This episode, we get to learn more about Princess. We also see both sides prepare for war and many people are in a precarious position. My name is Kent, and I ask 5 weekly questions (sometimes more) and then people answer them. Any comments in BOLD are written by me. I hope you enjoy and if you or someone you know may want to do this blog, contact me, leave a comment, etc.
1. Who is talking to Beta in his mind? Also, is Beta simply too hot-tempered to be a good leader?
Bob: In his mind… The same guiding force he believed Alpha had. He is just a brutal dictator without Alpha’s feminine emotions. (If you’re going to have a group of this nature, I do agree that you need the feminine emotions to keep it successful and be a valuable leader. Very good point!)
Kent: I’m guessing that it is just his inner voice, but I much prefer the idea of it being Alpha or my choice is his dead friend from the beginning when Alpha first met him. Beta is a terrible leader. There, I said it. In the world of wrestling, some guys are natural-born leaders of groups and factions. Oftentimes, these factions have enforcers, like Arn Anderson of the 4 Horseman, Batista in Evolution, etc. The enforcers rarely ever go on to be good leaders of the faction. I think some may compare Beta to Negan, but that would be a terrible comparison. Negan had ethics and rules. Beta…I don’t know how you stay alive with him as your leader.
2. How the hell did Aaron and Alden get surrounded at the end?
Bob: Just a silly twist. Done on purpose. It felt wrong because it was wrong. I was annoyed by the whole thing. Kang, do better. Like your predecessor, Liu.
(I feel proud of you at this moment.)
Kent: This drove me crazy and I know it maybe shouldn’t have. But here’s the thing, Aaron spent how many years out scouting and being alone or with Eric. Alden was a former Savior, for those who may have forgotten. He is fully aware of the tactics of surrounding your enemy. Yes, I’m fully aware that the Whisperers are incredibly quiet and stealthy, but come on! This was just to create drama and add a new character that we will meet in the season finale.
3. Should Daryl have killed the female Whisperer? Should Judith have told Daryl about Rick?
Bob: Daryl does not play nice without Rick around. And without believing Connie is alone… Checked out! Also, I still am not impressed with Rick and the reveal so yeah, keep it to yourself! (I’m still not 100% sure that Daryl should be making too many decisions, even if I agree with some of them.)
Kent: Daryl was 100% in the right to kill her and I will give you the best reason. What if you keep her alive and maybe she sees the way of your group and likes it? I am not okay with having a Tara 2.0. From Judith’s perspective, no she shouldn’t have told Daryl. That’s honestly too much to put on his mind at this moment, plus she naturally assumes that he would possibly leave.
4. Is Princess annoying you or slowly endearing herself to you?
Bob: I liked her immediately. What a fun character on this show! (I like her a lot more on the show than I did when I first met her in the books. I think they found a great actress for the part, as well.)
Kent: Given all the circumstances, we really needed someone to add something new to the show, and she is it. She has won me over, as expected. In the scenario that they were in, I fear I would have been more Yumiko and not calmer like Eugene or Ezekiel. I also like how Eugene found the common thread between himself and Princess.
5. With Maggie’s return next week (many weeks later), we can safely assume that she will not be pleasant toward Negan and may want to give him the boot, or worse. Given what we have seen so far, who would you consider allies or advocates or whatever you want to kill it, those who would try to coerce Maggie into letting Negan stay unharmed?
Bob: Aaron, Daryl, Judith, Lydia, and Carol would be the realistic allies. Lydia would be a strong one. I feel like the show will do something dumb like make it seem like Carol is going to reverse course on Negan just to have her 180 it. (Sadly, that prediction about Carol sounds all too perfect for this show, but I don’t want to see it. You more than convinced me on Lydia because I think her story would potentially be the most effective positive for Negan.)
Kent: This one is very difficult because there are arguments to be made on both sides for almost everybody that I am gonna mention. The only one that is obviously on his side is Judith and she doesn’t have much sway. Michonne is gone, so she doesn’t count, and the same applies to Rick. I say the next most obvious person is Gabe. Gabe knows Negan better than just about anyone still standing and he gets it. I truly have to wonder about Rosita, but I am going to say no to her due to Abe and Glenn because remember, it was Glenn and Tara that went with Abe, Eugene, and Rosita after they took Gareth to church.
Daryl is probably the next most likely ally because he has spent a lot of time with Negan and I think that he gets him. He may not fully like it, but he gets it. Carol is also a yes because she knows that he has been as reformed as someone can be in the ZA after all the stuff that he’s done. Lydia is a yes to me. He saved her life twice now. She may be angry at him, but I think that she would vouch for him, but she has no real pull either. If Eugene was there, I don’t really know, but I think that he would vouch for him, but I doubt Ezekiel would.
That leaves Aaron and Alden. Alden I would say is a no, and he will try to get in Maggie’s pants. Aaron is the toughest one. Every indication so far is that Aaron is a no, but they had to have filmed the scenes with him and Negan for a reason, so that tells me yes. In totality, that gives me 6 that are currently there that I think would vouch for Negan, but 2 of them have little to no pull, but Daryl, Carol, Gabe, and Aaron have significant say.
6. In the preview for the season finale, we meet a new mysterious character that may be there to help Aaron and Alden. That’s cool and has me excited. We get to see Maggie, and I know some are excited about that. The odd one to me was seeing Virgil returning to Oceanside. What is the purpose of his return and will he join the group or be an enemy of it or something else?
Bob: There is no real closure with Virgil so he definitely has to come back. He may have taken what Michonne took to heart and agreed with himself to not bother with the flowers… (This show and flowers. I don’t recall many flowers in the book. I wonder if someone could confirm this or point out that I am wrong.)
Kent: Typically, you see a character return to have some redemption arc, right? That makes sense here. I want to go the other way. I want Virgil to burn down all of Oceanside and carry on being crazy as hell. Then I want him to wander inadvertently into the war and try to excuse himself and then get Beta’d. It’d be hilarious. Also, I fear that they are going to give Maggie 15-20 minutes in a 45-55 minute long episode. We know that her absence and what she’s been doing will be explained. Oh yeah, Dianne is totally gonna get got, just sayin’. Since I’m definitely her biggest fan here, I don’t feel bad about spoiling it.
Final Thoughts – In hindsight, would you have preferred the season to have gone on hiatus after Michonne’s final episode, or do you prefer the way that they have done it?
Bob: No way on a Michonne ending like that! They would have had to have a better way to run an episode like that being so slow and having so few main characters in it. (That is very true about the lack of main characters. I hadn’t even considered that.)
Kent: I would have preferred to end it on Michonne’s finale. I am sure that they didn’t think that they would have to delay the finale at the time. And even if they did, this may have made more business sense. From a storytelling perspective, I’d say that airing the final 3 together would have felt better to me.