But it turns out Carol flinched when being pursued by one of the Survivors. By the time the dust had settled both killed multiple Saviors in self defense. How’d they do that? One of the show’s stars, Melissa Suzanne McBride, who plays Carol, recently spoke with ComicBook.com, and while she wouldn’t delve into any specifics about the finale, she did say it was dark and shocking. But by the time they get there, the entire facility where the two women were held captive has been cleared after Carol and Maggie disposed of both their captors and nearby zombies. As Maggie told Glenn (Steven Yuen) she can’t continue on missions anymore, Carol told Daryl (Norman Reedus) that she’s not okay. Carol will reveal to the Captors about her cancer. I could see her exiting the show that way. Before she leaves she tells Carol and Maggie’s that she really wants to kill them, and it’s taking all she has not to, so they’d better not try to escape.
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Rick, meanwhile, has a hostage of his own, which he planned to exchange for Maggie and Carol. That made me think about everything Rick’s lost, everything so many people have lost in the face of the brutal next world, and still a lot of that can’t compare with the fact that many/most women have lost the right to be mothers. Her first victim was her former boss, who she described as “meek and stupid”. And while the last Savior was executed by Rick moments before the credits rolled, his last words suggest that this fight isn’t over yet.
Paula then confuses Carol – and us – by stating: “We are all Negan”. Her recent baking of beet-acorn cookies read as a perverse joke because we assumed Carol is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, her finger always on the trigger rather than on the oven control.
As far as rampages go, it’s really quite sublime, and it takes Carol’s official “kill number”-which last week was at 18-into the low 20s”. Carol points out that Paula’s afraid of dying too, and that that’s what will happen if she doesn’t start talking to Rick. When the third woman comes to look for the others Maggie attacks her, they get into a scuffle and the woman slices Maggie across the stomach with a knife.
Finally, at the end of the episode, we wrap things up with the supposed final Savior, Primo. “You good?” asks Daryl, “No” replies Carol. Cue Molly, who gets a bite taken out of her before Maggie finishes the woman off. “It’s just her going into whatever mode she needs to be in”. It’s kind of an impressive feat; as one of the characters tells Maggie, they’re not the good guys in the story, they just think they are, and it seems like they all believe that. Obviously on a literal level Carol managed to use the rosary to physically escape the bindings that the Saviors had put her in. Without a moment of delay, Carol shoots her in the head.
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After failing to get answers about Negan from Promo, Rick shot him in the head…as Carol clutched the rosary so tightly that her hand bled. This parallel analysis works all the way to the top, as Rick – who last week echoed the Governor down to individual lines in the script – will soon be placed alongside Negan, whose foul mouth AMC won’t be able to keep under wraps for much longer.
