Recap / The Walking Dead S08 E16 "Wrath"

Season 8, Episode 16

The war comes to an end as Rick prepares for the future.

---

• Abled in the Adaptation: In the comics, the All-Out War concludes with Rick's leg getting permanently injured. Here, he concludes the war with just blood and bruises but no serious injuries.
• The Aloner: Morgan goes off to live on his own in the junkyard, where Jadis is still dwelling. The Fear the Walking Dead premiere confirms that he eventually left and wandered all the way to Texas.
• Batman Gambit: Eugene mentions to Negan in passing, amid his usual techno-blather, that the new batch of ammo he's prepared will provide extra stopping power. In retrospect, this was presumably said to ensure that all the Saviors would replace all their remaining rounds with the new batch, the better to ensure none of them failed to blow up their own guns.
• Bittersweet Ending: The war ends in AHK's favor, and the Saviors surrender and become allies of the alliance. The communities of Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom, Oceanside, and the Sanctuary all join together in peace. Negan has been defeated, and will spend the rest of his life in prison watching the communities thrive without his tyrannical rule. Despite this, many, many friends and family have been lost on both sides. Dwight is ordered to leave in exile by Daryl. Morgan leaves the group to go live off on his own (and eventually ends up in Texas). And Maggie, displeased with Rick's decision to spare Negan, plots with Daryl, and even Jesus, to one day kill Negan against his orders. Also, Heath continues to be MIA.
• The Bus Came Back: Amber, Negan's latest wife, makes a cameo in the Sanctuary as the Saviors set out to attack the AHK Militia.
• But Now I Must Go: After the final battle, Morgan goes to live by himself in the junkyard.
• Call-Back:
  • Rick remembers the story Carl told of their walks on the open road before the apocalypse in his letter in "Worth".
  • Ezekiel cautiously admits that this could be their last day on earth and that they may lose people. It's a revision of his earlier false bravado that they wouldn't lose any of their ranks, something that was proven horribly wrong in "Monsters" and "The Damned".
  • Negan mocks Gabriel in recalling their confession session in "The Big, Scary U".
• The Cavalry: Aaron leads the Oceansiders to help fend off the invasion of Hilltop. Even though they have no weapons, they do have spears, and most importantly, molotov cocktails and incendiary bombs.
• Character Death: Morgan kills the Savior Lance after the latter tries to surrender.
• Chekhov's Gun: Aaron and Enid intended on gifting Oceanside with a truckload of beer that they found en-route to their community. In this episode, they weaponize it as an arsenal of Molotov cocktails against the Saviors.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Negan confirms that the "eenie meanie minie moe" ritual back in "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" was a farce, meaning he specifically picked Abraham - and that he didn't want to kill a boy's father in front of him.
  • Rick's letter to his late son echoes his speech to Carl when he was unconscious at the end of "No Way Out".
• Cruel Mercy: Rick doesn't kill Negan, but he and Michonne explain they are going to keep him imprisoned for the rest of his life as an example, so he can watch them rebuild what they had before him and make it better without him and prove to him his way of doing things was wrong.
• Dead Person Conversation: Jared appears to Morgan in a hallucination, with the wounds that killed him still very present.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Daryl does exactly this as he voices his approval after Maggie explains to Jesus her goals of having the Hilltop thrive so she can eventually execute Negan, in defiance of Rick's choice of letting him live in permanent arrest.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Negan is enraged when he discovers Eugene's sabotage.
• The Exile: Daryl forces Dwight into exile instead of killing him.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Maggie's face is partially covered in shadow as she explains to Jesus that she wants the Hilltop to thrive and have good defenses so she can one day defy Rick and execute Negan for Glenn's murder.
• Fake Shemp: As Chandler Riggs is way too old to play Carl in the flashback to before the apocalypse, a younger actor is used but instead never faces the camera.
• Foreshadowing: The group notices a massive herd of walkers in the distance, and as they move on, there's a shot of several poles in the ground. With Rick later pointing to the herd and mentioning how that's the future, it's a clear allusion to the forthcoming threat of the Whisperers.
• Heel–Face Turn: The surviving Saviors, led by Laura, all surrender and become allies to AHK. Anne - formerly known as Jadis - joins the group as well. Eugene also rejoins the group after sabotaging the Saviors. It remains to be seen if other prominent Saviors (namely Arat, D.J. and Norris) survived the battle and have gone along with the ideological shift in the Sanctuary.
