Season 8, Episode 15
Having returned to the Sanctuary, Negan puts his house back in order.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Simon enjoys Gregory's drunken rant at first, finding it hilarious... but then Gregory touches Simon and his smile fades, and he knocks him on his ass.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Gregory was already pretty stupid to even consider going back to Simon after everything, but he gets downright buffoonish when he gets drunk and begins ranting to Simon that he doesn't deserve to die, and outright disrespects him. He's nearly killed for it.
- Asshole Victim: Nobody in the cast is particularly broken up by Simon's death, although Negan seems to at least regret that it's come to this. Gary was also a real piece of work who beat the shit out of Aaron for no reason at all and spat on Jadis' supposedly dead body after helping to massacre all her unarmed people, so no sympathy there, either.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Negan gives Simon a chance to fight him for control of the Saviors, and says that if he beats him, he should be the one in charge.Negan: If you wanna be the guy, you gotta beat the guy.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Negan doesn't put Simon down after choking him to death. Instead, he reanimates and is tied to the Sanctuary fences.
- Bloodless Carnage: The massacre of Simon's conspirators has little, if any, blood. We don't even see the shot that takes out Gary.
- Likewise, of the walkers that attack Aaron, two are seemingly put down just by getting hit.
- Book Ends: The episode begins with a voice-over of Carl's letter to Rick. It ends with Michonne relaying Carl's letter to Negan.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Laura is revealed to be the person Negan picked up in the previous episode, after going missing during "How It's Gotta Be".
- Aaron and the Oceansiders reappear for the first time since "The Lost and the Plunderers".
- Call-Back:
- Simon berates Gregory for embarrassing him during the season premiere when he failed to convince the Hilltop fighters to stand down.
- Aaron previously stayed behind to try to convince Oceanside to join the fight back in "The Lost and the Plunderers".
- Gregory finally turns up again after fleeing Hilltop in "Do Not Send Us Astray" and not having been seen with Jared's Saviors in the previous episode.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Negan keeps Dwight around just long enough to help him put down Simon's mutiny, then reveals he knows about his treachery and takes him prisoner.
- Challenging the Chief: Negan arranges for a public gladiatorial match between himself and Simon after wiping out his fellow dissidents.
- Chekhov's Gun: The macaroni and cheese with sardines that Eugene is seen eating comes back, so to speak, when Eugene forces himself to throw up all over Rosita to provide a distraction so that he can flee.
- Character Death: Simon is killed for his treacherous ways, as are Gary and several of his followers.
- The Chessmaster: Negan shows off his skills in this trope in this episode. Knowing that both Simon and Dwight are rogue elements in their own way, Negan uses them to take out the other. First, he doesn't immediately out Dwight as having defected to AHK. He instead keeps him around to help lure Simon's mutineers into a trap to slaughter them. Negan also pretends to forgive Simon, to lure him into a sense of security so he'll be confident enough to plan his outright mutiny. While he's dealing with Simon, Negan also allows Dwight to pass on bogus intel to AHK so he can lure them into a trap and win the war. Once Simon is eliminated, then Negan reveals he's played Dwight as well. Megatron would be proud.
- Continuity Nod:
- Simon is confirmed to be responsible for the massacre at Oceanside, which was first mentioned back in Season 7's "Swear".
- In his letter, Carl mentioned how Rick was shot before the apocalypse began back in the pilot episode.
- Simon and Gregory drink the tequila that the latter had scavenged for him back in Season 7's "The Other Side".
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Downplayed. Gregory is a spineless prick, but he gets points for being able to make it to the Sanctuary all by himself. It's not as impressive the second time when he's able to escape the Sanctuary, however, as Negan deliberately allowed him to escape to lure Rick into a trap.
- Deadpan Snarker: During Negan and Simon's fight, Dwight sneaks Gregory out, telling him he needs to go. Gregory responds with a deadpan "no shit".
- Double Agent: Dwight actually becomes a Triple Agent, since he's loyal to AHK, but he pretends to be loyal to Negan and betrays Simon, who he claimed to be on board with.
- Enemy Civil War: Narrowly averted as a result of Negan's successful schemes to lure the plotters into the open and kill them, publicly execute Simon, and imprison Dwight.
- Feed the Mole: Having learned of Dwight's treachery from Laura, Negan makes sure to have Dwight present for a bogus plan to deal with AHK, and allows him to pass the information on to Rick so he can trap them and wipe them all out.
- Final Solution: Negan decides Simon's attack on the Hilltop leaves him with no choice other than to wipe out all of AHK.
- Gentle Giant: In the episode's opening, Jerry is seen holding and doting on baby Gracie.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Regina's security detail completely fails to prevent their outpost head get kidnapped and nobody even notices he's gone until Eugene returns having engineered his own escape.
