[RECAP] Season 8, Episode 7 of The Walking Dead, "Time for After"

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Here we are, believe it or not, Walking Dead Fans.  We have arrived at the penultimate episode leading to the mid-season finale, aptly titled "Time for After" (or what should've been called, Time for What Happens Next, in my humble opinion).  This episode largely focused on the players on both the Saviors side and Team Grimes side, and the choices made on both sides that'll likely set in motion the firestorm (literally) that we'll soon see.  Unfortunately there was a lot of Eugene talk and Garbage people talk so we hope you had your Closed Captions settings on.  But we'll walk you through all that, since that's what we're here for.

While we have the comic relief side show of Rick and Garbage People (let's be honest now) the real depth of the episode lays on the Savior side, specifically with Eugene.  The evolution of his character has been pretty incredible to watch this season and this episode is no different.  We see how the Saviors are still trapped within their walls by the overwhelming mass of walkers still banging at their doors.  Negan is still looking to his lieutenants to come up with a way out of this mess and Eugene is taking that responsibility very seriously.  Negan and Eugene even have a one on one conversation where Negan looks Eugene eye to eye and gives him a handshake, a sign of mutual respect, something that most people don't get from him he says.  This is right after Eugene tries to kiss Negan's hand (come on Eugene, he's not a mob boss), but I digress.

He's not a mob boss, Eugene...geez.

After this interaction, Dr. Carson flags him down in the hall and informs him that Father Gabriel's health is going downhill fast.  He asks if Eugene could spend some time with his "friend" (or as Eugene prefers to refer to him as "traveling companion") so that he could see what medicinal herbs he can use to TRY and tend to Father Gabriel, as best he can.

It's during this time together that Father Gabriel asks Eugene to help him get Dr. Carson back to the Hilltop to tend to Maggie.  It's clear that Father Gabriel is still holding fast to trying to ensure that even if he dies (and it's looking more and more likely) that he at least doesn't die without a purpose (a fruitless death).  While Father Gabriel continues to calmly preach to Eugene about doing the right thing, when the time comes, Eugene makes it abundantly clear at this point (and throughout the episode) that in a world where morals and values are so ambiguous, self-preservation is his sole purpose.  Oh, and he also has a few funny one liners about looking like a potato in a s&*t casserole.  HA.

Moving on though, we see that Eugene downright confronts Dwight, which is rather bold for a guy like Eugene, in my opinion.  Eugene levels with Dwight that he KNOWS that the's the mole and that he is asking for him to stop any espionage work that he was doing (although I'm not quite sure how much more Dwight could do since it seems that if events had run their course, the Sanctuary would've fallen).  It's at that point that Dwight sits Eugene down and tells him just that, that the Sanctuary WILL fall and that all he has to do to remain quiet and be on the right side, when the time comes.  Eugene tells Dwight that this is unlikely since Negan is not the "dying type" (FORESHADOWING COMIC FANS) and he insists that he IS Negan, they are Saviors and they need to SAVE people.  Dwight then goes into an excellent monologue telling Eugene that he believes that NOW because he hasn't had to involuntarily kill for Negan.  He tells him that the time will come and he will have blood on hands and there is NO going back at that point.  EXCELLENT POINT DWIGHT.  But unfortunately it all falls on deaf, hair covered ears.

We then see Eugene's life in The Sanctuary, still trying to determine how to fix the problem of the walkers outside.  One of Negan's wives (I believe her name is Tanya) arrives to pick up her fixed boom box (hey, I mean, if you're going to die anyway, might as well listen to some music on your way out).  Eugene, incredulous that she's even focused on her boom box right now, tells her that he'll work on it but he would still like to have the bottle of wine that she was going to give him in exchange.  Tanya informs him that no amount of alcohol is going to help him sleep at night and that he HAD his chance to help her and wives poison Negan and he chose to look out for himself.  OUCH.  But, she's right.  In any case, she leaves him the wine and leaves Eugene to chug his wine, in consolation.

After much tinkering and visiting Sasha's old coffin (did anyone else jump at that Sasha Walker flashback?  I did), Eugene uses components from the boombox, from Sasha's old iPod and other elements to create a musical drone, in an apparent plan to launch it off the roof and over the walker herd, to try and lead them away from the Sanctuary.  Right as he's recording his steps but before he hits the launch button, we see Dwight come out on the roof and confront Eugene, putting a gun to the back of his head.  He tells him to stop and that his actions will lead to the death of Rick, Rosita and all his friends (again, Eugene insists, traveling companions) and that he's working WITH them to save people and preserve the greater good.  Eugene says that no matter what he's screwed: Either he does nothing to improve the situation at the Sanctuary and Negan kills him OR he takes his chances trying to save the Sanctuary and he gets POSSIBLY killed by a sometime ally/sometime foe in Dwight.  Ultimately, Eugene launches the drone over the Walkers, only to be shot down by Dwight...but not before Eugene records the whole conversation on his tape recorder that was documenting the launch?

