Well kids... I had heard some rumors, read some potential spoilers, and listened to other fans of The Walking Dead comment on what might happen in tonight's mid-season finale. While I know that anything is possible on this show and none of the characters are safe, there are certain members of the Grimes gang that I didn't think would be on the chopping block before the end of the All Out War. I'm still trying to process this episode, which really should have been titled "Reasons We Don't Deviate From The Plan," and given we have until February 2018 for part two of the season, seems like I will be processing for a while. What were the traumatic events in this last episode of 2017? Here's what went down in "How It's Gotta Be."
The Storm Keeps On Twisting
We pick up right where we left off last week with Rick and Das Sound Machine the garbage people arriving at The Sanctuary to find it eerily quiet and no longer under attack. Jadis is realizing that Polaroid pictures don't mean shit in the post-apocalyptic world, and I assume she is eager to shoot Rick in the head for leading her and her people into this opposite day scenario. Luckily(?) the Saviors start shooting at everyone from the upper levels of the building and the garbage people run away before taking action against Rick. Carol, the badass that she is, pulls up in an SUV with Jerry and gets Rick out of there. The question is - where do they go now? The Saviors are somehow out and on a warpath in Alexandria, Hilltop and The Kingdom. Time for these guys to split up and try to salvage what they can.
Jumping back to present day, we see Carl sitting in the corner of his bedroom...writing his dad a note. He looks at the paper Enid once left him that says "just survive somehow" and he is very emotional. What's going on with this kid? Later on in the evening Michonne finds Carl near the sewer entrance in Alexandria. He's a bit out of breath and tells Michonne that he's been helping a traveler. Siddiq is hanging out in the sewer? Michonne is just about to ask for more information when there is a commotion at the gate. More to come on that front.
Vultures And Thieves At Your Back
Gavin leads a group of Saviors into King Ezekiel's community, letting the people there know that they will be housing the Saviors until The Sanctuary can be repaired and fortified. The folks from The Kingdom will be responsible for both, and the Saviors are going to give them just enough food and supplies to survive while this happens. Gavin also demands (unsuccessfully) that the people give up Ezekiel's location because the Saviors have searched the entire town and have been unable to find him. Gavin doesn't want to have to punish everyone - but the king needs to taken to Negan. Ultimately Eziekiel creates a distraction to get what's left of his community out of The Kingdom, allowing himself to be captured in the process. Carol arrives just as Ezekiel is closing and locking the gates, leaving his subjects outside and he and the Saviors inside. Carol begins directing the community members toward the house she used to occupy and Ezekiel calls out to her: "save them like you saved me." Ezekiel is then captured and that's the last we see of him tonight.
As Gavin works to take control back from The Kingdom, Simon is on the same mission in Hilltop. Jesus and Maggie are en route to The Sanctuary, unaware that the original plan has been ripped to hell and they will not be arriving to a crumbling compound with Ezekiel, Rick, and Jadis. Maggie sees a tree down in the road ahead and has immediate deja vu back to the night that Glenn and Abraham died. Before she can turn everyone around and head back to Hilltop, Simon and his douchebags roll up with a pretty badly beaten Jerry in tow. He plops a box against Maggie's truck and says that Alexandria and The Kingdom are back under Negan's control. Simon is still pissed at Gregory and offers Maggie a chance to lead Hilltop (under Simon's control), because the Saviors need Hilltop's farming and supplies to flourish regardless of the rebellion. Otherwise he'll have to put her in the box and take her back to Hilltop and kill her in front of everyone...only to then have her put on a spike and displayed at The Sanctuary. Just to show Maggie how serious the situation is, he shoots and kills Neil (a Hilltopian that I barely remember) and Maggie gives in. She asks if she can take the box back to Hilltop with them so they can bury Neil in it, and off they go.
May You Find Some Comfort Here
Eugene is still having trouble sleeping. Can't imagine why. It's not like he turned against his former community, had a chance to do right by them, but now enabled the Saviors to go on a slaughter mission or anything crazy like that. Is he still wondering what "the right thing" is? Apparently so. While remaining loyal to Negan, Eugene does grant what he assumes to be Gabriel's dying wish and clears a path for Gabriel and Dr. Carson to get out of The Sanctuary and back to Hilltop...via giving the guard on that side of the building an unimaginable case of diarrhea. Ha! That's pretty awesome.
There is a car waiting for the doctor and the priest and Gabriel asks Eugene to join them. The mullet man declines, opting to stay in Negan's world and hopefully rest easier knowing Dr. Carson would be able to care for Maggie. But would he? I mean...as soon as Negan finds out the doctor is in Hilltop, won't the doctor just be kidnapped again? Eugene knows that Negan's main plan is to collect Rick, Maggie and Ezekiel and kill them, right? Prenatal care is fairly useless in that scenario.
