Last week we saw that both Daryl and Dwight are prisoners in Sanctuary. While Daryl is loyal to Rick and the others and refuses to submit, at least he knows he’s a prisoner. Dwight thought his choice would earn him a seat at the proverbial table, but the price he paid for it seems less and less worth it. The more he looks around him, the more he sees Negan’s rule for what it is, and the blood on his hands is not so easily washed off. Indeed, the ghosts of the sacrifices he made and continues to make, stare at him in the face. And he may not be the one who is making the most sacrifices…
This week we see Dwight’s oppression handed down to the people of Alexandria. He bullies Rosita and sends her and Spencer off to find Daryl’s bike. Back at Sanctuary he is a cuckolded servant, but out in the world of those under the Saviors’ rule, he’s untouchably tough.
This is Negan and the Saviors’ first visit to Alexandria and it’s an hour-long study in how much shit talking Negan can do in one hour. Every house is ransacked, every gun is rounded up, and Negan struts around threatening Rick and his people. That’s pretty much the whole episode. The drama in the main plotline comes when they find that two guns are missing. If they aren’t accounted for then Olivia, the woman in charge of the armory and the food, gets the kibosh. As it turns out, Spencer was hiding them in his house. That’s it. Ninety minutes of the Alexandrians getting slapped around a bit, including a creepy scene with Enid. Pretty much they get their guns and go on their merry way, but not before one final, vulgar taunt from Negan.
I’m sure that even though the Saviors came early, Rick had time to go back to Alexandria and tell everyone that this is not a fucking drill, that two of their greatest champions have been felled, Rome is aflame, etc. There should have been a flurry of reactive shit going down. Burn the damn record books, bury the guns, hide them in the damn trees or something. Oh, and get rid of all your nice shit so the place doesn’t look like Rodeo Drive when they do show up. The only thing they did hide was Maggie (and Sasha too, but Negan didn’t ask after her) with a fake grave. Father Gabriel said he dug graves, plural, but I’m not sure what kind of ace up the sleeve that will be. We know the Saviors are going to Hilltop next, and I’m not sure how long Maggie and Sasha will stay hidden since Gregory looks like he folds easily under pressure.
I feel like they rushed a lot of key moments in tonight’s episode. Michonne begins practicing with a rifle, that she’s later made to give up by Rick. In the graphic novels, Andrea is very much alive, dating Rick, and is a crack shot who is very integral to the war with Negan. Perhaps they’re setting Michonne up to be their clutch sniper, even though Sasha is a pretty evil shot? Or is that why they’re trying to keep her out of Negan’s sight, so to speak?
Spencer was the only one who thought to secretly arm himself, though stupidly and almost at Olivia’s expense. Never one with leadership skills or solutions, he callously uses Glenn and Abraham to criticize Rick. Oddly, not the death of his parents. Rick still has the gall to threaten Spencer, though he’s kinda right. Rick as of late has been flip flopping from resilient strategist to hubris-filled fool. He’s always been the most capable leader in most situations throughout the show, but in this case, he hugely miscalculated the Saviors’ power. They were eager to gain Hilltop’s alliance but hey, maybe give us some time to scout around first?
His reasoning for letting Negan take what he wants has to do with a revelation we’ve been suspicious of for some time: that Judith is Shane’s daughter. Accept it and move on. No mention of a battle plan, just a desire to survive and protect his loved ones. If he saw what Daryl’s seen, he might be a bit more quick to mount a counter-offensive.
The only one besides Michonne with her fighting spirit unbroken is Rosita, who finds a gun looking for Daryl’s bike. It occurs to her that there might still be some armed Savior-walkers roaming around where they last skirmished with Dwight. It’s one gun with no bullets, but she commissions Eugene to be her bullet caster. How long it will take him to rearm our heroes remains to be seen, but if the showrunners want to screw around with episodes like this, it might be a while.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Jeffrey Dean Morgan is great. But all the dick swinging could be ratcheted back a bit. It’s all trash talk without any action, and I think the show has made sadists out of all of us for wanting more death and violence against an already defeated group. So, in this case, less is more. Less Negan, but with more presence. Dwight’s story last week was a great way to show, not tell, what a bastard Negan is.
For example, when Michonne finds all their beds burned in the road; They were taken not because they were needed, but just because they could be taken.
We’ll see what fresh hell awaits our heroes when we see the people of Hilltop get pushed around, this time just for the sixty minutes instead of ninety.
Written by A Play On Nerds contributor, Jerry Herrera - Lover of horror, sci fi, and fantasy in that order. Semi-permanent Disneyland resident. I'm at least one of the droids you're looking for. Twitter: @FrankenJerry - Instagram: @GeraldoPedro