The Walking Dead: Dead or Alive Or

First Aired March 12th, 2018

The survivors of Alexandria head for the Hilltop, though Dwight’s (played by Austin Amelio) presence causes tension particularly with Tara (played by Alanna Masterson). Meanwhile after escaping the Sanctuary, Gabriel (played by Seth Gilliam) and Doctor Carson (played by R. Keith Harris) head for the Hilltop but find themselves lost as well dealing with Gabriel being sick.

Gabriel and Carson find an abandoned radio post where Gabriel’s symptoms get worse but they get lucky and find antibiotics. Tara wants to kill Dwight but Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) and Rosita (played by Christian Serratos) refuse believing he can still be useful to the fight. At the Hilltop, Henry (played by Macsen Lintz) tries to find which captured Savior killed his brother, but Carol (played by Melissa McBride) keeps him in the dark so he doesn’t kill anyone else. Maggie (played by Lauren Cohan) refuses the request of the captured Saviors for leniency and cuts their food supply after learning the community is running low. In the Sanctuary, Negan (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan) interrogates Eugene (played by Josh McDermitt) about how Gabriel and Carson escaped, and has him make more bullets for the upcoming fight. Dwight suggests going through the swamp, though it’s dangerous Daryl overrules other’s objections and Daryl, Rosita and a few others go on ahead to clear a path through the walkers.

If you’re going to be sick there’s no better person to be stranded with than a doctor. Gabriel’s unwavering optimism did get old but you can’t fault him considering how lucky they kept getting. Throughout the episode there were different conflicts brewing and waiting to see which ones bubbled over kept the narrative exciting. Henry’s revenge isn’t a compelling story on it’s own, but told through Carol’s eyes it is. Carol has gone down a dark road where killing became second nature and seeing someone so young possibly go through that scares her. Dwight is pretty much screwed, the Saviors want him dead for betraying them and everyone else wants him dead for working with Negan to begin with. But considering how Negan coerced and tortured him you can’t help but feel bad for Dwight at least a little. Eugene on the other hand has only ever acted in his own self-interest and his comeuppance is due, hopefully soon.

Although the antibiotics help Gabriel’s vision is poor and Carson is worried he can have permanent damage. But after Gabriel breaks a small urn they find car keys and a map which puts them back on track to get to the Hilltop. Unfortunately Carson is injured by a bear trap and nearly killed by walkers, Gabriel saves him but they’re captured by the Saviors. Carson tries to fight but is shot and Gabriel is taken back, but he covers for Eugene by saying Carson orchestrated their escape. Tara gets Dwight alone and she holds him at gunpoint, when he apologizes for killing her girlfriend, this enrages Tara who starts shooting at him. Tara chases Dwight but they have to hide when a group of Saviors appear, Dwight jumps out and distracts them. The Savior who identified him as a traitor appears to be dead so he lies to the Saviors and leads them away from the others. Daryl is furious because Dwight can betray them but they have no choice but to keep moving. They finally arrive at the Hilltop and inform everyone of Carl’s (played by Chandler Riggs) death.

Gabriel and Carson just couldn’t catch a break, whenever something went right for them things went south either seconds or minutes after. After all those setbacks, possibly going blind and seeing Carson shot dead Gabriel seems to have finally given up hope but somehow he still found it in him to cover for Eugene. Gabriel’s survival is looking grim with his lack of optimism and sight; side note the POV shots from Gabriel’s near blind vantage point were great. With Dwight’s cover not blown he’s back with the Saviors and people seem worried he will defect but that’s unlikely. His hatred of Negan is palpable and he could have easily given up Tara if he wanted to, but that small act of kindness likely hasn’t changed her opinion of him. If anything Dwight has made himself useful to the fight again until he’s really found out but it feels like we’re just waiting to see which side takes him out.

Morgan (played by Lennie James) informs Henry that Gavin (played by Jayson Warner Smith) killed his brother to Carol’s frustration. Siddiq (played by Avi Nash) offers his medical services to Maggie and the Hilltop as thanks for being taken in, and Maggie decides to allow the prisoners out under armed guard for labor. At the Sanctuary, Dwight witnesses Negan’s plan to use walker blood to turn people in the Hilltop as a form of biological warfare.

Henry learning about his brother’s killer was kind of anticlimactic, hopefully there’ll be some kind of payoff to that scene in the next episode. With Carson dead Siddiq can step up as the new Hilltop doctor and start making Carl’s sacrifice worth something. People always expect these fights to be solved by bullets but Negan came up with a plan that’s actually really brilliant; why has nobody thought to use walkers to infect people like this before?

Quotes/Thoughts

“We’re on the right path even if we’re on the wrong road.”

I wouldn’t be able to handle being blind in the apocalypse, you’d never be able to go anywhere because the likelihood of something happening is so high.

“You don’t get to switch sides and make it okay.”

Traveling through a swamp is never a good idea.

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