Check out our review of the last few weeks of episodes “The Other Side” & “Something They Need” of The Walking Dead on AMC.

The Walking Dead – Season 7 episodes 14 “The Other Side” & 15 “Something They Need”

Warning: There will be spoilers.

NOTE: SORRY for the delay, Robert is still recovering & working.

Some quick recapping then we’re just diving right into it…

S714 “The Other Side”

Robert: Again, another duel review given my workload so let’s get right into it. On last week’s episode “The Other Side” we got to see things from two point of views and all centered around the Hilltop in some way. We got the suicide mission of Sasha & Rosita off to kill Negan and we got to see Simon aka Little Negan (Steven Ogg) & his Savior crew come back up to Hilltop, having a short chat with Gregory (Xander Berkley) before taking Hilltop’s doctor away to Sanctuary while Daryl & Maggie hide out. During Daryl & Maggie’s hide away & almost detection, Maggie forgave Daryl for Glenn’s death, a burden Daryl’s been holding onto all season long. On “the other side” of the episode, we got to see Sasha & Rosita sneak out of Hilltop as the Saviors arrived and made their way to the Sanctuary where Negan & his Saviors are held. Sasha tries numerous times to connect with Rosita and finally they do as she somewhat breaks down, enough that Sasha realizes that Rosita needs to live. When the two of them finally make thier plans and go to sneak in for the kill, Sasha locks Rosita out and let’s her live as Sasha says, it’s “not her time yet” then goes off for the kill into the Sanctuary compound. Now. this comes after the two of them met up with Eugene, who decided to flee from them rather than joining them. Does it show Eugene’s true colors as a Savior or a coward? In the end, Rosita is running away in tears when she comes across a shadow of someone with a crossbow, is it Daryl or Dwight?

Robert: Okay, I enjoyed this episode but also wished that the show wasn’t do so much filler. This whole seasons been about the promo poster rather than the actual War that’s coming. It’s about Rising Up against that opposition that Negan and the Saviors represent and know I get that but stil felt that some of these episodes came a little late and now feel more like filler vs more character building. That said, a powerful episode for both Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha Williams & Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa. This episode was another that shows that The Walking Dead might have the MOST strong & determined female characters of any TV show right now. Adding both Sasha & Rosita to the levels of Carol and Maggie is both a great feat for the actors and the writing.

Robert: The power of the episode was both the building up of these two strong women during their suicide mission to kill Negan was enjoyable. They worked really well together, their plans were well thought out – okay, Sasha’s were wereas Rosita wanted to run & gun into the compound in a blaze of glory. I love the dueling natures and finally finding that they were very similar with each other near the end, especially when Sasha does the sacrifice into the compound alone.

Robert: Has Eugene really turned or is he just a terrible coward who’ll do anything to live. Even if it means turning on his friends? I believe that Eugene is just a terrible coward and it’s delightful to watch his scenes when he’s on top and likely soon to be at the very bottom of dead before the season is over. Josh McDermitt as Eugene Porter may be the most under rated actor on The Walking Dead. Who else has such range with his scenes? Both highs and lows?

Robert: As for Maggie & Daryl at Hilltop, as much as I liked the scenes of them hiding out and away from the Savior, did we need to see that? I guess it all lead to the breakdown of Daryl to Maggie and her fogiveness for what happened to Glenn that weighted on Daryl all season.

Robert: The BEST part of the episode though was the return of Simon / Little Negan played by Steven Ogg who’s a delight to watch on screen. Simon brings a wonderful twist to his Savior in that you don’t know what’s he going to do next. I also liked how the cowardly Gregory was cutting a side deal with Simon about coming to see him if things are going sour up in the Hilltop. Love it!

