The Walking Dead Season Finale: When Negan Checks In, Who Checks Out?

First Aired April 3rd, 2016.

Rick (played by Andrew Lincoln) gathers a group to get Maggie (played by Lauren Cohan) medical help at Hilltop. Meanwhile, after a long search, Morgan (played by Lennie James) finds an injured Carol (played by Melissa McBride) who refuses to return to Alexandria.

Rick’s group in the RV encounter a roadblock of Saviors who demand their supplies but Rick stands up to them. As they depart, their leader makes a vague threat against Rick’s loved ones. Carol explains that she left because, as much as she cares about the people in Alexandria, she can’t be around them because she would have to continue killing for them. Morgan will not leave her. The next day, Carol manages to sneak off but is attacked by the lone Savior she spared from the previous episode. Near death himself, he shoots Carol several times and holds her at gunpoint, watching as she slowly bleeds out. Rick and the others happen upon another group of Saviors but, seeing they are outnumbered, turn around and drive away. Later they come across a road blocked with chained walkers and find one wearing a watch belonging to Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) and another with one of Daryl’s (played by Norman Reedus) arrows. Several Saviors begin shooting from the tree line and the group is forced back into the RV. They speed off. While driving, Rick realizes the Saviors have been leading them down this road.

Carol’s self-imposed isolation is comes from her view that being around people was dangerous. Why? Because her killer instincts were always brought on by the need to protect her friends. However, her actions in this episode, the way she refused help for her injuries and tried taunting the Savior into quickly killing her, showed this was also a form of gradual suicide. And, in an ironic twist, it’s the love of her friends that is causing her to feel this way. If she is going to recover from this it will take a lot of work emotionally and mentally, and that will be hard because, no matter what, Carol will never completely avoid killing.

The cat and mouse game with the Saviors added great tension, from mild threats to full-on gunfights every time they came face to face. Maggie’s severe medical situation added a ticking clock where all these delays could cost her life and/or the life of her baby.

After all the trouble Rick and the others have given the Saviors it’s no surprise they would drag out their revenge. The walkers with symbols of their captives was an especially inspired touch.

Morgan finds Carol and kills the Savior when he doesn’t back down. They are then found by other survivors who help Carol. After arriving at yet another blocked road, Rick and the others see a man hung over the side of a bridge. Saviors taunt them from the other side of the barricade. When it gets dark, Eugene (played by Josh McDermitt) drives away in the RV to distract any watching Saviors while the others move Maggie on foot. During their hike, the group begins to hear whistling all around them so they break into a run, only to find themselves in a clearing surrounded by dozens of Saviors and a captured Eugene. Everyone is disarmed and forced onto their knees as Dwight (played by Austin Amelio) brings out Glenn (played by Steven Yeun), Rosita (played by Christian Serratos), Michonne and an injured Daryl.

Negan (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan) than comes out and introduces himself.

Negan asserts that they will follow the rules he has imposed upon other communities and give up whatever supplies he wants. As punishment for having so many of his men killed, Negan decides to kill one of them to assert his dominance.

Morgan actually killed someone! Perhaps he’s learning to adapt his ways (or more likely it was a “fluke” he’ll feel guilty about all next season). Rick and his group must have killed dozens of Saviors but judging from that large group they’ve barely made a dent in their ranks. The long awaited arrival of Negan didn’t disappoint. Jeffery Dean Morgan has played warped characters before and in this scene managed to capture the authoritative sociopath well in both appearance and attitude. What really made the scene rapt with tension was knowing that someone in the group was going to die. There was speculation about it for weeks and watching it slowly unfold and trying to figure out who would be the unlucky person was surreal. This is the most memorable character introduction to date and indicates that Negan will be just as popular on the show as he is in the comics.

Negan takes out a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire he has affectionately named Lucille and begins deliberating which victim he will choose. He draws out the decision process and finally picks someone.

Their identity isn’t shown.

As Negan rains blows on whoever the unlucky person is, the screen is filled with blood and finally goes to black. The only thing worse than losing your favorite character? Waiting months to find out whether that character is actually dead. It was clear a main character was going to be killed and keeping the identity unknown narrative-wise was a great way to build suspense going into season seven. With just one scene, Negan has set the bar high for any future villains on the show and I can’t wait to see what other trouble he brings.

Quotes & Thoughts

“You can breath. You can blink. You can cry. Hell, they’re all gonna be doing that.”

Since Daryl had a nonspeaking cameo in the episode I’m using that as hope that he wouldn’t be killed. Who do you think/hope Negan chose?

“We got here together, and we’re still here.”

Negan’s arrival shook up the comic series. Here’s hoping the television version will do the same.

 If you enjoyed Manny’s review, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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