Season 8 of The Walking Dead aired this past Sunday and with it brought to a close a chapter in the war between Rick and Negan. Warning, spoilers ahead…
Everything has built up for this moment ever since Negan introduced Lucille to Abraham and Glenn at the start of Season 7. So much has happened in between and the one actually shook both alpha males to their core was the death of Carl Grimes. For obvious reasons we understand Rick’s plight. Negan however, his feelings for Carl is one of admiration and respect. Perhaps he saw some of himself in Carl. Before his death, Carl wrote letters to several people including one to his father and one for Negan. It took some time for Rick to read his son’s final words and wishes for his father and sister. Carl urges his dad to end this war with Negan with peace and not blood. He ask the same of Negan. Neither seem receptive of the idea which leads us to this moment.
As Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Maggie prepare for battle based on the faulty intel Gregory had given them thanks to a unknowing Dwight, Negan and his Saviors ready themselves to ambush Rick and kill everyone from the Hilltop and Kingdom. Prior to the not so epic battle, we see flashbacks of Rick and a young Carl days before the apocalypse remembering a simpler time. The cries of Gracie brings Rick back to the present and encounters Siddig. Rick finally asks him about Carl and how he was bitten. Siddig tells him that Carl was honoring his mother, a women he never knew and yet wanted to do so.
Back at the Sanctuary, Eugene shows off his homemade ammo much to Negan’s delight. Negan sacrifices some his men by having them set up a roadblock to lure Rick and legitimize Dwight’s intel all the while providing Rick with false information on Negan’s whereabouts. Negan on the other hand along with Gabriel and Eugene head to the rendezvous point where they’ll spring their trap on Rick and company.
Following the map they found on the slain Saviors, Rick’s group see a massive herd of walkers and continue on. They end up in an open field where Negan taunts them from a PA system nearby. Surrounding them on higher ground is the Saviors. Negan holds Gabriel at gunpoint and Rick sees Dwight is one of Negan’s prisoners being readied for execution. Negan counts down to three and as they fire their weapons, they all backfire thanks to Eugene’s purposely faulty ammo. Most of the Saviors are either dead or seriously injured including Negan who gets shot in the hand. Gabriel and Dwight overpower their captors as Dwight attacks Negan. Negan manages to flee as the remaining Saviors surrender.
Rick gives chase on Negan. Rick takes a shot at Negan by a nearby tree where two stained glass windows hung. One of Rick’s shots fractures one of the stained windows. Out of bullets, Negan attacks Rick with Lucille and quickly gains the upper hand. He confesses to Rick that although he wanted to kill him during their first encounter, he wouldn’t do such a thing in front of his son. Rick urges Negan to give him ten seconds to hear him out not for his sake but for Carl’s dying wishes. Negan complies and Rick goes on to talk about finding a peaceful solution and that the future is there for all of them. As Negan begins to listen, he puts his guard down and using a piece of the broken stained glass, Rick slices Negan’s throat. All this occurs as both groups watch on in the distance.
With Negan down, Rick tells Siddiq to save him, much to Maggie’s anguish. Maggie wants Negan to suffer as Glenn and Abraham had suffered. Rick tells all who are gathered around that Negan’s way of doing things is over, that a new start and where living in peace is what they all should be striving for must now come to pass. As Rick would later mutter to himself, “my mercy prevails over my wrath”.
Later that night back at the Hilltop, Maggie talks to Jesus and Daryl. Maggie expresses her feelings and anger toward Rick and Michonne for keeping Negan alive. A fact that once the Hilltop regroups, they plan to rectify. At Alexandria, Rick and Michonne stand above a restrained and ailing Negan and tell him that he will rot in a cell for the rest of his life as he watches their community thrive. The season comes to an end as Rick narrates his own letter thanking Carl for leading him to this point.
It’s not much of a stretch to say the character of Negan and his introduction had been one of the most highly anticipated of any character before or since. But after his intro one could say that the show has been a bit flat. Now that the war is over and a new one could be brewing on the horizon with Maggie and Daryl, we’ll have to see if The Walking Dead can recapture the swagger that made it a must see every Sunday night.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
