This week’s episode of The Walking Dead put fans one giant step closer to Rick Grimes’ final moments. The show’s hero is set to leave next episode and right now all signs are pointing to a heart-wrenching demise.

Most of the action was centered around Rick’s determination to stop Maggie from killing Negan as well as some interesting interactions with Daryl. But episode 4 also focused on Michonne’s internal struggles and Negan’s somewhat successful attempt to get in her head with mind games.

Michonne vs. Negan

This episode shows another side of daily life in the Grimes household by focusing on Michonne, who is leading an interesting double life that keeps her up practically all the time. During the day, she takes on motherly duties with Judith, visits sick people in the infirmary, plans for the future, and breaks up petty fights.

Basically, she has become the new and much improved version of Deanna by leading Alexandria into a progressive future. But Michonne is still putting her faithful katana to work in the middle of the night as she slays walkers.

Is she just getting out some pent-up aggression from trying to make this new world work with the Sanctuary? Or is she trying to make sure she doesn’t lose her “edge” in the event of a civil war?

It’s likely a combination of both. At one point, she sees a walker hanging from a noose and becomes extremely disturbed, which almost leads to her getting killed by another walker before she hits it with a bat.

This is very unlike Michonne, who is the most level-headed and careful person on the show. Why would she become so upset by a hanging walker? She’s obviously seen much worse and I am surprised to see her get taken by surprise in that moment.

As a matter of fact, the whole idea of Michonne waking up in the middle of the night to slay walkers seems very out of character, especially after she scolded Sasha for hunting walkers back in Season 5. And I am not sure she could slip out of bed without somehow waking Rick up at least once.

It’s possible he has noticed her get up and leave, but Rick would have surely followed to make sure his lady was safe, especially with rogue ex-Saviors roaming in the vicinity.

Michonne is alerted by Nora, an Alexandrian whom we’ve never seen before, that they are losing the tomato war to crows. Crows seem to be a big thing this season and are likely hints at major impending deaths.

Nora also says Negan is on a hunger strike. Michonne brings him food and he agrees to eat if she will talk to him, which totally makes sense because he’s isolated all the time without any form of entertainment besides his own thoughts. And there has been little interaction with Negan and Michonne on TV because Rick usually steps in during these situations.

Negan downplays his arrogance just a tad during their conversation, but he is still quite delusional. He tells Michonne that they are “the same” because she is a warrior who shouldn’t be trapped in the confines of domestic life, just like he should not be rotting in a cell.

Um, nice try, buddy, but those things have nothing to do with each other. She is taking care of the home base and leading Alexandria while Rick works to build bonds between other communities. The fact that he thinks she cannot be a warrior, gardener, mother, and lover simultaneously shows his lack of understanding about the many roles women occupy each day, even when they are not in the apocalypse.

It’s true that Michonne is having some internal struggles about how to make this world work, but this doesn’t mean she is simply at the will of her man. Michonne has openly challenged and disagreed with Rick just as many times as she has taken his side. And, right now, she is making her own active choices to build a charter and lead the people in Alexandria.

She hits back at him and says they are rebuilding the world while he rots with nothing. He switches gears and brings up his wife, saying she was an “angel” who died from cancer. There haven’t been many peeks into his backstory, but this information lines up with the “Here’s Negan” comic mini-series and it’s only the second time he has talked about his wife Lucille in some detail.

Negan says they would have loved to have a kid like Carl. Michonne softens a bit and says she sees Carl around her in everything they do each day.

Negan then draws a comparison with Michonne’s son Andre and his wife, saying it’s almost a relief for both of them that their loved ones didn’t make it because it made them stronger in this world.

I don’t understand how he even knew she had a son in the first place, especially because she is so private about her life prior to meeting the prison group. She hasn’t ever had this conversation on screen about Andre with Rick, yet she’s talking to Negan about her deceased son. NO. NOPE.

I don’t believe Michonne would have even entertained this conversation for more than five minutes in the first place. It is true that most people in this world have become hardened by losing a child or a “weaker” loved one like Morgan and Carol, but this doesn’t make Negan and Michonne “similar.”

