McDermitt kicks off his blog by diving into the fourth episode of season 7, Service.
Oh wait, this isnt as exciting as I had hoped.
Oh, no, its very sad.
Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Last nights episode had Negan and his Saviors showing up early.
This certainly catches Rick and the others off guard.
Oh, Negan… why you so bully?
That makes zero sense.
Im just trying to connect with the tweens.
We shot this episode in the beginning of June.
Poor Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Hes trapped in a VERY breathable leather jacket in some very humid summertime heat in Georgia.
This guy comes onto the show in late November last year.
Its already getting chilly, plus were shooting overnights.
He probably sipped a latte or two because hes fancy like that.
Then fast forward to the first episode this season still shooting mostly overnight.
The weather is not too bad.
Fast forward again to last nights episode, shot during the day, in early June, in Georgia.
Nobody made a big deal or seemed surprised by that.
Thats what weve grown accustomed to in the Georgia heat.
Welcome toTWD, JDM!
Negan and the Saviors (sounds like a Swamp Rock cover band, doesnt it?)
do something here that wasnt in the comics.
They take the Alexandrians guns.
I love this departure from the comics.
Taking the guns from Rick and the others leaves an already crushed and devastated group deeper in a hole.
We start to get the sense that theres no way to win against these guys.
With Negan showing up and snagging their firepower, it makes the stakes that much greater.
What I enjoy about this story is that Negan always seems to be ahead of Rick and the Alexandrians.
We saw examples of that at the end of last season and its carried over into this episode.
We get the sense that this isnt the first time hes dealt with a defiant leader of a community.
Negan knows the drill.
Rick, however, is still getting used to this new arrangement.
And everyone in this community is getting used to it.
Spencer (Austin Nichols) brilliantly almost not letting Negan through the gates is hilarious to me.
Rosita (Christian Serratos) certainly turns up the badass, doesnt she?
Its almost like shes channeling a bit of Abraham.
I like this Rosita.
I want to see more from her.
She doesnt like the fact the Saviors take their guns.
Shes made up her mind she wont live in this world without a gun.
She is so pissed off.
What a great way for the writers to show examples of their evil.
It doesnt always have to be about bashing heads in.
These guys are a bunch of jerks.
Rick and Michonne speak about what their life is going to be like moving forward.
Michonne mentions that everything they have they got by fighting.
But Rick doesnt want to fight; he knows theyre outnumbered.
He says they could have some kind of life by playing by their rules.
This made me cry.
I was an emotional wreck reading that in the script and I lost it while watching the episode.
And that does it!
