Tonight's episode of The Walking Dead takes us back to Hilltop as the Hilltopians train for battle and Sasha and Smokin' Hot Rosita begin their own mission. The Saviors are still checking in on this community frequently to ensure Gregory is still a kiss-ass, and in this hour his "leadership" of Hilltop starts to slip away even more. Is a true overthrow in the cards for Gregory? Will Sasha and Smokin' Hot Rosita make it 100 yards out of Hilltop without tearing into one another? Here's where we are after "The Other Side."
I Just Want You To Stay
We open the episode in Hilltop as folks are learning to throw knives, wield weapons, and forge spears (they didn't have a blacksmith before, did they?). Maggie's baby is still healthy but she is running herself ragged as the pseudo head of this community. Jesus has been a huge help to Maggie though and they have become close friends in their endeavors to prepare Hilltop for what the future holds. Don't get too excited though - there's no Jesus/Maggie romance on the horizon. In one of their heart to hearts, Jesus reveals he is gay. And no, I'm not touching "Jesus is gay" with a 10 foot pole.
Though he has been instrumental in the plan to unite the communities against the Saviors, Jesus has also drawn a map of The Sanctuary from his truck visit there and given it to Sasha, knowing her plan is a dangerous (almost impossible) one. Enid finds out about the plan and true to form...she threatens to tattle. Enid and Jesus plead with Sasha to let Rosita go on her own, or to convince her not to go at all, but Sasha has her mind made up. They offer to go with her (what the hell could Enid possibly offer in an assassination attempt?) but Sasha says it's more important for Jesus and Enid to protect Maggie. "She's the future of this place. I know it." Enid gives Sasha and Smokin' Hot Rosita a 10 minute head start before she tells Maggie what's happening. Sigh. It's always a pleasure to see you, Enid.
Sasha and Smokin' Hot Rosita have to move quickly and not a moment too soon - the Saviors have arrived. Daryl and Maggie have to go into hiding quickly as well and luckily our heroes have been hard at work building tunnels in the community. While they hide, Maggie asks Daryl why he hasn't spoken to her the whole time he's been in Hilltop. He can barely even look at her when he mumbles "I'm sorry" and starts to cry. Maggie tells Daryl that Glenn's death wasn't his fault. "You're one of the good things in the world. That's what Glenn thought and he would know because he was one of the good things too." She asks Daryl to help her win and they share a hug.
After All That We've Been Through
Simon and company march right into the main house where Dumbass Gregory stands ready to offer gin to his friends...at least Dumbass Gregory thinks they're friends. Simon has moved on to tequila though and explains he's only there for a quick visit. Simon is looking for "a certain someone" and I assume he knows that Daryl is there. I'm wrong though. Simon has come to Hilltop to collect Dr. Carson. Ah, that's right. The Sanctuary had a recent opening in their medical department and Simon isn't giving Dr. Carson a choice in the matter. Gregory is at his breaking point with these guys, and he tells Simon that he's losing the trust of his people and he thinks willingly giving up the town doctor might be the last straw for those who want him out of a leadership role. Simon replies, "If you're having problems of that nature, come to see me anytime." He writes something down on a piece of paper and tells Gregory to go there and give the guard his name. Did he write down an address? Is Dumass Gregory going to put it in his GPS? Are there maps in Hilltop? Would he even know how to read a map?
The next time we see Dumbass Gregory he is doing his normal "I'm gonna look around the gate area with an inexcusable look of stupidity on my face and wonder why people don't like me" thing. He's decided he needs to take charge and has a side conversation with Jesus. He says Jesus is behind on scavenging and has too many people in his trailer (there's an occupancy limit?). He hands Jesus a list of assignments to give to the new people and Jesus notes that their spineless leader must be really worried if he's trying to split everyone up. Dumbass Gregory replies, "I look out for my friends...and I realized we're not friends." With that, a Hilltopian comes in with a bottle of tequila for Gregory to enjoy on his own and Jesus is dismissed.
It's Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry
Sasha and Smokin' Hot Rosita begin their journey to The Sanctuary and scavenge along the way. Smokin' Hot Rosita notices that Sasha is wearing a necklace...the necklace she gave to Abraham right before he dumped her ass. Ouch. Sasha, I hope you're scavenging for red bull and 5 hour energy drinks - you're gonna have to watch your back tonight.
Sasha tries to break the ice by asking how her angry travel companion learned how to disarm bombs. Smokin' Hot Rosita says, "I'm not here to get to know you, so we either talk about the mission or we don't." Sasha gets it. She moves on to planning and says they should set up in a building outside of The Sanctuary - maybe she'll be able to get a clean shot at Negan from there and the two can make it back home alive. Of course Smokin' Hot Rosita still has her resting bitch face in full force and she wants to invade and make sure they get the job done. She claims she's too good to get caught, Sasha claims she's too good of a shot to miss with a sniper rifle, and the claws are really starting to come out. Sasha finally stops and says "If they take us, we don't get another try because they'll kill us. If we're out here, we're alive and get another go."
