Maggie is making a life for herself at the Hilltop, one which makes Gregory uneasy. Before Rosita showed up, asking Sasha for help to bring down Negan, Sasha, Maggie, and Jesus were already writing up battle plans, teaching the “cannon fodder” how to fight, and sketching maps of the Saviors’ compound.
Sasha is caught by Jesus when she steals a couple of bullets from a hollowed out book in his trailer. He knows that she and Rosita are going after Negan. Jesus and Enid want to join them, but Sasha insists that they need to stay there, protect Maggie and the Hilltop. Jesus isn’t going to stop them, but wants her to wait until they have more people. Sasha is stubborn and refuses. Enid is going to tell Maggie what is going on in ten minutes. What Sasha chooses to do in those ten minutes is up to her. But there is no time. The watchtower raises the alarm: the Saviors are coming. Enid rushes Daryl and Maggie into a root cellar to hide, where Maggie insists she and Daryl hide behind shelves and other things. Just in case. Sasha and Rosita escape through a secret tunnel Sasha made when Maggie mentioned they should have a quick way to escape.
Simon and a throng of Saviors pay Gregory a visit in the main house. He is there for a certain someone….
Rosita is trying to hotwire a car when the necklace that Abraham gave Sasha falls out of her shirt. Rosita points out with vitriol that she made it. The car is dead, so they move on, and Sasha tries to make small talk. Rosita has no interest, and only wants to talk about the mission. Sasha steps away for a moment, taking a deep breath, before returning to angrily lay out her plan. They both have a different idea of how the mission should go. Sasha wants to set up in a neighboring building and sniper Negan. This way they may make it out alive. Rosita wants to infiltrate the compound, kill Negan up close so she is sure he is dead. No decision is made; no friendship is made, either.
Enid runs to intercept a Savior who is sniffing around the root cellar. She brings him a basket of vegetables, but he doesn’t want it. Enid cannot stop him from entering the cellar, and poking around. Luckily Maggie and Daryl are well-hidden, and the Savior is an idiot. Daryl wants to kill him, but Maggie stops him. Eventually the Savior leaves with a couple boxes of produce. Maggie confronts Daryl about him almost killing the Savior; Daryl says he deserves to die. Maggie takes a different tact, and points out that since he has gotten here, he hasn’t said a single word to her. He faces her and, sobbing a little, he apologizes. Maggie assures him Glenn’s death wasn’t his fault, even though Daryl believes it was. They have a good talk, ending with a warm, tearful hug, and Maggie assuring him that she wants them all to die, too, but “we need to win.”
It turns out that Simon isn’t here for Maggie or Daryl or anyone else who is hiding at the Hilltop. He is there for Dr. Carson. “Why does Negan need two doctors?” he asks, then realizes he doesn’t. Negan’s doctor — and Carson’s brother — is dead. Carson doesn’t fight, he just asks Gregory to make arrangements for his “ongoing patients.” In exchange for the doctor, Simon leaves behind an enormous crate of aspirin. Gregory takes Simon aside to express his concerns to Simon, that he is worried that if he doesn’t have the trust of the Hilltoppers, someone else might take over, one who isn’t as willing to work with the Saviors. Simon writes down instructions on how to get in touch with him, and promises that he will take care of it. The Saviors roll out with the doctor in tow.
Having picked up a car from a car lot, Sasha and Rosita have made it to the Saviors’ compound. They are camped out in one of the abandoned buildings around the compound. Through her sniper’s sight, Sasha sees Eugene hard at work in front of the walker pit, ordering around underlings. With nothing left to do but talk and practice tying knots, the girls talk. Sasha is lucky that they found Rosita – she knows how to do everything. She admits she learned it all from a trio of brothers she hooked up with when the world first fell apart. A lot of guys wanted to protect her, and she hated not knowing how to protect herself. So she watched them, picked up everything they did, and did it better than they did. Then she would “pounce.” I am assuming she would kill them. She admits the sex was “just for fun,” but it was different with Abraham. She was drawn to him because he saw she could handle herself. She admits to having trouble accepting that, once they got to Alexandria, they “made it,” and she thought she hated Sasha, but it was just the situation. Rosita never told any of that to anyone, and she feels bad that she never told Abraham she was happy that he was happy. Sasha doesn’t like knowing that Abraham would have wanted to go out fighting, and Rosita agrees. “It wasn’t his time.” The girls promise that they have each other’s backs, and now they are besties!
Before things can get too sappy, the trucks roll up and Sasha takes her place behind her rifle. They are worried when they see Maggie’s doctor is now a captive. Negan comes outside, but Sasha can’t get a clean shot. They turn on the walkie and hear Eugene making proclamations about being the chief engineer, also that he is Negan, etc. Rosita is done waiting. “We’re going in.”
Jesus goes in to see Gregory, who warns him that he has been slacking on his scavenging and recruiting duties. He also has noticed too many people living in his trailer, something he views as a “fire hazard.” Jesus accuses him of trying to separate and isolate people, and Gregory issues a warning: “You better watch what you say. You never know what will happen with the Saviors around.” Jesus takes this as a threat and leaves when a Hilltopper brings Gregory his requested bottle of tequila. Out in the lobby, Jesus runs into Daryl, who asks where Sasha and Rosita are.
Eugene is going over new safety protocols with another Savior. A bullet takes the guy out cleanly, and Eugene drops, terrified. Rosita is there and tells Eugene they are breaking him out. He refuses to go with them, and goes back inside, crying. Pissed off, Rosita decides she is going in. Sasha tells her to watch her back while she cuts open the fence. She does, and Sasha soon appears on the other side of the fence and tells Rosita to go. “It’s not your time.” She runs towards the buildings, shoots a guy as he comes outside and slips through the door before it closes. Rosita turns and runs. A safe distance away, she stops to catch her breath and cry while cursing Sasha. She is quieted by someone watching her from the distance. We don’t see who it is, and I think the idea is that it is supposed to be someone threatening, but I feel like it is just Daryl.
You can watch a preview and clip from next week’s episode of AMC‘s The Walking Dead below.
