The Walking Dead - S8E2 - The Damned

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Previously on The Walking Dead, “Mercy”

If you were dying to know whether or not Gabriel was wearing his shitting pants last week, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. After a promising premiere, The Walking Dead fell back into familiar, redundant, unnecessary territory. It wasn’t an altogether unpleasant revisit; and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that The Walking Dead decided to act like itself with characters inexplicably saying aloud what we just witnessed (trust the audience!) and having deep, philosophical debates while on their We’re Going to Kill People missions.

Frankly, I’m Surprised More People Didn’t Die

The next leg of the attack on the Saviors saw separate groups simultaneously hitting up Savior compounds. One group consisted of Aaron, Eric, Tobin, Scott, and Francine (who I thought was named Annie until she died and Eric yelled, “Francine!”), or more accurately: All the Characters Who Could Die and It Wouldn’t Change a Damn Thing.

They roll up on a Savior compound in their armored-up cars and let the lead fly. Bullets are no longer a concern, apparently. It’s pretty clear their plan is to keep the Saviors pinned down while killing as many as they can. If it’s not clear (it is), don’t worry because at least three characters say it outright.

Also, if his two whole-ass lines of dialogue last week didn’t tell you Eric was dying, this episode contained at least four prolonged looks between him and Aaron as they exchange gunfire with the Saviors. They probably correctly assumed most people would forget who Eric was between commercial breaks. Eric yells there’s “no time” to wait for Tobin’s cover fire when Aaron tells him to, and instead runs off to mow down Saviors on his own. He’s mostly successful if you don’t count Annie-Francine dying and Eric taking a bullet to the gut. The Saviors they killed reanimate as walkers and take out the still shooting Saviors, starting with their leader named Mara, but I call her Neganette.

Not sure what the next part of the plan was, but Aaron calls an audible and decides the new mission is Get Bleeding Bae The Fuck Outta Here.

Shakespeare in the Park

The Savior who lobbed a grenade at Carol and Ezekiel’s group takes off while they’re busy killing walkers. Again, the full mission isn’t revealed, but Carol notes that they’ll be in trouble if the runner alerts others to their presence. Ezekiel sends his best rangers and a bard off to get reinforcements, and he rallies the others to go after the runner.

What follows is a few scenes of Ezekiel answering the “Why are you like this?” look Carol gives him in the first few minutes of the episode with Renn Faire speak and idioms. Their runner is wounded and backup arrives just in time, but they hear over the walkie that the Saviors at their next destination know they’re coming.

Ezekiel casts a Level 15 Morale Spell and they head into the breach once more.

Of note: Jerry kills a walker that looked like it had been put through it before he found it. Is this a peek at the next threat the communities will face?

Don’t Trust Jesus

Morgan, Jesus, and Tara lead a group to the same Savior compound that got them into this mess. Since their last massacre, the Saviors have walkers act as a line of defense. They split up to breach the facility at the same time from different points, and then coordinate to take rooms throughout the building at once.

Jesus and Tara find a Savior who has pissed his pants in fear, and he claims to be a worker who’s forced to be there in order to protect his family back at the Sanctuary. It doesn’t matter if they believe him or not because he has his hands up, and Jesus thinks this is enough to take him alive. Tara thinks Jesus must be brand new. And I think they should really have these “What Kind of Killers Are We” talks before they leave the house on their “The Only Reason We’re Getting Out of Bed Today is to Go Kill People” missions.

They end up pinned down in a room with the man while the others clear an exit and attempt to catch up with Morgan’s team. The Savior shows his true colors by attacking Jesus and then holding him at gunpoint. Because all Saviors are certified Ain’t Shit, he also stomps on prenatal vitamins that were stolen from Hilltop and admits that he purposely pissed his pants to sell his lie. Even when they get the drop on him once more, Jesus insists on taking him as a prisoner of war.

Meanwhile, Morgan kills every Savior he sees after the two men he was with are killed. He literally kills Saviors just a few feet from where Jesus has talked everyone into taking even more prisoners. Morgan is, understandably, confused. Did we not come here to kill people?

You did, Morgan. You did.

Who Dat?

Rick and Daryl follow a tip from Dwight to hit a Savior compound that supposedly has a huge cache of weapons. They split up in their search and Rick ends up fighting himself. Well, it was another man, but he really could have just been the Savior’s version of Rick. I just called him Rick As Well.

They try to kill each other and Rick demands to know where the guns are. Rick As Well only gets out, “No. Guns” because Rick is choking the life out of him at the time. Too bad he didn’t add “baby” because then maybe Rick wouldn’t have killed him before discovering the man’s sleeping infant in the next room… the room Rick assumed held guns. Nah. Rick probably would have killed him anyway.

He shoulda said “Martha.”

In another room, Rick finds himself on the wrong end of a gun held by someone he knew back in Atlanta: Morales. Morales has already called the Saviors and tells Rick it’s over.

Morales, you don’t even know Rick like that.

Leave your brief thoughts on the episode below or on our Facebook post for this review, and we’ll read them on tonight’s podcast.