For the zillionth time, the survivors concoct a plan that requires Swiss watch precision, Broadway-level choreography, and Michael Bay–size explosions. The action - and this episode is almost all action - begins with Rick, Ezekiel, and Maggie rousing their troops for an elaborate assault on the Sanctuary.
Rick is ugly-crying again? And then … Rick is old? (It’s worth noting that showrunner Scott Gimple has confirmed that Rick is not waking from his coma, so thankfully the series hasn’t been a Dallas-style dream.) Related StoriesĪMC’s Streaming Service Will Begin Offering Additional Walking Dead Features Instead, there’s some intriguing time-shifting throughout the episode. So let’s fret about the future later and celebrate a solid premiere that lives up to this season’s tagline, “All Out War.” It could easily have been a simple, slow-build battle with the Saviors.
But as Negan might say, “Well, shit, snowflake! You bitch and you moan … and yet here you are, back for more. What happens when Negan is eventually killed, as Rick has repeatedly promised? Are they stuck in an endless loop of meeting and beating Big Bads, like a video game with no end? Are we running out of ways to be shocked and surprised? These questions feel especially appropriate as we’ve reached this landmark 100th episode. Still, I felt a wave of walker-induced existential angst sweep over me. Sure, it was encouraging to see Rick finally pick himself up off the canvas and come at Negan swinging (with a little help from Zombie Sasha and Shiva the Somehow-Very-Well-Fed Tiger). Last season of The Walking Dead ended on an optimistic note for the survivor-warriors of Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom, but it also ended with a bit of the ol’ sad trombone for me.