“It feels like everything is wrong,” says Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green). “Not everything,” answers Maggie (Lauren Cohan) as they pay their respects at Glenn and Abraham’s graves in the community of Hilltop in season seven episode five of AMC’s horror/drama series, The Walking Dead.
As the episode begins, Maggie wakes and is informed by Dr. Carson (R. Keith Harris) that her placenta has separated from her uterus. She should be okay, and the baby is fine, but he recommends that she stay at Hilltop until delivering so he can take care of her and make sure all goes well. Sasha takes Maggie to where she buried Glenn and Abraham so she can mourn. The two women are discussing their deceased friends and grieving when Jesus (Tom Payne) shows up and places flowers near the graves.
This is when Gregory (Xander Berkeley) walks up and is upset that Jesus buried the dead bodies, telling him they always burn their dead. He also tells Maggie and Sasha they need to leave for the good of the people at Hilltop. Maggie informs Gregory the doctor suggested she stay, but he doesn’t care. Gregory reminds her the doctor doesn’t have the authority. Jesus tries to talk to Gregory to let them stay and tells him it will be dark soon. Gregory, wanting to seem a reasonable man, allows them to stay the night but is still set on making them leave in the morning.
Back in Alexandria, Carl (Chandler Riggs) decides not to go on a supply run with his father since he’s not really being on board with the whole “working for Negan” thing. Michonne (Danai Gurira) also decides not to go and Carl asks her why. “I need to figure out some things first,” she replies. Carl tells her that Rick is wrong; they shouldn’t be servants to Negan and that she knows it. Michonne says she doesn’t “know it” for certain and leaves. Carl notices Enid (Katelyn Nacon) once again trying to sneak out. (Here we go again!) He tries to tell her she shouldn’t, but Enid wants to go to Hilltop to check on Maggie, and it’s obvious she feels a responsibility to look out for Maggie because of the bond she shared with Glenn.
Enid makes a rather cruel remark that’s unlike her to Carl about having better aim than he does. (Remember, Carl now only has one eye). Regretting it the minute she says it, she tells him she didn’t mean it. Carl’s both fed up with her and hurt so he says he’s not going to save her anymore and walks away so she can sneak off if she wants to.
Over at Hilltop, Sasha tells Jesus she’s willing to stay and work if they let Maggie also stay and to see if Gregory will go for it. Jesus makes up Maggie’s bed and leaves her some clothes, telling both Maggie and Sasha he’ll try to talk to Gregory for them.
Embarking on a long road trip, Enid hasn’t gotten that far when a hungry walker starts heading her way. Great survivalist that she is, Enid seems to freeze and is not sure what to do. A car comes speeding along and runs the zombie over. The undead thing gets up and begins to walk again, but the car backs up quickly and rams it again, effectively pinning it. Enid goes to the driver’s side and opens the door to see Carl at the wheel. “What are you doing?” she asks. “Felt like going for a drive,” answers Carl.
That night at Hilltop, Maggie and Sasha are woken by a blasting stereo inside a locked car out in the yard. A few small fires are lit inside the complex and the gate’s open. None of the windows in their room open and the door’s locked, so Sasha climbs up on the roof as walkers pour into the courtyard. Maggie yells to Jesus, who has now shown up to help, to close the gate. He and Sasha take on the zombies and Jesus is able to close the gate. Sasha tries to get into the car to kill the music but finds it locked and sealed up tight. Quick-thinking Maggie gets in a farm tractor and drives it right over the car, destroying it and putting an end to the music blaring from its radio.
The next day, Jesus is arguing with Gregory that they need Maggie and Sasha to stay and last night proves it, but Gregory is too afraid they’ll be discovered by The Saviors and retribution will be forthcoming. As the argument goes on and on, a large group of Saviors show up. Gregory tells Jesus to hide Maggie and Sasha in a closet and for them not to make a sound.
Back out on the road, Carl and Enid are walking and talking about what happened the night Glenn and Abraham were killed by Negan. Carl reveals he watched it all and didn’t look away so he won’t hesitate when he gets the chance to kill Negan. Carl finds a backpack and in it are roller skates that bring a smile to his face. Enid and Carl put on the skates to go faster down the road and hold hands, actually able to act a little like their real age as if they were just out having fun one afternoon instead of living in a zombie apocalypse.
