After leaving The Sanctuary in the season premiere, the
group didn’t stop for food or gas – they took the fight straight to Negan’s
outposts.
The gun battle at one outpost saw the crew working to box in
their adversaries, letting them exhaust their ammo and allowing the newly
reanimated Saviors to help them clear the place. Deaths and injuries were
prominent on both sides, with longtime Alexandrians Tobin, Francine, and Eric
all getting hit in the shootout.
At another outpost, Morgan, Jesus, Tara, and a number of
others had to face the reoccurring dilemma of to kill or not to kill after they’d
gained the upper hand. Jesus took the latter choice, much to Tara’s chagrin.
Morgan continues to fluctuate between his two personalities of centered
peacemaker and bloodthirsty kill-machine, miraculously surviving a hail of
bullets that claimed the lives of the two people he was with.
Before entering the outpost, he uttered the line “I don’t
die.” It’s certainly a testament to his character’s history, but it could very
well be the kiss of death. Morgan took out at least a dozen Saviors on his own,
recalling Rick’s original words about “coming for them before they come for us.”
He nearly killed Jared, though Jesus convinced him otherwise as he and the
other Saviors had surrendered.
Ezekiel, Carol, Jerry, and other Kingdomers (Kingdomites?
Kingdomeers?) recover from the smoke bomb/walker attack in the last episode,
but find out their cover has been blown. Though The Saviors now know they’re
coming, they elect to press on and continue their mission.
Rick and Daryl attack a building in search of a stash of
guns based on the intel given by Dwight. Rick ends up in a brawl with a man who
is guarding a room and, after a moment of hesitation, kills him by impaling him
through the chest.
It’s then the writers throw us a twist. Rick opens the
door to see a man was guarding a baby. Rick may have just killed the
baby’s only caretaker in the world, and it clearly hits home with him as a
father. He takes a good look in the mirror (literally) as the writers pose the
question once more: are our characters really the good guys?
The writers follow that twist with another, bringing back
Morales and revealing he is part of The Saviors. The last time we saw Morales was in the fifth episode of season
one. He and his family chose not to go along when Rick and the others
went to the CDC. Back then, Rick was against killing the living and believed
in leaving no man behind.
After getting
security/resources from The Saviors, Morales undoubtedly views them as the good
guys. Given what he’s likely heard about Rick, and Rick’s actions just before meeting
him, Morales pulls his gun on Rick and tells him he’s already called The
Saviors.
This is a pretty creative way to show how our allegiances create bias that is hard to see through - even as fans. If Rick can’t sway Morales, he may have just lost the entire war for his
people. Hmm…I wonder if Morales knows what Negan did to his old pal Glenn?
Our Rating: 4/5
Though the timeline was a little confusing at some points,
this episode did all the right things. It kept up the action, continued to
examine the current moral dilemmas, and even had some heart-stopping close
calls. Combine it with a return that could turn the viewers’ perception of the
heroes and villains on its head, and you’ve got a solid episode all around.
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