Negan gets his moment in the spotlight. All he has to do is work out if he wants it to be his last one.

This last run of episodes have opened with a narration by Judith about each character or an element of their lives over the decade plus the show has aired. This week it’s Negan and it does not disappoint.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Khary Payton are two of the best members of this cast and both get a lot to do this week. Negan is attempting to, if not commit suicide by cop, certainly walk right up to it and we can see why. In fact we’re told as much; the leader of the Saviors is about to be a dad. He wants the world to be better for his wife and child. He, and this isn’t said out loud, is pretty sure that means he needs to not be in it anymore.

What follows is the dramatic spine of the episode as Negan and Ezekiel play the Warden, all of which leads to the moment Negan’s always wanted: up against a wall, getting ready to be killed for his sins so others can live.

Then the warden puts Annie, his wife, in the spot instead and Negan loses it. This is a complex dramatic dynamic which hinges on Medina Senghore as Annie. She’s given the least to do but what she does matters the most. She and Negan are terrified, frantic to stay together. There’s no front, no act, and Ezekiel sees that.

So he stands in front of the guns too along with the rest of the prisoners.

The Warden orders them killed anyway.

After a long run of episodes about intrigue and darkness, this one is about family, real and chosen. There’s no big tearful reconciliation, no absolution for Negan. But there’s acknowledgement he’s one of them and where he stands they stand. It’s deeply touching, painfully human and Payton, Senghore and Dean Morgan do their best work of the season to date here. Plus, the resolution is a moment of catharsis you really need when it lands. Rose Troche’s direction is tight, claustrophobic and brings the best out of the cast, including the one-episode players brought in as the guards. This plot could, and arguably should, have had more room to breathe but their growing disgust at their job sells it very well

The rest of the episode suffers a little, through no fault of the creatives. We’ve got three hours, including this one, left, so there’s a lot of moving parts. Aaron’s team meet up with Luke and Jules and discover Oceanside has fallen. They hide in a massive herd from the Commonwealth soldiers looking for them but don’t see a Variant walker pick up a knife nearby. Meanwhile in Alexandria, Yumiko and Eugene do everything right and Pamela has Eugene sentenced to death anyway. This is McDermitt’s best work on the show in years and it brilliantly parallels Negan’s redemption. Eugene crossed over to the Saviors with something close to willingness and years later is haunted by that, just like Negan. Like Negan, he’s saved by the people he’s helped too. In this case, Mercer, at last on the right side and ready as he says ‘to fuck shit up.’

Verdict: Two episodes left. Let’s do it. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart