'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'The Other Side'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Well, as the old saying goes, you can't win them all, and despite The Walking Dead's best efforts to provide us with a season filled to the brim with in depth character studies on loss and how people handle it, their hot streak came to an end last night with an episode that quite frankly, tried to accomplish far too much.  

Because at times, 'The Other Side' was indeed a fascinating look at loss, yet at other times, it worked way too hard to continue this march to war storyline and the end result was inconsistent to say the least and that's a crying shame, because this episode was a golden opportunity to really shine the spotlight on Sasha and Rosita, and give this universe a powerful story about two strong women trying to battle the pain in their hearts and sadly, that opportunity was for the most part, wasted away. Yet despite its flaws, this episode did have some bright spots, mainly in that Gregory, a character few of us can stomach, finally got his just desserts.

Yes, the 'leader' of Hilltop finally came to realize that he was in fact...a walking joke as he watched everyone in this tiny community turn their backs upon him, rallying instead behind Maggie and the forthcoming fight with the Saviors and well, without a community to command, he was outright lost this entire episode, relegated to nothing more than a figurehead and even when the Saviors came calling to find Daryl...he still couldn't catch a break. Despite his best efforts to try and broker a deal with Simon to keep their doctor at the Hilltop, he was once again disregarded and ignored and it's clear that this will not settle well with him as time goes on.

As for the notion of loss that's permeated throughout this season, while the show may have faltered in handling it properly with Sasha and Rosita, it did deal with it in beautiful fashion when it came to Maggie and Daryl. There were no long monologues about the pain they were experiencing, just silence between these two as they continued their preparations for war. But their big moment arrived after nearly being caught by a Savior, wherein Maggie finally confronted Daryl about his silence toward her and he finally revealed he felt completely and utterly responsible for Glenn's death and the simplicity of his admission, and the kindness that Maggie showed him made this the finest moment of last night's episode.

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But we do need to address the elephant in the room by way of Sasha and Rosita and how exactly the story wasted away an opportunity to give them a wonderful journey. Because while one might think that the quest to find Negan and exact revenge upon him should result in a sense of catharsis for these characters, that was simply not the case. They spent a better part of the episode squabbling and in a roundabout way, one upping one another like jealous girls in high school and well...that's quite the disservice to two quality female characters. They are strong, they are intelligent and had they spent the episode discussing what this quest for revenge would have meant for them on a personal level and  more importantly the memory of Abraham, this would have been a vastly different episode.

Instead, the story only spared five minutes to celebrate Abraham's life and what he meant to the two of them and even then, it felt glossed over. Sure we learned about Rosita's past and how smart she is when it comes to survival, but as my good friend Kerri pointed out while we were talking this episode over, neither of them even spoke of the fact that they loved him, and the lack of emotional attachment to Abraham almost makes their decision to sacrifice themselves for him...hollow to say the least. Not to mention, I'm starting to take concern with their death wish as well, because when you consider how strong the female characters are on this series, it bugs me that these two incredibly intelligent and resourceful women are suddenly in 'the man I loved is gone, and I simply cannot go on' mode, especially when you consider how Maggie took Glenn's loss as an opportunity to continue on and honor him by living an incredible life. 

But alas, I digress, because what's done is done, and hopefully the show will rectify this issue later on down the road. Because in the meantime, there are bigger fish to fry and other issues that have to be dealt with. Take for example Eugene. We literally have no idea now where his loyalties lie since he had the opportunity to escape with Rosita and opted to run back inside the Sanctuary instead, and one has to wonder what kind of trouble is brewing in Hilltop now that Gregory is a man with nothing to lose and is willing to threaten his own people in a desperate bid to remain relevant.  

Plus, there's the biggest issue of all to worry about, will Sasha be safe inside the Sanctuary now that she found her way inside...and what will come of her preemptive strike against Negan because he will no doubt be beyond displeased with her making an attempt on his life and you know there's a fair chance he'll want to teach Rick a lesson because of it since she's the second person from Alexandria to break into the complex and go after him. Either way, there's only two episodes left in season seven and hopefully the show puts the pedal to the medal after this one and gives the audience exactly what it wants...war with the Saviors, and justice for Glenn and Abraham. Until next time. 

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