Note: Major spoilers for the episode of The Walking Dead, you have been warned.
This week's episode was a bit of a slower walk than the last few episodes, but it really took the time to set up several new things, and have set some wheels into motion that certainly do not bode well for the group. The episode starts off with Abraham and Sasha talking, as they come back from patrol. Sasha says that Eugene is going to be going on the patrols with Abraham moving forward, and that Sasha is going to be going on watch tower duty. Abraham doesn't take this news very well, but he doesn't say anything. They show a flashback of Abraham and Rosita together, which will be a bit of a common theme throughout the episode as we see Abraham dealing with conflicting issues about whether or not he wants to have a relationship. I personally see this as a way of setting Abraham up to be taken off the show soon, but I guess we will find out about that later.
Next, we see Jesus talking to Rick and the group about how he lives in a similar community, and how he wants to work out a deal to trade between the communities. He says there are several other communities that are doing the same thing, and that the people of Alexandria are about to be opened to a whole new world. Rick and some of the others agree to go with Jesus to his community to see what the deal is.
On the way, they find a car wreck, and four survivors that are hiding out in a store nearby. We find out that one of them is a doctor, an OB-GYN doctor by coincidence, and so Maggie and Glen are hoping that he can provide care to Maggie during her pregnancy. After they arrive at the community, named Hilltop, the group finds out that this place is successfully growing crops and raising cattle. We also get to meet the leader of the community, a man by the name of Gregory. It's apparent rather quickly that this guy is just a leader by name, and that he is really not a very good leader and his people just fall in line because they don't know any better. Maggie talks to Gregory at Rick's request, and Gregory says they are willing to help out, if the people of Alexandria are willing to work for it.
A group of members of the Hilltop community return from a run, and a few members are missing from their group. Gregory asks where the others are, and one of the men says that Negan has taken his brother hostage, and would leave him alive only if he delivered a message to Gregory. He then stabs Gregory, and Rick and the group move into action to stop the attack. Rick ends up killing the man that stabbed Gregory, and the people of the community don't really know what to think of what has just happened. Jesus steps in and talks both sides down, and Jesus says that the situation is complicated and he will need time to explain everything.
We then find out that Negan came and killed one member of the community, a 16 year old boy, and demanded that they give half of all of their supplies, and in exchange, Negan and his Saviors would not attack the town. Rick and his group can't believe that they would just give in like that, but Hilltop doesn't have any fighters, outside of Jesus, and so they just gave in instead of fighting back. Rick says that they will go and kill Negan, in exchange for the supplies they were asking for. Maggie then goes in and works out a deal with Gregory, and he agrees. The end of the episode sees the group going off to find Negan's compound and fight Negan and his Saviors.
Considering the slower pace of the episode in comparison to some of the recent episodes, I still felt like it kept pace enough to not get boring, and to really introduce a lot of new aspects to the show. I feel like they spent a lot of time focusing on Abraham and Glen, and the emotions they are currently going through, which leads me to believe that something bad is on the horizon for one or both of them. Knowing how the comics play out a bit, I do know that something bad is coming sooner rather than later, but I do think they will stretch that particular sequence out until the season finale, so I wonder just what could happen between now and then.
Maybe this is all misdirection by the showrunners, as they know that a lot of people are aware of something bad happening very soon, and so they are trying to keep everyone guessing. There has been lots of speculation as to how this whole thing is going to play out, and so my guess is that they are going to play along all the way up until the moment happens. It's also possible that they are putting a lot of stuff out there to see how the fans react, and then make changes accordingly.
I guess we will just have to wait a few more weeks to find out all the answers, but the tone of the show has definitely gone from being hopeful and optimistic in the last few weeks to a more somber mood. I knew it wouldn't last long, but I guess it was good for the group to catch a breather for a few episodes before things go from bad to worse. And it looks like that change is going to be coming all to soon for the group.
My rating for the episode is 7/10
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