Tonight Jesus takes a back seat to God as we finally catch up with Father Gabriel and his quest to avoid a fruitless death. Much of the episode, and I do mean much, seems to be filler but we do get some questions answered this evening....though not the really important ones. We're approaching the season finale in 4 episodes and I keep thinking that we are stuck in Groundhog Day in this All Out War with Rick letting Negan know he's gonna kill him, the Saviors coming out of an attack still strong, Rick losing important loved ones, Negan being Negan, Enid being one of the most annoying characters on TV, Maggie still pregnant but you could have fooled me, and Tara being dangerously close to reverting back to Stupid Tara. But hey, we don't have to watch Aaron squat behind a tree like Golum in this hour so I'm putting that down as a 'win' for us tonight. Here's what actually went down in "Dead Or Alive Or."
Oops...I Did It Again
Daryl is leading Tara, Siddiq, Smokin' Hot Rosita, Judith, Tobin (remember him?), Dwight and several others through the woods to Hilltop. Tara remembers how pissed off she is that Dwight killed doctor-in-training Denise and she's ready for him to die. Tara pushes a Walker toward Dwight, who is unarmed, and Dwight is able to wrestle the Walker to the ground and stomp its head in. Daryl and Smokin' Hot Rosita witness this and they are not happy. No one likes Dwight, but it's not time to kill him. Tara says she doesn't know why they've kept him alive for so long, clearly forgetting that the whole point of this is to defeat the Saviors and use any inside information they can. That part hasn't changed, especially since the folks in this group know nothing about Carl's plea for peace and Rick's promise that lasted 5 seconds.
Dwight suggests they take a path Negan would never go near because he thought it too dangerous (so this might immediately the worst idea since the last worst idea) and the group begins their journey through a SWAMP. Remember how well water Walkers worked for Dr. Bob? Several Alexandrians begin to clear the swamp and Tara stays beyond to, uh, make sure the rest of the crew is safe. She pulls Dwight off to the side, hands him a knife, and allows him to help clear Walkers...at gunpoint of course. Dwight apologizes to Tara for killing her girlfriend. This doesn't thwart Tara's desire to off Dwight and she points her gun with determination. Tara. Really. I get it. But Daryl and Smokin' Hot Rosita reminded you exactly why Dwight is still alive. What TF are you doing? Dwight runs and Tara fires and misses. She catches up with him, ready to fire again, when the situation is interrupted by Saviors nearby...Saviors walking near the path that was too dangerous...that Negan stayed away from. Dwight takes his chances and approaches them. He inquires about Laura, the chick who knew Dwight led the Saviors into a trap in Alexandria, and no one has seen or heard from her. Winner winner. Dwight leaves with the Saviors and does not say anything about the group he had been traveling with. At least he leaves Daryl in the woods with the crossbow this time around.Daryl rips into Tara when he realizes what happened and Tara assures him that Dwight led the Saviors away and is still helping them. She's accurate but is she seriously defending Dwight now? After almost killing him AFTER Daryl and Smokin' Hot Rosita told her she couldn't? NOW she wants to mention he is an asset? Daryl's rage stays in tact as he leads the group on.
To Lose All My Senses
Gabriel and Dr. Carson are still en route to Hilltop so the good doctor can tend to Maggie and her phantom baby. Gabriel is still sick from the Walker guts ensemble he wore when he and Negan made their way from the Sanctuary yard trailer back into the Sanctuary. He's so sick, in fact, that he can't really see. To make matters worse, Dr. Carson doesn't know the way back to Hilltop and they have no GPS...I think TWD show runners could have thrown a bone here. Sasha's iPod had an infinite battery and the walkie talkies were made via some sort of sorcery - there's no chance the Saviors had a GPS? Anyway, Gabriel thinks the best way for them to get where they are going is to let God lead the way. It almost works. Almost.
Gabriel and Dr. Carson begin to make their way to their newly discovered getaway car when Dr. Carson steps into a Walker trap and Walkers begin to approach (duh, of course they do). Blind Gabriel is able to shoot a Walker that is about to devour Maggie's doctor, indicating again that God is providing safe passage to Hilltop, but unfortunately the two are apprehended by nearby Saviors. I suppose they could have brought Dr. Carson back to the Sanctuary so Negan could throw him into the incinerator, but they shoot him dead right there instead after he tries to grab one of their guns. Gabriel is a lone captor once again and he didn't even get his sight back in the process. Bummer.
