The Walking Dead, The Obliged: Things To Note
By Liam O'Leary
1) At the beginning of the episode, Michonne seems to get up during the middle of the night (Several nights, so it would seem) to kill walkers lurking outside of Alexandria. Are all of these actual incidents of her getting up in the middle of the night to kill walkers? We know some are (From her conversation with Negan), but some seem like they might be her dreaming about doing so, which would make sense, if she is, as Negan suggested, a warrior looking for a fight. Additionally, if all of these are Michonne going outside at night to kill walkers…when is all this happening? Has this been happening throughout this season?
2) As Michonne wanders outside to kill walkers, she stumbles upon a walker of a man who had been hanged, but, by whom? Himself? One would think that, this far along, even the suicidal would do something to avoid turning. If he didn’t commit suicide…who hung him? Or, had he turned before being hung? If so, what short-sighted meatstick decided to waste time just hanging a walker?
3) As Michonne inspects the hanged walker, she’s ambushed by second walker, and is forced to use a nearby baseball bat to kill it. After dispatching the walker, Michonne looks at the bat and discovers the blood splatter makes the bat resemble Lucille after Negan killed Glenn and Abraham. This is also part of the reason why I wonder if some of Michonne’s nightly excursions are dreams, as this could be a manifestation of Michonne fearing becoming something like Negan.
4) After delivering the bad news to Rick about the status of the bridge, Eugene laments that, if he’d read more, the communities might have been better prepared for the storm. Upon hearing this, Rick stops Eugene and reminds him “You got us here”. Is Rick referring to Eugene motivating The Group to head towards Washington, or Eugene’s role in defeating The Saviors in the Season Eight finale, “Wrath”?
5) How long after the previous episode, “Warning Signs”, does this episode take place? Did the rest of the ex-Saviors know about what happened to Arat before Jed brought it up? Is that why, as Carol reported to Rick, that The Sanctuary “doesn’t want them there”?