The Walking Dead review: Maggie’s plans may be Rick’s undoing

Maggie’s plan to go to Alexandria and visit Negan unfolds. As a result, Rick ends up in a devastating situation that may impact his exit.

This week’s episode “The Obliged” was by all accounts pretty emotional. Michonne and Maggie are each trying to determine what kind of law and order can be set in this post-apocalyptic world. Michonne struggles between wanting to create a peaceful society, and letting go of the fearsome tactics of her past. Maggie, while holding onto her newborn child, is ready for vengeance. She looks out at Hilltop with baby Hershel, seeing a community that’s thriving, but also one with no Glenn in sight.

Maggie’s more than ready to visit Negan, to exact her revenge for Glenn’s murder, and we spot her packing a crowbar into her bag before heading out to Alexandria. Jesus realizes how suspicious it is that she intends to leave Hilltop so soon after being away at camp, and with a crowbar no less.

Not only does Jesus know that Maggie is up to something, he’s pretty sure that her plans are tied to Negan. With this, he tries to impress on Maggie why it is that he agreed with her when she thought that Rick was in the wrong for not killing Negan. The bottom line was that Rick made a decision that was not his to make. And Jesus’ fear, especially after Gregory’s hanging, is that Maggie will kill Negan without consulting with anyone. Despite these pleas for some order in the new world, Maggie refuses to listen.

Jesus sends out a message to Rick via radio to warn him that Maggie is on her way. Rick receives the word while he’s debating what to do about the strong current that is hammering right through the unfinished and already weak bridge, which Eugene admits he can’t save. Rick is still unable to let the bridge go (just like the Saviors) since he sees it as the key to his utopia.

Rick meets with Carol who is ready to take her people home, especially since it looks like the bridge won’t happen. Carol is straightforward with Rick, saying she won’t return to the Sanctuary and he should let the Saviors just be on their own. In her eyes, the Saviors need to figure things out for themselves because they’ve reached a point where they don’t want Carol, Rick, or even Negan to lead them. Continuing to force them into a happy family is exhausting. Carol’s delivery hits home with Rick, even if he only understands why she must leave and not necessarily that he has to let the Saviors go.

Mimi Kirkland as Rachel – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Rick sends out a desperate radio message of his own to have Michonne intercept Maggie in Alexandria. Before he can hop on a horse to head to Alexandria himself, Daryl offers a ride on his motorcycle. Little does he know, his message won’t make it through thanks to Maggie’s Oceanside contact handling things. Now Michonne won’t be prepared for Maggie’s arrival; no one knows she’s on her way or what she has planned.

Speaking of Michonne, we see how she’s been leading a double life. She’s a mom, gardener, mayor, nurse, and Rick’s fill-in by day. But by night, she picks up her sword and goes walker hunting. The static life of a community leader is not for Michonne, and she still yearns to fight walkers. During her day job, Michonne is alerted that Negan is refusing to eat — a matter she will have to handle personally.

Negan’s refusal to eat is an obvious cry for attention. When Michonne shows up with his plate, she gives him a no-nonsense command, but he negotiates to eat his meal in exchange for conversation. While we can comprehend the human need for dialogue, Negan’s psychologically cunning approach raises flags that he’s still trying to manipulate people to get what he wants.

Negan is a good reader of people which is what makes him so good at manipulation. He tries to influence Michonne by analyzing her stagnant life and recognizing that she should be actively fighting and getting things done. But Negan entirely misses his opportunity to connect with Michonne in the way he hoped to when he uses his wife’s death from cancer as a way to convince Michonne that if her son Andre were alive, he would have made her weak. The takeaway, in his eyes, is that her son’s death was a good thing.

Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Michonne storms out, but returns sometime later to find out what Negan was really after. He tries his tactics again, invoking his usual routine of telling Michonne that she is so much like him. Though Michonne has been seeing a lot of baseball bats lately (which we have to admit, seemed a little too obvious), she knows she’ll never be like Negan. Yes, she is restless, but she still values the progression of society, not its destruction.

