Warning … spoilers ahead. In fact, one could say those wanting to avoid spoilers have “no sanctuary.”
Get it?
Ahem … anyway, finally got a chance to watch this last night. The best word I can use to surmise the episode is this: Exhausting. Each scene escalates the tension from the one before. And when the good guys finally get a chance to breathe, you breathe with them.
Usually the kind of slow roll stuff in this episode bothers the ever-loving crap out of me. But I felt like it was just enough to be interesting, without going into full-on annoying. Also, and maybe just because I didn’t give it a lot of thought, it surprised me that we eventually had two deaths instead of one. Which is good. A story SHOULD surprise you. And then it surprises you again near the end when we know–because of all the “crap” that’s happened in the “crap day”–that Carl was about to lose a hand, and doesn’t.
As for Dean’s take on Negan. What can I say? It’s awesome. He delivers an engaging performance and manages to make me both utterly despise his character, yet I still can’t wait to see more. For a villain, I can’t think of higher praise.
As for the deaths themselves … I don’t know. The episode seems to be very polarizing. Then again, good art often is.
