Welcome back walker fanatics to the return episode of AMC’s hit drama series, The Walking Dead. This episode opens with Rick reading Carl’s letter to him as he looks on at Hilltop. We hear Carl’s voice as Rick reads his letter to him in his head. Carl’s starts with a flashback to his eighth birthday, remembering all his family members, going to movies, school, cartoons, grandma and grandpa, summer barbeques, and my personal favorite, Friday night pizza. Carl recalls every moment from his childhood because he felt happy, special, and safe. He thought growing up was having a family, and working, but really it’s about keeping your loved ones close and safe because things happen to like how Rick was shot at the beginning of season 1. Carl wishes for his dad to be safe from now on, and wished that he could’ve killed Negan, but didn’t get the chance to because of everyone around with Negan. Those Saviors have families too, all young or old, and killing them won’t do any good for the communities. They’re so close to starting over again, why ruin it all? There’s a bigger world out there to have a bigger and better life, so he suggests for Rick to make peace with Negan so everything can go back to normal, schools, birthdays, etc. Carl wants Rick to create a better life and environment with Negan and the Saviors. This is why Carl will forever be the G.O.A.T. of the Walking Dead, why did he have to die too soon?!?! Michonne suddenly gets out of bed and quickly approaches the drawer to get Negan’s letter.

Gregory is back at the Savior compound to make amends with Simon, but he refuses because Gregory made him look bad. Gregory apologizes for everything Maggie has done to the Saviors, and in the peace offering, he wants to make it right with Negan. Simon replies with he is Negan now because the real Negan is nowhere to be seen at the moment, so he’s taking charge. Gregory is confused by this change of events, but they cheered their glass of whiskey and Gregory is fine with the new leadership. Gregory respects Simon’s leadership more than Negan’s; if only the real Negan were here to see this change of events. Gregory then loses his mind when he claims everything is falling apart on him because he doesn’t have control anymore and thinks he has the “juice” to run the Saviors. After shoving Simon, Simon takes his arm and slams him on the floor to teach him some respect and authority. Simon then makes Gregory his new secretary and orders him to make him some coffee.

Sydney and her all group go out scavenging until they stumble upon a walker. Sydney volunteers to kill it, but Aaron came from behind and killed it and then collapses in front of them. Sydney refuses to help him because they made their choice already, and are not going to help them again!

Eugene is seen feeding his new coworkers soup, they should be appreciative by this act of kindness, but they aren’t. Eugene is proud of his creation and claims this is all on the menu until the order is complete. He reminds them that Negan is MIA And just because Simon is in charge does not mean they can start slacking. Eugene spots that Gabriel taking off his mask to cough, Eugene calls him out on it so he doesn’t spread any of his germs on the bullets. Gabriel claims he’s the same person he always has been since the beginning and both him and Eugene have a goal to live. Eugene claims only one of them will live longer, and then suspends Gabriel from his station for being sick. Gabriel then starts crying, but Eugene wasn’t having it. He then walks out with a couple of Saviors, until one was killed with a crossbow by Daryl, and another was stabbed by Rosita, as they proceed to kidnap him!

Dwight comes out with a cigarette and proceeds to smoke, that is when Negan makes his sudden yet humble return. Dwight is shocked from what he is seeing, but Negan doesn’t want him to be surprised. Negan asks Dwight for a hand in moving a garbage can, as he asks him what was his deal in not finding him when he went missing. Negan asks Dwight who is he. He responds with that Simon is his number 2 and he thought Negan wanted him in control in case of any sudden change of events, and Dwight knows who he is, he’s Negan. Negan is proud of that but asks Dwight to put out the smoke and remember this conversation so he knows what they can do together.

Simon and Negan have a conversation about how he believed Negan was dead. Simon quickly apologizes for taking over the Saviors so quickly without his consent and making it personal. Simon asks for a pass for every bad thing that happened during Negan’s absence and promises he’ll make it up to him. Negan recalls when Simon helped him take over the Sanctuary and the Saviors and how he wasn’t sure if he wanted him around. But with the psycho mind, Simon has, that’s not a person anyone wanted to work with. So Negan stayed with him, and everything was going great, up until this point in time. Negan asks for Simon to get on his knees. Simon proceeds, Negan asks if he has a move to make. Simon replies with no move to make. Negan humbly says all is forgiven and tells him to get up. Simon says he’ll never let him down. Negan and his circle start plant the seeds on an attack on the Hilltop, it’s a perfect elaborate plan that Simon is proud of and is glad that he is back. Negan replies with its good to be back. Everyone proceeds to move out, but Negan excludes Dwight to have a talk. Negan compliments Dwight on how smart he is because he knows the business. Negan points out how everything bad that happened to him never shocked him because Negan knows how he wants to live.

