A relentless assault of walkers on Alexandria puts the group on edge.
Adaptational Nice Guy: Dante’s comic counterpart, while still a heroic character, was never really as sensitive and gentle as his TV counterpart was in this episode with Siddiq.
Brutal Honesty: Rosita angrily tells Eugene that they have no chance of being together. She regrets how harsh it was, but Eugene doesn’t mind as he realizes that in her exhausted, drained state she is being completely truthful with him and appreciates it.
Aaron angrily brings up the death of Eric in Season 8’s “Monsters”.
Carol sees a hallucination of all the dead children in her life - her biological daughter Sophia, who died offscreen in Season 2; Lizzie, who she executed for murdering her sister Mika in Season 4’s “The Grove”; Sam Anderson, who she threatened with death in Season 5’s “Forget” and who died after remembering her threat and freezing up in a herd in Season 6’s “No Way Out”; and her adopted son Henry, killed by Alpha in Season 9’s “The Calm Before”.
Aaron reveals that Gabriel relayed Negan’s confession about his late wife Lucille that he gave in Season 8’s “The Big, Scary U.”
Fire-Forged Friends: Negan and Aaron appear to be on their way to this, after the former saved the latter’s life and kept watch for him.
Hallucinations: Suffering from lack of sleep and taking pills to keep herself going causes Carol to hallucinate that she sees herself and all her dead children - Sophia, Lizzie, Mika, Henry, and even Sam (who she did not raise but still felt responsible for his death) - on a book cover, and it only gets worse as the episode goes on.
He Was Right There All Along: Everyone believed that the communities got lucky when they crossed Alpha’s border during the winter, and that the Whisperers had all abandoned their territory. This episode confirms that Alpha did have spies who stayed behind during the winter to watch her borders, and they reported the crossing.
Jump Scare: Carol begins suffering from hallucinations due to lack of sleep. When she hears her son Henry call out to her, she turns around only to be confronted by a (imaginary) whisperer that suddenly attacks her from the shadows.
Alpha claims that Henry cried out for Carol before his beheading.
My God, What Have I Done?: Eugene, upon hearing Rosita tell him flat out that they will never be together, has a “crushing moment of clarity” as he confesses he has always had a desire for something more with her since they first met. He considers that his friendship with her is based on a selfish lie he told himself and sadly laments that he has been a terrible friend for it.
Pet the Dog: Alpha forgives Carol for her assassination attempt, “mother to mother”.
Ship Sinking: If there was anyone who believed Eugene and Rosita would eventually get together, this episode is the nail in the coffin.
Ungrateful Bastard: Aaron hoped that putting out the fire on Whisperer territory would earn them some goodwill, but Alpha scoffs at their efforts since she claims the Whisperers have no conflict with nature.
Wham Line: Daryl tells Carol a story about his father, who used to be a truck driver and apparently suffered from fatigue-induced hallucinations. When Carol brings it up again later, he confusedly informs her that his father wasn't a trucker, revealing their entire conversation to have been a hallucination caused by a lack of sleep.
What You Are in the Dark: Implied. Negan observes the temporarily blinded Aaron stumbling into the house and seems to be considering what to do with him However, he decides to act on his better instinct and forgive.
