Maybe someone was buried under the tree. To me that was about the weirdest thing. Those seaside girls and their homemade bombs was kinda unbelievable too. Don’t those things take gasonline to work. The guns exploding I sort of got, cause Eugene is smart, he’s just not a brave hero. If the components could be found, I could see that working. He tried to interest Abraham in that in an earlier season. I am anxious to hear a bit more backstory on Fear.
While I enjoyed it, I think that enjoyment was pretty much solely due to seeing the Saviors defeated, and being right about Eugene’s manipulations, of course. Although the latter really wasn’t a terribly great plan, seeing as how it relied on not a single round getting fired until the confrontation with Rick’s group—not for testing, not to take out a stray walker, nothing.
And the show really continues to struggle with character portrayal. After trying for some moral grey in the past few episodes, some attempted ‘maybe Negan ain’t so bad, and just how good is Rick anyway?’, that just got hastily reset in this episode, while Maggie and Jesus (??) suddenly go into plotting-and-scheming Rick’s downfall-mode. That’s not to say I would’ve liked a ‘Negan redemption’-arc, and I’m not sure I’m opposed to a change in leadership, it’s just that the developments hardly seem organic.
Also, I hate that they seem to be going the way of continuing story lines on Fear in order to increase viewership—seems like everybody wants you to commit to some kind of ‘universe’ these days, having the stronger entries drag along the shambling corpses of shows/books/comics that should’ve been long put down.
What I thought they should have done with FTWD is have it as an independent show, but the eventual arc would be to have them become the main rival faction of our TWD folks. And have the two end up fighting each other as the finales for both shows.
ETA: I can certainly see why Maggie has issues with Negan still living. I was a little surprised by Jesus, but it’s not a huge shock.
It sounds like FTWD just ended up as Walking Dead: West Coast. I can see creating regional franchises showing how different parts of the country deal with the zombie issue:
Yo! The Dead Walkin’ Here (New York)
You Betcha’! the Walking Dead (Minnesota. Not much of a show as the dead are frozen stiff most of the year)
El Caminante Muerto (Mexico / Southern US border area)
The Walking Dead Eh (Canada. Where most of the walkers are too polite to eat people)
so on and so forth
That sir, would have been a fantastic spectacle if done correctly.
Because Jesus is the DM’s NPC toadie, what ever he needs to be for this week’s adventure…um, er…I mean episode he is.
I have relatives who live in the Austin area. They haven’t personally spotted any walkers, but they keep an weathered eye out for one. 
*“We’re grateful AMC moved the production in the Austin area,” he said. “What’s great about a TV series is it keeps our crew employed for long periods of time. We want productions in town generating money for the local economy and not moving to Atlanta or Kentucky.”
According to a city permit, the production will be filming in southeast Austin from Nov. 28 through Dec. 1 (2017).*
Especially if not even the viewer knew that they were rivals, until the mid-last-season finale
So, once again, Rick marches his crew into certain death only to be saved by something he had no part of. And then when all is said and done, he’s like, “Yeah, we need to start working together to rebuild society.” No shit Rick. It took you eight seasons to figure this out? You should have been doing this since season 3, instead of going on your xenophobic frenzies. Rick is the worst leader ever.
There is so much wrong with the bullet scenario, that I have to make a list to keep it all straight:
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I don’t know much about guns and ammo, but I assume every single gun doesn’t use the same type of bullet. For instance, I’m sure Negan’s revolver takes a different bullet than a semi-auto rifle. For efficiencies sake, I’m sure they would focus on only a few different types of bullets, for the ammo they need the most of. I could be wrong on this point though.
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Every gun was using the new bullets? I find this highly implausible. They must have had old ammo left still. I would trust the older, professionally manufactured ammo over the hastily made apocalyptic bullets.
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Negan tests four bullets in his revolver, and that’s it? C’mon, even if he trusts Eugene’s loyalty, he can’t be 100% confident in his bullet making skills. Every type of gun should have had a few test shots fired to make sure they worked correctly and to see how often they misfired.
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Not a single Savior fired a shot before the big showdown? To take out a random zombie or to test out the new bullet for their gun? Was Eugene really counting on this? His whole plan would be ruined and he’d have a barbed wire imprint in his skull if someone decided to fire their gun beforehand.
4a) None of the Saviors know a little bit about bullets and thought these looked a little funky and test fired a few just in case? Out of hundreds of fighting men (Americans) there had to be many that were into guns before the apocalypse.
- None of the Saviors making bullets got suspicious when Eugene changed the specs?
In fact, I find the whole bullet scenario so ridiculous that I think Rick and Co are actually dead, and everything that happened, beginning with the guns exploding, is a fevered dream by Rick as he lie dying in the field, riddled with bullets.
And Maggie is the worst leader ever. She’s letting her personal grievances supersede what is good for her people. Plus she is evil. And a coward.
I hate a lot more about this show, but that’s enough for now.
Well, it is television.
So, next season, junkyard girl is going to make her way back to camp Rick, where she will then proceed to bust Negan out of jail.
Ugh, so sick Negan. Was really hoping next season’s villain would be “I have a secret” lady.
Perhaps he will escape while Maggie and Daryl attempt to kill him.
Never fear; they’re not going to be able to afford JDM for another season. I highly doubt we see him for more than an episode or two.
And they can probably film that out of this year’s salary.
Oh, I think Maggie’s days are numbered.
She tries to kill Negan and he kills her and escapes?
In a way, Rick keeping Negan alive is not that different from the Governor and his zombie head collection; it’s like keeping a souvenir in a rather cruel way. It ain’t gonna help Negan out any.
(post shortened)
It’s reasonable to assume that Eugene’s bullet makers would make cartridges (bullets) for every firearm they actually have with the priority based on the actual numbers of those firearms available. If, for example, AK47’s were the most plentiful, then 7.62 x 39 rifle ammunition would have been first in line. If M16/M4/AR15 rifles were the next most plentiful, then 5.56mm cartridges would be next in line for manufacture. What’s next? How many available rifles use .243 Winchester, or .308 Winchester (aka 7.62x51mm), or .8mm Mauser?
Pistol cartridges would follow the same pattern. What firearms are most plentiful? 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .44 Magnum, 357 Magnum, .38 Special?
The bullet makers could have made perfectly normal “looking” rounds. Substituting magnum primers for regular primers, or rifle primers for pistol primers, or fast burning propellant for slow burning propellant could have resulted in catastrophic weapon failures.
However, since Eugene was able to fill the entire order, the order of manufacture would have been immaterial. What was important to Eugene’s plan was that the entire order wouldn’t be available until the last minute. Negan assumed Eugene would have tested several samples from every batch. That was just another Negan mistake. Plus, many of Negan’s Lieutenant’s were no longer alive to double check anyone’s work.
The Saviors would have been ordered not to fire any of their weapons because this was supposed to be an ambush. Shhhhhh. We’re hunting wricks. Firing rounds could have alerted wrick’s… err… Rick’s group that Saviors were in the area. It was Eugene’s idea that all of the Saviors were to fire simultaneously at Rick’s group. Negan liked and trusted Eugene. Oops.
And regardless of what Maggie may be planning now, Maggie has never been a coward.