[QUOTE=AMC]
After realizing that Alexandria may not be as safe as he originally thought, Rick must make decisions about where to go.
[/QUOTE]
Lauren Cohan, a surprise cast member and Kid Cudi are on Talking Dead, and we all know what “surprise cast member” usually means. 
I enjoyed it.
I also think Rosita and/or Abraham are not long for the world. Hopefully not the sergeant.
So once again the level of unbelievability is high. And unnecessarily, at that. You live in a tiny community of survivors holding out after a global disaster. You see people you don’t know – almost never? Suddenly a whole group of such show up, and your leadership allows them inside your walls. Do you run over excitedly, “Who are you?” “Why are you here?” “What’s happening outside?” “You’ve got guns, are you here to rob us?” No. You take only passive notice. You continue working at the same boring, mundane task you’ve been pissing along at day after dreary, unchanging day, after day. AAARRRGGGHHH! Writers, take notice. Makes no sense. Drives me nuts.
Otherwise, interesting to see Rick and Company now organizing as a band of mercenaries. How successful they will be, and how soon tragedy will break up the glowing happiness Glenn and Maggie are sharing, we shall see.
I’m guessing the ‘one other thing’ that maggie wanted -
that stupid painting
Oh. Not an ultrasound? Was I just whooshed?
I think they are not long for each other. Abe is craving some Sasha bootie.
But otherwise, what a cool twist. I like that the writers took us completely out of our comfort zone, and I wasn’t at all sure what was going to happen next. The Hilltop community reminded me a lot of Williamsburg, VA and I’d bet cash money that was the model. The main building reminded me of the Governor’s mansion. If you haven’t been to Williamsburg, it’s worth a visit.
Gotta love the bisquick and the pancake comment from Abraham. 
Watching Talking Dead right now the actress who plays Maggie sounds vaguely British. Very vaguely. It’s like the British accent slips through every 20 seconds or so. I’m guessing she’s British by birth, but spent a lot of time in the US.
Actually, the opposite. Lauren Cohan was born in the US, but moved to the UK as a teenager.
That was already a given - as promised by the doctor for saving his life.
That’s what I’m thinking, too.
OK. Either way, she ha a weird mix of American and British accents.
I see nothing good coming from Abe’s new-found introspection. He’s likely to either give in to despair and get himself and/or others killed or have a full-blown ragegasm and get himself and/or others killed.
Not too surprised at the Hilltoppers’ muted reactions. They’ve not been living in isolation since they’ve had Negan’s armed goon squads come around regularly to issue threats and collect their half. The Hilltoppers probably assumed that Rick and company more more of the same.
Darryl and Rick’s breezy confidence that they can take the Saviors is going to get a lot of people killed this season.
Well, Daryl did handle the first group of Saviors rather handily. I just hope that he has more RPGs in his stash.
It was an RPG that he used a couple episodes ago, wan’t it?
Odd episode that I can’t quite figure out if I liked or not. Things that bug me…
[ul]
[li]Jesus indicates that our band of survivor’s world is about to get a lot more bigger. Then we get the house on the hill with a few people barely surviving?[/li][li]And really, it seems they’re on the edge of not making it. They’re giving up half of their stuff, they have no real weapons, and there sure didn’t seem to be very many of them. And they got a crazy leader. It seemed to me that there was a real sense of desperation there.[/li][li]This leads to a reintroduction of the Neegan (sp?) group and we learn that The Saviors are extorting this group for half of their stuff.[/li][li]Is there trade with any other communities out there or is it just Neegan?[/li][li]If it is just Neegan, why the implication that there are a lot more groups out there?[/li][/ul]
Honestly I was so hoping for a much larger community with trade and communication if not cooperation between groups. A set-up where Rick and Co have been fighting tooth and nail to survive and here all along other groups were coalescing into a new societal order. I really wanted this world to open up a little bit but alas… another small band of “decent people” and another band of bad guys. Nothing bigger than that.
The thing is, nobody knows exactly how many Saviors there are. Rick and Daryl have never even seen them or know of them at all other than the one group Daryl a’sploded.
Maybe they figure they’ll try to stealth recon the Savior group, and if they decide to call it off, well what exactly are the Hilltoppers going to do about it? Storm the gates of Alexandria with pointy sticks? Though I guess the Hilltoppers’ move then would be to show Negan where Alexandria is. So I guess they just really are confident that they can overtake the Saviors, which is either cocky or just desperate. If their food situation is that desperate, despite needing the supplies from that box truck I just haven’t seen any depiction of real desperation in Alexandria.
So it seems like they’re cocky, overconfident, and/or just itching for a fight for some reason. They’re right that they’ve dispatched a lot of violent groups in the past, but seem to have no regard for how much luck played into it as well as how many people and family they’ve lost in those conflicts. Crazy.
The Hilltoppers/Jesus were, I believe, playing Rick’s group from the start to get them to go after Negan for them. They pretty obviously tried to play down and deny any sense of desperation, though that ruse eventually broke down. Since that wasn’t honest, I don’t think we can expect that the rest of it is really true, either.
Yes, it was an RPG. One for Negan’s bikers and a 2nd to light the pond ablaze. IIRC, Abe Ford only found four rockets and one launcher. Two down, two to go.
I believe Jesus is playing Rick’s group. He’s cunning, clever, a natural liar, and clearly in charge of the Barrington Hilltoppers.
A strange group approaches the gates, the guards at the gate challenge the new comers, Jesus says let them in, and the gates are opened. I noticed that no one asked the Boss if it was OK to let these unknown, weapons-totting, strangers in.
The Boss appears to be a figurehead. He’s in charge because Jesus let’s him be in charge.
This is the second reference the show has made pertaining to growing food, grains. Maggie said they are just now planting farm veg, cucumbers and tomatoes. Tomatoes can be canned, but cucumbers are practically worthless. They really ought to look into that sorghum thing and become gatherers as well as hunters.
Sasha is no longer waiting for Abe Ford to make up his mind about who he wants to make bisquick with. And apparently she’s not in to sharing. I’m afraid that Ford seems to be following in the same downhill path mentally as Tyreese did. Maybe Ford wants the peace and tranquility of rejoining his family???