Tonight on The Walking Dead our heroes are faced with more "savagery vs mercy" decisions as the groups are finishing up their side missions and reconnecting with each other. There are moments in this hour to celebrate, moments of sadness, and definitely moments of frustration as the action of Season 8 continues. Who are the casualties of the All Out War in this third installment? Here's what went down in "Monsters."
You Sold Us Down The River
Catching up with Jesus and very pissed off versions of Tara and Morgan, the group is doing a slow march on foot back to Hilltop. The prisoners are tied together in a chain gang (but with rope) and the douchebag that killed young Benjamin is there. He taunts Morgan and Morgan eventually aims his gun to shoot him. A very large group of Walkers attacks just then and a number of prisoners are eaten, while many of them make a run for it. Morgan takes off after them and starts shooting. Jesus knocks the gun out of his hands and I'm about done with him. Morgan says they will continue to try to escape and Jesus says they will continue to stop them...but they are not going to kill them. The two men then get into a fight, with each one landing some decent punches and kicks on the other, and I will say that Jesus' hair looks amazing through the entire confrontation. Morgan finally tells Jesus and company that he's leaving because he can't be a part of this plan that will backfire at some point. Tara tells him he's right as he walks away, but she does not follow him. Jesus, Tara and Diane continue on to Hilltop with the prisoners.
All is quiet at Hilltop until a car pulls up to the gate. Dumbass Gregory thinks his people should let him back in to the community and Maggie is super pissed at him. She asks how he got Gabriel's car and he pretends not to know what happened to the priest. He starts talking about how he built Hilltop and all Maggie did was show up...and those pregnancy hormones are turned on their head and she starts yelling. "Shut your damn mouth! You're really gonna stand there and pretend you didn't try to sell us out, sell this place out to the Saviors?!?" Dumbass Gregory says that he was working toward peace and thought he could save lives by going to The Sanctuary. Maggie tells him goodbye and he pleads with her. He says he went to Negan because he was scared Maggie would lead Hilltop into a losing battle. He tells her he sees now that fighting the Saviors is the only way. "I was wrong. I made a mistake. And I'm sorry." Ultimately Maggie lets Dumbass Gregory in, probably not realizing this is not the only "do I or don't I" decision she'll need to make today.
Jesus, Tara, and Diane roll up soon thereafter with a whole bunch of Saviors, and Dumbass Gregory flips out. He says those "monsters" are not coming in and tells Maggie she would be risking everyone's safety. Tara agrees. Jesus suggests locking them all up in empty trailers out back with 24 hour guards. He says they can't kill them because they surrendered. The way Maggie says "Jesus" after that makes me wonder if she's talking to him or letting out an exasperated "Jesus" the way the rest of us would. We don't see the final decision on the matter in this episode.
Enough Is Enough
We resume the Rick and Morales face-off, and Morales explains he's not shooting Rick is because the Saviors were told not to kill him, the widow, or the king unless they absolutely have to. "Why are you here, Rick? I know you. Just like before, you're always the guy willing to rush in...but why?" Uh, bro, I don't think you can really say "I know you" to Rick. You guys hung out for what, a week maybe before the Walkers destroyed your camp and half of its inhabitants? Rick responds with an inquiry about Morales' family and Morales says they never made it to Birmingham, which was their destination when they left the camp. He scoffs when Rick tries to offer his sympathies and Rick mentions he lost his wife too. He then rattles off the rest of the list that Morales would know: Shane, Andrea, Glenn...and then he tells Morales that Negan killed Glenn and Glenn's pregnant wife is "the widow" Negan referred to in his instructions. Rick doesn't understand how Morales could be part of Negan's gang.
Morales gets increasingly more tense as the conversation continues, with his nose wrinkling and his head tilting back and forth. He's starting to annoy the shit out of me. He tells Rick that when he lost his family, he lost his mind. The Saviors found him and it gave him a sense of worth again. "So yeah, I'm Negan. To make it this long and this far, I had to be. I had to be something. Just like you." Rick tries to reason with him some more but Daryl ends the conversation for them (thank you - I feel like this has gone on forever). He sneaks up from behind and shoots Morales in the head as Rick starts to yell not to. When Rick tries to tell Daryl who he just killed, Daryl says he knew already and shows no remorse.
