The Walking Dead: The Big Scary U

First Aired November 19th, 2017

A flashback shows Gregory (played by Xander Berkeley) meeting with Negan (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan) and his lieutenants informing him of the upcoming raid. Gregory assures Negan that he still controls the Hilltop though Negan doubts it. He hopes to circumvent a war by killing those responsible for instigating it just as Rick (played by Andrew Lincoln) shows up with his group.

After the attack on the Sanctuary, Negan is surrounded by walkers in a storage unit with Gabriel (played by Seth Gilliam) and they’re forced to wait it out. Negan states that Rick is going to get people killed but Gabriel only fears dying without a purpose. They begin to talk to pass time, Gabriel first attempting to take Negan’s confession and then explaining why he became a priest. Inside Negan’s lieutenants believe he’s dead and attempt to deal with the horde and the idea of that they were only hit so hard because of a mole in their group. Dwight (played by Austin Amelio) steps up and says they need to focus on evacuating but Simon (played by Steven Ogg) is set on severely punishing the mole. Gabriel continues to pry inside Negan’s mind, berating him about his ‘wives’ and how he treats his people. When Negan is distracted Gabriel attempts to shoot him but misses and he locks himself in a separate room.

It’s amazing how little self-respect Gregory has, honestly he might live for a while simply because he’s too pathetic to kill. After a long absence Negan is back and it was interesting watching his scenes with Gabriel because these are two characters you’d never think would interact so much. It’s always ominous when a character makes a revelation like wanting a meaningful death; it’s almost like a hint that they might get that wish sooner rather than later. One of the things that I liked about the episode were the scenes of Simon, Dwight and the other Saviors having their meetings. Nearly every aspect of the Saviors is shown through Negan’s perspective and often his lieutenants are just there being menacing. They’re still menacing but now we get to see them be fleshed out as characters.

Rick and Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) are told from a dying Savior that most of the Kingdom soldiers are dead. Daryl comes up with a plan to further weaken the Sanctuary’s defenses with explosives, but Rick refuses to put the workers and their families in danger. Daryl refuses to back down they fight, Rick throws the explosives into an overturned car and they detonate and they go their separate ways. As the walkers begin breaking into the unit Negan attempts to get Gabriel to work with him. Gabriel recounts how he locked his congregation out of his church at the start of the outbreak and decides to work with Negan to show him that’s the only kind of future possible. Negan does end up telling Gabriel about his previous job helping teens, his first wife, how he cheated and how she was sick. They cut up a dead walker to move through the horde but Gabriel gives them away. Inside the workers begin to revolt until Regina (played by Tracy Dinwiddle) shoots a man, moments later Negan appears and restores order before locking up Gabriel.

Daryl’s desire to kill the Saviors has almost turned into obsession; in fact he’s acting like Rick was not too long ago wanting to kill first and ask questions never. The workers turned on the Saviors pretty fast though and Daryl’s plan could have united them and made Negan’s forces stronger. Gabriel trying to get Negan into a confession seemed like just a distraction but it was odd seeing it actually happen. But we did learn that Negan was never really a good guy, yeah he mentored kids but he was a bad husband. It makes Gabriel’s decision of trying to show Negan they can work together all the more confusing. In his mind Gabriel feels like he’s making further amends for what happened with his congregation but Negan has openly said he likes violence. If Gabriel really wants to die with a purpose he should go for assassinating Negan instead of trying to rehabilitate him. It could be when Negan said he wanted to work with Gabriel he thought redemption was possible but when Negan says ‘work together’ he means ‘work for me’.

While Negan is given an update on the situation with the mole Eugene (played by Josh McDermitt) realizes that it’s Dwight, Eugene is then ordered by Negan to find a solution to clearing the horde or be killed. When he goes to Gabriel’s cell he finds him very sick, Gabriel then says they need to free the Hilltop doctor so he can get to Maggie (played by Lauren Cohan). Dwight’s cover is as good as blown, Eugene is such a coward he would crack with just a stern look from Negan or anyone. This show has been on long enough that it’s clear a fever is usually more than a fever, it looked like he would be okay but Gabriel’s ‘meaningful death’ talk was always ominous. You would think he might set his sights on killing Negan but getting Maggie her doctor is a noble final act.

Quotes/Thoughts

“I like killing people. You kill the right people at the right time, everything falls into place.

Negan basically tells Eugene do a good job or die; that’s one way to ensure quality work.

“I’ve killed before but that’s not my greatest sin.”

Rick spotted a helicopter which can only mean something important, or at the very least a new method of travel if they can get ahold of it.

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