Season 7, Episode 10
- Rick contends with a new group of survivors, while Daryl searches the Kingdom for answers.
Ezekiel's inner circle is met by Gavin's crew of Saviors. Once again, Jared starts stirring shit up, and Richard is all too eager to swing back when attacked. Morgan interferes, followed by Benjamin. Ezekiel is able to defuse the standoff, but Gavin declares that Richard will no longer be allowed to wield a gun at the tribute meetings. Richard is forced to surrender his gun, and Morgan's staff is taken by Jared. At the Kingdom, Ezekiel scolds Benjamin and tells him not to go looking for trouble now that he knows how to fight. Daryl meets with Morgan, and chastises him for his continued pacifism even after being hit during the tribute. Daryl goes to Richard, and is loaned a crossbow for archery training. Richard tells Daryl that he has a plan to lead the Kingdom to war, and Daryl follows him.
The two grab some weapons from Richard's cache in the woods, and take a post at a road the Saviors frequent. Richard explains that they will kill the next passing group of Saviors, and make it seem like it was an accidental explosion that killed them. The Saviors who discover the carnage will be led back to Carol's residence by a trial Richard left. When Daryl learns of Carol's whereabouts, he staunchly refuses to go any further. The two men come to blows, and though Richard insists Carol might survive a Savior attack and that this is the only way to convince Ezekiel to fight, Daryl refuses and vows to kill Richard should anything befall Carol.
At the junkyard, Rick's group is led to an open area where Rick speaks with the leader of the survivors. The woman confirms she kidnapped Gabriel and Alexandria's supplies, as they had been waiting on someone to steal the supplies from the houseboat for them. The woman demands a payment from Rick, who insists that stealing from them will eventually lead to the Saviors attacking the junkyard. Rick proposes the junkyard group join Alexandria in fighting the Saviors, but when the leader refuses, Rosita angrily lashes out at their captors. A scuffle ensues and is ended when Gabriel takes one of the junkyard survivors hostage. Gabriel insists that should they join Alexandria in the rebellion, they will be rewarded with the plunder from the Saviors upon their defeat, and that Rick can do and get anything for them.
The leader orders her people to stand down, and takes Rick to the top of a hill of trash. She pushes him into a pit with a walker covered in spikes and armor. Though his hand is impaled on one of the walker's spikes, Rick overcomes the walker by causing a landslide with the trash, and kills it. Rick is given a rope to climb back up to the leader, who is impressed. She eventually agrees to an alliance, but only if she is allowed a third of the booty once the Saviors are defeated, half of Alexandria's low supplies, and enough guns to take on the Saviors. An exasperated Rick agrees, and the woman reveals her name is Jadis. Rick acknowledges that his time with Gabriel has taught him that enemies can become friends, and decides to retrieve guns for the junkyard group once he and Aaron are patched up back home.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel and his party pay Carol a visit, and begin clearing the dead from the surrounding area. Carol accepts, but insists they must leave her alone. Not long after Ezekiel leaves, Daryl himself arrives, and they have a tearful reunion. Carol explains why she left, and asks if the Saviors attacked Alexandria. Daryl lies and says that the group fended off an attack, and that Rick worked out a deal with them like Ezekiel has. Relieved, Carol gives Daryl something to eat before he returns to the Kingdom. While interacting with Shiva, who warms up to him quickly, he once again chastises Morgan for trying to hold onto his old ways, though Morgan fires back that he knows Daryl lied to Carol about what Negan has done. Daryl scoffs and heads for the Hilltop the next morning.
- Adaptational Badass: Since the junkyard group is a Decomposite Character for the Scavengers, they express more intelligence and strategic skills than their Too Dumb to Live comic counterparts.
- Adaptational Heroism: The junkyard group is meant to be similar to the Scavengers, a group that fought Alexandria as enemies.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Downplayed, but the Saviors are at it again. This time Gavin tries to claim the Kingdom has turned up short on their quota, implying he's either hoping to instigate a fight or weasel out more stuff. Ezekiel spits back that he's wrong, and Gavin backs down from his bluff. Then Jared goes back to causing trouble.
