‘The Walking Dead’ Episode 6.16 “Last Day on Earth” (9.5 out of 10) Created by Frank Darabont; Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Lennie James, Lauren Cohan; Sundays on AMC.
The blood on Lucille isn’t even dry yet, and I’m already feeling that Walking Dead post-season malaise setting in. Much of that malaise is a result of me wanting to see more of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s grinning, demonic take on Negan. The buildup to such an iconic character was getting difficult to bear, but Morgan’s final scene was definitely one for the books. Major spoilers ahead!
Morgan and Carol
Before we discuss that chilling final scene, let’s get caught up with Carol (Melissa McBride) and Morgan (Lennie James), who, despite the greater threat of the Saviors, managed to get into some interesting territory of their own.
When Morgan finally caught up to Carol, she shed some more light on her decision to leave Alexandria, which had been bugging over the course of the last few episodes. She still doesn’t strike me as the type of person who would run away from the possibility of seeing a loved one die, but McBride makes us believe that Carol has reached a point of absolute exhaustion. Morgan’s determination to protect her also caused him to renege on his vow to not kill anyone who hasn’t been previously zombified.
The scene in question finds Carol cornered by one of the Saviors that she shot last week, who shoots her in the extremities in order to watch her die slowly. Morgan arrives to see the Savior with a gun pointed at Carol’s head and we immediately see one scenario in which leaving someone alive would surely result in the death of someone else. Morgan sees this too, and executes Carol’s captor. Initially, I thought that this was a bit inconsistent (why didn’t Morgan just shoot the Savior in the kneecap?) but, the more I thought about it, Morgan still kept it real. Carol had given up. She no longer valued her life, which is a concept that Morgan will have none of. The only way that Morgan could prove that Carol’s life still mattered was by breaking his vow in order to keep her alive. What it means for Morgan’s future encounters with the Saviors is still up in the air, but, in a weird way, Morgan still kept it real with his ideology. Plus, I like it when Morgan and Carol are on the same team.
Oh, and those two armored dudes who came upon Morgan and Carol? The spears and horses make me think that they’re from the Kingdom, another community that unites with Alexandria and Hilltop to fight the Saviors. This was a cool way to open up that storyline, and here’s hoping that Ezekiel will still have a trained tiger as a pet.
Negan and Lucille
Knowing that this episode was going to end with the arrival of Negan created this sense of impending doom for our heroes as they tried to get Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to the doctor at Hilltop. Every road they took was blocked by Saviors, or a ragged chain gang of zombies, or a burning wall of logs. Eugene (Josh McDermitt) gets the bright idea to send the crew on foot while he drives the RV around, thinking that the Saviors will be distracted, but no such luck. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and every primary character aside from Morgan and Carol end up on their knees, surrounded by Saviors and awaiting the appearance of Negan.
The way that the showrunners built up to Negan’s first appearance definitely made things difficult for newcomer Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Negan’s such a powerful character in the comics, striking an odd sort of harmony between a sadistic tyrant and charismatic leader. So, how did he do?
It was fantastic.
That final scene is one that will go down in TWD history. Morgan’s monologue before our subjugated heroes was darkly comic, filled with malice and sarcasm. Like most fans, I was excited to see that Morgan was cast as Negan, but he totally crushed it—pun intended.
Verdict
I was chewing nervously on my knuckles for the duration of Negan’s scene. Someone definitely bit the dust tonight, but we’ll have to wait until next season to find out who it was (my money is still on Glenn (Steven Yeun)). Whoever it was, the audience got to experience what it would be like to be beaten to death with Lucille—the entire bloody ordeal was filmed POV style with the episode fading out to the sounds of a head getting splattered all over the place.
I don’t love the fact that we have to wait until next season to see Negan’s victim, but I’ll have faith in the process. I just wanted to have six months to properly grieve, since I really like every one of Negan’s potential victims.
I have totally drunk the Walking Dead Kool-Aid, so it’s no surprise that I really liked season six. But there is a reason why so many people are in love with this show. For six seasons, it’s managed to find new ways to explore the zombie-apocalypse scenario. It’s now getting into territory that is less about zombies and more about rebuilding civilization, and it serves as a harsh reminder of all the blood and savagery that went into creating the country that we call home. None of this would be possible without Robert Kirkman’s great source material, which managed to reinvent the zombie story well before it was popular to do so. With that, I’ll catch you all at the beginning of season seven! Feel free to comment with your theories and speculation about who was on the receiving end of old Lucille.
Peace out, Deadites!