Which brings us to Daryl, Tara and Morgan.  After Michonne and Rosita came to their senses and decided that Daryl's plan was way too risky and left, the remaining members of the group decided to continue to follow through.  Although I will say that Daryl at least seemed SLIGHTLY conflicted, whereas impulsive Tara and suicidal Morgan were fully on board.  Upon hearing the gunshots from Dwight on the roof (SIDE NOTE: Why didn't Morgan and his snipers pick off Dwight and Eugene when they were on that roof having their confrontation?), Tara opens fire on the windows of The Sanctuary and Daryl puts the pedal to the metal and crashes the truck into the building, jumping out of the truck in time to run off with Tara and leaving a gaping hole for the walkers to start flooding in.  And flood in they do.

What we see next is utter chaos on the main floor of the Sanctuary, which we learned from earlier episodes, is where the "workers" primarily reside, including men, women and children.  The lieutenants do their best to get as many of the walkers as possible and we see Eugene frozen on the steps in shock, fear and anger over the situation.  He is literally shaking.  He then lets out all of his frustrations on Father Gabriel, informing him that he has NO intention of helping him at ALL with Dr. Carson and that he is fully Negan and will do everything he can to save these people.  He then storms off and goes to Negan.

In Negan's conference room (that's what it is right?), a determined Eugene informs Negan that he has a plan on how to escape this precarious situation, but he would need him to help him get to the abandoned metal shop (remember?  The one that Eugene and Abraham were at when Eugene said he use this place to make bullets? God, I miss Abraham).  Negan TOTALLY strokes Eugene's ego, calling him "magnificent" and Eugene offers more Intel to top that.  Negan is all ears, but it's at that point that the rest of lieutenants show up and Eugene cowers at the idea of ratting out Dwight right in front of him (clearly that's what he was going to do).  Instead, Eugene mentions that he can fix the intercom system too.  Fabulous.

So let's now visit Rick and the Garbage People (as much as I don't want to).  After some bizarre pseudo-naked photos, Rick is held down and Jadis brings out essentially Winslow, Version 2, being maneuvered by a metal helmet attached to a stick.  Rick immediately reacts and fights off a couple of Jadis' people and eventually pulls the Walker's head off , fights off Jadis, and eventually (finally) pinning her down.  It's at this point that she instructs her people to surrender and after some hard bargaining (what is with this chick and the strange deals?), she agrees to help him.

A fully dressed Rick and the Garbage people then arrive at the Sanctuary, with Rick trying to radio in the cavalry, to no avail.  He then sees a sniper hanging down from his post, being eaten by walkers, with his face missing (FORESHADOWING COMIC BOOK FANS).  He kills the walkers and climbs the post and is shocked to see the truck crashed into the Sanctuary and it being completely clear of walkers...and people.

So we're now left with the following questions:

• What was Eugene's plan that got rid of the walkers and got the remaining Saviors out?  Where did they all go?
• How much time has passed since Rick was held by the Garbage People?
• How will the Saviors now retaliate, since Negan informed Eugene that he fully intends to?
• What will be the ultimate repercussions of Daryl, Tara and Morgan's actions?
• And finally, who's dying in the mid-season finale??  Because we all know that's going to happen.

To help with these burning questions, we'll be posting possible predictions tomorrow morning to see just how good we are.  Stay tuned...

The Walking Dead's mid-season finale will air on Sunday, 12/9 at 9:00PM EST and will be an extended 88 minute episode.

[RECAP] Season 8, Episode 6 of The Walking Dead, "The King, the Widow, and Rick"

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While Episode 6: The King, The Widow & Rick started setting in motion events that will surely have significant ramifications by the mid-season finale, overall, it was one of the weaker episodes of the season by far.  In fact, this episode should've just been titled "Bad Decisions" since that's all we saw our beloved characters do throughout the entire episode.

In the case of Rick, we see confirmation that our fearless leader was in fact on his way to see the Garbage People (at least that's what I'm calling them).  Also, apparently Jadis and her second-in-command work on metal/wire art in the nude, when not fighting? In any case, they put some clothes on to (properly) welcome Rick and see what in the world he wants.  He reiterates that he STILL wants to make a deal with them and shares with Jadis all the polariods taken during the war to show her that they're essentially the better pony to bet on.  Jadis is (as she should be) incredulous that Rick STILL wants to make a deal with her people, especially since she keeps bringing up that she shot him (not a detail to be overlooked).  Finally he gives her an ultimatum: Join their cause or be defeated by his people.  Jadis' response is a soft, "No".  And with that, he is dragged away, while she mutters about how he talks too much (this coming from a group that doesn't use prepositions in their speech but that's okay).

