I am. You go ahead first and I will follow suit.

 

Yes, this Negan/Maggie/Annie/Hershel stuff is something big.

First, Negan is finally letting go of Lucille, his ex-wife! The baseball bat might be gone. But that is physical and symbolic only. Now, I think he let her go emotionally as well. Previously, he only engaged his 'wives' back at the Sanctuary, perhaps just sexually. Now, it appears that he is willing to commit into a true relationship with Annie.

Second, Annie is pregnant with his child. This part is significant as it raises the stakes if Maggie decided to kill Negan. Previously, it is only Negan himself, being a single person. Now, he is married, having a wife and a baby coming. So, if Maggie kills Negan, there will be a widow and an orphan without father. Is Maggie going to impose what she herself went through (ie huband killed and has to raise a child alone) onto Annie?
And, this character of Annie is unlikely to get much character development. For one, there is not much time in this series. Second, I think, she is just like a catalyst to a chemical reaction. This new character of her is there to carry forward the unresolved relationship/story between Negan and Maggie.

Third, Hershel Jr is a great kid of high EQ. He understands the big picture. He took Negan's words that if he pulled the trigger, the CW troopers will come and those people around might be killed.

Fourth, there is Lydia ! Lydia is likely still looking up to Negan as a fatherly figure. So, she seems surprised that Negan got married and she seems to have a combination of being confused/perplexed/pissed off.

And, I think the whole story of Sebastian asking Daryl/Rosita to get the money and Carlson's deeds at the Riverbend are meant to show us the ''Rotten Core'' (episode title) of the CW. This is important to provide a logical basis for our heroes to join the resistance.

Oh, and Leah! Her appearance is a surprise! I hope her wanting the guns does not mean she is planning to go after Maggie and Hershel. Is she in an active revenge mode?

So much for now.....

9/10

 

I gave it a 10 because I've hated virtually all shows in the recent past. Mercer is black, and a known black person in the show won't be made purely bad, so that was obvious from the first time I saw him. Only white males, other than those openly gay, can be all bad. I thought the interplay between Maggie and Annie was great. Loved Aaron shooting the guy. Wish Carol had done so with the Good German. Not looking forward to Leah back, because I find her boring. Did not like the ambiguous statement Negan made to Maggie's son at the end. I do want the lady who took Rick away back, because I find her hot.

 

Ok. I really should watch this a second time but here are my initial reactions. I thought it was a bit disjointed but it served it’s purpose which was to tie up the Negan and Leah loose ends as far as letting us know where they stand at the moment. Negan has found acceptance and even love in his new community and Leah has gone off the deep end, although to what end we can only speculate. I mean can she get to her targets? Maybe. We’ll see.

It also allowed our group to eliminate a dangerous operative within the CW depriving Lance of one of his allies. Now if someone can only get rid of him and that little shit Sebastian.
With that in mind, I wonder what plan Carol is beginning to formulate. Lance has already revealed he allowed Rosita and Daryl to be the “victims” in Sebastian’s little scheme as a way of eliminating(?) those who don’t exactly follow the roles they were given. She knows her friends are being targeted, if I understood that conversation correctly. However, If she can get Mercer totally on board with whatever she cooks up or they join the resistance, Lance might go down yet.

The only other possibly(?) important part was the interaction between Negan and Herschel. One might be a little man, but he showed the restraint necessary in not shooting his dad’s murderer and giving away their hiding place. I also thought it was interesting that when asked, Herschel refused to tell his mom what Negan had said to him. How is this setting up the premise for the writers to have Negan and Maggie together on a future show? I don’t like it already, lol.


,

 

I would have enjoyed this episode a lot more if I wouldn’t have known that there’s a Negan/Maggie spinoff. It would have made the Negan and Hershel interaction a bit better. We know Hershel won’t be killing Negan off anytime soon.