Somehow, Negan’s words got into Michonne’s head, so she came back with a delicious looking sandwich and questions about why he said those things to her. He still continues to go on about them being the same and connected to the dead.

But Michonne’s answer shuts him down and sums up exactly why this whole theory is crap.

“No. We’re not. Yeah, we do what we need to get shit done, but you get a kick out of it. Me? I’m trying everyday to make things better. Thinking of ways to bring people together, not pitting them against each other! I sacrifice and I compromise. And yeah, I do get strength from the dead but I live for the living. And I make no apologies for that. My sons are gone but this world is going to be better for my daughter and for every other child that comes into it.”

YOU TELL HIM, MICHONNE! I loved how she called Carl her son and affirmed that her daughter Judith still gives her a reason to push for a better future.

Hopefully, she will be able to add a Richonne baby to her family. Negan replies by saying she’s afraid of ending up like him with everyone and everything gone.

She brushes off his attempt to connect with her and tells him to stop wasting her time and eat. The scene ends with him crying over his bat and slamming his head into the wall, thereby proving that he’s missing some crayons out of his box. Michonne wins on the grounds of common sense and sanity! But I hope this isn’t a hint at Michonne returning to her lone wolf ways or going dark and twisty after Rick’s exit.

Rick, Daryl, and Maggie

It turns out Maggie’s bright idea to go see Negan was indeed idiotic. She grabbed a crowbar from a blacksmith and stuffed it into her bag in broad daylight.

Jesus saw Maggie’s not-so-slick moves (because he’s not dumb) and confronted her about possibly making a major mistake. He admits that it was wrong for Rick to make the unilateral decision to keep Negan alive, but he didn’t want Maggie to make a similarly poor decision to kill him now.

She says she will be back when it’s done and he quietly watches her go.

This sets things in motion for Rick as he sadly watches his bridge dreams dissipate. The water is rising and all construction is halted after last week’s fiasco.

Pretty much everyone has retreated and Carol’s Kingdom group is on their way out. Eugene, who is somehow still alive, tells Rick that he wishes he could be more help and Rick says he has done enough, so I guess they are buddies again.

I still don’t like or trust Eugene, even after he helped with the bullets backfiring at the end of the war.

Rick gets word from Jerry via Jesus about Maggie’s murderous adventure, so Rick jumps into action and radios Rachel to tell her that they have to hold Maggie at the gates. Of course, the Oceanside native lies to Rick and has no intentions of stopping Maggie from exacting her revenge.

Rick also radios Maggie and says they need to talk. About what, Rick? Things you should have talked about months ago or perhaps prior to keeping Negan alive?

Again, this whole plot is very strange after the time jump because if Maggie was going to kill Negan, she would have done it a long time ago.

Anyway, we don’t see much more of Maggie outside of her finding Michonne’s walker targets. It should be an interesting standoff between her and Michonne when she makes it to Alexandria.

Meanwhile, Daryl is creeping in the background and pretends to be oblivious when Rick tells him about Maggie’s plan. He eagerly offers Rick a ride home and they take off.

I cannot believe Rick can be this dumb. He knows Daryl and Maggie are both on the same side in terms of Negan yet he doesn’t find it suspicious that Daryl is suddenly trying to help stop Maggie.

I can believe Daryl would be this conniving and stupid because he has a track record for making bad decisions without thinking about the potential consequences. Daryl rides past the turning point to Alexandria, which prompts Rick to make him stop.

They argue a bit and then start fighting until they roll into a massive hole where Rick takes a hard fall. Rick and Daryl begin to air out their grievances.

Rick says keeping Negan alive is a symbol that this new world will not be built on an “eye for an eye” policy and prevent things from going back to the way they were pre-war. Daryl believes keeping him alive gives Negan fans hope that he will one day rise to power again. It’s a tough argument because I can see some truth in both of their statements.

Rick admits he knows why Maggie cannot understand this thought process and why she has made some of her recent decisions like hanging Gregory. Daryl shoots back and says Rick would not be alive nor would he have found Carl and Lori if it wasn’t for Glenn’s help.

