Eugene and Denise both try their hand at contributing more to Alexandria.
Adaptational Attractiveness: Dwight's burn doesn't look as gruesome as it was in the comic. It's still a bit nasty, but it's more Movie Zuko than Cartoon Zuko.
Annoying Arrows: Averted. Denise gets killed by a single arrow shot.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita are able to overcome their feuds and prove that they really are the best friends that survived from Texas to Atlanta together.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Denise truly wants to go out with Daryl and the others on a scavenging mission in order to gain combat skills. When she finally does, she gets killed.
Boom, Headshot!: Denise suffers one from a crossbow no less.
Eugene and Abraham mention the latter's protection of him since they met in Houston, which was shown in a flashback in "Self-Help".
Daryl and Carol discuss his encounter with Dwight in "Always Accountable".
Abraham's brutal dumping of Rosita in "Not Tomorrow Yet" still hurts her.
Denise's quest for soda, which began in "The Next World", reaches its end.
Carol tells Tobin about her exile from the prison in Season 4's "Indifference".
Merle is mentioned for the first time since Season 4, as Daryl relates to Denise's description of her late twin brother, Dennis.
Daryl doesn't want to walk along the railroad tracks, since the last time the group followed tracks, they ended up at Terminus back in Season 4.
Cruel Twist Ending: After Denise becomes more battle competent and prepares to profess her love for Tara, she is abruptly killed completely by accident with an arrow to the head, the Saviors retaliate against Rick's group, and now Alexandria has no medic.
A Day in the Limelight: For Daryl, Rosita, Abraham, Eugene and Denise. However, for Denise, it becomes ...
Death by Adaptation: In the comics, Denise died quite a bit later in the timeline, well into the war with Negan. Here she receives Abraham's death for him.
Entitled to Have You: Abe admits he's had this mindset about Sasha, but declares that Sasha has choices too.
Eye Scream: Denise dies from a crossbow bolt shot through the back of her head and her eye.
Face–Heel Turn: Dwight returns more antagonistic than first encountered.
Foreshadowing: When Denise is looking through the name tags at the gift shop, one of them says "Sherry." In the comics, this is the name of Dwight's wife. Later in the episode, Dwight reappears after a seven episode absence and kills Denise.
The brand of soda Denise finds: Orange Crush. Abraham ends up being Spared by the Adaptation in this episode, as Denise takes his comic-book death. Abraham himself dies two (technically three) episodes later at the hands of Negan, who crushes his head in with a baseball bat.
Groin Attack: Eugene takes on Dwight by biting him viciously in the crotch.
Hero Ball: Denise and Eugene grab it. Eugene indirectly drives away Abraham in an effort to prove his survivor skills, resulting in his getting captured by the Saviors. While Denise nearly dies risking her life for sodas in order to prove herself in combat.
I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Denise is killed by an arrow to the back of the head, when Dwight was aiming for Daryl. While he blames it on the crossbow kicking like a mule, one has to wonder how badly you have to screw up to shoot the wrong person in the head, when the other person is to the *side* of your intended target, yet still manage a perfect headshot.
Jerkass Has a Point: Sure Abraham is a dick, but you can kind of see where he's coming from with his refusal to take Eugene seriously after the latter fails to take on a single Walker and acts childish and ungrateful after Abraham saves him from it.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Denise is killed in the middle of trying to give Daryl, Rosita and herself a critical yet rousing speech.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Dwight realizes that the Saviors can't beat Daryl's group and orders a retreat.
Lethally Stupid: Daryl and Rosita agree to take Denise, who has never been outside before and is their only doctor, on a scavenger hunt after only a little bit of protesting. She naturally dies during it. There's also Denise walking off to deal with a Walker on her own despite being told not to two times, but surprisingly she doesn't die either those times.
Love Epiphany: Denise finally sums up the courage to tell Tara that she loves her, but tragically dies completely by accident.
Major Injury Underreaction: Justified because the nature of the wound: the brain doesn't have nerves to cause pain. It's not as drawn out as in the comic, however, as Denise only has enough time to saw a few words, rather than the much longer time Comic!Abraham has.
Murder by Mistake: Dwight claims that he was trying to kill Daryl, but the kickback from his crossbow caused him to shoot Denise instead.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Daryl sparing Dwight's life resulted not only in his bike and crossbow being stolen, but also indirectly led to Denise's death. Now, Alexandria has lost their only doctor and trained medic of any type, which is something they've been trying to avoid all season.
Non-Action Guy: Denise tries to overcome her role as this throughout the episode, despite it being justified since she's incredibly valuable and also irreplaceable as Alexandria's only remaining doctor.
Not Quite Dead: It was assumed that Rick's group vanquished all the Saviors last episode, but Dwight and his group's presence show that they still have people ready for war.
Only a Flesh Wound: Nearly averted. With Denise dead and Eugene injured, the group quickly realizes that they have absolutely no one in Alexandria with medical training beyond basic first aid. Thankfully, Eugene's gunshot wound was only a graze, but anything worse than that could've easily resulted in his death. The whole community is now vulnerable since they don't have a doctor to treat them.
Red Herring: Abraham and Eugene on patrol together at the beginning of the episode, with the former noting how much the latter has been trying to change as of late raises red flags as it's the exact premise of Abe's death in the comics. Abraham is also wearing a very similar outfit to what he wears in the issue he’s killed in. However, ultimately Denise suffers Abraham's fate.
To Absent Friends: Denise and Daryl share a moment remembering their deceased brothers, who, they note, seem to have had a lot in common.
Ungrateful Bastard: Eugene's response to Abraham saving him from probably having his face bitten off is to petulantly say that he called dibs on the Walker and boast that Abraham has outlived his usefulness to him.
Wham Shot: Denise getting an arrow through the eye, then the Saviors led by a burned Dwight arriving with a captured Eugene.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: A non-villainous version in that it's Eugene saying this to Abraham, who claims he no longer needs protection from him.
