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Jeremy: So yeah, last night was intense.

Kevin: Yes it was, but of course that was after I thought, so they’re dragging out who died even longer, huh? Ugh.

Jeremy: After 10 minutes, I said to Elyse “Are they seriously going to pull this shit out?”

Kevin: They did get the deaths in before the half way mark of the show so at least they weren’t complete dicks about it. I did laugh though just because everyone was pissed about the cliff hanger nature of it to end last season so they drug it out more.

Jeremy: Yes I remember complaining about it for a while. Then this episode delivered so all is forgiven. Once they delivered on the deaths the beginning of the show made more sense.

Kevin: That convention of  starting in the middle of the episode then doing flash backs is so common these days. It works which is a reason to do it. In this case, it certainly made you suspenseful since they had Rick flash back to small scenes with all of the characters that were at the meeting wit Negan and Lucille.

Jeremy: His memory flashes with the individual group members history followed by them all getting smashed in the head was a really good touch. It did make you think everyone was a possible target. I know they filmed everyone getting whacked to make sure it didn’t get spoiled. Must have figured they shot the scenes lets use it.  There is actually a “leaked” video of Maggie getting smashed. Its pretty rough.

Kevin: You know me, I don’t look for spoilers so I haven’t seen that “leaked” footage but I did hear someone mention the possibility of 2 people dying and that part certainly came true. The Abraham death was pretty gruesome but it’d be hard to top what happened to Glenn.

Jeremy: I cam across the Maggie death this morning. I was very careful to avoid anything Walking Dead related for a good while. When Abraham went down first I thought they copped out and let Glenn live again. Knowing Glenn died in the comics in this scene it made sense. They even gave some of the lines Negan said to Glenn in the comic to Abraham. It was a good misdirection. Even not having read the comics I can see how it would be satisfying. Abraham even got in one last line too.

Kevin: “Suck my balls” is a classic and seems appropriate for Abraham to go out on. Because a second person had been floating, I didn’t think about him dying being a cop out.

Jeremy: I hadn’t read anything about there being multiple people. So when Daryl attacked Negan my initial reaction was “Oh no.” Taking Abraham away removed some of the muscle but Daryl getting bumped off removed it all as well as Rick’s right hand man. This was a good way to show just how Negan works. You mess up someone else pays.

Kevin: I did think Daryl was going to get Lucille but I didn’t think about Rick losing all of his muscle if that happened or about someone else paying for your mistakes. Certainly makes you think more about what you’re doing. When you offer yourself up to die (or lose an arm), at least you can feel better about yourself being a martyr. When someone else pays for it, you lose that.

Jeremy: This is one of the things going forward for Daryl. I can see him blaming himself for Glenn, which isn’t exactly wrong. Also makes me think this is one of the reasons Daryl was taken back to wherever Negan is hanging out. Keep the wild dog within arms length. Easier to keep an eye on him as well as holding leverage over the group.