*Spoilers Ahead*
Things once again remain a bit lighter this week on The Walking Dead as we find out exactly what Jesus has been up to. It turns out he isn’t another new shady bad guy but instead a man from another community, a community that seems to actually be on the up and up.
That last part is an important distinction because while we’ve met communities before, outside of Alexandria, all of them have been secretly plotting to murder Rick and the group and it seems clear that’s not the goal of the Hilltop community. It truly is a new world for this show to explore and I’m interested to see where they head with the folks at Hilltop.
“Knots Untie” is very much a set-up episode and while, for this show, that usually means a bunch of strained conversations that either don’t hint enough at future stories or hint too much this week we manage to get a pretty compelling hour that is clearly setting up for the darkness waiting down the road.
Namely, Negan and his group, The Saviors, who have an established relationship with the folks at Hilltop that involves taking their things in exchange for not outright murdering them. We might be entering a new world but that doesn’t mean the people in that old world aren’t still around waiting to use their advantages against anyone they come across.
This all comes to a head when a couple Hilltop people return with one attempting to murder their leader, Gregory. Rick and his group quickly take care of them, complete with Rick straight up stabbing one of them in the neck. It leads to the funniest moment of the episode as Rick looks at the horrified Hilltop citizens and gives a befuddled “what?” When the gang finally hears about Negan and his men they seem pretty convinced they can take them out and they make an offer of their own to Gregory.
Previously, Rick had given Maggie the go ahead to try and talk trade with the man and it didn’t work well due to Gregory being a bit of a dick. It’s smart of the show to manage to introduce a character who is both smart and a bit of an asshole about it, he knows what his people need and he knows that he wields the power in that first exchange. That dynamic changes in the second time around with the weakened Gregory confined to his bed. Maggie finally understands that the power her group has is the same Negan and his Saviors have, brute force. They just happen to be a little nicer about it than the other group. Maggie’s growing evolution is nice to see given that her character has become so attached to her husband at this point that it’s kept both of them from growing as characters.
Finally, we have Abraham who seems to be going through some very conflicting feelings regarding both Sasha and Rosita. He clearly has a thing for Sasha and she just might have a thing for him but he also has been in a pretty deep relationship with Rosita. It eventually becomes a question of whether or not Abraham is finally ready to settle after everything he’s been through. He’s been restless ever since losing his purpose of getting Eugene to DC but perhaps this new status quo will help him step back from the edge.
The episode ends with our group heading off to confront Negan and while I doubt we’ll get there right away the confrontation is inevitable and what it means for the Alexandrians and the people of Hilltop might just be worse than how it was before.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- Abraham has to be up there on the list of characters who are probably gonna be dead soon after tonight.
- I’m interested to see where they’re going with the Negan stuff but this usually seems to be the part in the half seasons where they drag their feet until the finale. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.
- “When you were pouring the Bisquick, were you trying to make pancakes?”
- “And we want one’a them cows too.” I’m really enjoying Daryl these past few weeks, guess it’s time to put him up on the “doomed characters” list too.
Jesse Swanson is a would-be writer, podcaster and funny guy who covers TV shows of all shapes and sizes. You can find him on Twitter @JesseSwanson