There is a car waiting for the doctor and the priest and Gabriel asks Eugene to join them. The mullet man declines, opting to stay in Negan's world and hopefully rest easier knowing Dr. Carson would be able to care for Maggie. But would he? I mean...as soon as Negan finds out the doctor is in Hilltop, won't the doctor just be kidnapped again? Eugene knows that Negan's main plan is to collect Rick, Maggie and Ezekiel and kill them, right? Prenatal care is fairly useless in that scenario.
We see Dr. Carson and a very weary Gabriel make their way safely to the car and get out of the area. Not sure if/when they make it to Hilltop or if it's before shit is hitting the fan with Maggie, Dean, and the coffin, but I imagine that's enough for Eugene's conscience for now. We also do not find out in this episode whether Gabriel succumbs to his illness and eats Dr. Carson en route. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head?
Waiting For That Second Chance
Catching up with Aaron and Enid on their completely unplanned side mission, we find out that they are heading to Oceanside to enlist the help of the disgruntled women there. Makes sense - take a two person team with zero clout to a community that hates you because you took all of their guns and try to get them to boost up your numbers. I'm sure this will go well.
Enid has the idea of stopping by a distillery so they can bring gifts to Oceanside, because there's totally time for a side mission to the side mission, and she and Aaron drive a big ol' whiskey truck to the outskirts of the community. That night while they are snoozing in the front seat of their armored car (yup, they're just waiting for trouble at this point), they see a figure approaching the truck. My palm is already at my forehead when Aaron goes to check things out and we hear someone knock him to the ground. Enid, instead of assessing any part of the situation, shoots the person who attacked Aaron....killing NATANIA in the process. Cyndie arrives just at that moment and yells at Enid to drop her weapon, which she does. Cyndie starts crying "grandma! grandma!" and I let out a very loud groan. Congrats Enid. Even with all of the dumb shit that has gone on in the past few weeks - you're still the worst character on the show. So much for building an alliance with Oceanside.
Escape One Last Time
While we now know that The Kingdom has fallen and Hilltop is putting themselves in a hell of a standoff, the people of Alexandria are still in "it's time to go to meet everyone at The Sanctuary and wait for surrender" mode. Daryl returns and Michonne is glad to see that he's made it back unharmed He's super happy with himself and tells her his planned worked. Dude. How could you possibly know that the plan worked if you dipped out of the garbage truck before it hit the walls and you guys fled the scene as soon as the Walkers entered the building? For me "the plan worked" would entail "I crashed the truck into the building and a bunch of people started waving white flags from the rooftop, begging for us to save them." Michonne, at this point, is just eager to reunite with Rick and she says goodbye to Judith, promising to come back with her daddy.
Imagine everyone's surprise that evening when Negan is calling out to them from the other side of the gate. Negan, who is supposed to be either dead or on the brink of surrender somewhere else. Negan, with a good portion of his army that is not tearing itself apart from starvation due to the zombie herd surrounding The Sanctuary. Negan, with a solid supply of "blow shit up" weapons at his disposal. We're back now to Carl and Michonne's sewer discussion and we see Carl take charge of Alexandria. He tells everyone he will go talk to Negan to distract him while the people of Alexandria either escape through the sewer or in vehicles. Tara says they should fight to keep Alexandria (can someone please punch her in the face now?) and Michonne kind of agrees but wants to let the young Grimes man run the show. He is the future that they are fighting for after all, right?
Carl climbs on top of the wall and addresses Negan, telling Negan they can still work things out and end the war. When Negan launches into one of his tiresome narratives about rules and punishments, Carl says, "Kill me...if you have kill someone, if there has to be punishment, then kill me. I'm serious." Negan stops in his tracks. This surprises him. He asks Carl if he actually wants to die and Carl says "No, I don't...but I will." Carl then shakes his head as if he is already defeated and says "it's gonna happen."
Pulled From The Wreckage
Meanwhile, a series of Alexandria trucks plow through a very weak barrier Dwight has set up in the back of the community. Negan realizes his conversation with Carl has been a diversion and the Saviors invade and unleash explosives throughout Alexandria. We see Carl through puffs of smoke here and there as he makes his way toward the back of the community, but shit is getting blown up all around him.
Dwight leads the Saviors right into a trap as they chase the Alexandria trucks. He drives his group into an ambush area where Daryl, Michonne, Tara and Smokin' Hot Rosita are waiting to shoot the cars and Saviors inside. Dwight opens fire on his own people as well and Laura, who is one of the few remaining kickass women in the Saviors, calls Dwight out and shoots him in the arm. Pretty sure she would have killed him if gunfire hadn't caused her to run away. The jig is up now - she's heading straight to Negan and Dwight's only chance at living is with the mercy of Daryl and company. Daryl takes back his vest and asks Dwight if what he did (you know, that reckless garbage truck through the wall bit) was the reason the Saviors escaped the compound. Dwight only says that Eugene was able to get them out, but I seriously think Eugene was able to get them out because of the BIG GAPING HOLE IN THE WALL OF THE COMPOUND. We don't get any other info on the Saviors' escape in this episode, so I hope we get some sort of recap in the 2018 premiere of how that all happened.
