The war continues…Following last week’s episode long battle
we drop right back into the thick of it starting with Ezekiel and Carol’s
group. A quick look at just how cold blooded this war has become. The scene
opens with a kingly speech where the dreadlocked one says that though they are
outnumbered, still he smiles…or something Shakespearean in that vein. The shot
cuts between the speech and the group walking though the woods, apparently
becoming surrounded. Cutting back to his speech you hear him say that though,
they are fewer in numbers they are greater in strategy, it’s around here that
you sense all isn’t as it seems. Just as the Saviors get ready to move forward dozens
of Kingdom fighters pop out of the bush and massacre the advancing saviors.
This is where you start to realize that this war isn’t being fought in black
and white. I mean, the Saviors had them surrounded but didn’t start shooting, yet the "good guys" from the Kingdom didn’t hesitate, you can’t help but to feel that it
was, well, a cheap shot. It just hammers home what they’ve been saying all
season and what Carol’s been saying all along, you have to do whatever it takes
to win.
Checking back in with Aaron’s crew, the tide has turned
completely at the armory with the Saviors falling back and having to focus
their fire on the internal zombie threat as their battle dead are turning in
force. Aaron, however, is dragging away a gut-shot Eric. Honestly, I didn’t think he was hit that bad
but as Aaron says a tearful goodbye before returning to the fight you can’t
help but to think the next time they see each other it will be with a different
kind of hunger in Eric’s eyes. Popping over to Jesus and Tara’s group we find a
slightly psychotic seeming and definitely cold Tara leading a caravan of
prisoners. This is where it gets interesting. As I mentioned earlier the
Kingdom was ruthless in their massacre in the woods but here we have Jesus
choosing to spare the lives of the captured, against the wishes of Tara and
Morgan, but he spares them just the same. It’s obvious that there are different
ideas of what’s acceptable between the leaders of the good guys (sorry but I
don’t have a better name for the combined forces of the Kingdom, Hilltop, and
Alexandria….so I’m just going to call them the good guys). Next we jump the map
again to find Rick, still held at gun point from the dude from season 1….yeah I
should look up his name but you know what, you bring back a nobody from seven
seasons ago for no outright reason and I’m going to call him the dude. Not that
we needed to remember his name, by the time he finishes reciting his sob story
to Rick and pledging his allegiance to Negan he’s already gone thanks to a bolt
in the neck courtesy of Daryl’s crossbow. Seriously, what was the point in
that? Did this dude have an episode left on his contract they had to fulfill or
something?
In the “stuff we should have seen coming” category we join
up with last week’s MVP, Morgan, who is just about to put lead to the savior
that killed Ben last year when they are attacked by walkers. We get some actual
Zombie kills! I’m not sure if maybe they didn’t think they’d run into any
walkers or not but with a large slow moving group or tied up prisoners the dead
get some easy meals. In the melee a small group of tied together Saviors break
for the woods and are pursued by Morgan who quickly and easily catches up and
headshots a random. Just as he’s about to take out the guy that killed Ben
Jesus shows up, the tension here has been building for sometime and I really
like them both but damn was I glad when it finally hit the wall. We’ve only
seen quick glimpses of what Jesus can do but we’ve seen enough to know that
homeboy is a hairy little ninja. Add Morgan and his bo staff and you have a
sick martial arts zombie fight waiting to happen. It’s going to have to wait a
bit longer though, they throw 3-4 blows before Jesus remembers his name and
turns the other cheek. This is going to be the big conflict in the coming
episodes, and probably for the rest of the season…those who think there should
be mercy and compassion to save their civility and those of the eye for an eye
variety. I have a feeling that by the end of this it’s going to be hard to tell
who has more of a regard for life, the good guys or the bad. 
I could have really done with an Indiana Jones style map in
between all of these cuts…it gets damn hard to tell where everyone is in
relation to each other. We come back from commercial to see the Kingdom folks
ambushing another pack of saviors which is immediately intercut with Rick and
Daryl fighting their way down a hallway. It feels like they’re all in the same
place but for all we know they could be miles apart. Thankfully we do get more
of that Jesus and Morgan fight, I can’t tell if they sped the camera up or if Tom
Payne, the actor who portrays Jesus, is
really that fast whichever it is the fight was better for it, impressive isn’t
even the word. He handily contains Morgan who’s obviously lost what’s left of
his humanity, knocking him back and asking “Is it over Morgan, is it over?”, I
really hope that Jesus finally gets his front row seat at the table instead of
having to play in the background…the character is one of the most interesting
the show has to offer and Tom Payne is perfect casting. Their fight is finally
broken up when Tara and some others arrive, prompting Morgan to do what he does
best and go off as a lone wolf. I’m cool
with that. I think I’d actually like to see Morgan in a role where he just pops
up now and then to whoop some ass and then sink back into the darkness.
What’s that you ask? Why haven’t we seen more Gregory? Well,
no, of course you didn’t ask that….who the hell would? Even still, he is a plot
line that we have to see through. Gregory, who we last saw leaving Father
Gabriel stuck surrounded by walkers after the good Father saved his ass, shows
back up at Hilltop in the slimmest most pathetic of ways trying to spin sad
lies so that they let him back in. It even slips out that he once stole a
little girls pancakes. If that’s not reason enough for execution I don’t know
what is. Either from pity or sheer annoyance Maggie lets Gregory in, he’s not
there 5 minutes before Jesus shows up with the prisoners. It looks like the
bearded one is the last vestige of morality in this decaying wasteland, even
Maggie doesn’t want to keep the prisoners, really why would you? I mean I get
it, they surrendered but are you really going to sleep easy in your bed if
they’re on the other side of the fence with nothing more then a likely empty
promise of surrender.
Back on the road Rick and Daryl walk through a battle site,
with Rick taking Polaroids of the carnage. They haven’t spelled it out yet but
I’m assuming this is a mirror of how the Saviors would take pictures of those
unlucky fools that got to spend time with Lucille, just one more way of showing
that none of these folks have heard the phrase “Don’t sink to their level”. Lastly,
just because TWD likes to leave you with that warm and fuzzy feeling, Aaron
heads back to the tree he left Eric resting against only to find his wounded
husband missing. They show a walker in the distance, the site of which causes
Aaron to break down crying, but I don’t think it was really Eric….I mean he was
on deaths door but why wouldn’t they show a closeup? As a rule of thumb, if you
don’t see a face it’s not really who you think it is. Then again they could be
saving that reveal for later, ala Merle. Aaron’s not left totally alone
however, the baby they found last episode is entrusted to his care as he heads
back to Hilltop. Just as you think the credits are about to roll shots ring out
on Daryl and Rick, Rick ever the bad ass, doesn’t even break a sweat as he
calls out to the shooter offering a deal. The random Savior is able to confirm
that the guns they were after were moved, keeping Dwight’s intel as valid.
Getting back to that whole humanity debate we find out what side of the fence
Daryl sits as he drills a tunnel through the guys head with a single shot. One
final cut to the Kingdom group who are lazily coming upon a building, and who
definitely should have seen this coming, are cut apart by machine gun fire. Of
course, we’ll have to wait until next week to see who got hit. C’MON JERRY! YOU
GOTTA MAKE IT!!! Until next week deadites!