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S715 “Something They Need”

Robert: The second to last episode and you can finally feel like the pacing of the season is picking up. So this week we had 4 stories going on for us to follow, let’s get into it…

Robert: The episode opens with Walkers who are all covered in barnacles, seaweed and other mementos from being dead in the sea for a good while and finally managed to make it to shore. After show’s intro, We start with Sasha already captured and about to raped by a Savior right before Negan shows up. One of Negan’s rules is no rape so of course, Negan kills the Savior then offers Sasha a choice to either let the rapey ex-Savior, soon to be walker eat her, use Negan’s knife to try and attack him, use the knife later to kill herself OR kill the rapey ex-Savior, soon to be walker BEFORE it eats her. Next, we’re up in Hilltop where it’s obvious that Maggie is pretty much the boss and Gregory is losing his control over the place and it’s residents. Maggie goes outside the walls to get a blueberry bush for Hilltop and Gregory goes to “talk” and then watch over Maggie as he works on getting the bush out. Of course, a walker appears and Gregory can’t deal with it and just as Maggie does, another ninja walker appears OUT OF FREAKING NO WHERE and gets a jump on bumbling Gregory. Maggie saves his life and tries to give Gregory some credit when a group of Hilltop pass by going back home, sadly it doesn’t go over well. This leads to Gregory taking Simon’s note of where Sanctuary is and makes plans for a trek there. Likely to spill the beans to Negan on Rick’s plan and about Maggie to gain SOME of his petty control back. We switch over to Rick & Co, they’re outside Oceanside, making their plans, laying bombs. Then we see the leader of Oceanside and her grand daughter, who helped Tara escape, get taken hostage by Tara as she tries to reason with them. Unfortunately they get the drop on her after Rick’s plan goes into action. Rick’s plan is simple, he uses some small bombs to drive the Oceanside residents to a point where they can manage them while Rick & Co take their amoury stash. Unfortunately things go wrong due to Tara getting captured by Oceansides leader and held at gun point. Rick doesn’t want things to go bad & tries to talk the leader woman out of the situtation when suddenly Michonne, who’s doing her job as sniper & look out, spots the new Beachcomber Walkers hodre approaching. The young girl who helped Tara escape Oceanside takes down her grandma and the Oceanside leader so Tara can be free and not dead. Then Rick & Co plus the abled Oceansiders work together to fend off the Walkers from everyone including the Oceanside residents of older women and children. In the end, Rick & crew get the guns and leave. Some of the Oceansiders want to join the fight but can’t leave their place undefended so they remain. Over at Sanctuary, Negan is happy Sasha survived and killed the rapey Walker but doesn’t fully trust her. Negan says how he knows Rick is up to “no good” and wants her to join him in their counter move the next day. Later, Eugene is talking to a pleading Sasha who just wants to die as she now knows she made the wrong choice, that Negam will use her against Rick. Eugene gives Sasha the poison pill he made a few episodes ago but pleads her to join them and not die. The episode ends with Rick & crew coming home to find Rosita AND some who wants to join them… Dwight.

Robert: Okay. Phew. Well, there’s a TON that’s happened in this episode so where to start? Let’s start with the whole Sasha & Negan story-line. As funny as parts of it was, especially when Negan is loving her big lady balls coming in guns blazing, this also showed that Sasha isn’t doing what she needs to do to survive, she has a plan and she’ll play along with Negan until she won’t. That said, I think Negan wants to see if / when that happens as it’s SOMETHING new & fun for him as I’m sure he’s bored as shit. You could see Negan’s glee when he mentioned “Rick’s up to no good!” which makes me wonder about the next scene up in Hilltop. Are all these scene’s running at the same timeframes? I don’t think so. I think Sasha had been locked up for a bit and Negan knows about Rick from Gregory. Again, I enjoy any Eugene scenes as he shows such range of cowadess and fear, one thing I feel is missing from too many characters lately. Many seem like fighting Walkers is nothing to worry about, they show no fear and maybe at times, they should show some OR some after effects when they barely survive something tragic.

Robert: Last week, I didn’t feel we needed to see Maggie in Hilltop, this week I’m loving Maggie up in Hilltop. It showed what they’ve been building all season, the slow decline of Gregory and his petty selfishiness for power, what little he had. The whole “I’m not going to let a pregnant woman defend me” to crying out for Maggie’s help was wonderful. Oh Gregory, you’re SO going to be screwed over by Negan once he realizes Gregory’s got no leverage. Also, WHY on Earth would Gregory go to Negan. Just last season, Negan sent one of the Hilltop men to gut Gregory. What a wonderful fool, I love it!

