![walking dead season 8 episode 1 review walking dead season 8 episode 1 review](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/02/26/09/the-walking-deaad-honor.jpg)
![walking dead season 8 episode 1 review walking dead season 8 episode 1 review](https://tv-fanatic-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--_wUOqg2l--/t_xlarge_l/cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_strip_profile.lossy,q_auto:420/v1508260353/scouting-the-area-the-walking-dead-s8e1.jpg)
“We both know it.”) Rick countered that the Saviors could all walk away with a pulse if and only if they surrendered right then and there. Rather, he sounded almost like a rational politician when he suggested to Rick that he wasn’t about to march his people into the line of fire just to play a game of “My d–k is bigger than yours.” (His was bigger, he added. But I’m not Negan, who didn’t seem remotely concerned about being shot. ‘YOU DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO’ | If I were Negan and I was standing in front of that many armed people who wanted me dead, I’d for sure have been using Eugene as a human shield. And at last, out came Negan, flanked by Eugene, Dwight (who’d been trading messages with Daryl via arrows), Simon, Gavin and Regina. Then our heroes rang the doorbell post-apocalypse style - with a kind of 201-gun salute. The first explosion drew away from the Sanctuary Negan’s attack dogs (one of whom radioed that she was hungry for some “bang-bang, scream-scream”). What could possibly go wrong, right? Though the walkers were a smidgen late - they’ve never been known for their punctuality, have they? - the plan started off fine.
![walking dead season 8 episode 1 review walking dead season 8 episode 1 review](https://undeadwalking.com/files/2017/07/TWD_801_GP_0508_0128-RT.jpg)
So what, exactly, was the plan of attack? Leaving a recuperating Michonne to safeguard Alexandria with Carl, Rick would help Daryl and Morgan dispatch the Saviors’ lookouts, then lead right up Negan’s driveway a battalion on wheels - now equipped with shields that the B-52’s might have called “tin roofs, rusted.” Meanwhile, Carol and Tara, it seemed, were to rig explosives along a path to the Sanctuary for Daryl to blow up at go time, using the blasts to direct a horde of walkers to the Saviors’ compound. Only Rick had not made it all about himself but about all of them. Then again, the preacher replied, the righteous revolt against that one man had been brought about by a single individual, too. “They say you can wage war through the second trimester,” she joked before thanking Rick for showing her “how to be someone worth following.” Talking with Gabriel, Rick marveled at all of the bloodshed that had been brought about by one man. If only the teenager could have stayed as focused as Maggie, who was determined to be a part of at least this first siege. He was so eager to get to it, in fact, that when Carl, out siphoning gas, happened upon a scared-silly stranger (given his mention of the Koran, presumably Abbud), Rick ticked off his son by firing warning shots to get rid of him and get on with it. The potential in breaking away from the confines of the comics was a brave move for AMC, but obviously one that it couldn’t stick to, especially when you look at just how closely Negan’s fate matches the comics.‘THIS IS THE END OF IT’ | As “Mercy” began, we were shown not only a teary-eyed Rick but also the grizzled-old-man Rick of the Season 8 trailer - aside from the cane, he seemed fine, by the way, unkempt but happily cohabiting with Michonne, Carl and Judith - and, last but not least, motivational-speaker Rick, the one who promised Alexandria’s allies as they prepared to strike back at the Saviors that only a single person had to die in the skirmish. Introducing new characters like those offering “The Knowledge”, Jadis and the Scavengers’ entire story arc, and the death of Carl, added an air of unpredictability at least to the second half of season 8, but it wasn’t enough. So much of the season has been the overspill of the initial assault on the Saviours that what few events did take place feel drawn out and insignificant. Little has happened since then: Shiva died protecting Ezekiel, Siddiq got saved, Gregory and Eugene continued to betray the good guys, Rick’s actions made you question whether he was a good guy at all, Carl got bitten, and the helicopter teased something else entirely. To think that the season started with the assault on the Sanctuary, where Negan and Father Gabriel ended up in that trailer, feels like a long and arduous time ago.