Eugene faces a crisis of conscience on The Walking Dead, but chooses his side–Negan. Rick finds his way out of trouble and into more. Here’s our review of “Time for After.”
It’s been about two days in The Walking Dead universe since Rick went and shot up the Sanctuary, and two days was plenty of time for Negan to get out, with the help of Eugene, I’m sure, and start making his way to the ASZ to exact revenge.
During, “Time for After”, Eugene meets with Dwight, Dr. Carson, Father Gabriel, and Negan to discuss what’s happening at the Sanctuary. This episode displayed Eugene’s internal struggles in a very external way.
He tells Dwight that if he doesn’t stop, he’s going to tell Negan on him. Dwight tells him that all he has to do is let this place fall.
Dr. Carson mentions Father Gabriel being sick and needing medicine but them not being in the position to get any. When he leaves Eugene in there with a very ill Gabriel, Eugene is told to search his soul for the right answer.
Negan appeals to Eugene’s need for praise and desire to be viewed as important during their talk, and it’s by far the most effective. Eugene has always wanted to be close to power and protected, and he has those things with Negan. Plus, it appears that Negan genuinely values Eugene’s brain.
One of Negan’s wives even shows up to talk to Eugene about the radio he was supposed to fix for her, and she calls him out on his bullshit.
You help them, Eugene. You help him.
I tried to stop this.
Me and Frankie, we came to you, and we asked you for your help. You could’ve changed this place into something else, something better. But you took care of you, and now you’ve got to live with that.
It’s during this exchange that we find out Eugene has taken to drinking to get sleep at night. This is exactly what Bob used to do after all the people he was with were killed.
In the end, Eugene goes to the coffin that Sasha was in and takes out the iPod he gave her. His plan is to attach it to a drone and lure the walkers away by flying it above them.
Dwight reaches the roof the same time Eugene is about to start his test. Dwight tells him that he’ll shoot him, but in the end, he shoots down the drone instead, leaving Eugene on the roof alone.
Through all this, Daryl, Michonne, Tara, and Rosita have been planning out the attack that will let the walkers into the Sanctuary. Before they even get started, Rosita backs out. She tells them that she trusts Rick Grimes and they need to wait and stick to the plan.
This is quite the change in tune since she blindly went after Negan with Sasha last season.
Rosita leaves, and even though the viewer can tell Michonne is hesitant, she stays. The following day before it all goes down, though, she decides to leave, too. She and Daryl have a brief conversation before he tells her she should go.
Y’all Daryl Dixon is ready to die, and that has me terrified.
I wanted to know that things were gonna work. But you know what? I don’t get to know that. None of us do. What I do know is that things are working now. So maybe we just need to trust that things are gonna keep working, because this what we’re about to do it’s not worth risking us.
It is for me. Just is.
I hope it works. I really, really do, but I can’t do it. I just can’t.
Then you shouldn’t.
Michonne leaves and heads back to the ASZ, while Daryl and Tara (along with the helper of sniper Morgan) blow up the Sanctuary and let in the walkers.
Their plan does go off without a hitch, but it seemingly lets the walkers inside and provides and escape route for Negan and his men eventually. With Eugene on their side, and his new promise to make more bullets for Negan, things could get a whole lot worse before they get better for Rick.
Basically, we all wish Abraham would have killed him with this knockout in season five:
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Let’s take a look at what’s going on with Rick…
He knew that once he poked the bear, he would need some serious backup, which is why he went to Jadis with the pictures, but she turned him down and tried to have him eaten alive after taken old school pictures of him and planning to sculpt him.
You can watch the utter WTF scene below. (I still stand by my tweet that Norman Reedus was the one who pitched Andy fighting in his boxers.)
Once he got out of that pickle, he went to the Sanctuary and saw that Negan had gotten out, and we sort of understand where red-eye, crying Rick from episode one could have come from.
If Negan is at the ASZ the night before when Rick was locked up, chances are, whoever Negan attacked is dead by now.
The midseason finale will be 90 minutes long and full of suspense. If the writers stick true to form, we’ll be waiting with bated breath until February.
What did you think of “Time for After”? Do you think Jadis will eventually help Rick or should he let that ship sail? Who are you betting dies next episode?
Let us know in the comments below!
The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC at 9/8c.