It’s not about just one person anymore.

*spoilers, of course*

Dream-Forward Sequence

Like the trailer that got so many people theorizing, the show jumps into old-man Rick rather quickly. We’ve jumped ahead. Rick has a long beard, Judith is walking and talking, and Michonne…looks the same. Can’t say that surprises me.

It happens a few times throughout the episode and it’s hard to say if it’s merely a dream sequence that occurs when Rick is crying over something (his eyes are red) or a foreshadow of the end of the season. Or both. Or neither. Needless to say it might take some time for us to figure out what’s going on. It’s a nice future to think about though.

It’s Not About Me

Not much time has passed since the end of last season but enough for all three groups to devise a plan involving a large herd of walkers while armor-ing up cars and getting Dwight to send them information about Savior look-out spots.

It’s a good set-up with a lot of anxiety (at least for me.) You know shit is about to go down and it’s all leading up to that. While they wait for certain aspects fall into place (i.e. the walkers) everyone takes some time to get to know each other. Unfortunately Michonne, Carl, and, Rosita are left behind in case Alexandria is attacked and to watch an older Judith. (She’s not but the actress clearly is.)

Rick, Ezekiel, and Maggie do a good job of getting their people ready and motivating them. Once it’s all said and done Rick’s following Maggie. Time to retire.

I did like the part where Ezekiel is referencing Rick as his brother and Maggie as his sister and Shiva roars in agreement. Thankfully Shiva is left out of this fight and lives to see another day.

Governor-Inspired

There is an odd moment when all the groups drive up to the Sanctuary with their armored cars which feels familiar. Rick tells Negan and his closest followers to surrender and nothing bad has to happen. But Rick wants Negan’s head and he’s the only one who has to die (well not including the look-outs they took out.)

When Rick begins to count down, and stops at seven, they unleash an array of bullets at Negan then eventually the Sanctuary itself. They aim at all the windows and meanwhile the walkers are nearing. It doesn’t take that long and Negan even gets hit. They blow up an RV (RIP with Dale), almost destroying the Sanctuary.

It does make you think about the Governor and how he attacked the prison. Twice. There are people in there who don’t deserve it and are just trying to survive. There are no good or bad guys anymore. Everyone just wants to live.

Father Get the Hell Out

We find out Gregory went to the Sanctuary and comes out in dramatic fashion before the shooting starts, pledging the Hilltop’s allegiance with Negan. However none of them are having that and Jesus publicly announces they’re following Maggie now.

And Simon hilariously pushes Gregory down the stairs.

But as the walkers are filing in and everyone flees Father Gabriel notices Gregory, in the middle of the herd, not able to defend himself. And what does Father Gabriel do…leave his safe, armored car to help Gregory, who then leaves Father Gabriel and takes the car for himself. Gabriel finds a building to run into, which happens to be the same trailer with Negan, and they get surrounded by walkers.

Dammit Gabriel.

Already Won

The Sanctuary is almost destroyed, out-posts are getting taken out, and things seem to be going well. For now. No one died. The Kingdom did take a hit from a grenade, which didn’t hurt anyone, but may lead to something else.

Something from the comic I’m not looking forward to.

I do want to mention the scene with Carl which almost mimics the beginning of the first episode as he’s walking through the pile of cars. There’s someone asking for help and Rick scares him away with gun fire, which Carl isn’t happy about. Later Carl brings him food, but it does make you wonder if this guy is going to come back. I’m not that far into the comics so I’m not sure.

They wouldn’t have a close-up of the guy in the very end if he wasn’t going to come back at some point. For some reason.

Overall

I expected it to be worse. I don’t mean the episode as a whole but with more fighting and tension. Most of the time I expected everything to fail and maybe Negan knew the whole time. But that’s not how it is. A complete 180 from the beginning of last season, everything goes according to plan (well, excluding Gabriel.)

At least for a moment, just one episode, the tides turned in the favor of Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom.