The Walking Dead: Service

First Aired November 13th, 2016.

Everyone is still reeling from Negan’s (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan) brutal attack the week before. They are working to find supplies to give when Negan shows up early, ready to take what he wants.

Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) is brought along, but Negan threatens to harm Daryl if anyone talks or looks at him, and has the Saviors search houses, taking anything from food to furniture. Dwight (played by Austin Amelio) sends Rosita (played by Christian Serratos) and Spencer (played by Austin Nichols) out to find Daryl’s motorcycle. Negan attempts to get a rise out of Rick (played by Andrew Lincoln) and overtly suggests an interest in Maggie (played by Lauren Cohan), but Rick lies and says the stress of losing Glenn (played by Steven Yeun) killed her. Carl (played by Chandler Riggs) pulls a gun on two Saviors taking all of Alexandria’s medicine, but is forced to back down by Negan, who then demands all of their guns. However, Negan does allow them to keep all of their food since rations are low; if they starve to death, he can’t continue taking supplies from them. While retrieving the bike, Spencer voices his frustration that Rick got them into this situation and Rosita unexpectedly runs off.

If it wasn’t nailed down, the Saviors took it. Leaving Alexandria with next to nothing and whatever shreds of dignity they are still clinging too. Negan showing up early throws everyone off and is another way for him to assert his superiority. Everyone struggled to keep their anger and fear in check, which threatened to boil over any minute—creating a lot of dramatic tension in the episode. Even scenes with Daryl, who was forced to remain mute, were powerful because he was being forced to observe everything and everyone he couldn’t have anymore. Rick’s lie probably felt like the right move at the moment after Negan’s (admittedly disgusting) advances on Maggie, but that’s going to cost him later. Negan is the kind of guy who would go after you for looking at him the wrong way and that’s not a guy you want to lie to.

Things begin to go south when some guns aren’t accounted for, and Negan threatens to kill Olivia (played by Ann Mahoney), who was in charge of the inventory, if they aren’t turned over. Rick holds a town meeting and urges whoever has them to turn them in, but nobody owns up to having them. Spencer finds Rosita killing walkers and checking the bodies for guns, knowing Negan is going to steal all of theirs. Eventually, it’s discovered that Spencer was hiding the guns in his house, and once they’re returned the Saviors leave with no bloodshed. But not before Negan takes another opportunity to gloat over his victory to Rick. Spencer is outraged that Rick went into his home and rips into Rick for putting them in so much danger and Rick calls him weak. But when Spencer mentions Glenn and Abraham (played by Michael Cudlitz), Rick threatens him. Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) believes living under Negan’s thumb is not a life worth living, and wants to fight back—but Rick refuses. Michonne goes off on her own and discovers the Saviors burned all the mattresses they took.

I can only imagine what Negan would have been like if someone had messed up his order in a restaurant. His constant mockery might work to keep others subservient to him, but it’s only inching Rick closer toward standing up to him; Rick even came close to attacking Negan this episode. The burned mattresses validate Michonne’s point that living as Negan’s slaves isn’t a real life; these people took away comfort purely to keep them miserable. They will never have a stable or happy life under Negan’s reign, and incidents like this will be another factor in the inevitable war between Alexandria and the Saviors. But trouble lurks inside Alexandria in Spencer, who is shaping up to become a secondary antagonist this season. His hatred of Rick is likely resentment of not being the leader of Alexandria, similar to what happened with Shane (played by Jon Berenthal) back in season two. Much like Shane, Spencer is not fit to lead anybody, but he shouldn’t be a problem for long when you consider the track record of people who turn on Rick.

After the Saviors leave, Rosita is revealed to have hidden a handgun inside of her car. She later goes to Eugene (played by Josh McDermitt) and asks him to make a bullet using an empty shell casing. Give you one guess who Rosita is planning on saving that bullet for. Hope she’s a good shot, because if she actually steps up and tries something: she’ll get herself, or likely someone else, killed.

Quotes/Thoughts

“In case you haven’t caught on, I just slipped my d**k down your throat, and you thanked me for it.”

Negan may not enjoy doing violence to women, but he clearly has no hang-ups verbally bashing them.

“I love a gal that takes me to dinner and doesn’t expect me to put out.”

Daryl had an “A” painted on his clothes. That letter pops up a lot on the show. What’s the significance to that?

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