The Walking Dead Season 7 Finale Recap

Let’s start in the jail cell, where Rick has his gun to Dwight’s head. He wants Negan dead, but can’t do it himself; “they’re all Negan.” He weakly defends himself for killing Denise, which makes Daryl throw him against the wall, a knife millimeters from his eye. Tara eggs him on; so does Dwight. Dwight admits what he did was for someone else (his wife); now that she has escaped, he doesn’t want to help Negan. Daryl eventually puts his knife down, and Rosita points out that Sasha is over there. Dwight may be their only chance to get her back. Tomorrow, Negan and his crew return to Alexandria. Dwight offers to slow them down, buying Rick time to get set up. They take them all out, then Dwight will radio back and tell the Sanctuary that everything went well. Rick’s team will drive the trucks back, and with the right plan, they can take down the Sanctuary. Dwight is certain they can get the workers on his side, then they will go from outpost to outpost, taking out every last Savior. They agree, and Dwight goes back home. Regardless of how it turns out, Daryl still wants to kill him. “If he’s lying, this is already over,” Rick warns.

At the Sanctuary, Negan brings Sasha breakfast (pancakes with a happy face drawn in blueberries). He tells her his plan, which we don’t hear, save for the epilogue: Lucille gets her three. Sasha cries a little and agrees to the plan, but doesn’t believe anyone has to die. As a compromise, Negan decides only one person has to die.

Maggie rallies the troops at the Hilltop. Apparently the little getaway Gregory went on last week was permanent. Maggie is considering whether or not to lead the Hilltop into war. Enid gives her Glenn’s watch while she considers her options.

Carol has taken lead over the Kingdom’s troops. They come across Morgan, who was going to ambush the Saviors on his own. Ezekiel speaks to Morgan, who admits he wants the Saviors dead. He encourages Morgan to join them. Shiva is helping out; why not Morgan?

The Scavengers arrive at Alexandria. In one of the funniest moments of the season finale, Jadis asks Michonne if Rick is “hers.” She asks if she can lay with him after. Michonne is dumbstruck for a moment, then suggests they get back to work. Rick backs away slowly, weirded out. Jadis shrugs. Can we take a moment to discuss the Scavengers? The apocalypse has only been going on for a few years now. Why would Jadis feel the need to devolve so significantly? It’s not just asking to share Rick; it’s the way she speaks. And how did she convince a big group of people to devolve with her?

Anyway, Daryl, Aaron, and Rosita work with a couple of Scavengers to set up explosives outside the wall. Michonne sets up a blonde Scavenger at a sniper point, but wants to split up so they have more sight lines. The blonde will take another position, but promises “we win.”

True to his word, Dwight felled a number of trees in the road, slowing down the Saviors’ approach on Alexandria. While the muscle is clearing the trees, Eugene asks Negan for the chance to speak to Rick first, not go in with guns hot.

Bird calls are exchanged as the Saviors approach Alexandria. Everyone is ready, in position, with the Scavengers hiding so they won’t be seen by the Saviors. Rick was not expecting Eugene to be at the fore of this caravan, calling to him over a megaphone, telling them compliance is their only chance to survive. “Will you comply, Rick?” Rick asks for Negan. “I’m Negan,” is Eugene’s answer, which sickens Rick. He weighs his options, then signals sadly to Rosita, who looks away as she presses the button. Rick ducks; nothing happens. The explosions are a dud. Then the Scavengers pull their weapons on the Alexandrians. It was all a set up. When Rick asks Jadis why, she just shrugs. “Made a better deal.”

Negan is mock-surprised that Rick would blow up Eugene, one of theirs. “You people are animals!” Dwight and Simon stand up a coffin on the flatbed truck, next to Negan. He says Sasha is in the coffin, alive and well. “I brought her so I wouldn’t have to kill you all.” Negan makes his demands: he wants every gun they have, every last bit of lemonade, a person of his choosing for Lucille, he wants Daryl back, and a pool table. If he doesn’t get that, Sasha dies, then all of you, “probably.” Rick wants to see Sasha.

