A new group of survivors seem to have it all in their impressive community; however, there is a price.

The Walking Dead‘ focuses on Daryl and Dwight in this episode that’s really paired down in a lot of ways. The episode takes place mostly in part of the Survivor’s community, the Sanctuary, and a lot of it revolving around Daryl’s incarceration by Negan.

The episode is fascinating is that it really drives into the psychological control Negan has of his followers. But, is that control absolute? What we see in this episode is some of those first cracks and that has to do with Dwight.

The episode is about control and control. Negan wants to break Daryl and make him a member of the Saviors and Dwight has made that a mission of his. But what’s Dwight’s motivations?

For me, it feels like Dwight is focusing on Daryl because he himself is torn over being broken by Negan. Dwight wears Daryl’s vest. Dwight rides Daryl’s motorcycle. Dwight uses Daryl’s crossbow. It’s clear Dwight is a bit fascinated and obsessed in a way over Daryl. We can guess why, but most likely it’s due to Daryl’s being free and standing up compared to Dwight’s emasculation.

We get some of Daryl’s backstory which ties slightly into what we saw of Dwight last season. There’s some pieces of the puzzles coming together there and what happened to Dwight’s face. It’s interesting and throughout the episode Negan looms over everyone.

We also learn more about Negan. We get some of his moral code. We get some of his philosophy. And we get the sense of his control over everyone. It’s a slow tease of the villain who isn’t as much as a villain as may think. Maybe he just sees a different way to create order.

As I said, it’s an interesting episode that shows how much things have been played out, but we also begin to see cracks in a new world full of so much order.

Overall rating: 7.95