- I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Simon demands to know why Dwight sides with Negan after everything he's done to him personally. Dwight shrugs it off and says Negan will overcome any attempted coup Simon can conjure up.
- Heroic RRoD: Having no food or water on him, and no mercy from the Oceansiders, Aaron has grown very weak and is struggling against walkers.
- Ironic Echo: Rosita tells Eugene that they will get some use out of his pathetic life when they bring him back to the AHK. When Eugene returns to the bullet factory at the end of the episode, he repeats what Rosita said as he sits down to work double time making bullets for Negan.
- Kansas City Shuffle: Negan creates a fake plan that he knew Dwight would try to inform the AHK alliance of, and plans on massacring the attempted interception.
- Karmic Death: Simon gets strangled to death by Negan in a Trial by Combat after repeatedly trying to overthrow him. He's also made an example of as a walker strung up on the Sanctuary fence, exactly like how he murdered an innocent librarian for trying to cross him in his debut episode.
- Kick the Dog: Eugene treats Gabriel like shit during the episode.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch:
- Simon planned to kill Gregory when he came to the Sanctuary and would've been well within his rights, and he especially decides to do it when Gregory shoves him during his rant. However, Simon decides to keep Gregory around as a coffee boy.
- Regina has been demoted to Eugene's bodyguard after the loss of her outpost and having failed to contribute to the Saviors' escape from the Sanctuary siege. Now she's being pushed around by someone much weaker than her, and she knows it, and can't do a thing about it.
- Mook Promotion: With Gavin dead, and Regina and Eugene at the Bullet Factory outpost, Gary, D.J., and Arat are given places on the Sanctuary's governing table. Simon and Gary end up getting killed, however, and Dwight is outed as The Mole, leaving Negan with just Arat and D.J. for now.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Rosita stops Daryl from killing Eugene and fails to do so herself, leading to Eugene escaping.
- Not Worth Killing: Simon decides to let Gregory live for now as his coffee boy, due to not thinking he's worth his time - and probably because he was enjoying watching Gregory pathetically rant about how great he thinks he is.
- Number Two: After killing Simon, Negan thanks Dwight for his help and offers him the position as his new right hand man, which Dwight accepts. Subverted as Negan immediately reveals he knows Dwight is The Mole and has actually manipulated him into luring the AHK alliance into an ambush. In reality, his new Number Two is actually now Laura.
- Pet the Dog:
- Simon spares Gregory's life and assigns him to make him coffee.
- When he rallies his mutineers, Simon asks that Negan be granted a quick death, claiming he's earned it for getting them this far into the apocalypse.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Negan succeeds in his goal of rooting out all dissenters, but it still comes at the cost of his two chief lieutenants who he had some form of friendship with and respected as part of his organization. He also finally realized AHK will never submit to him again and is forced to give Simon what he wants posthumously when he didn't want to wipe them all out. Finally, he learns that Carl's last words to him were pleading for peace, which he doesn't see a way to achieve and now goes into the endgame of the war knowing he's disrespecting the last wishes of the kid he loved.
- Rank Up: With the deaths of Simon, Gavin, and Gary, the absences of Eugene and Regina, and the revealed defection of Dwight, Arat and Laura are given leadership positions on the Savior council.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Negan gives one to Simon during their their fight and one to Dwight about betraying him and joining the AHK Alliance. Rosita gives a scathing one to Eugene, calling him a coward and pathetic.
- The Reveal: Laura was the person Negan picked up in the previous episode. Additionally, Gregory is revealed to have made his way to the Sanctuary after fleeing the Hilltop. Simon is also revealed to have been the one responsible for the all-male massacre of the Oceanside community.
- Starving Student: Eugene says he came up with his macaroni and cheese and sardines meal back when he was a financially struggling college student, saying it was cheap and had enough protein and calories to make a meager but important meal.
- The Starscream: With Negan back, Simon begins ramping up for a full-on mutiny to take over the Saviors. However, it's put down when it's revealed Dwight ratted him out to Negan. Negan steps up his role as The Chessmaster by not just taking down Simon, but also removing Dwight as an obstacle.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Dwight has Gregory deliver vital intel to Rick and the AHK alliance about Negan and the Saviors setting up areas around Hilltop to end the war. However, Negan already knows that Dwight is a traitor and purposely gave him fake intel to lure Rick and everyone else into a trap.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Eugene forces himself to throw up on Rosita to give himself a distraction so he can escape her and Daryl.
- Villain Episode: This episode largely focuses on the cloak and dagger politics at the Sanctuary in the wake of Negan's return.
- We Used to Be Friends:
- You can just tell Laura took Dwight's betrayal of the Saviors very personally, and it's hard to blame her considering they were friends and he knowingly lead her into a slaughter.
- Daryl and especially Rosita seem to feel this way about Eugene, as well.
