With only three episodes left in the series — let that sink in, just three! — the puzzle pieces are beginning to reveal a picture of what the end of The Walking Dead will look like. Fittingly, a trio of storylines move forward on a collision course with each other: the liberation of the prisoners at A-town, the trial of Eugene Porter, and a subplot that might turn out to be the most consequential of all — Aaron’s search party and its unsettling discovery. Underscoring all of this are tests of moral character for two would-be heroes: Negan, who’s still proving he’s no longer a villain, and Mercer, who’s called upon to (finally) follow his conscience at great personal risk.
Negan’s observation to Annie that he was basically the Warden not all that long ago resonates throughout the episode, which is all about wrestling with the past and drawing lines between the righteous and the wicked. Annie chuckles at Negan’s observation, but it ain’t so funny to Zeke, who is still holding a serious grudge over the death of Benjamin, Henry’s brother. The prisoners are all together in the labor camp now, and given Annie’s rough treatment at the hands of the Commonwealth troopers, Negan’s unborn child and all of the rest are facing a very bleak future. Things are so miserable that Tyler — the former soldier who took Max hostage in the middle of Pam Milton’s party — won’t entertain the idea of joining Zeke and Negan in overthrowing their captors. The revolutionary spirit has been beaten out of him through manual labor, threats of violence, and a crummy government meal plan.
When the Warden demands that Negan bring him whoever is plotting a revolt, it’s back to the old question of whether or not Neegs has really changed. Will he sell out Zeke in order to keep himself and his wife safe? The prospect seems unlikely, and yet it sure looks like he will do exactly that, especially after a heated argument in which Zeke says that even if they somehow escape, Negan doesn’t deserve to be a father. Ouch. But Negan is too smart to trust a guy like the Warden — he used to be him, remember?
The good news for the A-town captives is that an all-star rescue squad is lurking just beyond the town walls. Daryl and Connie head into the sewers (or as Daryl signs to her, “down shit tunnel,†which proves yet again that these two are incapable of being anything but adorable together, even when traipsing through feces-water), while Rosita and Gabe begrudgingly hang back on lookout duty. (Should we be concerned that one of their best snipers has only one good eye? Guess that’s all he needs.) This leaves Carol and Maggie to sneak into a house where they magically subdue a trooper in total silence and, while mere feet away from even more guards, take a moment for Maggie to ugly-cry. Fair to question whether you were selfish for bringing a kid into this nightmarish world, Mags, but this is not the time! They find little Herschel unharmed, but they see no sign of the other kiddos.
While the prisoners are being liberated, Eugene is in the Commonwealth’s kangaroo court with a hanging judge on the bench and execution in his future. Pam turns on the waterworks from the witness stand, as she recalls seeing her dipshit progeny on a slab in the morgue. Even worse, while being cross-examined by the fiercely business-suited Yumiko, Pam pulls out the deep-fake defense — Sebastian’s taped conversation in which he exposed the lottery as a sham was altered, she claims. Given there’s no technology available that dates beyond 1987 that theory should be easy enough to disprove. Yet Eugene is found guilty anyway, and while Yumiko succeeded in winning the hearts of the people, Eugene’s got just one hour before he’s a goner. Eugene’s speech proves to be more powerful than Yumiko’s legal strategy: He might as well be looking straight at Mercer when he says that he once “fell in with a posse who thrived on doing some downright unseemly acts on the reg†(ha!) and that while he “wasn’t the one swinging the bat, I nevertheless had blood on my hands … my inaction made me culpable … sometimes all it takes is one person.†One person indeed, Mercer. One person indeed.
Amidst all this life-or-death tension, there’s a rare reunion of semi-old friends as Aaron’s wagon posse stumbles across a couple I’d completely forgotten about: Luke, the entertaining fellow from Yumiko’s old crew, and Jules, his girlfriend from Oceanside. The cheer is short-lived, as one would expect when living in zombie hell: they fled from the beach community when Hornsby showed up and haven’t seen Rachel, the O-side leader, or anyone else since. That news is disturbing enough, but what’s far more troubling is what happens when they all gore-up and walk amongst the dead to avoid detection from a Commonwealth patrol. A knife falls to the ground as the herd ambles along. No big deal — until a zombie appears to pick it up. Aaron and company are still haunted by the “climber,†as they’ve dubbed the newly-agile walker they confronted earlier. If these things are learning how to arm themselves, forget about humans being the “real threat†— knife-wielding, pistol-packing monsters will become the undisputed number one cause of death in the new world.
Plot twists abound as while it appears that Negan has indeed set up Zeke to take the fall at A-town, everyone is shocked to see Negan’s actually ready to sacrifice himself for not only his wife, but all of the prisoners. But the power-mad Warden makes a fatal mistake by ordering that Annie die as well (these Commonwealth assholes really love a good execution). First, Zeke buries the hatchet and leads a moment of solidarity as he and a bunch of prisoners stand with Negan and Annie. Then Negan successfully appeals to the disgruntled soldier, and the ensuing chaos ends with a familiar sound — the crunch of a blade as Daryl appears just in time to stab the Warden. (Not that he needs to score points with Connie, but she can’t say no to a first date after the guy saves her sister’s life.) Even better is Rosita’s finishing move: When the Warden smirks and whispers “you will lose everything,†she shoves a zombie soldier on top of him and the Warden screams in agony as his face, including at least one eyeball, is devoured. It’s so gruesome that even Negan looks away, and when you gross him out, you really need to do some self-reflection. (Note that the Warden’s dying words to the vengeful Rosita are a callback to Judith’s intro, when she repeated Rick’s line that if they let wrath overcome mercy, they will “lose everything.â€)
Even the least surprising moment delivers the goods. It was only a matter of time before Mercer listened to his conscience, along with literally everyone he cares about and respects. Even as a hooded Eugene is being marched through the bowels of the Commonwealth, death doesn’t really didn’t seem imminent — surely Mercer had something up his armored sleeve? But neither Eugene nor I were prepared for the line that proved, finally, the big man has joined the good guys. “Time to fuck shit up,†says Mercer, and with that, the focus turns from freeing the prisoners at A-town to freeing the people of the Commonwealth. Better hope their combined numbers can take on “leveled up†zombies on the way.