Gene Page/AMC(NEW YORK) — The penultimate episode of The Walking Dead before next Sunday’s mid-season finale opens with Michonne whistling on a road, deliberately drawing out walkers. She dispatches a pair before dragging one off.
Meanwhile, Rick and Aaron wake up at a box truck at dawn, during their supply run. A different box truck has two Saviors stopped, awaiting a highway of walkers to shamble by before they start rolling again.
Jesus and Carl are inside. Jesus proposes jumping out as the nears Negan’s compound, the Sanctuary. Carl suggests Jesus goes first. He does; Carl waves as the truck pulls away.
At the Saviors compound, Carl wastes no time. He shoots one savior and demands at gunpoint to see Negan. Carl is rushed, shooting another henchman accidentally, before getting caught.
Negan offers to show Carl around, stopping only to show off both the respect the others show to him, and his harem of wives.
Back at Alexandria, Rosita refuses to go on a supply run with Spencer and takes Eugene to the bullet workshop instead.
At the saviors’ compound, Negan deals with one of his wives who cheated on him, all while taking Carl along.
Closer to Alexandria, Father Gabriel and Spencer are driving when the latter blames Rick for all that’s happened. “There’s no future with him in charge,” he sulks.
At Negan’s HQ, he makes Carl show off his missing eye. Carl is devastated. Negan apologizes for insulting him, and makes him sing a song. Carl picks “You Are My Sunshine,” which his mom used to sing to him. Negan practices swinging Lucille in the background.
Carl wonders why Negan hasn’t killed him. Despite it all, he remains defiant: “You haven’t killed us because you can’t kill us,” he says.
Negan drives off with Carl. “We’re taking him home,” he tells Daryl, who threatens Negan not to hurt him. For that, Negan tells Dwight to give him a “time out.”
In his cell, somebody passes Daryl a note reading “Go now.”
Meanwhile, a red-headed female Savior drives on a country road until her truck is blocked by a line of walker bodies.
She dismounts to investigate, only to find Michonne’s katana at her head. Michonne disarms her and demands to be taken to Negan. After a failed disarm attempt, Michonne regains the upper hand.
At the workshop, Rosita flames Eugene, calling him useless unless he does what he promised he’d do — make a single bullet.
At Alexandria, Negan questions Olivia about Rick’s whereabouts, noting he’ll pass the time for Rick to get back by having Carl give him a tour. Negan enjoys the amenities of Alexandria, from running water to shag carpeting, before entering another room — and finding baby Judith. He picks her up and cradles the “little angel.”
On a supply run, Rick and Aaron find a compound protected by walkers.
Meanwhile, Eugene has made Rosita’s single bullet, while Spencer shows up with a cache of supplies he’s dug up, intending to give them all to Negan.
Meanwhile, Negan cradles Judith on a porch, telling Carl maybe he should kill him and Rick after all, and move “to the suburbs.”
The mid-season finale of The Walking Dead airs next Sunday, December 11 at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMC.
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