Season 8, Episode 10
The Scavengers pay the price for their duplicity as Simon chafes under Negan's command and Rick contends with Carl's last requests.
- Badass Boast: When Cyndie is prepared to execute her and Aaron, Enid declares that it won't heal her grief over her grandmother, and that eventually, their people will return to Oceanside with a vengeance and one day wipe them out. It works, and Cyndie allows them to go free.
- Body Horror: A walker tears out his own face as he tries to squeeze through one of Alexandria's gates and another walker.
- Later on, the undead Scavengers are lured by Jadis into a meat grinder, and we see their remains roll out of the machine.
- Break the Haughty: Jadis’s smug, unflappable demeanor to date is completely broken when Simon executes her lieutenants, leading to the massacre of her people. This in particular is what Simon wanted, as he was already pissed off having to restrain himself to only killing one Scavenger, and Jadis’s poor, non-genuine apology was what put him over the edge.
- Call-Back:
- The Scavengers previously joined forces with Rick when they were convinced the Saviors were on the verge of defeat in "Time For After", and were promptly attacked in "How It's Gotta Be".
- The survivors of the satellite outpost were taken as prisoners of war in "Monsters", and allowed to be imprisoned at Hilltop in "The King, the Widow, and Rick."
- Negan laments that he had plans for Carl; in "How It's Gotta Be", he professed a desire to turn Carl into one of his lieutenants, and judging by his comments here about him being the future in this episode, he potentially would've groomed him into being his successor.
- Simon already earned Negan's ire for his Ax-Crazy, genocidal tendencies in "The Big Scary U", when he again suggested massacring Hilltop.
- Aaron and Enid went to recruit Oceanside for the alliance, but were forced to kill Natania in self-defense in "How It's Gotta Be".
- Continuity Nod:
- Oceanside was raided by Alexandria for its' firearms in Season 7's "Something They Need".
- Negan brings up his murder of Glenn and Abraham in Season 7's "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be".
- Cruel Mercy: Rick doesn't kill Jadis, but also ignores her request to be helped escape the Junkyard.
- Death of a Child: In regards to the Scavengers. At least one child was seen among the Scavengers, and she didn't survive the massacre.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Jadis punches Simon after he murders two of her people. So he kills everyone and spares only Jadis. Better yet, he does this after he had essentially gotten everything he wanted.
- Due to the Dead: Discussed and ultimately averted. Rick questions if Carl meant that he should just give up the war against Negan, and later tells Negan how Carl wished for them both to make peace. Rick defies his son's last wishes, however, and declares that he will still kill Negan no matter the cost.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When told of Carl's death, Negan is genuinely saddened, and blames Rick for not protecting him, and orders him to surrender to him before he loses anyone else. What drives this trope home is Negan's sincerely somber tone of voice during the exchange; Negan sincerely believes that his subjugation is the only way, and that Rick is just a stubborn anomaly of sorts to his perceived natural order.
- Exact Words: “Just.. one, Simon.” Simon promptly leaves one survivor of the Scavengers, Jadis, instead of killing one Scavenger if necessary.
- How We Got Here: Early in the episode, Rick and Michonne come upon the Scavengers' junkyard, but unexpectedly find it full of walkers. Only as the episode progresses do we find out just how the undead horde came to be there, via flashback: they are the Scavengers, after being massacred by the Saviors and left to reanimate.
- I'll Kill You!: Rick confirms to Negan that even despite the last wishes of his son, he will not stop trying to kill him.
- It's Personal: Downplayed with Simon. When he learns Hilltop is holding 38 of his troops from the satellite outpost hostage, he vehemently declares he will slaughter Hilltop for it as they're his men. However, it's made clear he's looking for any excuse to slaughter Hilltop, since Negan even said earlier that he knew he would've preferred to massacre them during the standoff in "How It's Gotta Be".
- Mercy Kill: Jadis leads her undead people into a meat grinder, putting them all down en masse.
- Never My Fault: Negan says it is Rick's fault Carl and all of his friends died because Rick was the one who couldn't deal with the way things things needed to be and got everyone to rebel against The Saviors. Negan takes none of the blame for the way he and the other Saviors constantly bully and kill other survivors and force them into unlivable conditions and claims that it will be Rick's fault if anyone else dies unless he just surrenders.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Averted. Negan says that he thinks Carl going to help Siddiq was stupid, and something Rick should've stopped him from doing.
- Not Me This Time: A variation occurs when Rick reports Carl's death to Negan, who asks if he or his men were responsible. Rick denies it, explaining he was bit.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After the loss of all of her people, Jadis drops the particular way of speaking she's used up to this point and speaks in complete sentences, driving home how devastated she is.
- Negan opens the call to Rick doing his usual heckling, but immediately grows somber when he learns about Carl's death, and his first question is to ask Rick if the Saviors were responsible.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Negan solemnly blames Rick for Carl's death, and for the deaths of all of his friends, stating that he's just getting them all killed because he refuses to submit to him.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Simon comes into great conflict with Negan, since he just wants to slaughter all of the rebelling communities and find new ones to enslave, while Negan refuses since he still sees people as a resource. Simon ends up defying Negan's orders to kill just one Scavenger when he ends up slaughtering all of them besides Jadis.
"I'm gonna kill you."
