The Walking Dead season 8, episode 16, “Wrath,” brought the end of the war against the Saviors — here’s what went down!
The Walking Dead season 8 finale set off to do the seemingly impossible — wrap up the long war of the Saviors against Rick and his allies. The episode started off rather slowly, even though it seemed like there was so much they had to cover in the episode.
There was plenty of reminders of Carl, in case anyone forgot that he died. Rick actually talked to Siddiq and wanted to know what happened the day that Carl got bit. So Siddiq explained how his mother had believed that the dead’s souls were still trapped within them until they were killed.
Wanting to honor that belief, Carl tried to help Siddiq kill the dead and that’s when it happened. Rick didn’t really react much to this news — he just seemed to accept it.
Meanwhile, the rest of Team Family and everyone at Hilltop was prepping to go to war. They planned to follow the map from Dwight but didn’t exactly trust it either, and that is exactly what Negan was expecting from them.
Negan planned for Rick and the group to go out scouting, so he set it up for some Saviors to be out where the map led them. That way they believed what the map said, and used that to lead them exactly where he wanted. When Rick and Team Family arrived in the field, Negan started his creepy whistle. He let Rick know that they were trapped and he had some of Rick’s friends captive, including Gabriel and Dwight.
But when the Saviors prepared to start killing, all of the bullets backfired and killed them instead. Even Negan ended up being injured. Negan instantly knew that it was Eugene’s fault, but before he could do anything, Gabriel jumped on him.
The rest of the Saviors started to surrender while Negan ran away, but he didn’t get far before Rick went after him. They had a little scuffle and Negan got the upper hand for a while, just long enough to blame Rick again for Carl’s death. Rick tried to convince Negan that things could be different and be like what Carl wanted — but in the end he still cut Negan’s throat.
Blood spurted everywhere and made it look like Negan was a goner for sure, but then Rick asked Siddiq to save him. Maggie was not pleased to hear this, and started to freak out, both screaming and crying. She wanted to honor Glenn’s death and make things right by killing Negan, but that wasn’t in Rick’s plan.
Rick told the rest of the Saviors that they could put their hands down. He gave one of his Rick speeches, telling them all that they were going to go home. The communities could now find a new way to live together. Negan’s reign is officially over.
Eugene also revealed to Rosita that it was his plan all along to sabotage Negan in some way. She still punched him for puking on her when she tried to take him away from the Saviors.
Later, it was revealed that Rick’s plan for Negan included locking him away and letting him live out the rest of his life in prison. The Saviors were happy to rebuild and find a new way to work with the other communities. However, Alden decided to stay behind at Hilltop instead of going back to the Sanctuary.
Morgan went to see Jadis and invited her to go live with Rick, which she happily agreed to. He didn’t go back with her though, and explained that he’s not meant to be around other people.
Maggie let Jesus and Daryl know that her plan for Hilltop is to build the community to be stronger, including making sure they can defend themselves in the future. And she’s not giving up on making sure that Negan gets killed.
Dwight ended up leaving to go after Sherry, after being driven out by Daryl and being told never to come back.
Overall, the episode didn’t really have any surprises, and it wasn’t very exciting. I still don’t see any real reason why Carl had to die to justify the ending of the season, since they pretty much followed what went along with the comics anyway. What’s most surprising is that no one important died in The Walking Dead season 8 finale!