The Walking Dead: The Obliged

First Aired October 28th, 2018

Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) goes about her daily routine of working in Alexandria and taking care of stray walkers. She gets distracted by a walker who was hung and another almost kills her, she kills it with a bat but the familiar weapon leaves her shaken.

Maggie (played by Lauren Cohan) heads to Alexandria to kill Negan (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan) ignoring Jesus’s (played by Tom Payne) concerns that she’s acting too rash. With too few workers the bridge project is terminated and everyone packs up to leave and Rick (played by Andrew Lincoln) worries what could happen to the Sanctuary. Rick learns Maggie’s plan and attempts to radio Alexandria but the messenger is on Maggie’s side and doesn’t.

Michonne learns that Negan has been refusing food so she meets with him but he only agrees to eat if Michonne talks with him. Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) offers Rick a ride on his motorcycle but Rick quickly realizes he has ulterior motives, they pull over and fight getting stuck in a ditch. Rick is adamant keeping Negan alive will keep the peace While Daryl thinks it gives the Saviors hope things will go back to Negan’s way. Rick also learns Oceanside killed the missing Saviors and worries everyone who died (including his son) in the war will have died for nothing if Maggie goes through with it.  Daryl says too many people can’t live with what Negan did and Rick is blind to that.

Michone was clearly having Negan flashbacks with that bat which distracted her in more ways than one (a hung walker means someone in the area is killing people). Having to babysit him while he eats isn’t likely to help Michonne’s mood either. Killing is the word of the day as Maggie goes to assassinate Negan and she clearly has several followers, all the espionage to get her to Alexandria was like a zombie movie mixed with a spy thriller.

The scenes with Rick and Daryl fighting over the right thing to do were great, they’ve disagreed before but are now firmly on opposite sides. They still have undying love and loyalty to each other but neither will back down and it’s just a question of who will get their way. People are already killing Saviors and word of Negan being taken out could open the flood gates. Side note; we all know Rick is leaving/dying and he’s been the central protagonist but his exit was not very nuanced. Rick had so many positive moments with people (basically final goodbyes) it started to feel like overkill.

Negan taunts Michonne about not being out helping the others but she claps back that she’s helping reorder the world while he rots in his cell. He opens up about his wife dying of cancer and probes Michonne about how her son died but she’s cagey about it. Negan says them being gone is good because they would be ‘weak’ and a furious MIchonne leaves. At the junkyard Jadis/Anne (played by Pollyanna McIntosh) nearly kills a tied up Gabriel (played by Seth Gilliam) with a walker, he talks her down and she knocks him out instead.

Carol (played by Melissa McBride) is confronted by Jed (played by Rhys Coiro) the Savior she spared last episode. Jed managed to get a gun and they want revenge on Oceanside, Carol disarms him but the others attack causing a fight. Negan tells Michonne they are the same; Michonne says while they both killed he enjoyed it while she wants to bring people together. Michonne realizes Negan hoped she would kill him but Michonne refuses.

Anne and Gabriel’s relationship status doesn’t look too good (at best it’s complicated) but she didn’t kill him so there’s that. Michonne and Negan getting into each other’s heads was very intense there were Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling vibes. Negan is great at manipulating people but there’s no way he wanted to be killed at least not at first. Living in a dark cell has probably weakened him mentally but given any chance to escape his will to live will return. He will get that chance because a caged Negan isn’t much fun to watch, but in a twisted way he bonded with Michonne and could be the start of him becoming an anti-hero (much emphasis on anti). The Saviors want revenge against Oceanside and at this point Negan’s life doesn’t seem to matter in regards to keeping the peace because the fight’s already started.

Rick and Daryl (hearing the gunshots) crawl out of the ditch narrowly avoiding walkers that keep falling inside. With more walkers approaching Rick stays to lead them away from the bridge to keep it safe. Gabriel wakes up alone in the junkyard with a note from Anne saying she couldn’t stay with the group which leaves him devastated. Rick encounters a second herd and his horse gets spooked knocking him to the ground, he gets impaled on a piece of rebar and passes out as the walkers close in.

Anne tried to kill Gabriel then abandoned him she’s clearly not that into him. Rick’s last episode is next week so his circumstances look extra bleak but there’s no way this is how Rick Grimes is going out. My theory is he’ll die a hero’s death as an example to everyone else to try and maintain the peace. Whatever the case may be it’s a sure bet Rick’s exit/death will be epic.

Quotes/Thoughts

“You’re not scared that you’re like me. You’re scared you’re going to end up like me.”

A crowbar doesn’t look like much but Maggie is sure to have some inventive ideas how to use it on Negan.

“You know what keeping Negan alive means for us.” “I know what killing him means for her.”

The only thing that may unite everyone again is a common enemy and on a show like this one should come along soon.

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