The Walking Dead - S7E8 - Hearts Still Beating

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Previously on The Walking Dead, “Sing Me a Song”

The Walking Dead - S7E8 - “Hearts Still Beating” | Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, Lauren Cohan, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Lennie James, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Sonequa Martin-Green, Norman Reedus, Alanna Masterson, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton

Rick and Aaron retrieve supplies from the abandoned boat, and also pick up a mysterious shadow. Michonne’s hostage has a dire warning. Maggie and Sasha continue to make Gregory uncomfortable. Carol has more black men looking after her than baby Judith. Spencer tries to join #TeamNegan. And none of this needed 90 damn minutes.

Carol’s residing in one of those living room sets from a 1970s The Price is Right showcase showdown. You know an old person used to live there because I could have sworn I saw a smaller TV sitting atop a broken floor model TV. Somewhere, Carol’s purse sits with peppermint hard candies in it. Morgan is caught dropping off some fresh produce, but Carol’s larders are full because King Ezekiel has been calling with gifts of his own. Richard pops by with even more supplies (everyone loves Carol) and asks for Morgan’s and Carol’s help in convincing Ezekiel to fight back against the Saviors. He has figured out that they most likely belong to another nearby community. Carol just wants to be left the hell alone and Morgan still ain’t ’bout that life. Richard goes to his secret man cave to cry.

Rick and Aaron traverse the walker-infest waters to reach the riverboat. They tried to make us think Aaron was going to die when he fell out the kayak, but there was no way that was going to happen less than 20 minutes in. Later, Aaron gives his support of Rick’s plan to go along with The Saviors’ demands.

Gregory really hates that everyone at Hilltop likes Maggie and Sasha on account of them saving their lives. Maggie Debos Gregory’s apple simply because she can. Enid confronts Sasha about keeping her deal with Jesus a secret. If more people were willing to fight Negan, maybe Sasha would say something to Maggie, but with the odds against them she won’t risk Maggie wanting to fight as well. This would be a good time for Enid to tell Sasha about Carl sneaking off to Negan’s compound, but that would be too much like right.

Gabriel tries to talk Rosita out of her foolish plan to kill Negan with one bullet. I’m not sure this talk worked and if she’d have given up on it were it not for Spencer’s death later, but when Spencer asks her to dinner, she’s definitely a lot lighter than she’s been all season. Guess we’ll never know.

Daryl escapes the Savior’s compound thanks to his mystery helper, but first he eats up all of Dwight’s peanut butter and flips his table because Daryl is petty and Dwight is The Worst. Oh, and Daryl also beats Fat Joey to death and retrieves Rick’s gun from the dead guy’s pants. Jesus was there, looking all shady and shit. #StillDontTrustJesus

Michonne’s captive shows her just how futile her resistance is when she points out one of Negan’s compounds and that the Saviors’ enemies are outnumbered. She advises Michonne to kill her, dispose of the vehicle, and then go home. Michonne obliges.

Spencer is a whole bitch. Up in his feelings because Rick and ’em left his house looking the Feds went through it, and being an overall shitty person, Spencer puts on his First Day of School clothes, slicks his hair with pomade and privilege, and practices his Big Boy voice before heading over to see Negan. Over a bottle of Spencer’s dignity and a game of pool, Spencer proposes that Negan put him in charge of Alexandria because Rick is a big old meanie. Negan sees right through this and guts Spencer in front of the entire neighborhood, getting intestines all over Spencer’s best pair of Dockers.

Rosita knows it’s a bad idea before she does it - you can see it in her eyes - but she fires her one shot at Negan and hits Lucille instead. For some reason, Negan investigates the shell casing and realizes the bullet was homemade. He demands to know who made it, but when Rosita takes credit he doesn’t believer her, and orders Arat (Elizabeth Ludlow) to kill someone. She shoots and kills Olivia because we all know Arat didn’t like her ass from jump.

Eugene confesses, and his knowledge of bullet making convinces Negan he’s telling the truth. Rick arrives just in time to see the aftermath. He was delayed by watching Aaron get his ass kicked at the gates after failing to remove one of the survivalists’ smartass notes from a box of supplies.

Negan rightfully points out this is all on Rick’s own people: Carl jumped bad first, Spencer was being a weasel, and Rosita tried to kill him knowing his way is to punish someone else. Negan finally takes his leave with Eugene and the supplies Rick and Aaron gathered.

Later, Michonne makes her case for fighting back against Negan, but Rick has already decided it’s the right thing to do. They all head to Hilltop where they’re reunited with Maggie, Sasha, Enid, and Daryl.

Group hugs for everyone! See you in February.

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