We’re one episode away from The Walking Dead mid-season finale and things aren’t looking good for the allies. The Scavengers have locked Rick in a shipping container. The Hilltop is full of prisoners. King Ezekiel is a broken man. And some of Rick’s closest friends no longer believe in his plan. At least the Sanctuary is still surrounded by walkers. At least for now.
Eugene is in quite a pickle. Negan is the strong leader and protector he’s spent his whole life searching for. And Eugene desperately wants to be the man Negan thinks he is. So it would make total sense to tell Negan that Dwight is the mole. Yet he hesitates. As a man who can think his way out of any situation, his indecision frustrates him. He tells Dwight he’ll keep his secret, as long as the mischief ends. Dwight sits him down and imparts some heavy wisdom: the Saviors are finished, Negan is finished. Eugene’s best move is to let the Sanctuary fall. Backing Negan takes a heavy toll on one’s soul. Eugene still has a chance to make it out unscathed.
Eugene finds himself alone with Father Gabriel. As Gabriel writhes in his hospital bed, he asks Eugene to use his conscience and do the right thing. Unfortunately, the right thing for Eugene is doing whatever it takes to keep himself alive and not a bit more.
Negan meets with Eugene to find a solution to their walker crisis. Negan isn’t worried about himself. He’s too good at this game to ever lose. But he doesn’t want to watch others die, especially someone as brilliant as Eugene. First he threatens, then he compliments. Straight out of the abuser’s handbook. When he offers Eugene his hand, Eugene stoops to kiss it like he’s the Pope. And just like that, all doubt is gone. Eugene is Negan. He scurries away to save the Sanctuary and win Daddy’s admiration. It’s exactly the kind of encouragement he needs. His neurons fire up and a plan starts to formulate.
On the roof, He prepares to launch a homemade music drone to pull the walkers away from the Sanctuary. When Dwight pulls a gun, it puts a crimp in Eugene’s plan. But not for long. Realizing Negan would hurt him worse than Dwight ever could, he launches his distraction machine. Dwight aims but hesitates. This inability to destroy is a two-way street. Instead, he shoots the machine. Eugene watches all of his hopes and fears plummet with the drone.
The dissenters (Daryl, Tara, Michonne and Rosita) meet with Morgan outside the Sanctuary. They’re not satisfied with the pace of Rick’s plan. They want to end things now. They decide to drive their dumptruck into the Sanctuary, creating an entry for the walker horde. Surprisingly, Rosita is the only voice of reason. The woman who tried to shoot Negan last season has matured. She trusts Rick and refuses to take part. Michonne thought she needed to be boots on the ground but she wonders if the risk they’re taking is worth it. She bails, leaving Daryl, Tara and Morgan to their folly. While Tara and Morgan provide cover, Daryl drives the dump truck through a horde of Walkers and into the Sanctuary. The noise pulls their attention. The smell of human victims carries them inside.
It’s pandemonium inside the Sanctuary. Walkers devour Saviors. Gunfire rings out. Eugene watches in abject terror. His worst nightmare is losing safety. He storms into Father Gabriel’s room. Eugene takes his fear, turns it into anger and slams it right in the good father’s face. He screams that he refuses to end up like Sasha. It’s his biological imperative to stay alive and he’ll do anything it takes, including following Negan.
Riding his wave of anger, Eugene brings Negan a new plan. This one uses bullets and is sure to work. Just as he’s about to rat out Dwight, all of the consiglieri storm in. With Dwight in the room, he’s unable to follow through. He may be Negan but there’s still some hope for him.
Any chance he gets, Rick pushes his campaign to win the Scavengers away from Negan. But Jadis is only interested in documenting his near-naked captivity. He’s pulled out to entertain the trash people. As he kneels on the ground, Scavengers bring a new helmet-clad zombie, this time on a stick. Rick knocks out his captor and takes possession of the weaponized walker. After taking out all of her guards, he grabs Jadis and puts her face to face with the walker. As she writhes in fear, mere inches from death, Rick gives the Scavengers one more chance to switch sides before he kills them all. When he frees Jadis, she asks what happens if they join. Rick offers her freedom and a fourth of the Savior’s possessions. She tries to negotiate but he’s done with her games. He’s not even willing to pose naked for her art. Seeing how serious he is, Jadis finally accepts.
Rick and the Scavengers arrive at the outskirts of the Sanctuary. One of Rick’s snipers is walker food and no one is responding to his appeals on the walkie. He climbs up a perch and scopes out the situation. The Sanctuary is walker-free and abandoned. Something has gone very, very wrong.
Next week: It’s the 90 minute mid-season finale! All of the different stories come together in Alexandria.
Ah, Lady C – thanks for timely and comprehensive recap! Alas, it’s far better than last night’s episode. The writers are always sacrificing what we know about these characters for a plot point, inconceivable as it may be. The fact that Rick and Daryl split over “the plan,” and that NOBODY bothered to figure out what to do with POWs before the big fight, OR that Michonne would even think twice about going against Rick’s plan are just a few examples.
And why was Rick allowed to go to the garbage heap alone? He sure had egg on his face when he went to the Sanctuary, after all those promises to the Scavengers. He cannot even control those who are supposed to be on his side.
Eugene? WTF? And how does it keep that mullet in such fine shape? 😉
Lady C – the word ‘scurries’ perfectly describes Eugene to me at this time. Wow, I think Abe would personally kill him right now. I kept holding out hope he was playing the game and was on Rick’s side, but true to form he is on Eugene’s side. I no longer care what happens to him and the almost kissing Negan’s hand was so gross, so pussified, even Negan had to explain it was a handshake.
You are so dead on with the abuser statement. Negan has groomed Eugene perfectly.
I was wrong about thinking I saw Rick naked as a prisoner of Janis. Boxers will do though 🙂
I am not so sure about the writing of late. It’s all over the place. Hopefully, next week will be better and supposedly something major will happen so am looking forward to that.
Thank you for another great recap. You always fill in something I missed.
Thanks for the recap Lady C. I’d rather read your recaps than watch the show. I hate this season so far. I’m a huge fan, but this darkness and violence and lack of humanity is not for me. Once Negan dies, maybe I’ll be more invested. Until then, your recaps satiate my need to know what’s going on.
Thank you for the interesting recap. I thought this episode was not fitting to the walking dead gang. Best buds at odds, the prisoners outnumber the toppers. Why would Rick have anything to do with the trashers unless he was setting them up (we can only hope). The story line jumps from bad idea to bad idea. The guy Carl is making friends with being portrayed as a kid when he looks 35 doesn’t fly. I do like his reason for killing the walkers at least. The King character falling apart like that doesn’t ring true either. He would want to be the man who steps up like he has done many times in the past. I hope the half way finale doesn’t kill off any more of the original gang. If it turns into a swinging door of new players replacing the old players I will be happy to read these fine recaps and forego the show.