This is a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the episode, and I'll probably miss out a few bits so I'll have to go back and edit after I've had time to properly comprehend what the fuck I just watched. Only one way to go about it man, start from the beginning. Fuck it. Major spoilers ahead, watch it first, then read this review. Just... fuck. Might as well get this part out the way first, but this is without any doubt in my mind, the best episode ever of The Walking Dead. Absolutely packed from start to finish, some surprises, some expected scenes, but the way it was shot and directed was wonderful and it'll be a long time before they produce a better episode than this. Perfect 10/10.
"If ya have to eat shit, best not to nibble. Bite, chew, swallow, repeat."
We open the episode with the added scene from the mid-season finale, with Negan's small group of saviours stopping Daryl, Sasha and Abraham on the road. He takes their weapons and sends one of their men round with Daryl to check the truck. The leader of this small saviour group threatens to kill Sasha and Abraham, and then they literally got blown to fucking bits. Daryl took the fucking RPG and killed them all. In one shot. Bang. That's how you open a fucking episode. It was tense, it was great, it had a huge fucking explosion, had it all. Brilliant.
"I can keep going."
On to the main body now. Despite Sam's best efforts to have everyone killed - Rick, Michonne, Jessie, Carl, Judith, Sam, Ron and Gabriel make it pretty far out onto the street before it's decided Gabriel should take Judith to the church to protect her. Sam refuses to go with them. Fuck Sam, people. Fuck him. As most of us thought would happen, Sam eventually gets savaged by walkers, with the blood curdling screams of his mother attracting more of the undead towards the group. She gets devoured herself, but refuses to let go of Carl's hand, leaving a devastated Rick no choice but to cut her arm off. Ron finally snaps and points his gun at Rick, but there's no chance he was pulling that trigger, because Michonne kills him with his katana, a solitary shot fired as he falls dead. The drama of this scene was pulsating, the slow motion added in to perfection, along with Rick slowly realising that he's lost someone that he's fell badly in love with.
"...Dad"
Rick and Michonne look around, Carl's eye has been shot clean out the socket. It's all went tits up. Rick picks up Carl and they run like fuck. The whole scene was just pure insanity. The screams from Sam and Jessie will haunt my dreams forever.
"Get me to the infirmary and I'll save your life."
Meanwhile, Denise is still being held hostage by the last remaining Wolf, who tells her he wants to change her, so she can be like him. Despite her defiance, he forces her to make a run for it with him. As they fight off walkers, the Wolf gets bitten on the arm, and Denise, staying true to who she is, takes him to get his arm amputated and save his life. Denise gets surrounded by a crowd of walkers, but the Wolf puts himself in front of them, killing as many as he can, before Carol, by this point awake after her confrontation with Morgan, shoots him down. The Wolf screams for Denise to run to safety as he is devoured. Denise manages to get to a house where Spencer, Aaron, Heath etc have been hiding along with Denise's patients. Rick and Michonne arrive with Carl, and Denise having found all the courage in the world sets about removing the bullet from his eye socket. Enthralling stuff, character development on all ends, and none more so than how this amazing episode ends.
"...God will save Alexandria, because he has given us the courage to save it ourselves."
Rick has taken a vintage breakdown. While Denise and Michonne work to save Carl, Rick leaves the house and goes on a walker killing rampage. He slices his way through them until Michonne comes to help, followed by Heath and Aaron. Carol and Morgan join the fight, and Morgan puts down the reanimated corpse of the Wolf. Olivia, Eric, Rosita, Tara, and a motivated Eugene then follow. Eugene finally completing his transition from complete coward to someone who is willing to fight for himself and his family. At the church, Gabriel sees everyone fighting out on the street, and picks up his machete. He delivers a speech to the others who are protecting Judith, saying that they had been praying to God to save Alexandria, and that their prayers had been answered. The above quote is potentially my favourite in the whole series now. Gabriel, much like Eugene, has gone from a gutless coward to a man fighting for survival. He leaves the church and joins the fight. Other Alexandria residents leave their home to join in. The penny dropped, this is THEIR fucking home, and they're all going to protect it. Beautifully shot scene, with the realisation across the board that nothing in life is easy now, and you have to fight to survive. Everyone being inspired by Rick and joining the fight for Alexandria. The last stand.
"Open the gates will ya!"
Amidst all the chaos, Glenn and Enid have gotten into Alexandria, and are drawing away the walkers surrounding Maggie. Enid climbs the ladder and helps her to safety, but by this point, Glenn is swarmed by walkers... and we get another fakeout because Abraham, Sasha and Daryl are back! Abe and Sasha pepper some rounds of their machine gun into the herd of walkers, saving Glenn in the process and coming up with a plan to distract the rest. They empty their truck's fuel into Alexandria's lake, and after driving just far enough away, Daryl shoots a round of the RPG into the lake, setting it ablaze. Most of the walkers become distracted, and this is when Rick calls for the attack. Everyone takes advantage, dispatching walkers left right and centre. The scene cuts to everyone from the main group hacking away until the screen goes black.
"I saw what they could do... what WE could do."
It's daytime, and the streets of Alexandria are covered in corpses. It's not revealed if there are any character fatalities, but most or all of the group are sat on the porch outside the medical house, clearly both traumatised and proud of themselves. Rick is sat by Carl's bedside. He tells him that he underestimated the people of Alexandria. They just needed that situation to bring it out in themselves. He tells Carl that everything Deanna had planned is possible, that they'll rebuild and expand the walls. Create a new world. Telling Carl that he wanted to help build a new world for him, he begs for Carl to give him that chance. Carl, laying motionless and asleep, grips Rick's hand. The sheer emotion and passion in Rick's voice here spoke a million words on it's own. He's the new leader of this community, and he sees a sustainable future for Alexandria, all he wants is for his son to be there to build it along with him.
"The new world is gonna need Rick Grimes."