Season 10, Episode 5
- Negan goes on a journey with a very unwelcome guest while the others continue to deal with consequences from the recent attacks.
- Asshole Victim: Brandon was brainwashed into believing the old ways of the Saviors are the way to live and brutally murders a single mother and her child who bonded with Negan after he saved them. NO ONE will miss him when Negan beats him to death with a rock.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Ezekiel is unable to talk to Carol over the radio and shuts it off just as she’s about to respond.
- Continuity Nod:
- Brandon claims that Negan forced Rick to cut off Carl’s arm and then shot the latter. He is referring to a grossly inaccurate version of the events of Season 7’s “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”, in which Negan nearly forced Rick to do it, but stopped him before he did the deed.
- Brandon’s claim that Negan shot Carl also sits horribly wrong with him, since as shown in Season 8’s “The Lost and the Plunderers”, he was horrified when he briefly believed he was personally responsible for Carl’s death.
- Negan once again declares his mantra - “people are a resource”.
- It’s revealed that Henry forged a tiger figure during his apprenticeship with Earl, which was during the timespan of Season 9’s “Evolution”.
- Ezekiel knows that his thyroid cancer is basically a death sentence since modern medicine is long gone. In Season 3’s “When the Dead Come Knocking”, The Governor expressed similar sentiments about Mr. Coleman, an elderly Woodbury resident who was dying of prostate cancer.
- It’s fitting that an episode that brings up Merle ends up recalling an episode that revolved around him. In Season 3’s “Home”, Daryl and Merle were on their own and the former came to the rescue of a family attacked by walkers, but the latter only wanted to rob them for their troubles. Here, Negan genuinely saves a mother and her child out of altruism, but Brandon suggests robbing them as soon as their backs are turned and ultimately kills them.
- Negan has to explain to Milo what being on an airplane was like before the apocalypse since he was born after the world ended. In Season 9’s “Who Are You Now?”, he pointed out to Judith that her math homework involving airplanes wasn’t very helpful considering airplanes will likely never come back.
- Negan’s horrified reaction when he returns from collecting supplies to find Brandon has happily murdered the mother and child, but believes he will approve, is a successor to the scene in Season 4’s “The Grove” when Carol and Tyreese found Lizzie having killed Mika.
- At the end of the episode, Negan taunts the walkers with “little pig, little pig”, as he did when he arrived at Alexandria for his first offering in Season 7’s “Service”.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Brandon is a good look at what a kid raised during the height of Negan’s regime and cult of personality would turn out like, especially with parents who were loyal Saviors who died during the war. He worships the ground Negan walks on and believes the good old days are when he ruled the Savior empire with an iron fist.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Brandon is the child of two deceased, loyal members of a fascist, oppressive regime who worshipped a mass-murderer. Despite acting like a normal guy most of the time, once he’s left to his own devices he quickly proves to worship the old, evil ways and does his best to live up to them. Brandon would be an ideal member of a faction of Neo-Nazi’s.
- In a non-historical context, Brandon’s eager love of Negan’s old ways with his idol being very uncomfortable with it makes him an easy stand-in for fans of the latter character who take their love too far and forget (or even worship) the horrible things they did, to the discomfort of the actual person playing the role.
- Dramatic Irony: Negan speaks of the long-past wonders of airplanes, sure that they will never return, naturally oblivious to what happened in Texas a few years earlier.
- Exact Words: Negan says that even when he was the leader of the Saviors, he would have never killed a child. He did nearly kill Carl in the Season 7 finale, but the important distinction is that Negan did not see Carl as your average child like Milo. Carl had taken up arms and had already attempted to kill Negan before, so Negan recognized him as an enemy in his own right despite his attachment to him. Negan seems to be referring to unarmed, innocent children as opposed to a Child Soldier like Carl.
- I Hate Past Me: Negan becomes very uncomfortable when Brandon brings up old stories of the Saviors.
- Leitmotif: When Brandon presents Negan with his old leather jacket, the old, scratchy Savior leitmotif (heard frequently in this video
starting at 0:06) makes a return. - Once More, with Clarity: Ezekiel’s near-suicide attempt in the previous episode and his desire to make amends with Carol this season is given some much harsher context with this episode’s reveal that he’s come down with cancer.
- The Reveal: This episode reveals that Alpha has indeed been behind the 48 hour assault on Alexandria and the tree falling at Hilltop.
- Secret Test of Character: Brandon believed that Negan was testing him when he ordered him to get lost, and took it as meaning he needed to kill the mother and child. Negan decidedly does not approve and kills him in revenge.
- Ship Tease: Daryl has a fun moment with Connie in which they get really touchy, and Daryl opens up about Merle.
- Tragic Keepsake: Henry forged a tiger figure during his apprenticeship, but never got to give it to Ezekiel before his death.
- Tranquil Fury: Negan gives a seething glare that is clearly brimming with rage when he finds out that Brandon returned and killed the mother and son he saved and bonded with.
- True Companions: Siddiq puts it best when he tells Ezekiel they should talk about their respective conditions:Siddiq: What are we here for if not for each other?
- Villains Never Lie: Ultimately subverted. Alpha had a record for being straightforward in her negotiations, but with this episode revealing she’s behind the recent disturbances at Alexandria and Hilltop, she loses a lot of whatever points she’d earned.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Daryl rightfully chews out Magna and Kelly for hoarding supplies from Hilltop, whose resources are strained as is.
- Yumiko is shocked when Magna confesses that she actually committed the murder she got her acquitted for before the apocalypse.
- The Worf Effect: Downplayed, but it’s a bad sign when the former Big Bad of the series is easily thrown to the ground by the current Big Bad’s Dragon, Beta.
- Would Hurt a Child: Brandon gushes about the fabricated story of Negan killing Carl and later kills Milo, disgusting Negan who claims he would never kill a child (despite evidence to the contrary). He later kills Brandon in revenge.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Negan is disgusted by Brandon’s fanatical devotion to the old ways of the Saviors and his regime.
