The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 15 Review

The Walking Dead

Something They Need

Season 7 Episode 15 Review

**SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW, EPISODE AND COMICS FOLLOW, 

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK**

We are nearing the end of another season of "The Walking Dead," and with a whole lot of events still to occur, they amped up the episode by centering on three stories leading up to next week's explosive finale.

One story centers around Maggie at the Hilltop, where she is teaching Eduardo how to farm, while Gregory listens in angrily, as Maggie seems to be garnering the love and admiration of the Hilltop citizens.  She goes out beyond the gates to pull some plants when Gregory goes out to meet her, urging her to trust him.  She says she will as long as he keeps watch, and he draws a knife, and contemplates killing her.  Then a lone Walker emerges from the woods, and Gregory is too scared to do anything, leaving Maggie to take care of it.  Suddenly another Walker appears and tackles Gregory, while he cries out for Maggie to help him.  She sighs and kills the Walker with ease and helps Gregory up, just as a group of Hilltop citizens pass by.  Maggie tells them that Gregory has never killed a Walker before, but he's learning.  Back in his office, Gregory pulls out a map and calls for Kal to accompany him on a trip that will take longer than one day.

There's no doubt that the show is taking the comic book road with Maggie, Gregory and the Hilltop.  Gregory is no doubt planning on visiting the Saviors to warn them of Rick's upcoming attack, and he is very wary of Maggie's leadership.  In the comics she eventually takes leadership over the Hilltop after she finds out Gregory ratted them out, and he in turn tries to kill her by poisoning her, to no avail.  She has him imprisoned and then has him hung on a tree for his crimes.  Hopefully this will be the pattern they develop, as Gregory is easily the most annoying, stupid, inept people on the show.

The second story centers around Sasha and the Sanctuary.  After she tried to kamikaze in, she is taken captive and held in Daryl's old cell.  She is visited by David, who attempts to rape her before Negan arrives.  He tells David that rape is against the rules, and kills David by stabbing him through the throat with a huge knife.  He apologizes to Sasha because she had to see that and remarks that she has "beach ball sized lady nuts" for trying to take him out, and he admires that.

He notices Sasha was with Rick's group that night in the woods and asks if Rick put her up to it, and she tells him that Rick is Negan's female dog and that she did it alone.  He offers her the knife with several options: kill him (which would be unwise since he still has Lucille with him), slit her wrists, do nothing and wait for David to reanimate, or kill David again before he reanimates.  He wants her to live and help lead the Saviors, telling her they're not monsters before he walks away.

Eugene visits with blankets, pillows and a light, and she asks him why he sided with Negan, and he tells her it's because he is safe there.  He admits that he thought he could be brave at one time and be a survivor like Abraham, but he says it was just a delusional dream.  He pleads with Sasha to join Negan and says that Abraham would've wanted her to do that.  After a glaring look from Sasha he relents and said Abraham probably wouldn't want that, and he leaves as David's eyes begin to open.

Negan arrives again and the knife is now in David's head, and he tells Sasha that he still doesn't fully trust her yet and takes back the knife.  He tells her that a little birdy told him that Rick is up to no good, and that she will help him change it tomorrow.  Eugene then talks to Sasha behind the door and she tearfully tells him she is wrong and she can't live anymore and be a pawn for Negan to hurt their friends, and wants Eugene to find a weapon so she could end her life.  Eugene relents and leaves, and we see Sasha smiling, having tricked Eugene into find her a weapon.  However, things don't turn out according to plan as Eugene returns with some of his homemade suicide pills, and Sasha cries knowing that she still has nothing to kill Negan with.

It's been pretty much established that Sasha (who doesn't exist in the comics) is taking the role of Holly.  In the comics, Holly was an Alexandrian who begins a relationship with Abraham, and after his death she sacrifices herself by driving a bus into the Sanctuary and is taken captive by Negan.  After almost being raped by David (which was a panel-for-panel similarity on the show), Negan tells her that he has big plans for her.  When they arrive in Alexandria, Negan has Holly bound with a sack over her head.  Denise (who was still alive in the comics) goes out to get her, but when the sack is taken off we see Holly had turned, and she bites Denise, killing her.  I'm fairly certain Sasha will unfortunately receive that death on the finale.

However, it could be Eugene who gets that death, as Negan could find out Eugene made those suicide pills and could lead him to not trust Eugene anymore.  That'd be a very drastic difference from the comics and would lead the show in an entirely new direction, since Eugene was the one who made bullets and currently is also in communication with a new group of survivors from Ohio over his homemade radio.  Still, it wouldn't be as surprising because on the show Eugene is showing himself to be not too trustworthy, while in the comics he never relents to Negan even after being beaten by him.  It'll no doubt be the biggest turning point in the season, seeing who is under that sack in the finale.

The main story in the episode centers around Oceanside, the community of all women that Tara ran into earlier.  She finally tells Rick and the others that Oceanside has a lot of guns that they need, and leads them (Rick, Carl, Enid, Michonne, Daryl, Jesus, Aaron, Eric, Gabriel, Francine and Tobin) to the community.  Natania, the leader of Oceanside, is ambushed by Tara in her home and Cyndie - the girl who helped Tara escape Oceanside - enters and is also taken captive by Tara.  She tells the women that they don't want to kill them, but they need their guns because they're going to fight the Saviors.  She pleads with Natania to allow Oceanside to join the fight, but she doesn't want to, despite Cyndie's agreement to fight. 

Time runs out, and explosions are heard outside the community.  The women run into the woods where they're ambushed by Rick and his men, while Tara is tackled by Natania and holds her hostage.  Rick tells her that they'll still take their guns no matter what, and that they should join the fight because Negan killed all the Oceanside men.  Walkers then approach due to the explosions, and Cyndie knocks out Natania before the women join Rick's group in fighting off the Walkers.

After the fight several of the women want to join Rick, but Natania forbids it, yet she tells Rick that they can take their guns.  After taking all the guns they return to Alexandria where Rosita is there to meet them, and tells them someone else is there.  She takes them to the prison where Dwight is waiting, and tells Rick he wants to help.  Rick says he can help by getting on his knees as he draws his gun.

While I enjoy it when the show goes with the comic, I also like when it deviates from it.  Oceanside in the comic is a lot different than the show, in that it's not only women, and it appears after the war with Negan.  I doubt that, with the strongly written characters like Natania and Cyndie, that we've seen the last of the group.  I feel that'll arrive at Alexandria with the Hilltop, the Kingdom and the Scavengers to assist in the fight, and I hope they do, as several of the women there are very trained in combat.  Plus I can see Tara eventually leading the community in the future, and it would be a terrible throwaway to just have them featured in two episodes and never heard from again.

When it comes to Dwight, if they follow the comics, he will serve as a double agent for Rick, returning to the Sanctuary to find out information about Negan's plans.  I don't see them deviating that far from the comics, so I think it'll happen on the show, but with the show there's the addition of Daryl (who doesn't exist in the comics), and the two men have some very bad blood they'll have to work through.

Overall, the episode was a nice segue into the finale, which looks to be downright epic.  It's going to be an exciting finish to a season that had its ups and downs, and hopefully will lead into the all out war with Negan.

The Score: A