Dwight leads the Saviors right into a trap as they chase the Alexandria trucks. He drives his group into an ambush area where Daryl, Michonne, Tara and Smokin' Hot Rosita are waiting to shoot the cars and Saviors inside. Dwight opens fire on his own people as well and Laura, who is one of the few remaining kickass women in the Saviors, calls Dwight out and shoots him in the arm. Pretty sure she would have killed him if gunfire hadn't caused her to run away. The jig is up now - she's heading straight to Negan and Dwight's only chance at living is with the mercy of Daryl and company. Daryl takes back his vest and asks Dwight if what he did (you know, that reckless garbage truck through the wall bit) was the reason the Saviors escaped the compound. Dwight only says that Eugene was able to get them out, but I seriously think Eugene was able to get them out because of the BIG GAPING HOLE IN THE WALL OF THE COMPOUND. We don't get any other info on the Saviors' escape in this episode, so I hope we get some sort of recap in the 2018 premiere of how that all happened.
Dwight follows Tara, Daryl, Michonne and Smokin' Hot Rosita to the sewer to hide in safety until the Saviors leave. With no sign of Carl and a shit ton of explosions happening in the town, Michonne goes back toward the houses to find him. Rick has also arrived back in town and I can't even imagine what's going through his mind at this point. This is just not how the day was supposed to go. When Rick gets to his house, Negan and Lucille are there waiting for him. A fight ensues but this is not the showdown viewers were probably hoping to see tonight. Negan throws Rick out of a window and Rick chooses to cut his losses and get the hell out of the neighborhood rather than go back inside the house and listen to more Negan bullshit (don't blame him). He runs into Michonne just as she's chopping up a Savior with her sword and together they head to the sewers.
The final sequence is beautifully shot, yet incredibly heartbreaking all at the same time. Rick slowly walks through the sewers searching for his loved ones. Judith is there happy and safe, but the other normally friendly faces Rick is passing either won't look at him at all, or look at him with tears in their eyes. Shit. Finally Rick and Michonne reach the end of a corridor, where Siddiq is sitting. We hear a voice say "I brought him here" and the camera pans to Carl. The kid is alive and looks relatively unharmed...but then Carl tearfully lifts up his shirt to reveal a Walker bite on his side. My first thought is: "Damn it, Carl!" But my second thought...that the rest of the characters share is: "There's no coming back from this."
Memories Seep From My Veins
Whew. That was quite the emotional roller coaster. I had heard that Carl would be a casualty tonight but I still sit here surprised. He has sooooo much story left in the comics, especially involving Negan, and I really I didn't think the show runners would go this route. I will say that Carl has annoyed the hell out of me over the years. He's made some very dumb moves and done more whining than I can keep track of....and that hair pushed me over the edge quite some time ago. I'm not super broken up about his departure, but man am I hurting for Rick and Michonne...
I assume Carl's bite happened last week (which I think is yesterday in TWD timeline) when Carl was battling Walkers with Siddiq, who quickly proved he is not someone I'd ever want to partner with in a zombie apocalypse. So Carl is dying after helping the guy Rick shot at to drive away. Carl was thinking ahead to the future while Rick was worried that every stranger they encountered was a Savior. Carl was on his own path of trying to "do the right thing" while Rick was in his undies in garbage land, forming an alliance (again) with people who would ultimately leave him high and dry. And Michonne? Michonne was blind to Carl's side mission because she, for whatever reason, haaaaad to go see The Sanctuary. She realized her vision for the future wasn't so different from Carl's only after she was thisclose to executing Daryl's stupid idea. Rick and Michonne both wanted to win this war for Carl, Judith, Glenn and Maggie's baby, and the other young lives that represented the future. This is a massive blow for both of them - Carl is Rick's successor and his only flesh and blood (I think we can safely assume Judith is Shane's daughter), and Michonne's bond with Carl really brought her out of the funk she was in after losing her own family. The episode where she looks at him and says "Bam! Crazy cheese." will always be a standout for me.
When the The Walking Dead returns in 2018 our heroes have to deal with the aftermath of what should have been named "Reasons We Don't Deviate From The Plan." In addition to the ways Michonne, Rick and even Carl might be second guessing themselves, Daryl and Tara will have to determine exactly how stupid they were when they went rogue. Aaron and Enid will have to determine exactly how stupid they were when they went rogue. Morgan will have to determine how stupid he was when he went rogue (you get the picture). Eugene will have to determine if he really is Negan or if part of him wants to reunite with his former friends. Ezekiel will have to determine what kind of act to put on now that he is captured by the enemy. And Maggie will have to determine what to do with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Hilltop is the only community in the trifecta that still has a chance - all eyes are on her now to keep hope alive. Speaking of hope, I assume now that the delightful Rip Van Rick sequence from the season premiere was wishful thinking just like the big family dinner scene we saw with Glenn and Abraham after the two of them were killed by Negan. It's hard to tell when there might be any happy times ahead for these folks now, so we will just have to sit on all of these feelings through the holiday season and regroup again in the new year!
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