Michonne’s group escape the cemetery with a prisoner. Hilltop mourns the death of Jesus, Magna’s group settle in and the colonies all start to come to terms with the new status quo. Including, surprisingly, Negan…

This is the sort of episode that TWD specializes in that drives some people wild. There’s a lot of check ins here, whether it’s Eugene professing his love, Rosita telling Siddiq she’s pregnant, Henrh becoming the new early seasons Carl, or Michonne coping by turning inward. This is a massive cast, it’s been that way for a while and the arrival of the Whisperers is going to alter all their lives so we need to check in with them all. Some people’s patience is going to be tried. Given I’m always here for when the show goes full post-apocalyptic The Archers, I don’t have a problem with it.

Especially as there’s some nice meaty stuff here too. Darryl’s interrogation of Lydia not only cleverly moves him more into the spotlight but also makes it clear there is something… off about her. Yes it’s a little tiresome that Henry has clearly decided to Save Her With His Love but it also ties into what the Whisperers want and how they operate. Lydia is far from the helpless terrified child she seems to be and if the show can actually nail her uniquely broken viewpoint it’s onto a winner. Cassady McClincy is already impressive and her offhand ‘That’s just what people do now’ justification for murder is nihilistic without being glamorous, a line the show has crossed too often in the past.

But the real surprise here is Negan. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, fresh from his jaunt back to Winchester land in Supernatural, is superb this week. We see Negan head back to his kingdom, clearly a different man but clearly also invested in his old work. He finds the dead, a ruin, clear signs that when Sanctuary failed it failed badly.

And he sulks.

Sits in the middle of his broken kingdom of mould and death and sulks. His reluctance to let a zombified former ‘co-worker’ wander off is a shadow of his previous self and cleverly gives him the chance to realize just how much has changed. More importantly, how much he’s changed. The reveal that Negan was heading back to turn himself in, that he realizes the world doesn’t fit him anymore is honestly pretty staggering. This is the show’s iconic villain, a man who has the blood of multiple characters on his hands and he’s… done. He’s aware he doesn’t fit anywhere but a cell now. That’s an extraordinary character beat and I desperately hope the show doesn’t walk it back for a cheap shock. Negan, and we, have earned that much.

Verdict: This is the exact start the half season needed. Comprehensive, gripping and with a chilling new adversary there’s a sense of time running out and a tension it’s not had in a while. Good stuff. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart