The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 15 Recap: House Cleaning

Season 8 of The Walking Dead begins to wind down by wrapping up loose ends at the Sanctuary and setting the stage for the final battle of All Out War.

If I never see anything related to politics in the Sanctuary ever again, it will be too soon. Generally the penultimate episode of any given season of The Walking Dead is full of twists, turns, and excitement. Not this one. In the hour leading up to the war-filled finale of Season 8, the series chose to slow it all down to focus on cleaning house at the Sanctuary.

And now that everything is said and done, I hope we never ever have to see that location again.

More from AMC

It’s clear that the show never really had a firm grasp on what to do with the Sanctuary as a setting for the show. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was the selling point, but every single one of these characters are “new” in the grand scheme of things, and no true TWD fan wants to sacrifice time with our beloved and established heroes so that the intricacies of a new and hostile group can be fully – and painstakingly – explained.

So what happened this week? Well, Negan pulled off a pretty stunning triple cross by pitting all sorts of adversaries against one another. His cabinet of supporters is more volatile than the current U.S. administration, with people being tossed aside like garbage in the lead up to the final battle of All Out War. He uses Gregory (Xander Berkeley) to sweeten up Simon (Steven Ogg) before delivering a Gladiator-style execution to him in an oddly staged hand-to-hand combat situation. However, he also preys upon Dwight’s (Austin Amielo) naiveté to get a message to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) in order to trap him into submission.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 15 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /

Negan is also at the core of the one interaction that truly mattered this week. The conclusion of the episode featured a charged moment between Negan and Michonne (Danai Gurira) as she delivered a message from Carl. Earlier in the episode, Rick read his own letter from Carl, and it urged him to choose the path of humanity and “find peace with Negan.” Our Carl is like a little Hershel from beyond the grave. And wouldn’t you know it? The same sentiment is echoed in the letter he wrote to Negan. As read by Michonne, Carl’s hope-filled dying words become an olive branch for a potential reconciliation between camps. But of course Negan is too proud to take it. Comic book fans may know what all these pleas for peace are ultimately signaling (see COMIC SPOILERS in ‘Random Thoughts’ section below), but even though the scene played out between two of the most gifted actors on the show, it still failed to carry much emotional weight. Just like almost everything else on this show, the back and forth regarding all of Negan’s feels about Carl is well-worn territory at this point, and I’m so over it.

In other news, Aaron (Ross Marquand) pulls a Ghandi and starves himself to death in the woods while waiting for the women of Oceanside to join the war. This alliance should have happened early on in Season 7 – and then again later on in Season 7 – so while his actions are admirable, this whole plot line is also a true snooze.

Oh, and last but not least, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) gets kidnapped from his bullet-making operation by Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Daryl (Norman Reedus), both of whom are so on tilt that they can’t even keep a bumbling Eugene in their care. Just like most storylines this season, it turns out to be a whole mess of nothing in the end as Eugene returns to his war room and gets all uppity about how he’s going to take down his old friends.

It was all just so boring. I’m bored, guys. So bored. Nothing surprises me on this show anymore. However, I’m trying to follow through on Carl’s words by holding out hope. Please, dear TV gods and goddesses, make The Walking Dead Season 8 finale something spectacular and true. Please. I’m begging you.

Until next week…

Random Thoughts Before I Go:

Using Simon’s reanimated body as a defense walker for the Sanctuary was actually a pretty stone cold move. If Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones were to somehow teleport to the world of The Walking Dead, he would totes approve.
In one of his bloated speeches, Eugene uses the word “chicanery”, which was also the title of a Better Call Saul episode – which happens to be a fellow AMC property. Unlike this stinker of a TWD episode, that BCS episode was one of the best on TV in recent memory.
Also, why in the why don’t Rosita and Daryl liberate Gabriel when they kidnap Eugene?! The logic on this show has become so ridiculous.
COMIC SPOILERS: Readers of the comics know that Rick ultimately decides to take mercy on Negan and imprisons him rather than killing him. Personally I was hoping that the show would choose to kill Negan off rather than have him hang around for the foreseeable future, but I suppose we’ll see how Season 9 handles that particular issue…

‘The Walking Dead’ airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

Home/AMC

The Walking Dead recap: House cleaning

By Erin Qualey | Apr 12, 2018

Season 8 of The Walking Dead begins to wind down by wrapping up loose ends at the Sanctuary and setting the stage for the final battle of All Out War.