The Walking Dead: Who died in 7.08 Hearts Still Beating?

The mid-season finale of The Walking Dead brings a lot of familiar faces back together. But did we also lose some along the way?

‘Hearts Still Beating’ brings almost every face to our television screen all in one single episode of The Walking Dead.  While we did not have a King Ezekiel or Dwight sighting, we did finally catch another glimpse of Carol and Morgan.  We returned to Hilltop as well for a couple of scenes. We followed Rick, Aaron, and Michonne on their excursions.

Of course, a large portion of the action takes place inside the walls of Alexandria where Negan shaves his beard and waits for Rick to return with his next batch of goodies.

The episode was action-packed with several twists and turns.  Let’s take a look at who or what we lost in the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead‘s season 7.

An apple a day keeps the baby okay

As Maggie’s pregnancy, thankfully, continues to progress, so do the number of calories she needs to consume for her baby’s growth.  Just how many Hilltop apples were sacrificed for that pie Maggie sat down to eat?

She also convinced Gregory to part with one apple at the Hilltop gate.  Will she be insisting that Gregory part with his leadership role as well?  It certainly looks like we are heading in that direction.

Isabelle

I am not sure if Michonne ever even caught the redhead’s name before taking the female Savior’s life.  But it was Isabelle that Michonne captured in episode 7 insisting that she take Michonne to Negan. As the pair approach the Sanctuary, Michonne tries to get information about Negan’s whereabouts from Isabelle.

Isabelle proceeds to tell Michonne that they are all Negan. Michonne begins to understand the magnitude of Negan’s threat.  She decides not to go any closer to the Sanctuary but feels she cannot just let Isabelle go. And that is when we lose Isabelle.

Professor Daryl in the Sanctuary with the lead pipe

Did anyone have a “clue” that this was going to happen? Rest assured, Daryl survives the incident at hand. It is the Savior named Fat Joey (or Joseph) that is on the receiving end of the lead pipe.

I do not believe Daryl is merely acting out of revenge.  He has been given a key to escape his cell. And much like a feral caged animal might respond, he lashes out at the threat before him, that threat being Fat Joey.

Fat Joey knows that Daryl is not someone to be reckoned with and immediately throws his hands up in surrender when he encounters Daryl mid-escape. Joey claims he will do nothing if Daryl just moves along.

Daryl raises the pipe and hears someone protest. It is Jesus. But Daryl continues and beats Joey to a pulp, killing him, all in front of Jesus.

Finally, in a turn reminiscent of Carol at Terminus, Daryl retrieves Rick’s signature Colt Python from Joey’s belt as he leaves with Jesus. Daryl returns the piece to Rick upon their reunion later in the episode at Hilltop.

Daryl and Fat Joey are both free of the Sanctuary, but Daryl is the only one that walks away from it.

Spencer gets schooled in more than pool

Back in Alexandria, Spencer tries to make nice with the Saviors. He tries to turn on the charm with one of the females (interestingly, the same woman who was playing a game and doing shots with Dwight in the opener of episode 7.03 ‘The Cell’). He also has a brief heart to heart with Rosita, all on the way back to his house.

He returns to his family home, where he now lives alone having lost his brother, father, and mother in various skirmishes since Rick’s arrival to Alexandria. He finds the home ransacked from Rick’s search for the stolen gun.

Spencer cleans up the house and himself, practicing a greeting in the mirror.  He grabs a bottle from his stash of stolen liquor and makes his way over to Rick’s house to find Negan playing daddy while he awaits Rick’s return.

The pair kick back and talk shop. Spencer brags about what a better leader and business partner he would be than Rick.  The two end up bringing a pool table outdoors where Spencer continues to lobby for himself to be leader of their community, suggesting that Negan “get rid” of Rick.

Of course, Negan is not fooled by Spencer’s bragging and schmoozing.  Negan points out that Rick is actually out working for Negan while Spencer is cowardly trying to get someone else to do his dirty work. As Negan makes his point, he also points his knife at Spencer’s abdomen and proceeds to stab him, snarkily commenting that Spencer indeed has guts after all.

It makes me sad that in Spencer’s final moments he claims to be honoring his mother, a former politician, by trying to network and build a good working relationship with Negan. But instead of honoring her actual work, he actually embodies the worst stereotypical attributes politicians are so often accused of — schmoozing, lying, and lobbying for self-interest.

By the episode’s end, Spencer lies in a seemingly never-ending pool of blood. He finally reanimates briefly only to be put down for good by none other than Rick himself.

When life gives you lemons . . .

. . . sometimes you just get lemons.

This was the case for our sweet, loveable, funny Olivia. She shared more than one lemonade with Negan in the first half of season 7.  But in the end, it was just lemons for Olivia when Negan’s point woman Arat was tasked with making a split second choice of someone to kill.

Arat swiftly turns and points her gun at the porch.  Olivia hits the ground.

But Olivia dies with honor refusing to leave her post, insisting on watching Judith through Negan’s entire daddy dearest routine. She was a faithful servant to her community to the end, even refusing Negan’s nasty advances with a slap we will always remember.

The hits just keep coming

There were so many close calls the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead season 7.

Aaron makes a brave escape from water walkers surrounding him as he and Rick try to make their way to supplies in the house boat. He then gets pounded over and over by some of Negan’s men upon their return to Alexandria.

Rosita has a knife to her throat after firing her one bullet at Negan. The bullet is intercepted by Lucille, his trusty bat that takes one for the team, saving Negan from the gunshot.

Negan is none too happy with her assault but is intrigued by the discovery that the ammunition was hand-made.

Negan demands to know who made the bullet. Rosita claims she did, but Negan says she is lying and prompts Arat to nake a cut on Rosita’s beautiful face.

Tara then tries to take the fall for Eugene but refusing to be the ultimate coward, he reveals himself to be the bullet maker. Negan announces that he is taking Eugene with him.

Final count – 4

Isabelle, Fat Joey, Spencer, and Olivia

Next: Review of The Walking Dead season 7 mid-season finale Hearts Still Beating

Hearts Still Beating

Despite all the death and misery throughout the episode, there are hearts still beating (as Aaron claimed about his own after being almost beaten to death) at the end of the mid-season finale. Rick’s group (most of it) shares a beautiful reunion with Maggie, Sasha, Enid, Daryl and Jesus at the Hilltop. Rick and Michonne are solidly in agreement now, along with the rest of the group. They will fight – together.

Oh, and I almost forgot, there was a little thing that the Saviors lost – one of their walkies, lifted by Jesus from the Sanctuary!

Is it February yet??