First of all, WTF kind of strategist is Rick if his plan hinges on the cooperation of Jadis's junkyard people? He thinks he's just going to walk into the junkyard with no back-up and convince them - using his silver tongue or effervescent charm - to join with him against the Saviors? How's that working out for you, Mr. Stuck-in-a-Box? What happens to the rest of your people when the junkers kill you? Did you plan for being stuck in a box? Also, I am not a Eugene fan so this episode was excruciating.
Prologue - Rick is let out of the box for a few moments so Jadis can photograph him and some other junker dude can make a quick sketch. Jadis tells him this is so she can sculpt him: "After."
Eugene - At the Sanctuary, Eugene is being all Eugene-ish. He has a face-to-face with Dwight and instead of picking a side - joining Dwight to help take down the Saviors or ratting Dwight's betrayal out to Negan - he simply decides to keep his mouth shut as long as Dwight keeps his activities quiet and doesn't let any innocent workers get hurt. He spends some time with a dying Father Gabriel (apparently gooping oneself up with zombie guts can led to some fucking nasty infections (which of course Negan has not caught)) and rebuffs Gabriel's pleas for aid in getting the doctor back to the Hilltop. He misses a deadline negotiated with one of Negan's "wives" for fixing her boombox but manages to cadge the bottle of wine she promised in payment because he needs help sleeping. He has a one-on-one with Negan, who blows all sort of smoke up his ass, making Eugene feel important.
Daryl and Tara, et als. - Daryl, Tara, Michonne and Rosita go over the plan: crash the garbage truck into the Sanctuary, busting a hole in the building so the walkers swarm in and take out as many Saviors as possible, with the hope that the workers won't get caught in the crossfire. Morgan, who has been in a nearby building on sniper-duty, joins them. Rosita and Michonne are all, why can't we stick to Rick's plan? Daryl's like, well, we don't have the numbers to take out the Saviors now that the Kingdom has been wiped out. Rosita and Michonne bow out, which begs the question why they even bothered leaving Alexandria in the first place. Also, Daryl seems to have a bit of a death wish going on, saying that it doesn't matter if he survives this operation - he just wants it to work.
Eugene - While fixing the wife's boombox, Eugene gets an idea. He fetches Sasha's iPod from the coffin (which is conveniently stashed in some storeroom nearby) and affixes it to a radio-controlled model airplane: the plan is to draw the swarm of walkers away from the Sanctuary by playing music, just like those Saviors were going to do with the speaker-truck last episode before Rosita and Michonne took them out. Dwight finds him and warns him not to do it. Eugene actually grows some balls turns the speaker on and launches the airplane. Dwight considers shooting Eugene in the head and then settles for shooting the speaker-plane out of the sky before it can distract the walkers.
Daryl and Tara - Daryl and Tara, with Morgan providing coverage, put their plan into action: getting the garbage truck in close, then Daryl putting a cinder block on the accelerator and jumping out. The truck crashes into the building and the walkers swarm in through the gap. Inside, it's carnage. Unprotected workers are easily taken down by the walkers; the Saviors wield their semiautomatic weapons but there are a lot of zombies and they have to retreat.
Eugene - Eugene FREAKS THE FUCK OUT, watching the walkers invade the formerly safe Sanctuary. He runs to Gabriel's bedside and shouts at him that he won't help as all he can do is protect himself. But he uses a LOT of words and it is super-annoying. Then he goes to Negan, promising that he can make enough bullets to replace the ammo spent on the walkers so that Negan can go on the offensive against Rick's crew as soon as this shit is cleaned up. He also alludes to another revelation, something big - but they are interrupted by Dwight and Negan's other lieutenants. With Dwight in attendance, Eugene is not brave enough to rat him out to Negan, so he just says that he can get the intercoms working again and scurries away. If someone can explain to me why it was necessary to devote a whole episode to this twit, that would be great.
Epilogue - Jadis lets Rick out of the box, putting him in the center of the junkyard arena in his boxers, hands tied. One junker stands behind him, keeping him there, while another comes out with a walker. These junkyard walker designs are pretty awesome, actually: this one has a half-helmet, protecting its skull but leaving its mouth free, and a long pole is attached to the back of the helmet, allowing the junker to control it and stay out of reach. Rick manages to get free, downing the two junkers by gaining control of the walker. He uses the pole to fight the men, eventually twisting the walker's head right off, which is fantastic. Then Rick tackles Jadis, knocking her gun away and wrestling her to the ground, her panicked face just inches away from the walker's still-gnashing teeth. Rick's all, I'm getting my clothes and my gun back now and leaving, and if you don't join up with me, my people will come back and murder you all. For some reason, the junkers don't just shoot him where he stands. Instead, Jadis gives up and agrees to join him. There's some negotiation - each community will get a fourth of the Sanctuary's supplies - and Rick explains his grand plan: they will go to the Sanctuary, he will offer the Saviors amnesty and then, after they give up, he will kill Negan and everyone has a happy ending.
Except, of course, when Rick, Jadis and the junkers get to the Sanctuary, it is no longer surrounded by a herd of walkers because they are all inside the building, chewing on the living. I assume Rick recognizes Daryl's garbage truck but he really looks more stunned than anything else. I dunno: I think I'm with Daryl and Tara in that Rick's plan seemed pretty far from likely to succeed.
Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead
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