The Walking Dead Review: Episode 810 – The Lost and the Plunderers

TV Description: Groups unite their forces and converge on the Hilltop; Aaron and Enid search for allies; Simon takes matters into his own hands.

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead and Some Swears]

PREVIOUSLY ON THE WALKING DEAD

After the destructive attack by the Saviors, Alexandria is waiting in the sewers below their home until the enemy leaves. While down there Rick discovers that his son is bitten and he, along with Michonne, Siddiq, and the rest of Alexandria says their goodbye to the young survivor. Meanwhile at the Kingdom, Carol and Morgan slaughter the squads of Saviors, led by Gavin, to free Ezekiel. Gavin almost escapes, but it caught by Morgan who is set out to fulfill his revenge for his dead student, Ben. Before he can though Ben’s younger brother slays Gavin and all four prepare for their next action. The episode ends with Carl telling his father that the Saviors can be spared and they can all live together as a community before he kills himself, saving his father and foster mother the guilt of killing their child.

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After the pretty good mid-season premiere from last week, I was eager to see the next episode as some of my hope for the show was restored with how well they portrayed Carl’s last episode. What I got though was exactly what I got in the last episode: Some really great moments, some bad moments, and some moments that continually remind me of the absolute failures from the first half of this season. One thing I can say about this episode that it does fit more into the proper one-hour time-slot and it does fix a problem we had last season is that for this episode the characters arcs are split so each section of the episode focuses on the main character from the title card before each begins. I hope it’s not something they continually do every episode, but it definitely helps keep the storyline organized and focused. With that I’m going with these characters for my sections for this review, so let’s begin.

Michonne

With Carl dead, Michonne looks around Alexandria as she and Rick scavenge supplies for their trip to The Hilltop. It’s a pretty heartfelt section, with Michonne seeing the hand-prints of Carl and Judith on their porch, her fighting off the dead to try and rid them from Alexandria, and putting out a fire with Rick before leaving. It could have been more heartfelt in my opinion, but I still felt some of her pain of losing Carl and watching her destroyed community, which makes her part pretty successful in what it was trying to accomplish. The Saviors were really brutal in their attack with their fire grenades and other explosives that wreaked havoc upon the community. Anyone who found out that this has happened to their home would definitely be horrified and wish things were back to the peaceful times from before.

The scene where she and Rick are trying to put out a small fire before leaving was the best scene in her section of the episode. First off, the fire could spread since it’s under a wide-spread tree, which if left unchecked could burn down the rest of Alexandria. Second off this can be interpreted as Michonne trying to feel like she could return Alexandria to a time before Carl’s death, such as before they all met Jesus and the Hilltop. We see her continue to put out the fire even when the walkers are getting really close to her. Poor girl was really trying hard to get the last of the fire out, but in the end they had to leave before all of it was dealt with.

After leaving Alexandria Michonne and Rick decide to head to the junkyard to check on Jadus and the Scavengers/ Heapsters. I am rather conflicted on this because it’s still unclear whether Jadus was going to side with Rick after their last encounter or not, so Rick saying they have to check on them is rather strange. It’s been less than a day since that meetup and he thinks they’re all nice to him now? Whatever, they get to the junkyard and they are suddenly trapped as they enter the main area. And then Michonne’s section ends with a horde of walkers suddenly trapping them.

Negan

After their victory over the resistance, Negan is happy over apparently having everything back to normal (for him). With thinking he’s now back in control, Negan assigns Simon, played by Steven Ogg, with the task of managing the Scavengers/ Heapsters. After seeing them with Rick last time it’s definitely a good plan. Simon is at first excited as he believes he’s going out to kill them all, but is shot down when Negan tells him to just get them all in line, with just killing one of their people to get them in line. This does lead to more conflict in how they should deal with all this resistance, but also sets up what most likely is going to happen with Simon and Jadus. If I was Negan I would definitely have the Jadus checked on, especially as she is a new source of resources for my people. Maybe not with Simon though.

But why? Simon believes it’s no use to put the resistance back under control and it would be better to wipe them all out. Negan though believes that humans are the most valuable resource and that killing them all would mean they have nobody to work for them and give them supplies. We’ve seen this before with Negan and I find it a great quality of him, with him valuing human life, but not entirely in the way we’d thinking of valuing life. I really like fighting between them, with Negan’s morality showing when he explains it’s easy to just kill them and move on, but that his and the Savior’s way of doing things is hard, yet the right thing to do because putting in effort to take care of conflict through control rather and all-out killings results in more profitable long-term results at the cost of large amounts of effort. Simon’s tactics on the other hand show that they can find new people to supply them after wiping out the resistance, resulting in a fast, yet little effort solution that can still get them what they need. It’s an interesting clash to say the least, something our world is presently facing right now with many of our dilemmas.