Robert: Now. Oceanside. That story-line had a nice tidy wrap up where Rick, Tara and crew took their guns and let them know the plans of War with the Saviors plus showed that Rick & crew AREN’T anything like the Saviors when they worked together with Oceanside against the Beachcomber Walkers. And let’s give a hand to those wonderful Walkers. Each week, it seems like the SPX team goes to out do the different type of Walkers they showcase. Sadly though, as has been the case for a few seasons now – Walkers are completely USELESS on this show unless they’re trying to eat Gregory then they’re something to worry about. Maybe they need to give some more budget to stunt coordination & choreography and show some tougher Walkers who Rick & crew need to deal with a bit more, making things a tough more deadly than just easy targets.

Robert: Lastly the whole Dwight turning on Negan & joining Rick after finding / saving Rosita from the outskirts of Sanctuary. You could see it coming, Dwight is a survivor and has had to do what he’s had to do to survive. Can he be trusted? Is he supporting Negan. No, I don’t think he’s supporting Negan but he also can’t be trusted at all. Dwight ONLY looks out for Dwight, now that he believes his wife is gone and likely dead – he’s got no reason to fight for Negan but at the same time, he’s got NO allegiances to ANYONE. I’m SURE he’s not a plant by Negan but he can’t be trusted. They should keep Dwight on a VERY short leash, perhaps one attached to a bomb!

Ian: A mixed bag of an episode as the episode is highlighted with awesome looking walkers (BARNACLES, YO!), a shot for shot replication of a moment from the comic and some bonding moments between Sasha & Eugene. The biggest flaw is once again, the show drags the narration so heavy that the plot might as well be Thor’s hammer and there isn’t a blonde Asgardian in sight.

Ian: Every so often, I’ll come across other interviews for the show and there’s a devoted fanbase that is also seen as a marketing gimmick (*cough* Talking Dead *cough*) but as a fan of either the show or/and the comic, I feel that you can only ask so much from the audience, at least in terms of engaging the fanbase. To go back to the interview, it was recently brought up by someone involved in the showrunning aspect and off the cuff, the headline read as “The Walking Dead could keep on going for 20 years.”

Ian: Which brings me to the constant reminder of – I won’t care at that point, let alone over a year if they keep on stalling the plot for the sake of just being on the air. The junker people having a bigger role or this fishing village in the woods of just women is totally fine, they at least provide something for the characters to engage with but I end up feeling like Sasha locked up in the room and the show itself is Negan, leaning back taunting me if I’m interested in still watching but that’s just me.  I can appreciate the little things but when the obvious flaws crop up especially with finale looking like it’ll just be a setup for the next season, I’d tend to be weary.

Robert: Overall it was a great episode but I do feel that’s it’s all come little too late. I mean, it’s obvious the War vs the Saviors isn’t happening this season but perhaps it should have STARTED this season earlier. I do feel that the seasons been very decompressed and extended, likely for more commercials to pay the Walking Dead budget.

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Bits & Pieces

• Ep 14: Eugene giving orders & the reaction of both Sasha & Rosita was great.
• Ep 14: The shadows person at the end of the episode is SO Dwight not Daryl as we found out.
• Ep 15: Tara flipping off the annoying Oceanside brat was GREAT!
• Ep 15: Again. Beachcomber Walkers from a wrecked boat (cruise ship?) looked great.
• Ep 15: Enid is still annoying. Carl give it up, don’t care for this “relationship”.

Next Week… on AMC’s The Walking Dead: Ep. 716: “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life”

What EVERYONE has been waiting for ALL SEASON LONG. Preparations are being made, alliances torn, allies assemble & Alexandria get’s ready for one hell of a fight!

plus…

Sneak Peek of next week’s episode: It’s ON! King Ezekiel, Morgan, Carol and the rest the Kingdom look ready to start a war. Check the blood on Morgan’s face. Also SHIVA seems to have GOTTEN SMALLER in comparisons from a real Tiger to CGI when we first saw her or is it just me?!