The Walking Dead
Episode 7.15 “Something They Need”
Written by Corey Reed
Directed by Michael Slovis
Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Lennie James, Christian Serratos, Sonequa Martin-Green, Josh McDermitt, Khary Payton, Austin Amelio, Tom Payne, Katelyn Nacon, Alanna Masterson
AMC
Air Date: Sunday, March 26, 2017

Warning – SPOILERS for AMC’s The Walking Dead…

Last week’s The Walking Dead caught us up on what’s been happening at the Hilltop Colony, where original Alexandrians Maggie and Sasha have been hiding out and training the residents to fight for their upcoming battle against Negan and the Saviors. Early on, Sasha and Rosita took off on their own mission to take down Negan. When they got to the Sanctuary, they found that their old friend Eugene had gone from abductee to commander at Negan’s compound, and when they tried to rescue him, he turned tail and ran back, not wanting to leave his new cushy situation. After that, Sasha decided to take on the mission solo, leaving Rosita reluctantly behind so that she can be there for the Alexandrians. The episode ended with Rosita spotting a shadowy figure with a crossbow nearby.

On this week’s episode, 7.15 “Something They Need,” Tara has revealed to Rick the existence of the Oceanside community, which is the group of women whose men were all killed by the Saviors. Rick and crew are making plans now to journey there to get the women to join them in their fight against Negan and the Saviors.

Meanwhile, off-screen Sasha went on a rampage the night before at the Sanctuary and ended up captive. Now, we see one of the Saviors, a sleaze named David, opening a darkened cell that has Sasha inside with her hands bound. He plans on raping her, but Negan arrives and kills him because “Rape is against the rules here,” he says. He uses this opportunity to try to get on Sasha’s good side, even though he recognizes her from the night he killed Glenn and Abraham, offering her a chance to join him. He’s impressed by her one-woman invasion of his compound, telling her she has “beach ball-sized lady nuts.” He then leaves her a knife so she can decide whether to use it to try to kill him or herself, or to put down David when he rises. Or, she can let zombie David kill her. Soon after, Eugene comes to visit Sasha to implore her to join the Saviors like he did, but she tells him to “Just go.”

When Negan returns, he finds David with the knife in his head and Sasha standing in wait. “You win,” she tells him, to which he replies, “No, you win.” He then says they will work on building trust and that she can help him be a leader there. He acts as though he’s not the bad guy. “”We are not monsters,” he had told her earlier. He then says he heard from “a little birdie” that Rick and his people are up to no good. He wants her to help him with that situation.

Meanwhile, over at the Hilltop Colony, it’s becoming clearer all the time now that Maggie is becoming the true leader there, much to Gregory’s dismay. She’s been training people to fight, as well as to farm. While Rick and company are headed to Oceanside, Maggie takes a solo scroll right outside the Hilltop walls to uproot a blueberry bush when Gregory finds her there. He says they need to present a united front for the people, and she says it would be better if they actually WERE a united front. He agrees, but there’s a look in his eye like part of him wants to get rid of her. He stands watch while she works, and you can see that he’s struggling with the idea of killing her. But then there’s a walker attack and Maggie has to save him, which a few people there witness. “It’s ok,” she tells the group, “he’s never killed one before, so he’s learning.” Turns out that’s not what he told his people, which further lessens him and his authority. Back at his office, the weakened leader pulls out his booze and the piece of paper that Simon, the Savior assigned to Hilltop, gave him to use in case anyone threatened Gregory’s authority. It looks like while he might not kill Maggie himself, he’s going to get rid of her one way or another, because he calls one of his men to give him a ride somewhere and we know where he’s going!

At Oceanside, the Alexandrians are planning their arrival. Enid asks Carl if he thinks about the “ones” he killed. (He does.) Michonne gets into sniper position in a nearby tree, while Tara goes in to reason with the leader, Natania. But Natania wants nothing to do with their cause or with fighting the Saviors, and she won’t even speak to Rick. That’s when Rick and crew invade, setting off explosives nearby and shooting near the residents to scare them — they are not there to hurt anyone, only to take their guns. They want the Oceansiders to join their fight, but whether they do or not, the guns are coming with them. That’s when Natania and her granddaughter Cyndie – the girl who had previously saved Tara’s life several times – comes out holding Tara hostage. Rick stresses that they don’t want to harm anyone, they want an alliance, but Natania stays her ground. Cyndie then hits her grandmother to save Tara, and that’s when a massive walker invasion begins. The Alexandrians and the Oceansiders work together to kill all the Walkers. When it’s over, some of the Oceansiders want to join Rick’s fight, but Natania says no, they will never join. Tara thanks Cyndie for saving her once again, and she thanks Tara for taking up the fight against Negan. The Alexandrians leave with ALL of the guns. Tara promises to bring them back once the fight is over, and gives little Rachel the finger, then tells Rick “You’re right, I don’t have to feel bad.” (He had told her at the beginning not to feel bad because it’s what had to be done.) Carl tells Enid, “It’s not just the ones I killed, I think about the ones I didn’t kill, too.”

Back at the Sanctuary, Eugene once again goes to Sasha’s cell, but this time he only talks to her through the door. She tells him that her agreeing to join the Saviors was a mistake, and cries to him for help: She wants a weapon so she can kill herself so that Negan can’t use her to harm their friends, which is seemingly his plan. “I have to die,” she tells him in a teary voice. He says he will consider her request, and when she says “Thank you,” we finally see her face — she’s smiling! This is a ploy so that Eugene will get her a weapon to use against Negan! When Eugene returns to her later, he agrees to help her and slips her the poison pills he had originally created for Negan’s wives, who wanted to use them to kill their husband. Inside, we see her crying as she holds the pills – are these tears of frustration because it’s not a gun or knife, or is it of relief because she finally has something she can use to kill Negan? My first thought was the latter, but then I started second-guessing it. But I would think that getting on his good side and then slipping him the pills, which Eugene said will take about 20-30 minutes to work, would be the easier way to kill him at this point.

The episode ends with Rick and crew returning to Alexandria, where Rosita awaits them, and they ask where Sasha is. Rosita says there’s someone there for them to see. She brings the group to their makeshift prison cell — Dwight, one of Negan’s inner circle — is there. Daryl immediately lunges at the man (Dwight had been his captor at the Sanctuary), but is held back as Rosita says Dwight is there because he wants to help take down Negan. “Is that true?” Rick asks? It is. “OK,” Rick tells him, as he cocks his gun and points it at Dwight, “Get on your knees.” What will he have Dwight do? Because Negan makes his people kneel before him, so will Rick have him kneel to him now? I hope not, because that would mean Rick is becoming more like Negan. I hope he has him kneel and then says, “You’ll never have to kneel again.”

Next week is the Season 7 finale, “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life,” which, from the previews, we see the Alexandrians, the Kingdom, and the Hilltop Colony preparing for the battle against the Saviors. Will we get to see any of the long-awaited rematch between Rick and Negan next week or will we have to wait until the start of Season 8? I’m guessing perhaps we’ll see the very start of it.

Video

The Walking Dead: ‘Working Together’ Sneak Peek Ep. 715

Gregory finds Maggie to propose they try and work together.

The Walking Dead Season 7: ‘Only Two Episodes Left’ Official Teaser

The Walking Dead: Next on: ‘The First Day of the Rest of Your Life’ Season Finale

The Walking Dead: ‘Fight With Us’ Sneak Peek Season 7 Finale

Ezekiel reminds Morgan what he’s fighting for.

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