Throughout the episode, we have seen tight close-ups of Sasha in the dark, listening to an iPod, and thinking back to the last conversation she had with Abraham, trying to convince him not to go on the trip to take Maggie to the Hilltop. I hate when they do these little scenes that are trying to be misleading, peppered through the episode, then colliding with a big “ohhhh” at the end of the episode. Anyway, at this point we go back to when Negan and his crew are loading up to head to Alexandria. Negan tells Sasha she doesn’t have to ride the whole way there in the coffin, but Sasha could use the nap. She just needs a bottle of water, and she will be fine. Eugene gives her the iPod to keep her company on the trip, which should last a few hours. Before she gets in the coffin, Negan actually sounds genuine when he tells her how much he appreciates what she is doing. He won’t be saying that soon. Once Sasha is sealed in the coffin, she turns on the iPod and takes out the suicide pill Eugene made her. She swallows it.

So now, when Negan opens the coffin, zombie Sasha ambles out in an awesome reveal and lunges onto Negan. Carl takes this opportunity to shoot the Scavengers. Other Alexandrians follow his lead, and gunfight erupts all over the community. One of Negan’s men pulls Sasha off his leader, and she chomps on him. Simon grabs Negan and pulls him to safety. Jadis shoots Rick in the leg and kicks him off the guard tower. Daryl shoots a Scavenger and takes his weapon. On the sniper post, Michonne has been accosted by the blonde, who bashes her head into the ground. Jadis forces Rick through the streets at gunpoint.

Rick is forced to kneel beside Carl, who is positioned in front of Negan. Jadis reaffirms her deal with Negan, for 12 people. Negan renegotiates for 10. “People are a resource.” They stare each other down, but eventually Jadis caves. She will take 10. Negan turns his attention to the Grimes men, taunting them. From the sniper post, there is a scream and someone falls. Negan taunts Rick about losing someone he loves.

This really irked me. The producers clearly wanted the audience to think that Michonne died. But there was no way that screechy scream came from Michonne, whose voice is too deep and who I don’t believe would scream if she was pushed to her death. Obviously, Michonne isn’t dead, but Rick believes she is, and the audience is supposed to believe this as well.

But back to Negan’s extended blathering. He promises to try to kill Carl in one swing, “because I like him.” Rick stares him down. “I told you already I’m gonna kill you, all of you,” Rick spits. “Nothing is gonna change that. You’re all already dead.” Negan just giggles, then takes off Carl’s hat. He swings Lucille back, but before the bat can connect, Shiva pounces on one of Negan’s men, scaring the hell out of Negan. Shiva for the win! The Kingdom cavalry has arrived, followed closely by the Hilltop. (Did they run into each other on the way in?) Negan is shocked that they have a tiger, then is more shocked when he sees Maggie is alive and well and really good with a gun.

It is full-out war. Negan hides. Shiva attacks Saviors. Morgan grabs a gun and fights at Rick’s side. Gabriel has an automatic rifle. A Scavenger sends up a flare, and several people toss in homemade smoke bombs. It looks like scenes from a Vietnam movie.

Eventually, the Saviors and the Scavengers fall back. Negan escapes in a truck, giving Alexandria the finger as they go. Aaron leads a team to close the gate, which seems to be stuck on something. Ezekiel insists they finish this, but by the time Daryl climbs atop a truck to see over the wall, everyone is gone.

Rick and Carl rush to what they fully expect is Michonne’s corpse, but find the blonde Scavenger. Upstairs, they find Michonne, badly beaten but alive.

Back at the Sanctuary, Dwight assures Negan that, say the word, and they are ready to roll out. Negan turns to Eugene suspiciously, and asks how Sasha ended up dead in the coffin. Eugene determines she suffocated. Negan isn’t so sure, but he has more important things to worry about. “We are going to war!”

Maggie has a vaguely sappy voice over footage of the Alexandrians in the aftermath. She talks about how she did this for Glenn, that he was the one that put them on this path, turned them into family. Some people walk the perimeter, checking the damage. Jesus and Maggie find zombie Sasha and Maggie, tearfully, puts her down. Gabriel has a funeral service for the dead. Carol sits beside Morgan on the porch. Maggie, Rick, and Ezekiel, now united, address the people about the next move.

Daryl, checking out the front gate, finds one of Dwight’s wooden figures. “Didn’t know” is carved onto its back.

You can watch recap videos for Season 7 of AMC‘s The Walking Dead using the players below.