The Walking Dead season 7 episode 7 recap: Sing Me a Song

The Walking Dead returns with a 90-minute episode that takes Carl on a tour of Negan’s Sanctuary in “Sing Me a Song.”

Michonne walks along the road. She starts whistling “A Hunting We Will Go” as she walks, and before long two Walkers follow along. She turns and kills them, then she drops her bag with her walkie talkie in it as well as her sword and she drags her Walkers away with her.

Rick and Aaron wake up in the back of a van. They open the door and Aaron says he didn’t see whatever was out there the night before.

Meanwhile, in another truck, two of the Saviors discuss their new weapons. It happens to be the truck that Jesus and Carl are riding in. Jesus sees the statue that can be seen on the way out of the Sanctuary. Jesus uses pancake syrup to make himself a trail, and he advises Carl that they are close enough to jump out. Carl tells Jesus to go first, but Carl doesn’t jump with him.

The truck arrives at the Sanctuary, and the box of booze breaks open as a distraction. Carl starts shooting and manages to take out a few of the Saviors. He tells the men that he’s only there for Negan. Negan walks up, whistling, and he asks if Carl picked that gun because it looks cool. Negan says that Carl scares him but you can tell he totally likes it. Dwight shows up and distracts Carl enough so that he can tackle him, but Negan tells Dwight to be nice to their new guest. He offers Carl his hand and tells him he wants to show him around. Daryl looks on while the camera pans back and shows a shot of the Sanctuary. It’s a massive complex that was once a factory or power plant. It’s huge.

Negan taunts Carl about having the same “stink eye” as Rick, but only in one eye. He says that Carl is lucky he still has one hand. Carl accepts Negan’s hand and orders Dwight to take Daryl to the kitchen for food prep. He’s bummed that he won’t be able to screw any of his “wives” today, save for maybe one. Carl wants to know what Negan has in store for him but Negan doesn’t want to spoil the surprise. He takes Carl inside the power plant and the men kneel in front of him and Negan says that they all get fresh vegetables and they don’t need any points. He shows off in front of Carl to show that he has their total respect.

Eugene tries to explain to Rosita what he needs for the bullet making process. Spencer and Gabriel roll up in their car and Spencer says that they can’t fight it, that they have to go find stuff for the Saviors. He knows Rosita is upset but he says it’s like paying taxes—you have to do it. She and Eugene go off on their own thing.

Negan takes Carl into a room full of his wives. He says that it’s okay for Carl to look at the women as much as he wants. He won’t mind. The women are in a very lavish room. Negan calls Sherry aside and pours himself a drink. He wants to know what happened between one of the men and women, and she says it’s none his business. Negan heard that Mark skipped out on his duties to be with Amber, and he says that rules need to be followed. He says that she’s there because she understands that. Sherry says that Amber made a mistake, and that Negan should go easy on her. Negan says he’s never raped anyone, but she says she knows him and knows he has done worse. He takes a beer over to Carl and offers it to him, then he goes to Amber and says he doesn’t want anyone there who doesn’t want to be there, and she can leave and go back to Mark, but she isn’t allowed to cheat on him. He offers to put her on the same job as Mark, and she’s terrified. She says she loves Negan, and he doesn’t understand why she’s crying because it’s all going to work out “aces” for her. He looks at Carl, then he gently kisses her forehead and returns to Sherry. He says he wasn’t hard on Amber, but he is “hard in general.” He kisses Sherry just as Dwight and Daryl walk in with food. Carl watches as Negan samples the food and asks Carl to hold the tray. Daryl wants to know why he has Carl there. Negan says that Daryl shouldn’t speak out of turn, and that if he does, he’ll stick a toothpick through Carl’s other eye. Negan asks Carl to come with him.

Rick tells Aaron that they have a day to find something interesting for Negan. He could be back already for all they know. They jump a fence that has a sign saying that there is trouble ahead.

Spencer and Gabriel drive along the road. Spencer wants to know if hating someone is a sin, but Gabriel says thoughts are thoughts and actions are what matters. Spencer hates Rick. He knows he was a cop, but his mother was in Congress and inspired people. Gabriel was inspired by him. Spencer says his whole family died because of Rick, but Gabriel points out that other people could have died in their places. Spencer can’t stop thinking that he hopes Rick doesn’t make it back. Gabriel orders him to stop the car, and he tells Spencer that what he’s saying doesn’t make him a sinner, but it makes him a “tremendous shit.” It “doesn’t have to be terminal,” Gabriel offers. He gets out of the car and decides to walk back to Alexandria. Spencer gets out of the car and runs into the woods. He can hear Walkers out there and he finds one in a tree.

Negan takes Carl into his bedroom. He wants to know if all of those women are really his wives. Negan says that he has always wanted to screw lots of women, so why follow all the old rules. They sit down, and Negan wants to know about Carl. He says he’s going to tell Carl how smart he is. He managed to find the Sanctuary, and he killed two men. But first, Negan says he has to take his bandage off. That’s the punishment for killing two men. “Do you really want to piss me off?” Negan taunts. Negan watches, leaning forward, as Carl unwraps the bandage. Carl looks up at him, and Negan confirms it’s “gross as hell.” He can see the eye socket, and he asks if he can touch it. Carl is very emotional and Negan realizes that he may have gone too far. He says he didn’t mean to hurt his feelings and says he was just screwing around.