The Saviors arrive and Daryl and Rick have to essentially dance and shoot their way through the hallways to secure their safety. They don't leave the building with heavy artillery, but hey, they found a baby. Rick takes some Polaroids of the bloody victory scene and I'm not entirely sure why. Documenting his kills for Negan?
Back in Aaron's sorely understaffed group, the shooting continues as the zombie Saviors are devouring their own. Aaron has helped his wounded boyfriend away from the fighting and they sit near a tree to assess his wounds (any time a gunshot victim is sitting against a tree on these shows, it never ends well), and Aaron starts to cry. He apologizes to Eric for convincing him to fight. Eric is starting to cry as well and tells Aaron he needs to get back to the very not stacked group of fighters because they need him. Aaron doesn't want to leave Eric by himself, but Eric puts a hand on Aaron's face and says, "You know I love you. You know I'm right." They share what I assume will be their last kiss and Aaron runs back to the action.
When all is said and done, Aaron's group is victorious and he rushes back to the tree. Eric's gun is there but he is not. Aaron cries and follows the blood trail...and he sees Walker Eric leaving the area. Poor guy. Aaron breaks down and is ushered away by a comrade and doesn't follow Eric and put him down. Kind of surprising, but there are more Walkers in view so maybe best not to cause a snot-crying commotion in their area.
The show, er, war must go on though and Aaron meets up with Rick and Daryl. Rick introduces him to Gracie and Aaron offers to take her back to Hilltop. He says he and Eric had planned to go there anyway to update Maggie and he thinks Gracie will be safe there. Well yeah, no one pays much attention to Judith in Alexandria. God knows what would happen if another baby showed up. Aaron chokes out, "Please? I have to." He's breaking my heart. Rick hands him the baby and Aaron heads out. Daryl and Rick start to head out too when they are faced with more gunshots. Rick calls out to the lone shooter behind the tree and promises the guy he can leave unharmed if he gives up the location of the guns. Rick says, "I'm giving you my word. There's not a lot that's worth much these days, but a man's word has got to mean something, right?" The Savior steps out into the open and says the guns were sent to Gavin's outpost the day before. Then Daryl shoots him. So much for Rick's word.
We Can See In The Dark
The episode opens and closes with the fighters from The Kingdom on their path "to certain victory." King Ezekiel addresses his people after they realize the Saviors know their location. Their surprise attack at a satellite sight was ruined by a scout but Ezekiel isn't worried. They continue on through the woods with a surrender strategy. Some of The Kingdom warriors allow themselves to get caught while the others flank the Saviors and shoot them from the sides. At the end of this battle all of Ezekiel's folks are still standing and he is still smiling. Hell, he even has Carol smiling!
Ezekiel and company make it to the satellite location after another round of sneaking up and taking out Saviors, and and they dispose of the enemies outside the building pretty easily. Almost too easily. They realize once again that everyone in their army is alive and accounted for, and Ezekiel is starting to make a believer out of Carol. She smiles and says she's going to sweep the compound, and when she leaves...the Saviors open fire from the top windows of the facility. Ezekiel and his group are sitting ducks.
The episode ends there and we're starting to get somewhere...I think. Eric honestly lasted longer on this show than I thought he would, and Morales annoyed me so quickly that I'm really glad Daryl took him out as soon as he did. While the followers in The Kingdom may have thought their "we will lose not one of our ranks" mantra would get them continuous victories, the rest of us know that in TWD world the ranks would suffer greatly. How many armored soldiers will survive? Will badass Carol save the day (I love it when she does that)? Will Jesus' plan of keeping the surrendered Saviors alive literally come back to bite him? AND are we going to find out what the hell happened to Gabriel? I never thought I would care so much about his whereabouts, but I loathe Dumbass Gregory and would actually like Gabriel to come out of this one unscathed. I've come a long way from agreeing with Carol's "leave him!" cry when the Wolves attacked Alexandria.
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