Funny how we watched the same episode. This is how I would sum it up, "paraphrasing" your brief summary:

So much happened. Negan, this vastly complicated character who once demanded to be worshipped, is disgusted by memories of his past spouted at him by a lunatic, and he's off to set things right the only way he knows how, by embracing his darkest nature. We found out that a good man who has a flair for the theatrical in his attempt to give strength and hope to people he cares for, (and a way to scaffold himself up), has cancer. A girl with an interesting past in an interesting relationship is losing her cool and appears to be breaking up the very group she is trying to protect. A nice guy with a huge baggage reaches out to another. There's a blossoming of a very unconventional love story between two incredible people. Every minute golden. The possibilities of how this conflict with the villain will be resolved are endless. Everything in the show is now wide open and it is so much fun to speculate!!

 

This episode was my favorite of the season but I did have a problem with the tie in from the first sequence with Kelly. We see a walker reaching out to her and then we cut to the opening credits. But when Connie and Daryl find Kelly there's no dead walker beside her as she's leaning against that tree. We're to believe it just walked away?

The writing has been excellent this season, so they don't need to use these sorts of gimmicks.

 

I'm not sure what finding the stash of stolen goods had to do with saving Kelly. If her life were at risk, there was certainly nothing in a few salvaged staples that would save her and have her walking back to Hilltop in a short period of time.

 

I thought the idea was that Kelly managed to kill that Walker who attacked her in the opening scene, and moved on from that spot, towards the stash. Whether she actually managed to get out of it what she needed, probably not, it looked like she had collapsed by the tree before she could.

 

Don't underestimate the power of plasters.

 

I didn’t see the point of the Kelly scenes other than that it helped paved the way for Connie/Daryl development and Magna development (and Oscar too!! Lol). So while I felt the whole Kelly stuff could have been omitted, I understand why it happened.

I did enjoy the Negan scenes but I felt it was too obvious that Brandon was gonna kill that mother and son pair. I knew it was coming and I haven’t read spoilers this season. So while it wasn’t shocking or of a surprise, it was satisfying to see Negan put down Brandon. The kid was a damn creep. The actor did a great job portraying creepy fanatic Brandon. Negan was trying to hard to keep Brandon away before finally snapping at him lol.

also it was cute seeing Negan and Milo talk, though I was surprised Amelia let her kid be alone with a strange man out of her sight, lol. And his monologue with him about the nut tapping was a little too long. Lol. Typical Negan.

excited to see how he deals with the Whisperers. His redemption arc is coming through.

 

I just came here to complain about that. And it is my only complaint about this episode.


The truth is out there

 

I kinda hate what they're doing with Yumiko and Magna, that conflict just seems to come out of nowhere all of a sudden, kinda disappointed with their characters. More so Magna, shes just gotten pretty annoying.

Just give me more Connie plz

 

I live a about five miles from where 3 time zones converge so it's no biggie for me. Actually, daylight saving time helps me out. I breed, train, and show horses. Having more daylight at the end of the day is a big plus. In the winter extra light isn`t an issue because most training is done in my indoor arena. Different strokes for different folks.

 

I don' like Negan. . Never have, never will. I wish Rick would have offed the psycho long ago. I'm not forgetting he killed Glenn. Nope.

 

I'm that way with all this whispering stuff. I'm not a young whippersnapper any more. The ole ears don`t work like they use to. Even before the whispers came on the scene, Michonne started to deliver a lot of her lines in a whisper that was hard for me to pick up. I had to put on the subtitles. Yep, old age ain't for sissies.. . lol