Then we have the Daryl/Tara and Rosita/Michonne story line.  Not too much to say here other than Rosita gets an awesome RPG kill on a Savior that tries to call her "honey" (in the wake of recent sexual harassment allegations, I have to imagine that many a woman out there was living vicariously through Rosita).  But beyond that, we have (4) martial members of Team Grimes going out on essentially a suicide mission.  Daryl and Tara are appreciative of Dwight's help to get this far....but they still don't trust him and decide he must be killed.  Really?  Dwight?  Isn't the whole point of the plan to get Negan?  Eye on the prize people.

Joining them on their suicide mission is the team of Rosita and Michonne, both still recovering from the Savior attack on Alexandria in the season finale of last season.  For whatever reason, Michonne feels that she needs to "see" the Sanctuary for herself.  Okay...why?  Everyone that was there has been reporting back on what's been going on (via letters apparently, no carrier pigeons in the apocalypse clearly).  Alexandria, The Kingdom and The Hilltop all seem to be aware of what's going on and the progress and setbacks experienced.  For that reason, I would've found it a lot more believable if these two ladies felt that they were tired of sitting on the sidelines and wanted to help in the battle.  THAT I would've understood much more than, hey, let's go drive (2) hours away to the Sanctuary to "see" it.  See the difference?

When we leave these four (after Daryl and Tara essentially save Michonne and Rosita from the two Saviors they fought that were trying to transport "The Fat Lady", the brilliant music speaker truck), they are at the Sanctuary with Daryl saying that they need to "end this".  Whatever in the world that means.

Back at the Hilltop, Maggie is still having to contend with what to do with all the Savior prisoners that Jesus brought back.  Jesus clearly believes that these POW's essentially need to be treated with respect since they are defenseless.  He even goes as far as to feed them, something that infuriates Maggie since they are running on limited supplies for the people of the community.  Gregory appeals to the other end of the spectrum by telling Maggie that she has every right to ignore that "hippie" Jesus (Ha, good one) but Maggie is not completely sold on his idea of simply slaughtering the prisoners.  She finally comes to a conclusion and Gregory thinks that the prisoners are being led to the gallows (FORESHADOWING FOR COMIC BOOK FANS) but instead the prisoners are being lead to a sort of chicken coup barbed wire enclosure.  A Savior internment camp, if you will.  Gregory still feels that people that aren't trusted should be taken very seriously and Maggie agrees meaning, Gregory got thrown into the coup too.  I have to say, I felt bad for Gregory at this moment, seeing him so fearful of being incarcerated with the Saviors.  So I did feel bad...for a moment.  I'm sure that'll change.

Was this a good decision versus poor decision?  We'll have to wait and see, particularly since we have Jarrid the Savior eager to free himself of his restraints and then we have the new Dean the Savior who wants to play nice and not get everyone killed.  This could all go really well OR could all go really bad.  Time will tell...

To be noted, Enid and Aaron, both currently assisting Maggie at the Hilltop, have decided to drop off Baby Gracie (I still say that baby will play a major role on this show, mark my words) and go off to "win" this war.  Huh?  ANOTHER suicide mission?  Did these people not hear about Rick's plan?

We also get to see Carl exploring by himself in the woods again (*sigh*) and he tracks down Siddiq, the wanderer they meet a few episodes back who Rick shot at.  Carl actually asks him the (3) Questions (remember those???) and they become a little zombie killing team, mostly due to Carl's reckless (yet again) decision to kill a few zombies to honor Siddiq's mom.  Fortunately they manage to get out alive, in spite of poor decision making on attacking those walkers.  But, good judgement call on Siddiq (COMIC BOOK FANS, YOU KNOW).

The only overall respective course of action in this whole cesspool of poor decision making was at The Kingdom with Carol, Ezekiel, Jerry and little Henry.  Jerry is still holding down his post because dammit, he still respects the King and that's his job.  Little Henry (the younger brother of Benjamin, the Kingdom Knight that was killed by Jarrid the Savior) has finally pursued Carol to allow him to follow her because she needs fighters and he wants to avenge his brother's death.  Here's hoping little Henry will be the one to deal the final blow to Jarrid...

But in addition to that piece, is Carol's confrontation of King Ezekiel in his theater/receiving office.  He is a broken man, having lost all of his knights and of course, Shiva.  He is sitting on the floor of the stage with Shiva's chains in his hands, still not able to face his people.  Carol continuously tries to convince Ezekiel that his people need him to LEAD, and to not lay down defeated but he is incredibly resistant to her words.  We get an inkling from their interaction that there is clearly a romantic situation brewing here but I don't want to gloss over an amazing piece of monologue from Carol where she talks about how she essentially faked it every single day until it became the norm, and she's still standing.  YES CAROL.  That is why you are Queen of the Apocalypse. Despite all that, unfortunately, Ezekiel is still not budging.

And that was the episode folks: Rick locked up naked in the Garbage People's trailer with the letter "A" marked off (much like at Terminus...hmmmm....) waiting for the Calvary to come, who are all busy on suicide missions.  Smart.

THE WALKING DEAD'S NEXT EPISODE IS ON SUNDAY, 12/3 AT 9PM EST.