The saddest truth we learn from this meeting between Negan and Michonne is how much he misses his bat, Lucille — his one last connection to his wife, and in a sense, the strength he gained in this zombie-filled world.

When Michonne tells him that the bat is out there somewhere, the man begins to cry like he lost his wife all over again. As Michonne exits, Negan turns to the concrete wall and begins to bash his head against it. Is this the man going mad, or injuring himself so he’ll have to be removed from the jail cell… where he could then escape?

Meanwhile, poor Gabriel is tied up in Jadis’ junkyard with his supposed love interest inching a pearl-wearing walker to his face. Gabriel forgives Anne as she’s about to kill him, and this final act of kindness by Gabriel seems to change her mind. Instead of turning him, she knocks him out and leaves him in an empty container to wake up alone with a note attached. Anne has gone off to greener pastures (not sure if its still the helicopter people) but will Gabriel, who is left crying his little heart out, ever see her again?

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Rick and Daryl end up missing the exit for Alexandria, and it’s not by accident. When they stop, Rick realizes that Daryl is in on Maggie’s plan and had taken Rick to make sure that he never makes it to Alexandria. A fistfight ensues, and they both end up in a pretty deep ditch with enough time to work their differences out while they try to pull themselves up by tree roots.

Daryl gets through to Rick by pointing out that he has forgotten everyone following Carl’s dream. A dream that may not be feasible for everyone, especially not the Saviors. With tears in his eyes, Rick realizes that he has to let go. He has to let go of Negan and the Saviors. He doesn’t necessarily have to let go of Carl’s dream; he just has to realize that not everyone is meant to be a part of it. At this point, I would have joined in for a group hug, but gunshots coming from the bridge’s camp force these two to get out of the hole.

The Saviors led by Jed overpowered Alden from Hillside and returned to the camp with guns. They figured out that Oceanside was the one killing Saviors and they’re back to go to war. Jed’s mistake?  He’s going against Carol, and much worse, called her weak.

A gunfight ensues between the group, with even more Saviors coming out of the woods. Eugene had previously warned Rick about two big herds, and all that gunfire will easily attract them to the bridge.

Once Rick and Daryl escape the ditch, which is quickly filling up with walkers itself, they have to decide how to stop the herd from taking over the camp. Daryl urges Rick to just let the camp and the bridge go, but Rick’s unwilling. He sees that bridge in so many ways as a necessary part of building things back to the way they were. The two part ways, with Rick riding a white horse (plenty of symbolism there) to try and save the camp, the bridge, and all they mean to him.

With one episode left for Rick Grimes, we’re given a terrifying preview of what may happen to the Walking Dead hero. Multiple herds converge to terrify his horse, causing him to be bucked off and impaled on a concrete block.

Previews for next week’s episode show Rick riding that same horse, with a horrible wound, as well as him having nightmares of all those he has lost, of all the places he has been — going all the way back to the hospital from season 1.

We’re not sure if we’re ready to see Rick go, but it looks like we’re going to get plenty of flashbacks and memories before he does.

Undead Afterthoughts

• Will this be Rick’s end? There’s a chance that the next episode will be flashbacks that include Shane (who is rumored to return this season) and everyone who died thus far. The other side of the coin is that Rick survives and his story ends in another way. We’ll just have to wait and see, but I’m hoping for a more dramatic send-off.
• Michonne discovers a walker on a noose signaling that someone was hanged to death. Is this another Oceanside killing, and if not, who killed this person?
• Maggie doesn’t reach Alexandria yet in this episode, but we do see her find some walkers with axes and such in their backs. The fact that this was focused on could only mean that someone else has been killing in the area which brings us back to the hung walker Michonne found. Who is out there now? Are these more signs of the Whisperers?

Do you think Rick will survive this? Enter your comments below. The Walking Dead airs every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.