‘The Walking Dead’ recap: Fear and loathing in the apocalypse
Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 11, "Hostiles and Calamities." To read our recap of Episode 10, click here.
“They eat (expletive), we eat good.”
The Walking Dead took a full episode this week to explore the inner-workings of the Saviors’ fascist society, and especially into those complicit in Negan’s reign of terror. They get rewards: good food, good booze, time spent with Negan’s attractive wives. The workers meanwhile, are designated by numbers and worked like slaves. That’s the life Daryl was leading. It’s not the one Negan has in store for Eugene.
Eugene’s embrace of Negan’s world is troubling for our friends back at Alexandria, who are likely to believe he is being tortured the way Daryl was. If Eugene remains on Team Savior for the rest of the season, it could make the final confrontation even more fraught. And Eugene’s chances of survival low.
Science experiments
Oh, Eugene.
Our mulleted friend has found himself in, perhaps, the worst and best situation for him in the apocalypse. The show has previously explored Eugene’s tendency to lie, his admitted cowardice and his survival instincts. Those three traits combine to make his arrival at the compound so successful.
Recognizing Eugene as both frail and talented, Negan takes a different approach with his captivity: A cozy suite, all the pickles he can eat and even the platonic companionship of some of his wives as rewards for the first “engineering” problem he solves, trying to manipulate him into a happy denizen. The wives, meanwhile, also attempt to manipulate Eugene, feeding him a sob story about a suicidal friend in order to get a poison pill to use on Negan. Eugene, to his credit, figures out the wives’ plan, but acquiesces to Negan’s. He refuses to give them the pills and jumps enthusiastically into his new role, declaring that he is Negan, just like the rest. He was Negan before he even heard of Negan, he says. The scene has 1984 allusions and is probably the most interesting things the show has done with Negan so far.
Married people
The Walking Dead is really trying to make Dwight happen. The conflicted Savior has had plenty of screen time this season, and “Hostiles and Calamities” spends its b-plot on Dwight and Sherry, the show’s star-crossed lovers.
After Sherry helped Daryl escape, Negan was, as you might surmise, none too pleased. First he has Dwight beaten and stuck back in a cell for the night, then sends him to bring Sherry back. Dwight's trip leads to their former house, looted and broken but with pictures of the couple in happier times. It also has a letter Sherry left for her ex-husband, explaining that she’d rather die than live in Negan’s world.
When Dwight returns to the compound, he cuts out a sliver of Sherry’s note to frame the Saviors’ doctor for their escape. He also claims that Sherry is dead, killed by walkers while he was trying to bring her back. Negan buys it, and kills the doctor for his supposed involvement, but we’re not so sure. Dwight’s return to the compound takes place off-screen, but he did seem to be going to get Sherry so they could run away together, not so he could bring her back to Negan (as evidenced by the beer and pretzels he leaves at the house).
The Walking Dead doesn’t usually kill people offscreen (it loves a bloody death) and Negan’s blind acceptance of Dwight’s story seems fishy. We have a feeling Sherry will be back.
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Scroll through photos from Season 7 below.
