As the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead opens we return to The Hilltop, where we see Maggie (Lauren Cohan) sitting next to Glenn’s grave crying. Still pregnant, Maggie gets up and dusts herself off, then climbs up a ladder to the lookout and stares into the distance. During her peaceful moment, Gregory appears and, for possibly the first time ever, calls Maggie by her actual name. He tells her that the people are saying some nice things about her, and that she shouldn’t let it get to her head. Maggie says that maybe instead he shouldn’t let it bother him, which it obviously does.

When we get to see Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) again, he’s shaving — likely using Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) shaving tools — and giving Carl tips. It’s also worth noting he has both Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Judith sitting in the bathroom watching him, as if he refuses to let them out of his sight. Next we see Negan cooking in the kitchen, stirring sauce and even wearing an apron. Carl is also cooking, it appears he’s making biscuits, but he doesn’t look too thrilled about it. Later he even asks Carl to set a plate for his dad, Rick, but eventually Negan gets tired of waiting and puts Lucille in Rick’s chair before digging in.

For a brief moment we also get to see Daryl in his cell, still holding the “go now” note that was slid under his door. He takes a deep breath and finally cracks the door open, ready to make a long-awaited run for it. As he makes his way down the hall he hears voices, then just barely misses running into some saviors. He ducks into an empty room where he finds fresh clothes to change into and then digs into some peanut butter while waiting for a chance to run again.

When Spencer turns over the goods he found, The Saviors praise his hard work. He takes that in stride, even when the female hits on him, then returns home to clean up his house. He grabs a bottle of booze, dresses up real nice, and even practices saying hi before heading out to find Negan. On the way he encounters Rosita and she’s unimpressed with his decision to go introduce himself to the man who more or less ruined their lives. Then Spencer asks her why she didn’t give him a real chance, and Rosita (Christian Serratos) tells him flat-out that she used him after Abraham. Surprisingly this leads him to ask her to dinner, which she agrees to, then he goes directly to Rick’s house to meet Negan.

Morgan & Carol Turn Down A Chance To Fight

In what feels like another world, Morgan (Lennie James) pays Carol (Melissa McBride) a visit in her new home. He brings her fresh produce, but she reveals she has plenty and it’s all thanks to her newfound friendship with Ezekiel. Just as Morgan is leaving one of Ezekiel’s men, Richard, is dropping off fresh water and even more produce, but then he reveals he would really like to talk to both of them about something important. Hmm, what could he be up to?

Richard tells them that he is very, very concerned about The Saviors trying to take The Kingdom. He knows they have peace with The Saviors, but he doesn’t trust them and he knows that they will turn on them eventually. He’s basically asking Carol and Morgan to convince Ezekiel to recognize this and do something to stop The Saviors before they lose everything. What’s crazy is that as this conversation is happening we have to remember that Carol and Morgan have absolutely no idea of what’s gone down between Rick and The Saviors. They have no idea Abraham and Glenn were killed by Negan, or that they are now forced to supply The Saviors with goods.

Carol is quick to turn the idea down. She just wants to be left alone and she makes it very clear, even after Morgan reveals she’s a much more capable fighter than anyone realizes. Morgan turns it down as well, hoping to remain in the peace that he’s found at The Kingdom. This upsets Richard, but he eventually stops asking for their help and leaves. Hopefully Richard’s wrong about The Saviors and they are too focused on Alexandria to even think about taking anyone else down right now. Hopefully.

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When we catch up with Rick and Aaron, they are finally trying to make their way across the water to the trailer they hope is filled with supplies. It’s no surprise they run into trouble and have to put a few walkers out before being tipped over or worse, flat out going under on their own. Just as they make it to the safety of a canoe, Aaron gets grabbed and pulled over the edge by a walker and nearly bitten numerous times. He brilliantly decides to go under water, something walkers obviously don’t do, and swims to safety before climbing up on the dock unharmed. Phew!

Inside the boat house they find plenty of weapons and supplies, but unfortunately no ammo. It’s still a great win for Rick and Aaron, especially if they want to keep Negan happy, so they take what they can. While packing up the truck Aaron reveals that he understands why Rick is kneeling to Negan, despite how different it is from the carefree life they lived in Alexandria beforehand. What they don’t see during this conversation is that someone is watching them from across the water, but who could it be?

Michonne Finds The Sanctuary & Daryl Gets Out

Meanwhile, Michonne is still on her “take me to Negan” mission with the redhead she trapped on the road. She asks the woman how long she’s been with Negan and why she was out there alone, but the woman says nothing. Michonne tries scaring the woman into talking but it doesn’t work, and her threats don’t even seem to phase the woman. Then, in a rare show of emotion, Michonne says she’s not going to kill Negan today. That she’s going to find a way to win and change how this ends for herself.

When they finally get to The Sanctuary, the woman stops far enough away so that Michonne can see it’s a fortress. There is no way in for her. The woman knows what’s going to happen next and from a distance we see Michonne kill the redhead, then get in the drivers seat and turn the truck around so she can head home.