One of his men comes in and says that he left Lucille outside. Negan tells Carl he never forgets Lucille anywhere. Fat Joseph is the one who brought Lucille up to Negan. He tells Carl that he should never cover his eye up. He looks like a badass. Rick should be teaching Carl to be a badass. Now, in return, he wants Carl to sing him a song. He holds Lucille to Carl and tells him to sing. Carl chooses “You are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine.” Negan starts swinging Lucille while Carl sings. Negan says Lucille loves being sung to. Negan asks about Carl’s mother, and when Carl reveals that he shot his mother, Negan says it explains why Carl is a little serial killer.

Dwight has prepared the fire and when Negan walks in, everyone kneels. He asks Carl to hold Lucille while he addresses the crowd. One of the men is bound to a chair. Negan says he knows that this is going to be hard, but the rules must be followed. “Rules make it all work….There is always a cost.” Trying to cut corners means the iron. (Perhaps this explains Dwight’s face) Negan goes down to the floor, Carl behind him, and a hot iron is taken from the over. He apologizes to Mark as the women look on in horror. The hot iron is pressed into Mark’s face. Carl looks at Daryl ad Daryl looks away. Indeed, when the iron is pulled away he has the same scar as Dwight. Mark passes out and pees himself. Negan tells Daryl to clean it up. Negan asks the Doctor to take care of it. Once it’s done, Negan says that the rules matter. The payment has been taken, and Negan says he hopes that the rules will be obeyed because he doesn’t want to do it again. Negan walks over to Carl and says that Carl probably thinks he’s a lunatic. He puts his arm around Carl and walks away, saying they need to figure out what to do with him.

Spencer rigs a rope to another tree and tugs the Walker’s platform away from him. The crossbow falls down, but so too does the Walker. Spencer takes everything he can from the Walker, including a note in Latin.

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Rosita and Eugene return to the factory that he and Abraham found. Eugene didn’t want to come back there. He agreed to make her a bullet, but now he has come full circle and realized that he doesn’t want to do this. He says this is being stupid. He says it doesn’t matter if they have a bullet given the numbers. Abraham was right. Rosita says that if there is a price for their actions, she will pay it. But Eugene is a coward and the only reason he’s still alive is because people feel sorry for him. She taunts him until he eventually agrees to make her a bullet.

Dwight meets Sherry on the stairs and they smoke together. She isn’t beating herself up over what happened with Mark. She didn’t sell him out. He asks how she sleeps at night, and he says he doesn’t sleep. He’s up all night. They made a deal with Negan, and Dwight reminds her that if she’s still standing it’s on someone else’s back.

Negan reclines on his couch and makes some notes. Carl wants to cover his face up again, but Negan says he’s not done with it yet. Carl wants to know why Negan hasn’t killed him, or Rick or Daryl. Negan thinks that Daryl is going to be a good soldier for him. Rick is getting them good stuff. But Carl is something different. Negan asks Carl what he should do. Kill him, iron his face, or chop off his arm. Carl gets to his feet and says Negan should jump out the window to save Carl the trouble of killing him. Negan is impressed. Carl says that Negan should have killed them.

Negan wants to go for a ride. Outside, we see Jesus on top of the truck. Negan stops the truck to say he’s taking Carl home, and Daryl says not to hurt him. Negan tells Dwight to take Daryl back to his box for a time out. Negan flips him off as they continue driving, but when the truck pulls away, Jesus is gone.

Daryl is back in his box and a note is slipped under his door. “Go Now” it says. There is a key on the back.

A pile of Walkers blocks the road. A female Savior gets out and surveys the site. Michonne walks up and aims her sword at the woman’s head. She tells the woman to drop her weapons. She wants to go see Negan. Michonne keeps a gun pointed at the woman’s head, and the woman tries to get away but Michonne is too smart and she stops her.

Negan knocks on the door of Olivia’s house with Carl in tow. He wants to know where Rick is. Olivia says he’s out scavenging for him. Negan says he’ll wait. She says they’re running pretty low on things there and they’re “practically starving.” Negan insults her, and she starts crying. Negan apologizes to her for being so rude. He says it might be enjoyable to screw her brains out, if she’s agreeable. She slaps him, and he says he’s 50% more into her now. When she still says no, he gives up and asks for some lemonade for him and Carl. Once she’s gone, Negan asks for the grand tour. He puts his bare feet on the carpet, stares at the water running, and plays darts. Carl stares at him, rapt. The last room is Judith’s. Negan melts when he sees her.

Rick and Aaron scout the area looking for stuff to bring back to Negan. They find a sign that says the man there has a lot of stuff but the only way they have made it that far is if he’s dead. Beyond that there is a lake full of Walkers protecting an island.

Rosita stares at her bullet and thanks Eugene for making it for her. She apologizes for what she said, but he doesn’t accept it. He knows her apology isn’t sincere and that she meant it and felt it. He wants to go back to silence. They leave just as Spencer drives up. He shows them a car full of rations. The note was written in Latin. He found a stash of stuff that the guy had buried all over the place.

The gates open and they go inside. They find Carl and Negan on the porch with Judith sleeping in his arms. He likes it there. He has his jacket off and he bounces Judith on his knee as he says he’s trying so hard to keep Rick and Carl alive when he could just kill them and “move to the suburbs.”

So ends a very intense episode of The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead returns next Sunday for the midseason finale.

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