• I Choose to Stay: After the war, the Saviors who had defected to AHK decide to return to the Sanctuary under Laura's (much gentler) command. Alden, however, knows that his place is with the Hilltop, and he asks Maggie if he can officially stay and help her build the community up based on Georgie's book. Maggie, probably finally convinced of his good intentions, finally welcomes him into her community.
• I Lied: Negan tells Rick during their fight that his "eenie meanie miny moe" sequence of randomly choosing who to kill from Rick's group was bullshit. He chose to kill Abraham ^note  Glenn was killed after Daryl tried to attack him and didn't want to kill Rick in front of his son.
• I Will Find You: While he does exile Dwight and threaten to kill him if he ever returns Daryl gives Dwight a car and a new mission; find Sherry. After returning to his old house Dwight finds a letter from Sherry with the words "honeymoon" and sets out to find his wife again.
• Kill It with Fire: The Saviors attacking the Hilltop are all killed by the Oceanside women with molotov cocktails.
• Killed Offscreen: The walkers kept at the Sanctuary's fences, including the undead Simon, are all disposed of offscreen. When AHK people come to the Sanctuary, bringing glass and supplies, they have all been cleared out.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Their numbers depleted and their weapons rendered useless, Laura orders the Saviors surrender and they follow her.
• Mole in Charge: Eugene admits to have sabotaged the Saviors' bullets, and its' his sabotage that effectively wins the war for AHK.
• Molotov Cocktail: The Oceansiders are able to kill the invading Saviors at Hilltop with a number of these.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Morgan is clearly shaken to realize he attacked and nearly killed Henry.
• Once More, with Clarity: We now see when and why the closeup of Rick looking sweaty and overwhelmed from the season premiere, as well as the shot of him sitting under a tree, bleeding from an abdominal wound.
• Put on a Bus: Lennie James (Morgan) and Austin Amelio (Dwight) depart as series regulars after this episode. Both would later join the main cast of Fear the Walking Dead, starting in the fourth and fifth seasons, respectively.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Laura, as Negan's new right-hand woman, is a much gentler and rational voice than Simon or Dwight were. When it becomes clear that Rick and Maggie have won, she immediately surrenders so that her people can live, she accepts being an equal trading partner and ally to Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel's respective communities, and she seems to have become friendly with Rosita and Tara.
• The Reveal:
  • Eugene pulled a Heel–Face Turn and sabotaged the Saviors.
  • Turns out Jadis' real name is Anne.
• Season Finale: The eighth one.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Jadis/Anne cleans up and wears more flattering clothes after the war with the Saviors.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: After the war ends, Frankie and Tanya are shown to have ditched the black cocktail dresses and pumps they were forced to wear as Negan's wives and switched to simpler, more comfortable, non fanservice outfits, indicating that they are now free from being Negan's sex slaves. Presumably, Amber and the unnamed African-American wife we saw in past episodes also ditched the outfits.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Kal survives the final battle of the war, unlike his comic book counterpart.
• That Man Is Dead: An interesting inversion with Jadis. After the war with the Saviors, she asked to be addressed by her real/birth name, Anne.
• Undying Loyalty: Alden and his band of reformed Saviors have developed this to Maggie and AHK, and also agree to stand by Tara as she holds off the Savior attack on Hilltop. Alden deserves special mention, as despite knowing the AHK hold nothing but hatred towards him, he outright refuses to leave Tara behind to fend off the Saviors by herself.
• We Have Reserves: Downplayed. Negan sacrifices a number of his men to trick Rick into believing his intel from Dwight is legitimate, and doesn't enjoy it.
• We Used to Be Friends: Rick's decision to spare Negan puts a dent on his friendships with Maggie, Daryl, and Jesus.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Even though she's a prominent Savior, Arat isn't seen in the episode.
  • Likewise, the fate of D.J. and Norris, who we do get to see participate in the battle, is left ambiguous.
    • Season Nine reveals that they're all alive, though.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Maggie gives this to Rick after he decides to spare Negan's life instead of killing him.

---

Dear Carl.
I remember.
I forgot who I was. You made me remember. I remember that feeling, walking with you that day. Like I finally knew who I was for the first time in my life.
Thing is, we were walking side by side, but you were bringing me somewhere. Bringing me here. Bringing all of us to the new world, Carl. You showed me the new world. You made it real. I see it. I remember.
Dad.