Eugene is questioning why he’s being taken alive and begins to beg for forgiveness until Daryl stops the march to threaten Eugene that he’ll cut out his tongue if he won’t shut up. Rosita calms down Daryl, but as Eugene says thank you to Rosita, she tells him to shut up! Eugene reasons with Rosita that he told Negan that he can make bullets so he can save her life. Eugene thought he would be tortured by them, but they surprisingly didn’t, they gave him a chance to live. Eugene says he tried everything in his power to resist, but that’s not the kind of man he is. Rosita interrupts him by saying she knows the kind of man he is. She blames everyone that has died was all on him. Eugene tries to blame everything on Rick now because he pushed them all to attack the Saviors, not him. That tempted Rosita to draw out her weapon on Eugene and begins verbally torturing him by saying he is a coward and a loser because he turned his back on the only friends he’s ever had, and killing him would make the world a better place. Rosita puts down her weapon to tell Eugene they’re not going to kill him because they care about him (which they don’t), they just need what’s in his brain! Their plan is to keep him locked away, away from everyone and the only time he’ll ever see the light of day is only when they need him to do something.

We see Dwight secretly create his own version of the plan of where Saviors are planning their attack, with this written to the side, “Tomorrow afternoon-Negan and ten men at the X. Other 11 person teams at each of the circles. END NEGAN, END the Rest. END THIS.” Dwight’s door gets knocked multiple times, it was Simon asking why did Negan hold him back. Dwight replies with just a pep talk. Simon says they have to talk about those who don’t follow management. Simon says he hasn’t delivered and in this world is being delivered or get shipped and this turn is saddening him. Simon requests to gather people with the same mindset and take action. Dwight says nothing, but this triggers Simon because after everything Negan has done to him he’s surprised he hasn’t risen up yet to take Negan out of charge. Dwight finally agrees with Simon, and this makes Dwight extremely happy.
Daryl, Rosita, and Eugene stumble upon a mob of walkers, Daryl easily takes them out, that’s until Eugene uses them as a distraction to make himself throw up on Rosita and run away! Rosita attempts to shoot him but got away. Rosita wants to “blow that pigs head off!” Rosita and Daryl proceed to a different direction, but Eugene was hiding underneath a pile of garbage.

Aaron is still in the woods, alone and lost, as he wakes up to rain pouring all over him. As he drinks the water that he’s collecting from the rain, he hears walker noises and begins to frighten. He kills it, but more and more keep on coming. He loses his knife in the mud and now he has to use his bare hands to fight off the undead. Now his new weapon is a stick, and he kills two walkers with it and collapses again. Aaron wakes up to the voices of the all-girl group asking if he’s dead. Aaron begins pleading with them, to have them be apart in the fight against the Saviors! Because they lost their happiness because of them!

Dwight meets up with Simon who brings out the other Saviors who are “in” with the plan of taking Negan out of power. Simon says once you are in, they’re no take backs. It has to be done quickly, quietly, and one I question the most-respectful. Simon explains the respectful part and that is because Negan’s done enough and a lot of them. Simon calls out Dwight for having a legitimate beef with Negan. Simon gives Dwight a list of scenarios of how they should take him out. They said once they’re done with Negan, then they’ll celebrate by destroying the Hilltop with its residents, and they’ll go on with their lives. Suddenly, a whistle melody is playing. It’s Negan lurking from behind the garbage bin, thanking Dwight for this useful information, and saying he’ll take it from here. Negan counts down from three, once he got to one, all the Saviors who aligned themselves with Simon were gunned down by other Saviors and began cornering Simon. The Saviors search Simon, but he proceeds to attack Dwight, but that failed as they hold him back from doing so. Negan likes the Simon that attacks people rather than the backstabbing Simon. Simon asks for an explanation for why he snitched. Dwight replies with he wins. Negan is annoyed with how he killed all of the garbage people even though Negan ordered him not to. In doing so, Negan uses Lucille to beat the brains out of the dead corpse of the Saviors who betrayed him. Negan states, “If you wanna be the man, you gotta beat the man” indicating they are going to fight for leadership! They are going to settle this inside Sanctuary walls in front of everyone still breathing. Simon already knows he’s going to win, so in a cocky fashion, he tells everyone to get back to work when this is all done. Simon says he didn’t wish for this to happen, but the Sanctuary must stand, and Negan isn’t the man to do so. After saying that, he back-hands Negan is the face and proceed to beat him down. Negan fights back with an elbow to the head, and these two are going at it. The rest of the Saviors look on showing zero emotion. During the fight, Dwight pulls Gregory off to the side to give him the map with plans, and car keys to tell Rick about tomorrow’s attack. Negan is choking out Simon as he tells him that it’s all his fault Hilltop is winning, and Saviors are dying and all he does is run away like a coward! Negan killed his right-hand man!