The two women hotwire a car and make their way to a building just outside the gates of The Sanctuary. Sasha sets up her sniper rifle and notices Eugene is walking around the yard giving orders to the Saviors working on the fence Walkers. Well, at least they know he's safe. One would think Sasha would just stay near the window until her target arrived like any good sniper would do, but instead she takes another stab at girl talk. Smokin' Hot Rosita is sitting on the floor making an interesting array of knots in a piece of rope and Sasha asks if she can teach her how to do it. She does and Sasha tells her, "You know...we got lucky having you with us. You know how to do everything."
Smokin' Hot Rosita softens the resting bitch face then and tells Sasha she had used men to teach her survival skills. Johnny taught her how to disarm bombs. Marcus taught her how to hotwire cars. There were several others as well (get it, girl) and Smokin' Hot Rosita realized she didn't like being a girl who needed to be taken care of. "They didn't even notice I was picking up everything they knew how to do and doing it better. Then I would outgrow them and bounce. The sex was just for fun." Ha! That's not the case with Abraham though. "I fell in with him because he saw that I could handle my shit and I never looked back." Uh oh. Here it comes...and Sasha knows it. "I thought I hated you, but maybe I just hated that he figured out his shit first. I've never told anyone any of that stuff." Sasha tearfully says she's glad that Rosita opened up to her and Rosita tearfully says it was stupid to waste so much time. She'll never get to tell Abraham she was happy that he was happy. Sasha admits she was also very happy with Abraham. They agree that it wasn't Abraham's time to die...that he should have gone out fighting rather than on his knees at the mercy of an asshole with a bat. Sasha says they all want to go out that way and the two women promise each other they have each other's back. Awww. This entire exchange was so well done and was way better than any formal apology from either woman. Cheers to the writers and actresses.
Wouldn't Want To Be Swept Away
Sasha finally goes back to the window and sees Dr. Carson arriving in a truck. She then sees Negan outside but can't get a clear shot. There is a walkie talkie on the floor next to Sasha and "Cheif Engineer" Eugene's voice is heard ordering more Walkers for the fence. He says Negan is going to be busy in the boudoir for a while and all questions should come through him. This is a very useful bit of information...
The women wait until nightfall and approach the fence when Eugene is walking around with one of his new subordinates. They shoot the dude and begin to rescue Eugene. Problem is - Eugene doesn't want to be rescued. You've got to be KIDDING me. He seriously became a traitor? After witnessing Negan turn Abraham's head into gooey mush? AGH! Eugene tells the women they have to leave before anyone hears a commotion and he goes inside. Smokin' Hot Rosita is pisssssed. She's ready to go in and Sasha asks her to keep an eye out while she gets the fence open. What Sasha actually does is let herself inside the fence and lock Rosita out. "Go. It's not your time. There's got to be a point to it, right? They need you." Oh my god!!! Sasha goes running into the building and we hear many, many gunshots. Smokin' Hot Rosita hightails it out of there, crying, and when she pauses she sees a man with a crossbow. Daryl?
The episode ends there and I'll say I wasn't expecting Sasha to be the one to recklessly go barreling into The Sanctuary. Smokin' Hot Rosita has had so much screen time this season, I thought for sure this may be her last episode. I mean, think about it - up until this season we didn't know much about her other than she has amazing abs and can seriously rock some pig tails. Sasha on the other hand already went through the bitter, angry, everything is bullshit phase after Bob and Tyreese died and she came out of it. Granted, it was her relationship with Abraham that calmed her down, but I thought she would be consistently meticulous in the assault on the Saviors.
We're down to the last two episodes of the season and of course we are also down to the final hours of the expected season-ending major character death. Sure, the show runners might spare us given the Negan bloodbath throughout the season, but I don't see the Sasha and Smokin' Hot Rosita's mission playing out without consequences. I've heard that Sonequa Martin-Greene (Sasha) is set to have a starring role in Star Trek: Discovery so unless TWD is just going to scale back her screen time and work with her schedule, I think we might be bidding adieu to Sasha in the coming weeks. Similarly, Chandler Riggs (Damn it, Carl) is college bound this fall and fans have been concerned about his demise as well. I know TWD writers don't always follow the comics, but they would sure be eliminating a big story line if we lose Carl now. Will all of our heroes make it through the rest of Season 7 unscathed? Will we finally get Oceanside involved in the all out war next week? Will the finale physically bring all of the communities together as one giant army? I sure hope so, but somewhere in the mix I also hope someone gives Stage "I'm Negan" Eugene a swift kick in the ass.
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