- Animal Motifs: Daryl shares a moment with a caged Shiva, having also been in a cage of sorts when he was held prisoner by the Saviors, as well as being "the tiger" during Negan's game of "eenie meanie minie mo" at the start of the season.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Jadis' group respects Rick when he defeats Winslow, an armored monster they feed prisoners to.
- The Berserker: Winslow, who is an armored walker.
- Blatant Lies: Daryl does not tell Carol of the horrors that have befallen Alexandria since she left, after seeing how distraught she already is.
- Bullfight Boss: Winslow can only fight Rick by either impaling him on his Spikes of Villainy or charging him head on.
- Call-Back:
- We first saw Richard's cache back in "Hearts Still Beating".
- Rick mentions that Tara can at least tell them where not to look for guns since she's been further out than anyone on her mission with Heath. Tara looks apprehensive, remembering how well-armed the Oceanside community was in "Swear" and clearly considering telling Rick about them.
- Continuity Nod:
- Carol left Alexandria at the end of "Twice As Far".
- Daryl criticizes Morgan for trying to hold onto Eastman's Thou Shalt Not Kill philosophy.
- Rick muses that he and Gabriel were once enemies.
- Rick tells Gabriel that he trusts him after he mentions that he's had a history of making friends out of former enemies as he gives a longing look towards Michonne, who was previously a Token Evil Teammate back in Season 3 before becoming his girlfriend.
- Rick gives Michonne a cat sculpture, to replace the one she nabbed in "Clear", and lost when the prison was destroyed in "Too Far Gone".
- Damsel out of Distress: A rare male example. Gabriel, who was captured by Jadis' group, ends up breaking free and saving himself when convincing the group to consider an alliance against the Saviors.
- Decomposite Character: The junkyard group is called the Scavengers, just like a group of marauders in the comic books that already got TV adapted into the Wolves.
- Elite Zombie: Winslow the Spiky Zombie.
- Enemy Mine: Rick and Jadis' groups forge an uneasy alliance against the Saviors.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Carol remains completely oblivious to all the events that've occurred this season.
- Mythology Gag: Rick impales his hand on Winslow, and he goes long enough without medical treatment that it teases how he lost his hand in the comics. He also receives a huge cut on his right leg, which can remind comic fans of Rick's leg being broken by Negan at the end of the Savior war, with Rick being permanently crippled and forced to use a cane for walking as a result.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tired of hiding and upset over the lack of progress, Daryl leaves the Kingdom at the end of the episode.
- Secret Test of Character: Jadis reveals that the boat supplies were deliberately left out for somebody to take so her group could find worthy opponents.
- Sherlock Scan: Morgan figures out that Daryl never told Carol the truth about their encounter with Negan when he points out that if he had told her then she would have returned with him.
- Shout-Out:
- Rick's fight with the Winslow walker shares a very similar scenario in Resident Evil 4 that leaves the hero trapped in junkyard against a similar spiked monster.
- Chris Hardwick and Andrew Lincoln also felt that the monster battle was similar to the Rancor pit in Return of the Jedi.
- Spikes of Villainy: Winslow is covered head to toe in sharp weaponry, making it difficult to combat him as he tries killing enemies.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Jadis and Rick's groups make it clear that they aren't friends, but they will work together to combat the Saviors and take all their supplies.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Rosita finds a different Team GREATM member in Tara to chastise over what she perceives is naive weakness and foolish compassion.
- Daryl also gives one of these to Morgan and later Richard, though for vastly different reasons.
- Took a Level in Badass: Gabriel is the one who defuses the squabble at the junkyard by taking one woman hostage and holding a knife to her neck.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Rosita continues to grow progressively worse as her desire to fight the Saviors consumes her.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Richard turns out to be the Shane of The Kingdom when he reveals his plans to Daryl to burn a convoy of Saviors with wildfire and frame Carol for the crime. It doesn't go over too well with Daryl.