Just So Typically Me
Negan is wracking his brain trying to figure out how Gabriel and Dr. Carson escaped given, you know, how Carson was a prisoner and Gabriel was seemingly at death's door. He has to suspect Eugene at this point, so he assigns the mullet man to his own outpost where his sole job will be making bullets. Eugene will have security, staff, and even a couple of Negan's wives to help him accomplish his mission. Eugene's only question: "will there be wine?" Heh. Wine and bullet making don't seem like the best combination but Eugene's number could be up any time now so he might as well enjoy himself.
Eugene's relief is short-lived when Gabriel is brought back to camp sans Dr. Carson. Gabriel maintains that the doctor coordinated their escape and I really don't think Negan is buying Eugene's innocence, even now. I'm still thinking a punishment is in store. In the meantime though, Gabriel will assist Eugene's outpost by sorting through shell casings. That's all well and good but Eugene is not producing bullets on the timeline Negan had hoped for. Eugene instead suggests a more medieval approach, launching undead limbs, heads, and guts into enemy territories via catapult. A lightbulb goes on in Negan's head similar to "Then he got an idea. An awful idea. The Grinch had a wonderful, awful idea." Later Negan demonstrates a new kind of warefare to his followers. He douses Lucille in Walker guts and explains that a wound from his weapon will cause an enemy to join the zombie club. He says Hilltop will learn their lesson..."dead or alive or some kind of shit in between."
My Problem Is This
Catching up with Hilltop now, Maggie unsurprisingly has some problems on her hands. Food is running low and they are going to have to cut rations by a third to make it through the week...and this does not include feeding the prisoners. Dumbass Gregory wants out of the prison pen for good behavior and the incarcerated Saviors do too. No can do, Maggie says, and really those guys are lucky to even be alive at this point. Could she turn them into farmers? If only Hershel was around to help teach them to contribute peacefully, kinda like he helped Rick go from unstable, angry Rick to calm, farmer Rick at the prison. Aww...Hershel.
Carol, Morgan, and Henry have made their way to Hilltop as well and Carol is concerned about what went down with Gavin. Henry is still on the warpath and wants to know if any one of Maggie's prisoners is the dude who killed his brother. Dude is there, of course, but the grown ups ultimately decide to tell Henry that Gavin was responsible. Probably the right call, though I do hope someone takes care of dude before he kills again.
Daryl and company also finally reach Hilltop (I say finally, but since I have no concept of what the hell the timeline is on this show, it could be within hours of them leaving Alexandra). There is a slow motion reaction to the news of Carl's death, with Maggie comforting Enid, who I guess she made it back safely all by herself (off screen - thank you), and tears flow throughout the community. The episode ends with Maggie having a change of heart and allowing prisoners a chance to stretch their legs outside of the prisoner pen every so often, work, and seek medical attention if needed. They will also be fed the same rations as everyone else. When Dumbass Gregory asks if they should all just evacuate before the Saviors arrive, she replies: "Look around, Gregory. How can we lose?" Just then someone yells that Rick is approaching the gate. Maggie quickly makes her way to the gate in excitement, so she's probably not thinking about the fact she now has more mouths to feed.
Soooo after the hour Gabriel ends up back in the Saviors' custody, Eugene is back to engineering weapons for Negan, Dwight returns home and still finds himself in the Saviors' good graces, Maggie still has prisoners that she's not 100% sure what to do with other than not kill them, Tara remains useless, and Carol still looks pretty good in her Kingdom armor. Other than Negan planning a new weapons tactic, the only real takeaway from the episode is: don't be in any kind of medical profession during a zombie apocalypse. In this episode alone I'm reminded of Hershel, Bob, Denise (who replaced boozin' Dr. Pete), and Dr. Incineratorface. Now Hilltop's Dr. Carson joins their ranks and I guess Siddiq is now in charge of delivering the phantom baby until another doctor shows up and he dies? Maybe he'll become the onsite medic when Negan starts his death-by-Walker guts launch? Is this the cause of Rick's tree side "my mercy prevails over my wrath" wound that we've been catching a glimpse of all season? It would be pretty ridiculous to kill Rick within a few episodes of Carl, but given the way the All Out War has been paced, Rick might not die against that tree until the Season 12 finale.
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