The rest of the episode was kind of boring for me.
7/10


The truth is out there

 

Good episode.
It reminded me of the early days when I would watch with hands across my face, peeping out between fingers. Many surprises. Leah! I couldn't believe it when the camera panned up to reveal her.
I could not make out the dialogue between Maggie and Annie, lots of times my computer muffles dialogue, when Annie pulled something from the small bag and took a bite. Was this when her pregnancy was made known to Maggie? I wouldn't have known unless I read it here. Thanks.

 

Annie ate something and Maggie asked if that was ginger (which could help to reduce nausea and the urge to vomit?). Annie replied that she's (a number that I cannot make out) weeks, give or take. And she told Maggie that ''it is his'' (meaning the baby is Negan's).

 

I'll give the mild version of my review since some people are still enjoying the show.

Until this one episode Negan was the one interesting character for me because he was evolving and a bit of a mystery in some respects. But in one swoop they filled in all of those blanks off screen, and Negan has a new group, is married and is going to have a kid.

Thanks, but no thanks. I wanted to see him evolve and progress and now have no interest in the character anymore. Despite my dissatisfaction with the direction of the franchise, I was considering giving the Negan spinoff a shot. Now I will not.

Just a few episodes back Negan was saying if he could do it all over again he would've killed them all. It was a catalyst that prompted Maggie to annihilate the Reapers. That underlying darkness made them, and their interaction interesting. Now he's just evolved into, "I'm a bad man."

I'm wondering if Gimple has more control now since they have almost as many spinoffs planned as there are Covid variants. Kang did do much better when she initially took over the show, and focused on character development, but now it feels more like we're being Gimpled again.

 

Lol. Negan is married now? LMFAO!!!!!!!!!

What is going to be next? Will Smith coming onscreen and slapping someone?

God this show sounds like it is terrible now.

Them giving Negan a wife and a baby is nothing more than trying to make him more likeable so people will watch his spin-off.

 

This is what I think too. Do not think Annie will be a long term character.

If Negan dies and Annie survives and gives birth to Negan Jr, it would be boring to see Hershel Rhee and Negan Jr fighting each other off with ''your dad killed my dad!'' and ''but then your mom killed my dad!''

The tension between Negan and Maggie has to be there to make the spin-off interesting and suspenseful.

 

I thought the same thing about them killing her off, and I'm glad that you brought this up because it demonstrates another problem.

The writers artificially insert a new character to give Negan trauma. But most people won't care if this random person is hung up over a pit of a walkers. There is no investment. They should've had Lydia go with Negan and then he becomes a parental figure. She dies and that's the pain for him. We know Lydia and it'll resonate.

But what they're doing is like if in Season 4 they brought in Maggie and Beth's Uncle Mo because they didn't want to kill Hershel. Then the Governor beheads Uncle Mo instead of Hershel. I know the audience would be just as upset by such a crucial death, "Oh nooo don't gooo Uncle Mo!!"

But perhaps they want Lydia in one of the many spinoffs. We already know Carol, Daryl, Negan and Maggie survive since the "final" season is just being used as a springboard for new shows, and will not really close out the story.

 

Yeah, it's really bad now. I fast forwarded through most of the last episode. There was a ridiculously long scene where Daryl and Rosita went to get someone money from a house infested with walkers. I just went quickly through that until Orange Storm Trooper dude showed up. He provides good comic relief in that suit, and he helped tie up the whole lame plot without suffering through them fighting to get the money. I could not watch the show now from beginning to end without fast forwarding.

They also killed off former CIA dude after he was introduced the episode before. He was like a dollar store Jim Carrey. RIP Special Agent Ace Ventura.

 

Yeah. And unless Rick suddenly makes an appearance in the final episode of this half I have my doubts that he will be in the last half.

I know Andrew Lincoln was spotted in a restaurant but he easily could have just been visiting since this will likely be one of the last times the entire group is together.

To my knowledge he hasn't been spotted on set.

 

Originally I hoped Rick would return for the end, now it's such a mess that I hope they leave him out. It's possible Andrew Lincoln was just visiting. If he did return they'd have to bring Danai back too and she has not been spotted in the area.