The Walking Dead S7E7 "Sing Me a Song": Things that make you go "What!?"

The Walking Dead season 7 episode 7 “Sing Me a Song” was full of shocking and what-the-what moments. Here’s what made the top of the list.

The Walking Dead episode “Sing Me a Song” was a powerful 90 minutes of television, full of face melting, bandage removing, huge revelations and Negan holding a baby. Yes. You read that right: Negan holds baby Judith.

Here’s a look at the top moments from this week’s episode, “Sing Me a Song.”

Negan appreciates (and respects) Carl’s bravado

From the moment a gun-toting Carl emerges from the back of the truck, Negan is thrilled by the kid’s bravado. While he jabs at Carl for choosing the biggest gun so he’d look cool, there’s no question that Negan is intrigued by Carl and he wants to see what happens. Negan adopts an avuncular, almost paternal attitude toward Carl, leveling with him like an adult instead of talking to him like a child. Carl responds to this, but Carl’s bravery is hanging by a thread and Negan is well aware of it.

However, Negan is still Negan, and he makes sure that Carl doesn’t forget his place. For all of the lessons he’s imparting upon the young man, the biggest lesson is that no matter what, Negan is in charge and Carl is alive because Negan is allowing it.

Negan and his wives

Though Negan is excited by Carl’s presence at the Sanctuary, he does express regret that he won’t be able to have sex with his wives later that night. Well, perhaps he can still be with one of them, he amends. Until now, (non-comic reading) fans know that Sherry is Negan’s wife, but now Negan takes Carl into a lavishly appointed room full of plush furniture and women. The furniture looks like it belongs in a cheap Vegas hotel in the 80s. The women are all Negan’s wives.

Negan has his rules, though, and he makes those rules clear when dealing with Amber, and later Olivia. His women come to him willingly, and he never forces them to do anything they don’t want to do. In fact, he doesn’t want them to be there if they don’t want to be there. Of course, the alternative to being Negan’s wife isn’t necessarily better, and he’s clearly using intimidation to make them say they want to be with him. Sherry is proof that the decision to be Negan’s wife isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, though he does respect and appreciate when she pushes back.

Olivia managed to slap Negan after he offered her an apology and a helping of apology sex. Instead of being upset, Negan was even more into her. However, she said no to him, and he backed off. It’s an interesting dichotomy for a man who gets what he wants.

Negan enforces the rules

“Rules keep us alive.”

Negan says the rules are what make the Sanctuary work. Without those rules and without work there is chaos. There is always a cost, then, for breaking the rules or disrupting the work.

Poor Mark broke the rules, and in Negan’s world the rules are everything. The punishment for sneaking away from his duty to be with Amber is to face the iron. Literally. Negan offers an apology to Mark and even says he doesn’t want to do it, but the rules matter and they must be enforced.

Negan presses the hot iron to Mark’s face as his punishment and to serve as a reminder to both Mark and the group that the rules must be followed. Now we know what happened to Dwight.

As soon as the punishment has been dealt, Negan says that everything is back to normal and life will go on as usual. He hopes, however, that he never has to do it again. He wants his men to learn from this.

Carl’s Eye

Negan wants to have a heart to heart with Carl but Carl’s bandages are proving to be too much of a distraction for Negan, who wants to see what Grandma got him. He tells Carl to take the bandages off, which give us the first look at Carl’s face sans bandage. It’s pretty gruesome, and Carl can’t help but to be overcome with emotion when Negan starts teasing him about it.

Eventually, though, Negan becomes very serious and tells Carl to never cover his eye up. It makes him even more of a badass. You can even see that Negan genuinely feels bad for making fun of him. He’s offering Carl a very valuable lesson on how men break each other down, and how to come out on top. That eye is a way to intimidate people.

Negan and Judith

Okay…for a moment it was easy to forget that Negan smashed in two people’s skulls with a baseball bat. All it took was seeing Negan with his trademark leather jacket cradling Judith like she is the most precious treasure he’s ever seen. Negan’s eyes lit up seeing Judith in her crib and his bravado slipped. Later, he looks like a normal guy sitting on a porch with his kid.

Only Negan isn’t a normal guy.

It’s not his porch.

And Judith is not his kid.

The midseason finale of The Walking Dead airs Sunday, December 11, at 9pm on AMC.

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The Walking Dead S7E7 “Sing Me a Song”: Things that make you go “What!?”

By Sarabeth Pollock | Dec 6, 2016