The tension begins to boil over when Negan gets a coffin from Hilltop, showing him that Maggie has 38 of his people as prisoners. After Negan deals with the Savior walker inside the coffin, he and Simon argue more, with Simon now insisting he personally, with his man, wipe out the Hilltop for good. Negan really gets violent then, laying down the law and bellowing how Simon must follow his orders, ending this part of the episode.

Enid

This was almost the worst section of the episode, with us finding out what happened to Aaron and Enid after Enid accidentally killed the leader of Oceanside. Both of them are brought to the community and almost executed for their crimes. It didn’t help that Enid was very harsh in how she talked back to the new leader, Cyndie. They still let the two go, but Enid is still harsh towards them on them hiding away instead of joining the fight. Enid, your people took almost all their weapons away, at times almost revealed their hidden community to others, and killed their leader. And you ask for more? They have their own survival as well. I know that stopping the Saviors would make them safer, but they don’t have much power to really contribute without leaving their home unguarded.

After this confrontation Aaron and Enid are lead out of Oceanside and warned never to return. So what do happens then? Aaron decides to return while Enid goes to tell Maggie what’s happened. It shows what’s going to eventually happen in the story, making the fate of Aaron and Oceanside more obvious than the fate of Superman after Superman vs Batman! Oh my god guys, can’t you make it a bit more complex than that? You have to make it obvious what’s going to happen. You might call this spoilers, but I already warned you of spoilers at the start and it’s just so obvious! It’s like the whole show is starting to get plot protection! It’s ridiculous! But enough of me raging, it’s becoming unhealthy for me. There’s not much more to say on this part, so let’s get to a great section of the story.

Simon

This part of the episode was definitely one of the better points of the episode. Steven Ogg did a great job with his scene, especially with how he confronts Jadus. It’s like you see a bit of him as Trevor from Grand Theft Auto coming out of him, it makes him so evil yet so enjoyable to watch. He does go to the junkyard and tells the people there to hand over their guns and asks for an apology from Jadus so the Saviors can continue to protect them. During this talk Jadus tells us that they were never with Rick, that they were just delivering him to the Saviors. That’s questionable (though part of me believes it’s true) and Simon expresses his disbelief by shouting “Bullshit,” in such an over-the-top way that’s just so memorable. I’ve seen plenty of GIFs after this episode with Simon shouting that out, it’s so hilarious and awesome.

But that shout-out starts to turn Simon, making him more questioning of Jadus and her sincerity. It does raise some interesting queries though, such as how they can even survive in a junkyard, what was it before, and what are those helipads and solar panels doing in a junkyard. Jadus unwisely pushes those questions to the side and gives bland, uncaring apology to Simon. This is when this scene escalates quickly because Simon doesn’t believe she’s being truthful and quickly shoots a random Heapster. Jadus tries again to apologize, but Simon still doesn’t believe him and shoots another person. Then Jadus does something really stupid and punch Simon while furiously shouting an apology. And of course that causes Simon to tell his soldiers to kill all the Heapsters except Jadus.

Now to me this was a good move from the creators. The Heapsters weren’t really that popular and their way of talking, though interesting, becomes quite annoying after a time. I can kind of agree with these opinions, though I will say they definitely weren’t as bad as the Wolves from season 6. Even with these criticisms though I was pretty sad that they were killed off. Simon just went full on killer and it was crazy! That smile during the shooting was just malicious. It gives me shivers just thinking about it.

After the massacre Simon returns to the Sanctuary and tells Negan everything went well. This lie made me realize that his choices this season relate really well to what Daryl did to Rick; both of Simon and Daryl didn’t follow their orders and decided it was best to kill the enemy immediately instead of compromise in order to lessen the deaths on both sides, later keeping their operations a secret from their leaders, which will eventually get them in trouble. The only real difference between the two is that Simon was already a dangerous, violent man while Daryl was changed to that because the creators of the show couldn’t think of a better way to force a specific story onto the audience without actually giving a care. To close this story arc Negan gets a call on a walkie from Rick.

Jadus

With this next section we return to Rick and Michonne climbing up, away from the walkers. There we find Jadus strangely in a white dress. I don’t know where she got it or what happened with her normal clothes, but… she’s in a dress. When she sees the two Jadus tells them of how the junkyard wasn’t really a junkyard before the walkers, but just a place that she went to in order to make art. She made the place sound beautiful, a haven of peace where people didn’t have to worry about others hurting them and where you make things in peace. It was so touching to hear her express her care for this junkyard. I almost wanted to hug her.

In response, Rick says she’s at fault for all her people dying. Wow. Not even a question on how they died or feeling sorry for her, just immediately putting the blame on her. Now to fair it is kind of her fault with how she couldn’t express a proper apology and how she was the one who first interfered with Rick, which brought her and her people into the conflict. But even so that’s just mean Rick, really damn mean.