The Hilltop guards put Gregory back in his cage, as Maggie brings the map he brought to Rick. Negan is ranting to Dwight about how it was a shame that he had to kill his right-hand man because he could not take it anymore. Negan offers Dwight a promotion to be his new right-hand man even though they have their ups and downs, he is willing to give his most “loyal” worker a promotion, if he accepts. Dwight does accept and promises he’ll help finish the job with Rick. Negan replies, “Don’t short yourself D, you already have!” Dwight opens the door to his room to see another savior in his room, as he attempts to retreat, more Saviors pop in with Negan and corner him. Negan found his plans on the side of the road, and another Savior named Laurel claims he killed his team to align himself with Rick. I guess Dwight didn’t the job done because Laurel came back alive to expose Dwight for a traitor he is. Negan is putting the puzzle pieces together as he now knows how Rick was able to get the advantages. Negan congratulated him for being a “hero” because he’s a nobody and will never be a somebody. Negan admires Dwight because he knows he would come around eventually because he delivered the fake plan to Rick and acknowledges him for using Gregory as his delivery boy. Negan thought about killing Dwight, but he has better plans for another backstabbing person like Dwight.
Eugene returns to his place of work to find out Negan is back, the order needs to be done by tomorrow morning, Rick is walking into a trap, and the perimeter is going to expand with better security for next time. Eugene looks at his workers and tells them if Negan needs these bullets to end this war, then he’s going to get these bullets. He walks to Gabriel and gives him the choice to either stand up and help them create bullets or stay there and cry till he dies. Eugene sits back down and tells his workers “Time to do something with their pathetic lives!”

Walker Simon is now chained up with the other undead army, and Negan looks on with a serious, angry look on his face. He gets a radio call from Michonne, Negan asks for Rick on the other line. Michonne says this isn’t about Rick, it’s about Carl. She says that Carl wrote him a letter and she’ll deliver it to him because that’s what he wanted. Negan replies with he can’t promise that he won’t kill the messenger. Michonne says shut up and listen because she’s going to read it to him. Carl writes to him about how he died, and doesn’t know if Negan is alive, his people or alive, or if even Rick is alive. Carl questions if this is what he wanted-being war. Carl believes finding a way out of this war is working together to find and ending this unnecessary battle. Carl hopes for his dad to offer him peace, and he hopes that Negan accepts his request. Carl wants everyone to start over because he believes in a better world. Negan replies with there’s no ending this and if Michonne came on her hands and knees begging, he would not accept it. Negan believes winning is about killing every last one of them! And that’ll start everything over. Negan didn’t want any of this, but Rick made this all happen. Negan says no more talking, and proceeds to destroy the radio!

Ladies and Gentleman, next week is the season finale, and words cannot describe how excited I am for this. Characters we love are going to die! Legacy’s will be made! A new future for the Walking Dead is going to happen either with Rick in charge, or Saviors taking over the show now! Unfortunately for this episode, it lacked the spark the other episodes this season had. Although the character development was great, Simon had a great send off, Dwight is in deep trouble with the Saviors, and the fight scene between the two was great. But something about this episode is missing, but it was an average episode indeed.  Back to the rating scale—leaning towards Daryl Dixon—the best episode thus far—Glenn Rhee, one of the best of the batch, Rick Grimes, a rather average episode, Gregory, the Hilltop leader, which was lacking quality, and Spencer and Aidan Monroe, the absolute worst of the batch. Season 8, episode 15, is a Rick Grimes, a rather average episode.