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Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Sunday’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” “Warning Signs.”
The mystery of the missing Saviors may have come to an end on Sunday’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” but a larger war may be brewing up underneath the surface between Rick and Maggie. The two have very different ways of dealing with problems in their respective communities.
Plus, Father Gabriel looks like he’s going to get whisked away by Anne on that mystery helicopter. From the Oceanside men to another look at Hershel’s watch, there were a lot of nods to previous seasons this week. Keep reading to see what you may have missed.
Sunday’s opening of “The Walking Dead” teases a threatening sign, “Final Warning.”
As Justin reanimates into one of the undead, pay attention to the screen and you’ll notice the ominous message. After watching the episode, it seems to be a message to the Saviors from the Oceanside women. There were also some thoughts this may be a message from upcoming villains, The Whisperers.
If you’ve been watching the season closely, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this message.
You can see the same message very briefly on the show’s new opening credits.
Showrunner Angela Kang said there are a lot of callbacks and Easter eggs waiting to be found in the new opening. Not all of them are nods to past events on the show like Carl and Glenn’s death.
The noose hanging from the barn and the words “Final Warning” all hinted at moments to come on season nine.
It’s also worth noting that we’ve seen writing on walls like this before on the show. During season five when the group went back to Noah’s community, a warning sign could briefly be seen behind Michonne saying, “Wolves Not Far.” That sign teased the eventual introduction of a gruesome group who referred to themselves as the Wolves, who attacked Alexandria.
Rick heads down the stairs at the episode’s start and touches a panel with two handprints.
Did your eyes tear up as you realised Rick took the old deck from his house at Alexandria with his children’s handprints and hung it up on a wall?
Carl spent his good last day making sure that he spent some time with his little sister before saying goodbye to Michonne and Rick.
The entire scene with Rick is even more emotional when you think about how he was going from room to room checking in on all of his loved ones before he began the day. Carl was the last one he passed before starting his day.
Rick visits, what appears to be a little memorial to his son Carl, and leaves a tomato.
I don’t believe the focus here is so much on the tomato as it is about Rick being able to bring Carl’s dream for the new world to fruition. The fully grown tomato is symbolic of building a safe community for everyone that Carl envisioned in his emotional letter to his father.
“Show everyone that they can be safe again without killing. They can feel safe again,” wrote Carl That it can go back to being birthdays, and school, and jobs, and even Friday night pizza somehow, and walks with a dad and a three-year-old holding hands.”
You can read Carl’s full letter to his father here.
A Saviour refers to Maggie as The Widow while on the road.
That was Negan’s nickname for Maggie Rhee after he killed her husband Glenn on the season seven premiere. Negan had nicknames for several of Rick’s group, including the King for Ezekiel.
Rick is heard reading a book to Judith before he gets called away.
“As the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring,” Rick read to Judith. “At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her. In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.”
He’s reading from the last words of the first chapter of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.“
According to “Talking Dead,” the actual book Judith read from was printed in 1903.
A Saviour refers to Anne/Jadis as “garbage lady.”
That became Anne’s nickname across the fandom and on screen while in charge of the Scavenger group. Some accuse her of seeking revenge against the Saviors since Simon had her entire group massacred last season.
Rick has a heart-to-heart with Daryl and brings up a moment from the series’ second episode.
“Daryl, I know you don’t agree with everything we’re doing here. All I ask is that you try. Do it,” Rick tells an angered Daryl. “Let people see it and maybe everyone moves past what’s happened to what could happen and maybe, just maybe, it’d be one of the best decisions you ever made … like not killing a guy who left your brother on a rooftop to die.”
Rick references handcuffing Merle on a rooftop in downtown Atlanta, Georgia and leaving him up there while going back to a camp with Glenn, T-Dawg, Morales, Laurie, and more. When Daryl first found out Merle was left on a roof, he pulled a knife on Rick.
Maggie is seen holding her father’s old watch.
Glenn was given the watch in episode 11 of season two by Maggie’s father, Hershel.
After Glenn was killed by Negan, Maggie eventually took ownership of the watch.The watch has been in Maggie’s family for generations. Hershel’s grandfather brought it overseas from Ireland and it made its way down the family line.
Anne sheds some light on what her group was doing at the junkyard.
Anne says she was going to trade Rick and Gabriel originally for supplies. She’s done it in the past. On season eight, we see one of her supply drops when she reveals a box full of applesauce.
It was revealed Cyndie and the Oceanside women were killing the Saviors.
They had their reasons for doing so.
When they were first introduced on season seven, the Oceanside women said their men were killed by “another group,” later revealed to be the Saviors.
“We got into a skirmish with another group. None of them made it and we lost others, too,” the then-Oceanside leader Natania told Tara on season seven. “We left our old home with just the clothes on our backs and then we found this place.”
It was later revealed during season eight that the Saviour Simon had killed all of the men and children of Oceanside behind Negan’s back.
We finally saw Oceanside’s old home Sunday night. Cyndie explained that Arat was part of a sub-section of the Saviors who killed the Oceanside men and children. As a result, she eventually
“This was our home. My mother and my grandmother found this place for the group,” said Cyndie told Maggie. “Me and my brother used to play right here, but then the Saviors came and Simon wanted what we had. He gave us our ‘final warning.'”
“We went along because … until you killed Gregory. That’s when we knew. Rick’s rules aren’t the only rules. You showed us the way. It was time.”
“They murdered my mother. She [Arat] shot my brother. Right here and they took everything because they could.” Cyndie continued despite Arat begging for her life. “You asked me to beg for his life. He was crying and you smiled… He was only 11 years old, and what did you say?”
“No exceptions,” said Arat before Maggie turned her back and let Cyndie and Beatrice take her out.
In April, Steven Ogg told INSIDER he didn’t know that would be part of his character’s reveal and may have played him differently had he known he was responsible for massacring a group of men. You can read our interview with him here.
The end of the episode shows Maggie and Daryl walking off down a road, mirroring an image of Rick and Carl from season eight.
The difference here is that Maggie and Daryl are walking with their backs turned to the camera, while Carl and Rick were seen walking towards it.
I think there’s a significance there. On season eight, Carl told his father during their walk they needed to keep moving forward by finding a way to work together.
“We’re fighting so it’s all of us working together for something more than just killing other people,” Carl told his father. “What are we just going to kill all of them? Finding some way forward, that’s harder. That’s something more. Dad, that’s how it’s gotta be.”
Maggie and Daryl walk in the reverse direction with the opposite intentions in mind. Maggie has made it clear she doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Rick in how to handle some situations. She allowed the Oceanside women to kill one of the Saviors, following in her footsteps of killing Gregory on the season premiere. Now, she and Daryl are planning to meet with Negan where it seems like they want to go and kill him.
That will obviously cause a rift with Rick on next week’s episode.
You can follow along with our “Walking Dead” coverage here.
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