The Walking Dead S7E07: Sing Me a Song
These 90 minute episodes are beginning to develop a pattern; if Negan is featured, tack on 30 minutes. Last night’s episode put Negan’s mind games on display more so than any episode thus far. And we finally got a comprehensive look at what’s going on with multiple people in multiple locations. Changing the scenery was a welcome shift to what the first six episodes of the season have given us. Spoilers ahead.
Piecing together the timeline is becoming a fairly difficult task. While the events in Alexandria are somewhat streamlined, and by extension those at the Sanctuary, it’s still difficult to tell where Tara and Carol fall into what has been happening. Tara made it back to Alexandria last week, but we don’t see a trace of her in this weeks episode. It seems like a season ago when Carol and Morgan arrived at the Kingdom. And I guess Maggie has been in charge at Hilltop for a week or so now? Hopefully the midseason finale will begin to tie everything together and give a more comprehensive look of where everyone is. For now though, we have the web spinning tyrant that is Negan on full display as he remains two to three mental steps ahead of everyone, and it’s terrific.
One of the most interesting relationships in the source material is that of Negan and Carl. You would think this to be a very clear-cut, hate/hate scenario. It is anything but that. We find out that Carl’s plan in hiding in the truck is to ambush the Saviors and kill Negan. He accomplishes part of this in a drastically underwhelming scene as compared to the comics, but he can’t take it all the way to the end. One has to wonder why? He had a clear shot, Negan was taunting him, he had already killed someone, why not complete the mission? What was frustrating to some had to eventually become endlessly intriguing once Negan appeared to take Carl under his wing despite him having killed two of his men. Negan proceeds to show Carl is power. His power over these people. His power over his wives. This is all designed to turn Carl’s hatred and rage against Negan into a sort of fearful respect or even admiration. By the end of the episode Carl isn’t looking for opportunities to kill Negan anymore. He’s watching how Negan leads, and fearful for what he might do. This episode will be an important one to remember in the future, especially with respect to what Carl thinks of Negan and how his knowledge of the Saviors could come into play.
Aside from Negan’s mind games we had four other groups of people performing tasks which fell into one of two categories; conformance or insurrection. What I found interesting was that two women, Michonne and Rosita, are seeking opportunities to kill Negan, while two men, Spencer and Rick, appeared to be falling in line and scavenging for things to provide for Negan. You could potentially argue that Rick is searching for tools to fight against him, but it isn’t plainly apparent that this is the case and from at least what he told Michonne last week he is searching for more supplies to give to the Saviors. He and Aaron come across a potential gold mine of supplies and weapons, but they must make it across a walker-infested pond. Spencer expresses his disapproval of Rick to a number of people this episode. He even dons a leather jacket not too dissimilar from what Negan wears. By the end of the episode he makes it back to Alexandria with Negan and the Saviors already there. One has to wonder whether he will make a play for the leadership role while Rick is away.
The ladies, meanwhile, have taken it upon themselves to dispatch with Negan all together. However, they must do so discreetly. Rosita and Eugene head off to the factory which Eugene showed Abraham last season. Rosita insists that Eugene make her a bullet. After some resistance, he finally does and by the end of the episode Rosita has broken a friendship, but attained her ability to kill Negan. Michonne’s path to this goal is far more detailed. She blocks a road with walkers and hopes for a savior to come along. One does, and she makes them lead her to the sanctuary where her scenes end with a somewhat surprised look into the distance at something. This distinction of the women being the ones that are plotting against Negan is at least something to take note of. Negan has yet to kill a woman, and if his character stays true to the comics he does not even harm a woman. Case in point; Olivia smacked him in the face this episode and he did nothing. If he were to catch either Rosita or Michonne in their attempted assassinations, it could put that character trait to the test. We shall see.
My Rating: B+
Despite a particularly weak scene with Carl emerging from the truck, and a less than interesting side-story going on with Spencer, this episode excelled in its primary goal of showing Negan playing mind games not just with Carl, but with basically everyone around him. This is a bad guy with multilayered intimidation techniques, doing his best to turn Carl Grimes in his favor while still placing the proverbial boot on everyone else’s neck.