Back at Hilltop, Simon (Steven Ogg) – Negan’s right-hand man – has a one-on-one conversation with Gregory to explain that from now on he, Simon, is Hilltop’s Negan because that’s the way Negan wants it. He tells Gregory that Hilltop will be dealing with him and his men because the last crew got soft and were taken out by a new group who now work for, yes, you guessed it, Negan. Gregory keeps acting surprised as though all this information is new to him and keeps assuring Simon he’s a team player.
Simon asks if there’s anything he should know about, and Gregory takes him to where he believes Maggie and Sasha are hiding. He opens the closet door believing he’s about to deliver Maggie and Sasha to Simon, but actually inside is just a case of Scotch. Simon tells Gregory he hates that particular alcohol but will give it to Negan as though it was from him.
On his way out, Simon tells Gregory to kneel down in front of him while Jesus and a few other Hilltop residents watch. A few minutes later, Jesus lets Maggie and Sasha out of the closet in Gregory’s bedroom. Gregory’s upset that’s where they were hiding and tells them as soon as The Saviors pack up and leave they must go too. This time it’s Jesus who tells off Gregory and says they are staying and they will all be one happy dysfunctional family.
“So you’re gonna be in charge now?” asks Gregory in a snide and insulting tone. “No, it’s just that you won’t be,” replies the top scavenger of Hilltop. Gregory tries to play off what happened today between him and Simon as progress and tries to tell Maggie that The Saviors can be reasonable. She responds by punching him in the face. She tells Gregory that he better get used to calling her by her name. “Not Marsha, not dear, not honey…Maggie. Maggie Rhee.”
Meanwhile, Carl and Enid are hiding in the forest just outside of Hilltop. Enid finally realizes Carl didn’t just go for a drive but is hoping to kill Negan. (Seriously, how has this kid survived up to now?!) Enid asks how he’ll get away if he does kill Negan and he tells her it doesn’t matter. She replies that it does matter to her. Carl looks at her, and she asks him not to go. He kisses her on the forehead and then the two kiss on the lips. Carl, still determined to kill Negan, heads off to slip into one of the trucks that he knows will head back to Negan’s camp.
Back inside Hilltop, Jesus tells Sasha that Gregory was already in charge when he arrived and that he thought he had been chosen, but now he doesn’t believe that and thinks someone else should be in charge. Sasha asks who and he tells her that they will discuss it sometime. Sasha tells Jesus that if he really wants to help, he needs to find out where Negan actually lives. He tells her one of the trucks The Saviors is driving will go back to Negan and volunteers to go with it to find out.
Maggie returns to Glenn’s grave to find Enid putting balloons on Abraham’s marker. The two have a happy reunion while standing by the graves. Later, Sasha joins them for dinner and Maggie gives Enid Glenn’s watch that was originally her father’s. She tells Enid that she decided not to use the watch to mark Glenn’s grave. “We don’t need anything to remember him by. We have us,” says the strong widow as she holds hands with her friends and prepares to say grace.
In the last scene of the episode, Jesus sneaks onto the already moving truck that’s headed to Negan’s base camp. After a few minutes, he hears a voice say, “Hey.” It’s Carl who it turns out is already hiding in that truck.
The Walking Dead season 7 episode 5 review:
Slow and boring, season seven episode five titled “Go Getters” finally reveals how Maggie and her baby are doing and what was wrong with her pregnancy at the end of season six. The rest of the episode was yet another reminder of how intimidating and deadly Negan’s Saviors are and how much a coward Gregory at Hilltop is. This episode did little to add anything new to any of the characters except for Jesus who finally grows a backbone and stands up to Gregory who, to be honest, would be scared and sent into hiding by a strong breeze. It really doesn’t make sense how Gregory was ever able to get the residents at Hilltop to follow his lead.
The stand-out performance in this episode goes to Lauren Cohan as Maggie who conveys beautifully all the many different emotions she goes through in just over a 24-hour period. The look of being lost and not really taking in what the doctor is saying to her about what went wrong with her pregnancy and that she needs to remain at Hilltop until delivering the baby is perfect. The loss and sadness Maggie feels at her husband’s grave is conveyed so poignantly, and the anger she feels and unleashes at Gregory at his callous and insulting comments about The Saviors being reasonable is strong yet controlled. It’s truly Cohan’s performance that makes the episode watchable. It’s unfortunate she doesn’t have more screen time in it.
With Carl and Jesus on their way to discover the location of Negan’s base camp and Michonne struggling with supporting Rick’s decision to just crawl and serve Negan, it should be interesting to see how long it will take for the residents of Alexandria, Hilltop, and The Kingdom to join forces to take on Negan and his Saviors.
GRADE: C-