After those uncaring words Rick and Michonne escape the junkyard by using trash such as a car door to shield them from walkers as they escape. And following the last words of his caring son, Rick abandon’s Jadus and leave her to be eaten by walkers. How nice of you Rick, you’re a really great leader. You need as many people as possible to fight off Negan and you leave a great ally and possible supporter to die because the rest of her people are dead and you view her as worthless. Unbelievable, just unbelievable! You are becoming Negan, Rick! Actually no, you’re becoming worse than Negan because Negan would actually be prepared and save people!!!

Now saying all this, with Rick and Michonne out of the part, Jadus’s storyarc becomes a lot better. If fact it gets really damn sad and makes you really care for her and situation. She escapes her undead people and gets on a platform across from a grinder, luring her former people to it with a metal pole. When they’re all across from her she removes a chain barrier and turns on the grinder, causing all the walkers to step towards her and fall into the machine. Jadus then has to watch all the people she cared about grounded into gooey flesh, though to me the flesh was a bit too gooey and unrealistic. I was crying while watching this, it was tragic and just horrifying. Everything Jadus did for her people was all for nothing. Her actor, Pollyanna McIntosh, puts on a beautiful performance with this final part, one that I’ve personally gone to twitter to tell her that she just was incredible. You’ll feel something for Jadus too after this heartbreaking scene.

Now, as reader of the comics, the way Jadus’s story ends has brought up some interesting theories on her fate. I have a strong belief that she’s going to come back as another character from the comics. Who you may ask? Sorry, not going to say. But I tell you that if these theories are true it’s going to be awesome! We see her story end with her getting out some applesauce she stole from Alexandria and eating it with a thinking expression on her face, with hints that her story is not over with. This could mean she’ll be back later on in a much bigger role. With a new showrunner taking over next season and any seasons onward, this could end up being huge with a big, positive payoff!

Rick

Sadly, with how emotional and impacting the previous character story was, we have to end with something, like with the previous episode, shows the terrible decisions made by Scott Gimple. We start off with Michonne reminding Rick of Carl’s last words and how he didn’t really follow through with them when he abandoned Jadus. This becomes a bit too much for Rick and he pulls his vehicle over to think over what he did and view his and Negan’s letters to Carl. Oh, I forgot to mention? Before he and Michonne get to the junkyard Michonne finds a letter from Carl to Negan. And you want to know what the letter basically said? Stop fighting and make peace with everyone. Because yeah, Carl was very peaceful and nice towards Negan and the Saviors when he threatened a Savior with a gun on their first visit to Alexadria, mowed down a number several more when he snuck into the sanctuary to kill Negan, and stands up in defiance to Negan multiple times throughout season 7. I’m going to ranting any more on this because I’ve already raged about the stupid decisions made about Carl’s character in the previous review. No need to repeat it.

So after that scene, Rick calls up Negan with a walker he got off a dead Savior from a previous episode. This leads to Rick revealing to Negan about Carl’s death. Similar to Enid this episode, Rick is bit harsh he doesn’t need to be with Negan, which didn’t feel right with the situation. Negan is genuinely shocked and sorry for Carl dying, showing that he and Carl, despite being enemies, had a sort bond between them, especially with Negan almost looking up to Carl throughout the series with how he’s such a strong person despite being so young. Negan also does respond to Rick by saying he let his son die because he wasn’t there for him, instead warring with the Saviors. He adds on that Rick should just give up now so he doesn’t have to lose any more loved ones, that losing Carl was a failure as a father and a leader, and that with these failures he won’t be able to protect the rest of the people he cares for. Originally when I watched this final part I was blinded by rage towards… you know what. But now looking through clear eyes I realize that Negan’s talk to Rick was well done and a pretty good way to end the episode.

Overall Analysis

So how did this episode do? Similar to the last episode, there were some really good scenes from some of the characters, but there were also scenes from other characters and from the mistakes from the first half of the season. If it weren’t for those problems from the first half these episodes wouldn’t be that bad. I’m going to try and stop, or at least minimize, bashing of the creators and their decisions from the first half of the season (which will be tough for me), but even with that gone there are problems with this episode that make it feel off. Jadus, though having a great arc, wasn’t doing very smart things with Simon, Aaron is being a dumbass/ plot-armored miracle man, and Rick’s becoming a dumb douche. So in the end, Jadus and Simon’s arcs were the best, Aaron’s and Rick’s were the worse, and Michonne’s and Negan’s were decent. I have to give this episode of The Walking Dead a 6.5 out of 10, with me thinking it’s a little bit better than average while fitting in much closer to the one hour mark instead of being extended.

Two last things to point out. First, thank you Stephen King for pointing out on Twitter how the grinder needed power to run (yeah, he’s a fan of the show, neat). And second, I’m still more excited for Fear the Walking Dead to come back more than watching the rest of this season. Even then though I’m worried because Gimple is a showrunner for this upcoming season of Fear and I’m scared he’s show ruining ideas will destroy another wonderful show. But still, can’t wait for Fear. But for now I have to pray that the next episodes do better than what we’ve gotten.