********SPOILERS********
Sasha, Daryl and Abraham have reached mile marker 20 and are headed back when they are ambushed by gunfire. They all survive the attack, but they get separated. This scene is, in no small part, “fan service” because Daryl on a motorcycle is pansexual at its finest.
Daryl finds himself alone in the woods.
More fan service.
He finds two very thin women telling him, “We earned what we took,” before he's ambushed by a blow to the head. He drifts in and out of consciousness, as the group of three discusses his fate or sports scores. It's hard to hear.
When he awakens, the guy of the group has a gun and orders him around, mistaking him for “one of them.” Daryl tries to explain, but misunderstanding is the key to good drama, so he doesn't get a chance. The trio tell him about some of their fighting during The Fall, and Guy With Gun asks Daryl the dumbest question imaginable, “Should I kill you?” Who actually answers that question in the affirmative?
They reach the yard for the Pattrick Fuel Company where they're looking for “Patty.” As it's overrun, they say, “She's gone.” Tina faints (she's diabetic, we discover later) and Daryl takes advantage of the moment to escape. As a lone nod-to-Swamp-Thing Walker approaches, Daryl relaxes, casually and leisurely reaching for his bow. But it's in a bag that he's not used to. And the Walker gets closer. And Daryl struggles, because the mouth of the bag is too small. And the discordant strings of the music rise, and in the nick of time, Daryl executes a perfect shot to the head.
Is that a Cherokee Rose?
Daryl shows his humanity by returning the insulin to the trio and as he is leaving, he sees their pursuers roll up in a big honking truck, many men deep. He hitches his fate to theirs and helps them evade the men, giving back the gun. When he lures one of the men to a burnt Biter trap, he calls out, “Wade, I'm bit.” A white man whose face remains unseen comes to his rescue by amputating the arm. They call off their search. It's left very ambivalent whether this group is part of The Saviors, and with references to someone who "only wants ass that is willing," and the recent announcement about the casting of Negan, it's probably a safe bet. If "Wade" in the series is the analogue for the comic book "Dwight," then it makes a whole lots of sense why we don't see his face.
Up on the roof with an RPG and a cigar, Abraham is in his element. A soldier dangles above the street speared through by a chain link fence. Abraham sees the launcher on the Dangler's back and he wants it. He tries to force it, but it's awkward and precarious, and anyone who's read the comic books is on tenterhooks anytime Abraham is in wide open spaces. He ends frustrated and gives up. Moments later, the captive zombie's rotting flesh works its way apart from the bone and the fence pole dislocates its shoulder, leaving behind the grenade launcher swinging like a carnival prize. When he tried to force it, it didn't work, but when he stepped back and let it play out, he was rewarded. Some life lessons in there.
Giddy from his booty, he returns to the middle management hell of the office where Sasha is still not sleeping. Their tensions from before play out in a different way. His confidence and hope ooze out into what is no doubt one of the oddest pick up lines in the history of ever, though maybe it's just the new normal. After explaining that he's no longer living “check to check,” and realizing before “Cosmic Pete” slits his throat, and he “gurgles his last breath,” Abraham sees that there is going to be a stretch of time in which life can happen. So in the most direct, matter-of-fact, and clearly we-should-fuck way, he says, “I like the way you call bullshit, Sasha. I believe I'd like to get to know you a whole lot better.”
At first, Sasha balks and there's a brief moment when I worry about the notion of consent in this new world. But Abraham keeps a respectful distance, and when Sasha asks him, “What makes you think I want that?”, Abraham continues a small smile and says,
“A man can tell.”
Ambivalent, but down.
The tension before her next words echo the tension of Daryl in the forest – it's right at home in the horror genre. Sasha alludes to some things Abraham has to take care of first – flashing to the Walker in the office, but meaning Rosita. Because monogamy is clearly the only way they can be together. [Cue rageful skyward fist-shaking at the hegemony of patriarchy, heteronormativity and emotional scarcity.]
How great would that have been if Sasha and Abraham went back to Rosita and explained the situation? That Sasha and Abraham had been through some shit together, and had not done anything, but wanted to explore their feelings for each other. And asked if she'd be willing to open the relationship. And Sasha and Rosita looked at each other in a new way... OK, that's slipping into fanfic, which is a whole other website.
Back in the forest, Tina is unceremoniously dispatched in a scorched greenhouse. Quite possibly the dumbest death on the show so far.
And though Daryl asked Guy with Gun the Three Questions, and offered them a place in Alexandria, they end up stealing his crossbow AND his bike.
How emasculating.
“We're sorry.”
“You're gonna be.”
Daryl finds a magic fuel truck called Patty (the trio wasn't looking for a woman, they were looking for this truck) and scoops up the brilliant Sasha and Abraham, who were smart enough to stay put for Tracker Daryl. On the ride back to Alexandria, they hear a voice on the radio say, “Help.” The internet has been abuzz that this was Glenn, but I can't jump on that bandwagon, as much as I would love proof of life. Norman Reedus has been quoted as saying that this episode begins an “avalanche,” so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
