We are finally back in Alexandria, and the first thing we see is Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) side-by-side in bed. Sadly, they are no longer lovingly embracing, but instead seem miles apart from each other. Michonne seems bothered, like she can’t sleep, and after peeking over her shoulder to see Rick still snoozing she gets up and heads out of the room. Downstairs she sneaks around quietly to the living room and pulls a massive gun out from a hiding spot inside the chimney, then leaves the house without a word. As the camera pans out we see Rick standing in the hallway watching her, though he doesn’t try to stop her.
Once outside of Alexandria Michonne finds an abandoned car and looks around, but what is she looking for? The Saviors? Any sign of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)? It’s unclear, but back in Alexandria Rick goes about his day as normal. We see him briefly starting the day with Judith, and then we see others: Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Spencer (Austin Nichols). They are all trying to move on, but then they get a surprise visit: Negan and The Saviors.
Rick greets them at the gate and is forced to let them in, and then Negan swings at a walker nearby as if he’s doing everyone a favor. That’s when Rick realizes that Daryl (Norman Reedus) is with them, and when the two make contact you can almost feel their souls reaching for each other. Daryl looks distraught, and Rick looks helpless. But Negan? Negan warns them not to look at Daryl or he will make them chop something off of him, so they aren’t even allowed to acknowledge his presence.
Negan then explains that they are there to check things out, and once he’s allowed inside Alexandria he calls it “magnificent.” He tells his men to start searching, then tells Rick they are just going to check the houses out a little bit. Before long they are hitting the streets of Alexandria and everyone seems confused, though Rick remains nervous. Before heading out into Alexandria himself, Negan asks Rick to hold Lucille — the very bat that killed two of his friends just days earlier. He’s ruthless.
As Negan’s men pull furniture and other things out he asks about Maggie (Lauren Cohan). He’s curious where she is after being so “sick” the night he killed who he calls “Number 2” — meaning Glenn. The more Negan goes on about Maggie we see Rick’s hand tighten around Lucille, which he’s still carrying around. He remains quiet though, and that’s when Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) appears and asks Negan if he would like to pay his respects. After calling the priest “creepy” he is genuinely bummed to hear that Maggie didn’t make it, and the next thing we see is them standing over a fresh grave. Daryl looks devastated as he stares at the dirt, not noticing the giant dirt patch on Father Gabriel’s leg. Rick notices it though, and later he thanks the priest for thinking fast so that they were not forced to share where Maggie really is — The Hilltop.
Spencer Causes Major Trouble With Negan
While this is happening, a gunshot is heard in the distance. Negan glares at Rick who looks incredibly nervous, and then they head over to see who is shooting at each other. Unfortunately for Rick it turns out to be Carl (Chandler Riggs), who found the Saviors taking all of their medicine and demanded for them to stop. Even when Negan arrives the kid refuses to put down the gun, and the terrifying leader has to remind the kid that he can take whatever he wants, and that “half” means as much as he feels like it does. This is a huge slap in the face for everyone, as now they know that Negan doesn’t even play by his own rules.
Carl eventually hands over the gun, but the incident has already upset Negan enough to point out that Alexandria has too many weapons. He asks Rick to take his men to their armory, and inside they go over the inventory — and take everything. However, two guns are missing — handguns — and they know this because they have Olivia’s inventory list. Negan tells Rick that if they can’t find the guns, he will be forced to kill Olivia. This sends Rick into a panic because he can’t bear to lose another person, so he and his people search every inch of Alexandria for the guns in an attempt to save Olivia’s life.
Outside of Alexandria we find out that Spencer blames Rick for everything that’s currently happening to them. He and Rosita pulled over near the train tracks and packed a hidden motorcycle into a van. It seems as if they had been there before, but Rosita is distracted. While Spencer is packing up the bike, Rosita mysteriously heads into the woods without a word. Of course Spencer follows her, and he watches as she takes out a group of walkers and then checks them for weapons. Spencer wants to know whats up, so she tells him that the reason Dwight took their weapons before letting them leave Alexandria is because they were probably there to take ALL the weapons. Boy, she doesn’t know how right she is.
Speaking of Spencer, it’s inside Deanna’s home, where Spencer now lives alone, that Rick finds the two guns. They were hidden in the floor under an air vent, along with some food and alcohol. Not only does Rick turn those two guns over, but just as Negan and the gang are leaving he spots Michonne hiding outside of the entrance. He asks Negan to wait for a moment and then goes to where Michonne is hiding and asks her to hand over the gun she took this morning. Michonne is not happy about this, but he eventually convinces her which allows him to turn over a gun that wasn’t on the inventory list. This shows a huge bout of loyalty to Negan, and once he’s impressed Rick uses the opportunity to ask if he would consider leaving Daryl behind. Negan’s answer? Not a chance.
Once Negan leaves, Rick confronts Spencer about hiding guns inside the vents in his home. Instead of apologizing for almost killing Olivia, he questions Rick for going inside his house. Spencer uses this opportunity to remind Rick that he totally screwed Alexandria, going so far as to say Glenn and Abraham’s names. This makes Rick stop in his tracks, and he immediately threatens to break Spencer’s jaw if he ever speaks of them again. Yikes.
After Rick is gone, Rosita is the next one to confront Spencer about hiding guns. She’s furious that she risked her life for the empty gun she found on a walker earlier, and rightfully so. Spencer admits that he hid the guns a long time ago, back when he didn’t trust Rick, but that’s not enough to make Rosita happy about the situation.
Rick Makes A Major Judith Confession
Speaking of confrontation, later on Michonne confronts Rick about the rifle he took from her to give to Negan. She points out it was one of the guns not on the inventory list, and that they could have gotten away with hiding it. After he asks if she has any more hidden, Michonne gets very upset and says that everything they had they got from fighting. She’s upset that he’s giving in, but Rick explains that they need to accept their current situation. He uses his friend, Shane (RIP), as an example and explains how he knew that Shane and his wife, Lori, were sleeping together — and that Judith is not his daughter. Well, finally!
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Rick tells Michonne he accepted that so he could keep her alive, which is his way of explaining why he’s accepted the current situation. “This is how we live now,” he tells her, admitting he had to accept that so that no one else would die because of him. He begs Michonne to accept it, too, and although she doesn’t seem very happy about it she gets down on the floor and helps him put the sheets together where their bed used to be.
Later on, possibly the next day, Michonne goes out to the same spot where she was doing target practice. Something catches her attention in the distance, and when she goes looking for it she discovers a pile of burned mattresses in the road. It appears that Negan’s men stole their beds just for fun, and then set them of fire after leaving them a short distance from Alexandria. This greatly upsets Michonne, and it’s hard to believe that she’ll be able to accept this new life the way Rick has.
The very last shot of the episode is Rosita picking up the shell from a gun that Negan shot off earlier in the episode, busting out a window. She brings it to Eugene’s house and asks him quietly, “Make me a bullet.” Apparently she has big plans for the gun she found earlier that day, though it’s likely to get her in a lot of trouble with Negan and Rick.
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Tell us, HollywoodLifers — What did YOU think of this episode? Were you shocked to hear Rick admit that Judith was not his daughter? Do YOU think Rosita is going to get herself in trouble with Negan? Comment below!