I really did!

I give it 9/10.

One point deducted for the Basement Flood and Compulsory Zombie Scenes, and not showing how Lydia actually managed to get Aaron out in the end.

The rest, I thought, was brilliant.

Highlights:

The fight between Carver and the Unlikely Three. Topped by Ding Ding.

Daryl doing his best at damage limitation and saving Leah. (I’m certainly no fan of hers but Daryl just had to save her, didn’t he.)

Maggie going really dark here. She’s never been a favourite character of mine but I’m really interested in this ark.

Gabriel’s ongoing struggle with his faith has always been one of my favourite storylines, so this was a great new chapter in that. I wonder if the Reaper priest was going to attack Gabriel? I couldn’t be sure. What did you all think? Gabriel didn’t really have a choice here though.

“Call me Gabriel!” Best line of the episode for me.

Best moment: Daryl and Connie reunion. Just wonderful. Daryl throwing his apples all over the place to see his girl. I’d happily watch now three bottle episodes back to back on Daryl asking Connie his so-many-questions.

Really intriguing final scene with the time jump, will be fun to see how we’ll get to this point!

I hope Negan won’t be gone for long. Lydia needs her daddy back too. She looked so sad to hear Negan’s split.

So good to have the show back!!

What did you all think?

 

I enjoyed it too. I was happy Alden was our only casualty this episode, although it would have been nice if he survived.

There’s not much to add. I’m relieved the reapers were eliminated. Letting Leah survive might come back to bite Daryl in the ass but we’ll have to wait and watch. I wasn’t surprised that our core group that breached the compound made it through. We’ve seen them prevail in similarly tight situations throughout the years so I would have expected nothing less.

I have to agree that Daryl and Connie reuniting was so cute. In fact, getting back to Alexandria with provisions and everyone seeing their friends and family was a high note.

It seems to me now, that Maggie’s arc is going to be paramount to the continuing story line. I don’t like that she practically drove Negan away as he’s become such a valuable asset but perhaps as he said, there was never going to be a peaceful resolution to his relationship with her. I feel roaming free leaves him in a pivotal position to reinsert himself in a positive way to whatever may happen to the group as a whole in the future. At least I hope so.

I was intrigued and a little bit apprehensive with Eugene leading the commonwealth back to Alexandria. I’m less than thrilled with that place and last I remember, Eugene and co. weren’t too keen on exposing their group. In fact they were in a little bit of trouble with TPTB there, so what happened? If they assimilate I hope they take a page from what transpired when they first arrived at the ASZ, and Carol puts on her cardigan and starts baking some cookies. Maybe there needs to be a coup and our people need to be “insiders” to make that happen.

 

It is a 9/10.

My random thoughts:-
-Aaron will gradually and unintentionally begin to take over the fatherly role from Negan regarding Lydia.

-seems every villian group has a survivor. Saviours have Negan. Whisperers have Lydia. Now, Reapers have Leah. She may or may not come back but I think this is not too important for the Daryl, who now has Connie.

-Good that Dog chose to unite with Daryl instead of with Leah

-Did not expect that 6-month time jump. I think, the next episode will go back in time to summarize what happened in this period in the Commonwealth, explaining how on earth that Daryl became a storm trooper and how Eugene would be willing to reveal the ASZ.

-Looks like only Maggie (and Hershel Jr) stayed in ASZ. From the brief look of the background, its seems ASZ is still not in good condition?

-Maybe if a good condition Elijah can tackle Carver? Anyway, it took brains (ie Negan's) to get Carver down.

-I wonder if Maggie and Gabe are going down the same path?

 

I’m really worried about that. On one hand Leah could feel some gratitude that Daryl let her live, but on the other hand the most likely scenario is that she’s going to be full of vengeance and hatred for Daryl, for being instrumental in her losing her entire “family” and him betraying her. So I worry that when her paths next cross, she’d be hellbent to hurt Daryl by killing people he cares about. I hope she’d channel her fury at Maggie instead, and if it comes down to the two of them fighting each other, my money is on Maggie.

I really hope so too! I can’t imagine him having either the energy or the wish to start over in any similar vein to the Saviors.
He’d have to reunite with some of our people again, in some ways. Some of them are able to tolerate him by now. He cannot be around Maggie - that’s for sure. There’s no way they can ever get past what happened, it’s asking too much of Maggie.

Oh I think it’s definitely going in that direction!! It will be brilliant to see that unfold.

 

That’s a nice thought.

Good observation about the surviving members of enemy groups.
I worry about Leah wanting to take her revenge on Daryl. Hopefully it won’t come to that or she won’t get far with it. Her presence out there somewhere is unsettling for me.
Daryl and Connie are obviously picking it all up where they’d left off, so it’s great to know Daryl is very much open to this, the unexpected Leah reprise has not altered his feelings for Connie.
A relationship with Connie, who’s all heart and no sharp edges, would be so much better for Daryl, than anything he ever had with Leah.

I don’t think we will learn more about Eugene getting to reveal the location. He kind of had to, eventually, if he wanted the Commonwealth to provide help to their friends back at home. For all they knew the war with the Whisperers was still ongoing.

I’ve already seen the next episode and it gives us no more clues on why Daryl became a storm trooper, but we already saw that the Commonwealth wants people to take on jobs that they used to do before the ZA. With Daryl being a drifter before the ZA, his main skill set now is his fighting ability and hunting skills. Hunting skills are more relevant in a small community. In such a huge settlement they would farm their animals. So I guess the obvious career path for him was to become a soldier.

I think Maggie is at Hilltop?

 

I enjoyed the episode until the end. The Commonwealth stuff, as usual, was cheesy and felt out of place.

My biggest problem though was the time skip scene of Daryl in a storm trooper costume. They can't even cut out the gimmicks in the final season? They are teasing that either a) Daryl has gone out of character and is suddenly bending the knee for the Commonwealth weirdos or B) He's undercover like he was with the Reapers (how original).

Just tell the damn story and don't play around. It's frustrating, even this late in the game.

My favorite scene was Maggie taking everything into her own hands and gunning them all down so that they wouldn't come back for revenge.

I thought it also made sense that Negan chose this point to separate himself from the group. I think there's a chance Lydia might seek him out and join him too.

 

I believe that was actually the hilltop in the background

 

I would give it an 8 out of 10. Was really surprised when Maggie went rogue and shot the reapers. Don't like that Daryl is going all domestic and joining the Dark Side at the end. Hopefully Negan isn't gone for long. kind of a undramatic send off for him. I would expect him to return but he is notably absent in the flash forward (so are most characters) and

I think we get a Negan bottle episode in the next few weeks