Rick says he thinks about it every day and he hates he took that choice from Maggie. But he also rightly fires back at Daryl about his decision to keep Dwight alive despite him killing Denise among other things.

In reality, they were both wrong to make those unilateral decisions about people’s fates when there are other leaders who should have had a voice. And, it’s not fair for Daryl to throw Glenn in Rick’s face because HE WAS THE ONE WHO GOT HIM KILLED.

Glenn would have been alive if Daryl had controlled his temper like everyone else in the circle. It’s frustrating that no one, including Maggie, holds him accountable for his actions at the lineup.

Daryl spills the beans about Oceanside and Rick is understandably furious that he didn’t tell him. Rick says if Negan dies he will become a martyr and this means Carl died for nothing.

Daryl asked him to think about the rest of them and how he’s asking them to have faith in all these other people. He admits he would die for Rick and would have died for Carl, but he says Rick is chasing something for Carl that is not meant to happen. He pleads with Rick to let it go, which Rick cannot accept.

It’s an emotional moment for Rick because he knows Daryl has a point, but he wants to do what honors his son and is best for the overall future.

Their therapy time is interrupted by walkers falling in the hole and gunshots coming from camp. Jed (the Savior that Rick and Carol should have killed) has found a gun and an army and they want revenge against the Oceanside. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we go on rogue killing missions.

Carol and Jerry are involved in an unseen shootout that better not end up with Jerry dying because he is the purest adult on this show. So, Rick and Daryl have to fight their way out of the hole, which ends with Rick risking himself to pull his “brother” out of harm’s way.

It’s a sentimental callback to the first time he referred to him as his brother after Rick gutted the Claimers in Season 4.

Things go awry when they get back to the road and notice a herd of walkers coming their way. Daryl says they have to go, but Rick says he’s going to use the suspect White horse to lead the walkers away.

Why, Rick? You have terrible luck with deer, horses, and all other animals with four legs.

Daryl suggests he takes them over the unfinished bridge so they can fall in the water, but Rick refuses to do it because they need the bridge. Rick runs away and Daryl calls to him to be safe, but there’s a tinge of sadness in his eyes.

Rick is leading the herd when he rounds the corner and comes in contact with another herd. The horse freaks out and throws him off, which causes him to slam into a concrete brick and impale himself in the side.

This is the point where many fans started feeling a wave of nausea. It’s reminiscent of the pilot episode when Rick ran into walkers in downtown Atlanta and the horse threw him off in the middle of a herd.

Rick is last seen unconscious and bleeding profusely as the walkers close in. Net week’s sneak peek doesn’t give us much hope as we see Rick in some sort of dream state.

He’s riding the horse into downtown Atlanta, standing over his body in the hospital, talking to Michonne, and flashing back to better times with his old buddy Shane. And, he sees crows that turn into helicopters — could this be a sign of death being turned into salvation?

It’s more likely that he would die from the blood loss from his wound or slowly from a bite like Carl than being eaten alive by walkers and never found by his friends. It’s also not likely for the hero of the show to not get a chance to say goodbye to loved ones in real life, even though there will be flashbacks to deceased characters.

Plus, next week’s preview shows him lifting himself off the rod with his belt. Perhaps he will decide to lead the walkers to the bridge after all to protect everyone and later die surrounded by his core group.

It’s all honestly too sad to even think about at this point.

The Walking Dead fans may disagree on many things, but Rick is pretty universally loved by the fandom, so they would be down to see a movie about Rick. It wouldn’t be a bad decision to keep him alive somehow and temporarily write him out of the show for this purpose.

Perhaps Jadis will actually be useful and call that helicopter to come in and save Rick. However, it would leave that open question for the communities (and the fans) about what is going on with Rick, even if Jadis or Father Gabriel give some information about the group. Fans would always wonder when/if Rick is coming back instead of focusing on the current action on the show.

Is anyone prepared for next week? I am not. But, ready or not, the final Rick Grimes episode will probably destroy all of us.