Warning! Spoilers ahead.
It’s the moment The Walking Dead fans both look forward to and fear the most; the season finale. It had betrayal, self-sacrifice, gunfire, blood-shed and we finally got to see King Ezekiel’s tiger Shiva kill some people.
Most of the episode’s focus was towards Sasha, who in the previous episode was captured by the saviors in an attempt to avenge her ex-lover’s death. Failing to kill Negan, she was imprisoned and forced to live in the same conditions as Daryl, but this time with a lot less torture. Throughout the episode, we are repeatedly shown close ups of Sasha’s face listening to “Someday We’ll All Be Free” by Donny Hathaway in some kind of dark room.
Sahsa’s situation caused some confusion until the episode revealed where she was and why she was there. After convincing Negan to reduce the number of fatalities from three to one, she found herself traveling back to Alexandria in a coffin; the coffin Negan was planning to use for that one person he was going to kill. Whilst in the coffin, she had flashbacks of a conversation she had with Abraham ahead of his traumatic death, and fans were graced with a surprise cameo of the deceased character.
Back at Alexandria, it looked like everything was going to plan. They had a truck full of dynamite ready for the savior’s arrival, King Ezekiel was on his way with a number of his followers and Rick had the assistance of who Negan called “the garbage people”. Stocked up with guns and ammunition, they were situated around their territory ready to start their ambush.
However, as the saviors turned up and Rick was met with the coward that is Eugene speaking through a megaphone as Negan; Jadis and her people turned on Alexandria, revealing she had been offered a better deal with Negan.
Stepping out of the truck holding his beloved Lucille, Negan reveals the coffin which holds Sasha inside. Smug as ever, he opens the coffin only to be attacked by Sahsa who has resurrected as a walker after talking the suicide pill Eugene gave to her in last week’s episode. As this happens, Alexandria fight back but it doesn’t take long for them to be outnumbered, forcing them to take cover. This allowed Negan to further torment Rick as he had both him and Carl knelt next to each other on the ground; a scene synonymous with that mentally scaring moment in the season 7 premier.
It looked like we would be saying goodbye to another main character until the ambush of King Ezekiel’s people and his tiger that pounced on one of the saviors preventing Negan from bashing Carl’s skull in. The sudden attack drove Negan and the surviving saviors back to their sanctuary to inform his followers that the war we have all been waiting for is happening.
The explosive episode sparks anticipation for the extended battle scenes we will see in season 8. But for now we say goodbye to another season and another beloved character; RIP Sasha.
The Walking Dead returns in October, so I guess we are going to have to find something else to obsess over until then.
