'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'Something They Need'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Let’s be honest. Ever since we all settled in to watch the heart-wrenching and tear inducing seventh season premiere of The Walking Dead, we’ve all been waiting for one thing…justice. We want Glenn and Abraham to be avenged and Negan to be dealt with and slowly but surely, we’ve seen Rick Grimes and the people of Alexandria come back from the brink of terror, finally finding strength within their hearts so they can fight and make things right. But despite the realization that the Saviors must be dealt with, we have yet to see any kind of truly inspiring moment on the show that allows for the audience to feel like at long last, justice is about to be served.
 
At least that is…until last night. Because ‘Something They Need’ finally delivered that all important moment and ironically enough, it didn’t come by way of some powerfully heroic act. It arrived through an in depth analysis of fear. Because this episode examined what fear does to human beings. How it can twist us and distort us into cowardice, or drive us to do incredibly dangerous things or…how it can inspire, all while throwing in just a hint of old world thinking in the mix as well since we also learned last night, that at the end of the world, some things will never change.
 
A majority of this was explored by way of two key storylines this go round, as we followed up with Sasha in the wake of her attack on the Sanctuary and by following up with Rick and the gang as they headed to Oceanside, which we will get to in a moment, because Sasha’s story, well it was downright fascinating. Because oddly enough, her quick capture by the Saviors, led to the first noble moment we’ve ever seen when it comes to Negan. It turns out, that Negan actually has a moral code and when he discovered one of his men was trying to sexually assault Sasha, he wasted no time in killing the man for even thinking of such an act. 
 
The move shocked Sasha to her core, and Negan used the act of kindness as an opportunity to ask her to join the team, something she was reluctant to do, despite Eugene’s best efforts to help convince her as well. But eventually, she committed and while it seemed as though Sasha was about to make a Eugene sized mistake, it was all part of a long con. She tried to convince the Chief Engineer of the Sanctuary that she made the wrong choice and needed some kind of a weapon to end her life because of said decision, but that too was all part of the plan to get her hands on something to harm Negan with and while Eugene may have failed her there…it’s good to see that fear has made Sasha strong, and quite frankly this wonderful storyline, with a strong and thoughtful Sasha, vastly makes up for last week’s poor portrayal of her. 

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However, there is still the matter of Oceanside to discuss because the time had come for Rick and the group to travel to this tiny little city by the bay in search of one thing and one thing alone…the guns they need for the upcoming war with the Saviors and well…this story was equally as fascinating because this is where we were able to see exactly how fear can turn us into outright cowards because despite the fact that there were flickers of hope and a spark of fight from the women of this community when it came to the possibility they could indeed live a better life, Natania simply refused to commit to the battle. She couldn’t bear the terror of facing Negan’s men again and that’s quite the shame, because the women of Oceanside, are clearly ready for some payback…and they can most certainly fight.
 
Because in the process of taking the guns, a small herd was attracted to all the commotion and that ladies and gentlemen…is when that moment of inspiration arrived. Threatened by the dead, Alexandria and Oceanside became one and in a matter of moments they worked together to put down the walker threat in impressive fashion and unfortunately for the bigger fight looming, the women of this community won’t join the cause unless every last one of them do and with Natania still refusing…for now it’s just Rick and his current coalition of the willing, and Oceanside seems okay with letting others handle their battle, and that, is where we learned some things never change.
 
After all, in our world we let the Army, the Navy and the Air Force handle conflict for us and well…as civilization slowly begins to return in Rick’s world, there are others content to let an Army do the dirty work and that’s what made Alexandria’s robbery of this bevy of guns digestible. After all, unlike the Saviors, they didn’t harm anyone, they just took what they needed and while the moral center of me raised an eyebrow over it…they did promise to bring the guns back after the war was over. But what truly made this wild twist worthwhile…is that Rick is continuing his heroic journey. Their cause, rooted in the fear of seeing the world dominated by the Saviors is actually managing to inspire others and Rick is truly trying to make the world a better place by rising up. 
 
Yet what truly surprised me about this episode, is how low key it was. For being the penultimate episode before the season seven finale, this sucker was relaxed and intimate and filled with tender moments of humanity. In fact I continue to think back to the conversation between Enid and Carl regarding the mental aftermath of the act of violence they were about to commit, and perhaps reminding us of everyone's humanity before the conflict begins was the point. Because now that they have the guns they need…war is coming. Negan is likely on his way to Alexandria now that he’s been tipped off about Rick and well…this is going to be brutal any way you slice it. But at least Alexandria now has an ally in Dwight…and at least we know now that Negan is going to pay for all the horrible things he has done. Until next time.

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