The Walking Dead season 8 episode 7 review: A clash of plans

There are a lot of juicy storylines left dangling on The Walking Dead season 8 and with only two episode left before the holiday hiatus we are wondering how many of them are going to get tied up. We have the war against Negan raging, we have Father Gabriel with some sort of infection inside the Sanctuary and now Rick is in a very familiar position in the Scavengers compound as he is in a shipping container with a big “A” written on it like back in the Terminus days.

The episode did open with Rick back at the shipping container, but it didn’t take all that long for the series to shift course over to the Saviors’ compound. While there, we got a nice reminder that the search for the mole is still technically going on. Eugene’s got it all figured out seemingly that it’s Dwight, but the problem is that he hasn’t gotten to the point where he is presenting his case to Negan. Instead, he tried negotiating a deal with him: Stop his betrayals in return for his safety. Eugene also paid a visit to Father Gabriel, who still isn’t doing all that well after being infected.

The truth of the matter here is that Eugene is frustrating a lot of people these days — a lot of people. He’s also not listening to most of the people close to him.

Unfortunately, at around the halfway point in the episode Eugene had to pay a visit to Negan, who had previously already made his intentions clear to him. The good news is that Eugene survived, but the bad news is that he found himself at gunpoint anyway thanks to Dwight. It was then when Dwight firmly admitted to helping Rick’s group for the sake of keeping everyone alive for as long as possible. Eugene did smartly realize that Dwight wasn’t going to actually kill him. However, what he did was shoot down and effectively eliminate Eugene’s new drone, a.k.a. the one he had created that could have easily gotten Tara killed.

Back with the group

We had a chance to dive into a strategy session with some of the other members of the group, with Daryl, Morgan, Tara, and others trying to have a chat about what they’re going to want to do here. Tara didn’t want to be patient this time around — consider this a part of her PTSD from her time in Oceanside. However, Rosita was a little more inclined to wait for now to make a move on the Saviors / Scavengers. We actually appreciated Rosita being patient for a change here, especially since the group’s plan was, by and large, reckless. Even if it was still needed, that doesn’t change the danger that went along with it. (It also didn’t change what Tara wanted to do.)

Tara was going towards the compound at the time in which Eugene’s drone was overhead, and moments after that a sea of walkers started to make their way into the Savior compound. With Rick and Negan’s groups so close to murdering each other we almost wondered if Eugene was going to drink himself to death.

Back to Rick

It took us a long time to make it back to him at the Scavenger headquarters, but we when did we saw him being left for a walker to rip him apart. Well, that didn’t exactly happen and we have no idea why Jadis thought that this would work. He was somehow able to ensure his freedom, and all of a sudden Rosita was looking really smart for trusting him in the first place.

Then, after all of that Rick still tried to make a deal with Jadis to come with him to Sanctuary; now, they can all prepare for a (possible) final battle to take place there. He arrived outside the compound only to see … well, nobody. Apparently, walkers charging into the Sanctuary before he got there wasn’t his plan at all.

CarterMatt Verdict

We’re not going to say that Eugene is our favorite character at the moment, but that’s not what made The Walking Dead season 8 episode 7 a struggle. It just felt instead like we spent a lot of time watching characters spin their wheels and do the same thing we expected from them. We really needed more Rick tonight if the whole ending was meant to create a larger impact. Also, we are kind of mad at the show for giving us the teaser of the Terminus “A” on the shipping container for it to turn into a whole lot of nothing.

What did you think of tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead? Leave us a comment in the box below with your thoughts and hopes for the rest of the season. If you want to know what’s coming up next time on The Walking Dead then head on over to the link here where you can get a preview.

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