has another flashback of his pre-apocolypse walks with young Carl and then signals to Siddiq to save Negan. Huh? He follows that up by giving this grand speech, telling the prisoners to put their hands down because everyone is going to go home and live in peace and fairness. Rick points to that big mass of Walkers in the distance and says they have to stand together in this new world. "There has to be something after. All this...all this is just what was." Rick goes back to the tree, sits against it, and then does the "my mercy prevails over my wrath" thing that's been on repeat in Season 8.
Maggie, by the way, loses her shit. Like, loooooses her shit. Michonne holds her back as she screams that it can't be over until Negan is dead...that he killed Glenn and they have to make it right. Maggie is breaking my heart, and I don't blame her one bit. She's "the widow" and the leader of a community, and we should really be beyond a Ricktatorship at this point. The terms of the All Out War surrender should have been discussed among the leaders rather than Rick slitting someone's throat and then deciding to regurgitate what Carl said on his deathbed and in his letter...as if these were new things that he himself came up with in that moment. Maggie had no reason to believe Negan wouldn't be executed, and she still (STILL) has those first trimester hormones that are not to be messed with. Also not to be messed with? Smokin' Hot Rosita who is still pretty pissed about Eugene's shenanigans. She has a really nice conversation with Eugene about how he sabotaged the bullets, but she does punch him in the face "for the puke." Honestly, this is my favorite part of the entire episode.
The next time we see Negan he's alive and awake in the Alexandria infirmary. Rick and Michonne tell him they are going to keep him alive to show everyone that things have changed and all of the communities can exist peacefully. They do, however, intend to keep him in a cell forever...so that vision that Carl had of Negan becoming a farmer doesn't seem to be in the cards. Rick writes Carl a letter after his visit to Negan, letting him know that he remembers who he is, and that Carl has brought all of them to the new world.
With no major character deaths, the season finale ends with some kinda/sorta cliffhangers that don't make sense to me. Morgan goes to the junkyard and tells Jadis she can join Rick in Alexandria to start rebuilding. She introduces herself as "Anne" and jumps at the opportunity (guess the helicopter was a one time deal?). Morgan, however, decides he's not going because he's cray. He'll just stay in the junkyard. Daryl, meanwhile, drives Dwight out into the woods as if he's going to kill him. Instead he hands Dwight the keys to the truck and tells him to go find his wife. And finally, everyone goes back to their respective communities (Carol even goes back to The Kingdom) and works together with a smile...except Maggie isn't smiling. The final scene in her Hilltop office has her telling Jesus that Rick and Michonne wrong not to kill Negan. "So we're gonna to bide our time. Wait for the right moment. And then we're gonna show them." Jesus smirks and nods and Daryl steps out of the shadows and says "Yeah, we will."
When It's Over
So there are some things I'm still trying to wrap my head around....
Carl had to die so Rick would realize "there has to be something after," but Rick waited until he literally slit Negan's throat to then honor that deathbed promise that really could have just been...a promise? Did Carl really need to die? Couldn't he have tried to be his father's conscience through these last two battles? Negan liked him and hoped to make him a protege - he couldn't have gotten through to Negan? In the comics, Negan does survive the war but it's Carl that keeps him alive. I just don't get why the show writers got rid of the kid.
And also, if Maggie was going to bring someone in on a "let's kill Negan anyway and stick it to Michonne and Rick" plan, why would she choose Jesus? This is the guy who wanted to keep everyone alive throughout this whole process...now he's smirking at the "we're gonna show them" plot twist?
And also, when exactly did Eugene decide the grass was greener back with his old group? He had been terrified of Negan. He had become Phase I'm a Dick Eugene with his former comrades. He had shooed away rescue attempts from the community that embraced him even after he revealed he's a liar with bad hair on a fake mission to DC. So many people died in the time Dr. Smartypants became an all obeying Savior...but now suddenly in between mac n' cheese, Smokin' Hot Rosita's verbal bashing, and Gabriel's tears....now is the time to sabotage Negan's plan?
And also, Morgan is all kinds of screwed up, so the solution is for him to hang out by himself in the junkyard in Jadis/Anne's little IKEA inspired apartment? Did she at least leave him a flannel? Will his dead people visions fade away amongst the garbage?
And also we've been listening to Daryl bitch for weeks about how he should have killed Dwight already and how he should kill Dwight now. It's been almost as tiring as Rick's repetitive "I'm gonna kill you" empty threat to Negan. So when all was said and done, he let Dwight go...and then went back to Hilltop to be pissed that Rick didn't kill Negan? It's a head scratcher.
And finally, can we talk about Oceanside and the Super Mario Kart weapons they showed up with for 15 seconds in this episode? I mean, we endured HOW much Tara in that community? And we endured HOW much extra Enid time? And then we endured cutaways last week to Aaron's forest hunger strike, only to have Oceanside kinda, sorta, help out? I thought those ladies would end up being the freaking cavalry that would save the day with all of the time we've invested. I sure hope they contribute more in Season 9.
Sigh. I've read a few things about how Season 9 will kick off. I've read that there might be a time jump to show where the communities are with ideas and plans from Georgie's "The Key To the Future." In this time jump I assume Maggie might be wearing clothes scavenged from the maternity section of abandoned stores. I've also read that the show runners might skip over the next story line in the comics completely (no spoilers until we no for sure), which might make sense given there is no Carl. Will the various communities move forward together and get along now? Will Negan stay safely confined for long? Are Maggie and company really going to become the new "conflict" on this show? Are we going to resume The Walking Dead with Rip Van Rick and that inexplicable beard? We'll see what happens when the show returns in the fall. For now though, I'm going to go back and watch Smokin' Hot Rosita punch Eugene a few more times. 
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