Preview for The Walking Dead season 9 episode 4: The Obliged

Rick Grimes’ empire is crumbling from inside like Rome before it, except it never had a chance to even truly begin on the latest The Walking Dead episode.

There appeared to be an old-fashioned Savior uprising on last week’s The Walking Dead but the issue was much more complex than meets the eye. Maggie hanging Gregory inspired copycats in Oceanside, sure maybe not the same method but the same general idea of taking revenge. In Oceanside’s words, “There isn’t just Rick’s rules anymore,” and as Maggie and Daryl turned away so did any sense of impartiality Rick was trying to instill in others to follow.

Now, tonight’s episode foreshadows even more dissension among Rick’s own ranks. Ironically, Maggie was starting to come around to Rick’s way, until Oceanside’s interpretation of her actions turned her back around to her thoughts of vengeance on Negan. Maggie had just told Daryl what Rick was doing was truly the right thing to do. That she wished she could be like him and forget the past. Daryl put her back on neutral when he said it’s okay to be angry, that he still was, and then Oceanside shifted to her to act out on her thoughts.

Hilltop’s leader to ambush Alexandria

Maggie has a crowbar ready to break into Negan’s jail cell and get the revenge for Glenn she so desires in the sneak peek for tonight’s episode. Whether Maggie accomplishes her goal or not, the fact she’s doing it at all without Rick’s consent says it all. Without Rick as the leader across the communities, there will eventually be chaos.

The Bridge is not the physical one they’ll building, it’s Rick who can reach across the isle to bridge a better future. The moment Negan is taken out amidst the current chaos with Saviors being taken out by Oceanside, the writing will be on the wall for the residents of Sanctuary. And they’re the main labor force…

Rick falls in a pit, Negan and Michonne chat

It looks like the beginning of the end as Rick Grimes falls into a dirt pit and walkers join him and Daryl post-fight on tonight’s The Walking Dead. Normally it would just look like a cool walker scene for Rick akin to the fight with Jadis’ metal-head walker Winslow but with official news of Rick Grimes’ departure from the series arriving, every moment could be the last… Over at the junkyard, it looks like Rick is not the only one on the brink as Jadis/Anne presents her boyfriend to be a customary walker in the very style of Winslow before him.

Meanwhile, Negan and Michonne have a chat and you just know Negan is going to have some great lines tonight. His conversation with Rick Grimes over The Bridge being nothing more than “a monument to the dead” was already one of the season’s best.

Catch up on last week’s Walking Dead episode Warning Signs over at AMC and see the Saviors attempt a coup in response to being taken out on the road.