(Spoiler Alert: Do not keep reading if you did not see this week’s episode of “The Walking Dead”)
“The Walking Dead” took us deep inside The Saviors’ Sanctuary this week, with Carl (Chandler Riggs) going rogue in an attempt to kill Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and free Alexandria from his grasp once and for all.
Carl and Jesus (Tom Payne) start off in the back of the truck we saw them climb into back at Hilltop. Jesus deduces that they will be arriving soon and it would be wise to jump out and tail the truck the rest of the way. Carl seems nervous and suggests Jesus go first so Carl can see how best to jump.
Once Jesus jumps off, he watches Carl continue on with the truck. At the Sanctuary, Carl grabs an assault rifle out of a crate and lies in wait. Negan comes out as his men start unloading things. One of them notices Carl and Carl opens fire, killing two men.
A tense standoff ensues that ends with Carl being tackled by Dwight (Austin Amelio). Rather than kill him, however, Negan decides to have some fun with Carl instead. Morgan continues to demonstrate his ability with the Negan role, taking a bite out of every scene with the sociopathic glee he has cultivated as the character.
Negan takes Carl to meet his many wives, a group of Savior women who agreed to “marry” him in exchange for special treatment for them and their loved ones. But all is not well in Negan’s love nest. One of his wives had a dalliance with her former man, causing him to fail to perform an assigned task. He interrogates the woman, and she tearfully confesses.
At the Sanctuary, Negan takes Carl to his private quarters and forces him to remove the bandage over his eye. Carl unwillingly complies, but exposing the wound makes him weep. Negan tells him that his missing eye is a sign of toughness and that Carl should not cover it up.
Negan then goes to administer the punishment for the Savior who slept with his wife. He has the man tied to a chair and gives a speech to everyone about the importance of following the rules. Dwight has fired up a massive furnace in the Sanctuary and hands Negan a red hot iron that has been heating up inside.
Negan takes the iron and uses it to burn the man’s face, just like he previously did to Dwight. We sickeningly get to see the man’s melted skin stick to the iron as Negan pulls it off, with the man having passed out in shock. Afterwards, Dwight and Sherry (Christine Evangelista) share a terse moment together in a back stairwell.
Spencer finds a walker up in a deer blind, tied to the tree. He uses a grappling hook to pull down the man’s compound bow, but inadvertently brings the walker down too. Going through its pockets, he finds a note written in Latin.
Elsewhere, Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) have gone to make Rosita a bullet. Eugene again tries to talk her out of it, but she insults him as a coward and he meekly gets to work for her.
Back in his room, Negan asks Carl what his punishment should be for killing two Saviors. Carl says if Negan was smart, he would kill everyone at Alexandria because they will fight him no matter what.
Negan seems amused with Carl and decides to take him home. Before leaving, he stops off to insult Daryl (Norman Reedus). As Negan’s truck leaves the gates, we see Jesus stowed away on top, but he disappears and continues scouting the Sanctuary.
Back in his cell, someone slides a note under Daryl’s door that says “Go now.” Attached to the back of it are a single match and a key.
Back near Alexandria, Michonne (Danai Gurira) has assembled a pile of walkers and laid them across the road. When a Savior scout drives up and exits her car, Michonne takes her hostage, demanding to be taken to Negan.
Out on the road, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) come across a gated property. They investigate and believe it could contain a large cache of weapons and food. The only problem: they are stored in a houseboat in a middle of a lake filled with walkers left their as security.
Negan arrives at Alexandria and revels in telling Olivia (Ann Mahoney) that he would be happy to sleep with her if she’d like. He also finds Judith in her crib and begins carrying her around, telling her that he could easily kill her father and brother and move himself into the community permanently.