The Walking Dead really stepped up their game this episode. I personally didn't have too many problems with this season so far. For example, I actually enjoyed that Tara episode that got awful reviews and I only thought they could've done a bit better with episodes 4 and 5. I was cool with the slow development because I had a feeling the slow pace would pay off and lead us to some action-packed stuff. Here's where the action begins. The episode started pretty slowly but I liked how they caught up with all the small groups (Rick/Aaron, Carol/Morgan, Alexandria, Michonne, etc.) The beginning dinner sequence was pretty comical with Negan asking Carl to pass the rolls to lead us to credits. Anyways, one plot line was Daryl escaping with the help of Jesus. I thought they could've spent some more time on this but it was still satisfying to see Daryl get out and take down a Savior in the process too. I thought the Hilltop had enough scenes to make that story-line effective. Not too much time was spent there but there was some interesting dialogue between Maggie/Gregory and Sasha/Enid. Then we have Aaron and Rick in the lake. I thought this scene was done well and some may wonder why they switched boats midway through I'm pretty sure it was because the canoe they were in wasn't sturdy and was going to sink because it was old with bullet holes and so forth. Anyways the Aaron dialogue about staying alive in this world was well done and my hunch as to who the mysterious figure watching Rick and Aaron from afar was the owner of the boat. Rick even mentioned that the guy on the boat had everything but ammo so the guy who lives there was probably just scavenging for ammo and that's why he would follow Rick and Aaron back to Alexandria so he could get his stuff back. Anyways the last few small story lines follow Michonne and Carol/Morgan. The dialogues between Carol Morgan and Richard (Kingdom soldier) was a pretty compelling conversation. I like Richard and I feel like his character is going to do some big things next half of the season. He's trying to convince Morgan and Carol to fight and fighting the saviors will be a theme of the next half of the season. For now though Morgan and Carol don't agree with the interesting Kingdom soldier. Michonne on the road had some interesting sequences too. She got the Savior woman to bring her to Negan's base where Michonne realizes there's too many saviors for Alexandria to have a chance at the moment. So the sword-wielding ninja shoots the Savior and disposes of the car, returning to Alexandria later in the episode. OK so here's the main plot which is basically where all the crazy stuff goes down. The d-bag Spencer is trying to convince Negan to let him take over Alexandria, basically implying that Rick needs to be rid of. Negan is pretty annoyed that Spencer is bitching about Rick instead of going out there and gathering supplies for him while Rick is doing the dirty work even though he hates Negan. So he tells Spencer Ricks got guts for swallowing his hate and gathering for Negan and Spencer is basically asking Negan to kill Rick and do the dirty work for him so Negan declares Spencer has no guts and stabs him in the stomach, and Spencer's guts fall onto the floor. Rosita then shoots at Negan and hits Lucille, Negan's bat, instead. Negan is angry and realizes the bullet is made from scratch after closely examining it. He orders for one of the Saviors to kill someone after Rosita refuses to tell who actually made the bullet. A Savior shoots Olivia in the head and that's when Rick stumbles upon the situation in disgust. After Tara lies and says she made the bullet, Eugene confesses to his action and they take him away, probably to use him for making bullets back at their compound. After Negan leaves Rick offs a zombie Spencer with anger. Later Michonne has returned and talks to Rick about how they need to be on the same page about fighting and not giving up at the hands of Negan. Rick has finally turned the corner again into his old awesome self and agrees with the plan to fight Negan now. The end of the episode, which is one of the best scenes this season in my opinion, sees Rick Carl Michonne and others from Alexandria visit Maggie at the hilltop. Rick explains to Maggie that she was right all along about having to fight Negan and the Saviors. Then to cap it off Daryl and Jesus pop up, having made their way back to Hilltop off screen. Rick has an emotional hug with Daryl and the episode ends with the group in a hopeful mood and best of all, Rick gets his f*ckin gun back. Daryl snagged the Python from the Savior, Fat Joey, who he killed getting out earlier in the episode. This scene was epic and really caps off the half season perfectly. It's a nice surprise as we end 2016 on a pretty positive and uplifting note. And I've got a great feeling that 2017 is gonna be one bad ass half season. +Rick's back +Perfect pacing +3 deaths with some sick effects +High intensity and great acting +War is coming +Awesome ending reunion between the group and Daryl/Rick -None except maybe more on Daryl's escape but that didn't really bother me much Rate: 9.6/10
Review of Hearts Still Beating
