Okay...lots of thoughts. On the episode, the last 3 as a whole, and the direction of the show going forward. There is going to be some stuff from the comics mentioned in here, and how it relates to how I think about certain things/characters on the show. As always spoilers are possible, so skip if you're not interested.
First off let me address this episode, as a stand alone, last night. Really good episode. I really enjoyed it. They've made the Whispers very creepy and a very real threat. I very much enjoyed the way they've done this.
I liked that they had Michionne and others treated like anyone else, when they arrived, because it's obviously playing into whatever has happened with these communities in the time skip. I'll get more into that in a bit.
Really good build, through the whole episode, to the ending. A couple of things specifically about the ending. I find it really odd that Michionne, and the new ladies, just happen to show up, in the right place, when they'd have had no idea where exactly this group of people are. It's not a huge thing, I know, but it was just really odd that this happened considering they had absolutely no idea where they were needing to look.
Negan...I'll touch on that later actually.
The death of Jesus...shocked me. I suppose in hindsight it shouldn't have. They've obviously been setting this up for the entire 3 episodes with him not really wanting to be the leader, believing Maggie was going to return, sneaking out, the whole thing. They basically have been telling us all along that he was going to die and even with all that...shocked. I did not, at all, see him being the death.
I figured there would be some sort of loss, or death, but I was really shocked that they went with Jesus. Pretty intense, pretty crazy. I'm very interested to see how this all plays out.
Now with that stand alone, of the episode, let me look into the future, briefly, as it applies to the trailer shown for the second half. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm looking forward to how this plays out, the fall out of the loss of Jesus, and specifically will this be the catalyst that brings the communities back together?
I'm interested because as a fan of the comics this is taking a very different direction to start this process. Obviously a lot of the key players in the comic are not available here to start this Whisper arc the way they did in the comic. Rick and Carl are central to the beginning of this story line there, and obviously we don't have them here. Also there are no major deaths like this at the outset. This is done, later, during the fair when the leader of the Whispers, known as Alpha, has done something terrible as a warning while Rick and Carl are in the Whisper camp waiting to be seen by Alpha. While they're there, waiting, she comes to the fair and kills several people, of varying importance, and places their heads on pikes at the border of what they consider Whisper land as a warning to Rick, and his communities, not to cross into their territory again. It's a truly shocking ending in the comic as the final shot in the comic is of King Eziekel's head on a pike.
Now could they still go with this warning during the fair thing? Possibly. But I'm guessing the show is going to go with the death of Jesus, and the realization of this new (And what, IMHO, would be the hardest threat to combat they've come across) threat is going to have to be dealt with is what is going to finally bring them back together. I'm not 100% sold on that due to some dialogue they teased in the trailer, between Michionne and Sydiq (Or however it's spelled). So I'm very interested in how they're going to play this all out.
As an interesting side note, for those who aren't aware, the big guy known as Beta, that they show Daryle fighting in the preview, is being played by Ryan Hurst. Known as Opie Winston to those SOA fans out there, like me. So I'm really happy about that.
Now to the last 3 episodes as a whole. I enjoyed them all, the second one a little slow but understandably, and I enjoy the interest they are creating in the show in a different manner, for the most part, from the comic and where I thought this would all go. BUT...you know there had to be one.
I'm becoming more frustrated with the Michionne character, and this entire direction in which the communities are divided. It's obvious that there is a very serious divide, and after last nights episode it appears its a very serious divide based off of decisions Michionne made that I feel are going to turn out to be selfish, and short sighted. It's clear that the X on her and Daryle's backs, and the situation they faced that led to that is going to factor in heavily here, but my problem is that whatever decisions Michionne made she made them with the idea that every community was on their own. They were no longer a bigger, stronger, community and she went immediately into a very selfish, and short sighted, Alexandria is my only concern.
Why does this bother me you ask, especially without knowing all the exact reasoning for it? Well I'm glad you asked. Even if you didn't, but you're still reading this rambling of a fan I appreciate it all the same. It bothers me because this direction, and this stance, they've had Michionne take has flown directly in the face of the world that Carl and Rick envisioned, fought, and died for. By going the direction they've had her go she's basically rendering their deaths, IMHO, for nothing. These are the two people she supposedly loved, and cared so much for, that she fought, and even protected for the most part, Negan in order to preserve their visions, and what they were fighting for.