Back at The Hilltop, Sasha lies to Maggie about when Jesus left and Enid calls her out on it after Maggie leaves. Enid’s upset because they are lying to Maggie, and reminds the girl that if they tell her she might want to get involved. They can’t let that happen because they need to keep her safe. Enid gets it, but she also knows where Carl is — and that he’s likely in danger right now trying to do the exact same thing.

This episode jumps around a lot, so stick with me here. In Alexandria we see Rosita staring at her bullet when Father Gabriel interrupts her and starts asking questions. She tells him it’s for Negan and that she doesn’t care if she dies, as long as Negan dies first. Gabriel tells her that she doesn’t have to die, and then tells her that they will win this war, but that they need to wait for the right moment. Rosita listens to him with tears in her eyes, even as he begs her not to go through with her plan. “We need you,” he tells her, then leaves her alone with her thoughts in the church. Has he changed her mind though?

When Daryl finally gets back outside to where the bikes are he encounters Fat Joey. Fat Joey is immediately terrified and surrenders, even telling Daryl to walk right out and he won’t say a word. Daryl doesn’t accept this, instead he uses a pipe to crush in Fat Joey’s skull repeatedly until Jesus shows up. Once his aggression is out, he tells Jesus he has the keys and hops on a bike to finally get away.

Rick Returns To Negan’s Bloodshed

Rick finally returns to Alexandria one of The Saviors tells him that Negan is in his house waiting for him, but they won’t let him go home just yet. They want to see what he brought them first, so they force him to wait while they check out what’s in the back of the truck Aaron is driving. Unfortunately they accidentally left the note the man who left the supplies behind which has a big middle finger drawn on it. They take serious offense to this and brutally beat Aaron to a pulp while Rick watches, helpless.

Meanwhile, Spencer and Negan are sharing a drink on Rick’s porch. When Spencer reveals that there is a pool table in the house across the street, Negan has his men take it outside and into the street so they can play a game. As the game begins Spencer reveals that he’s really there to talk about Rick, and he shares the story about how his mom used to run this place. Negan is unimpressed and reveals it by stabbing Spencer in the abdomen. He slices him wide open, so when he pulls out Spencer’s guts fall out before he collapses to the ground.

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In the moments after, Rosita is so infuriated by Negan’s attitude she pulls out her gun and pulls the trigger — but misses. Instead she hits Lucille, which sends Negan into a fit of rage. The woman ins his group tackles Rosita to the ground and holds a knife to her face while Negan picks up the bullet and discovers that it’s handmade. He demands to know who made it, but Rosita won’t give up Eugene and instead says she did it herself. Negan is unsatisfied with this answer and tells his woman to kill someone, so she quickly turns and shoots Olivia (Ann Mahoney) without even so much as a thought.

Rick arrives at this moment and confronts Negan, demanding to know what happened because he believed they had an agreement. That’s when Negan tells Rick about Carl’s little escapade, then Spencer being a turncoat, and last but not least what Rosita did. Negan then demands once again to know who can make bullets, and just moments before he lets his people kill another person at random, Tara volunteers herself. Negan doesn’t even get a chance to react before Eugene interjects and admits the truth, that it was him.

Negan is surprised by this, but then Eugene starts repeating the recipe until he’s asked to shut up. Negan tells Rick he’s taking the bullet maker with him along with all of the supplies they found, which he also says are not enough no matter what’s waiting for him at the gate. Yikes.

Rick Reveals He’s Finally Had Enough

Later that night Michonne finds Rick inside the prison cell they built. She tells him that she found what she was looking for out there, and that although she wanted to go with him today she just couldn’t. However, she admits that when she found what she was looking for she didn’t want to be doing it alone — she wanted him with her. She tells him there are more of them than they thought, that it’s not even close, but that that hasn’t changed how she feels. Michonne tells him that they have to keep fighting, that they’ve lived through so many things they shouldn’t have and that has to mean something. But, she tells him she will not fight without him. “I know that now,” he tells her, and then they kiss. So is Rick ready to take on Negan for real?

At the end of the episode, Rick brings Michonne, Carl, Rosita and Tara to The Hilltop to see Maggie. The first thing he tells her is that she was right, that they need to fight. Everyone embraces, but that’s not the best part — the best part is Daryl emerging with Jesus in the background. Rick rushes over to him and the two pause before Daryl bursts into tears, and the brothers are finally able to embrace after God knows how long they were forced apart.

Then, before heading up to see Gregory as a reunited group, Daryl hands Rick his python. It was the gun Fat Joey was carrying when Daryl killed him during his escape, and also a huge message that it’s time to strike back from one friend to another.

Last but not least, there was a surprising post-credits scene. It’s late at night outside of Alexandria and someone is watching Father Gabriel, who is on watch, from a distance through binoculars. The next thing we see is the man’s feet plant on the ground on the other side of the gate, allowing the stranger inside access to Alexandria. But who could this person be?

Tell us, HollywoodLifers — What did YOU think of the mid-season finale? Are you ready to see Rick and the group finally take a stand against Negan? Comment below with your thoughts!

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