And now she's just completely doing the exact opposite of what she knows they both died to build? I am not a fan of it. Especially as a comic fan and seeing how the communities, after the Savior War, are tight, well oiled, and they're working so hard together to build a better world. In the comic these communities are getting ready for the fair as a celebration of the world they've created, the larger community, and what they've come through. It's actually put on by Alexandria as such and not by the Kingdom as some last ditch effort to save the communities. I am, in no small part, no fan of this particular part of the direction. In particular Michionne. It's just...wrong. IMO.
Now to Negan. Both how this played out here, in the comic, and what I think it means going forward.
The cell was not locked by the guy in the room when Father Gabriel left. If you recall there was a guy outside the cell, who un-cuffed Negan. It's clear he didn't think to lock the door, or check it, because he believed it locked when Gabriel slammed it shut.
Now in the comic this happens in a way as well, but Gabriel is not involved. In the comic it happens when he's bathed, and fed, and they forget to lock it when they leave. He realizes it's unlocked and you get an ending in one comic where you think, well they just let this maniac escape.
However in the comic he sits right there, on this cell bed, with the door open and waits for Rick to comeback and find the door open. He uses this in the comic as a way to prove to Rick that he's changed, and that he wants to work with Rick on the world he's envisioned. It's his way of trying to build trust with Rick.
Now, obviously, we have no Rick anymore. There is no one he really needs to build that trust with in the show. So there was no reason to place this in the show here, other then they went with the cheap way to allow him to be let out. So now the show is going to have him go ahead and leave, which will set up the show teasing, or whatever, that the communities may have more then just a Whisper problem because Negan is now free. He may try and be the guy of old.
This is a different, although potentially interesting, way to go with the character. My guess is that he's going to wind up playing a vital role in saving someone (Or some group of people) from the main groups from death and he's going to be cautiously trusted to help them in the Whisper war.
Now I can tell you as a fan of the comic they did this in a way that I absolutely loved. In the comic, after he doesn't just leave, eventually Rick allows him out of the cell, and allows him to leave Alexandria. He won't let him live with them, but he doesn't keep Negan from being free. In the comic Negan eventually winds up in the Whisper group. He goes to them. Decides he wants to join them. At least that's how it's portrayed. It's not clear, at least not totally, if he really ever wanted to actually join them or if he joined up with them to wait for a reason to do what he does, for another purpose.
In the comic he winds up with them for a small amount of time. Getting close with the leader, Alpha. Alpha is a female in the comic, and I'm sure Alpha will be in the show as well. Anyway as he starts to gain her trust, to whatever degree you can gain any of these lunatics trust, Negan sees her allow the Whispers to do things he does not approve of at all. If you'll recall from an earlier season (And it's this way in the comics as well, this was straight out of the comics), Negan absolutely does not abide by rape at all. He finds it disgusting. Well in the comic Alpha allows the males of her group to have their way with the females of the group. It's up to the females to fight them off, if they really don't want to be raped, otherwise the men are allowed to do this. In the comic it's explained by her as her way of them following her, and not doing the same to her. She fought one off, or something, and that's basically what made her the leader.
Negan, of course, finds this disgusting. He can't believe someone would allow their own people to rape, or be raped. He finds it so disgusting that he kills, and cuts, Alpha's head off. Leaving us with a great final shot in that comic of him holding up her severed head and Negan saying "Wait until Rick see's what I've done for him." Or something to that effect.
Negan then returns to Alexandria, with her head, and shows Rick that he can be trusted and that he's killed the leader of their newest threat and he's ready, willing, and able to help fight them off to save Alexandria, and the communities, if they decide to attack.
Anyway, all that long winded set up to say, that I'm very interested to see how they play this out different in the show to build in Negan helping the group. I don't really see any need to have him join them, and do this whole set up, because again that was basically for Negan to prove himself to Rick. I don't see him seeing anyone left as someone he has to prove himself to. So I figure they're going to bring him in very differently in the show. But I, like Michael, am very interested in his continued involvement because to me he's the only strong leader type character left.
I never viewed Daryle as a leader. Jesus is now dead and Tara doesn't strike me as a leader. With Rick "dead" and Maggie "gone" I don't see anyone else as a great leader for the communities as an overall leader. King Ez is a great leader but I don't view him as a guy who can lead all groups, and such. And as I stated above I absolutely am not happy, at all, with the direction of Michionne as a leader.
So I'm hoping for a great comeback by Negan here and in the role of a good 'savior' of the communities.
All and all I'm very interested in seeing where they go. In particular I need the backstory on these X's and how they led Michionne to decisions that have obviously divided, and fractured, the communities to such a huge degree.
