I enjoyed it overall, but these are some odd standouts to me:
Dwight’s allegiance
I don’t think the writers have handled Dwight very well. His change of heart hasn’t been completely fleshed out to me. His treatment of Daryl without a prick of conscience, his rudeness to Rosita when they first came to Alexandria, his brown-nosing Negan. And then a few conversations with Sherry in a stairwell. I don’t think the audience was shown that he was struggling between the light and the dark at all. I just saw a jerk every time Dwight came on the screen. I do believe that Sherry leaving and basically calling him out on his shit was the catalyst for him letting Rosita take him prisoner. I also believe him throwing the other Dr. Carson under the bus was a part of his plan to completely throw Negan off his scent because he knew that if Negan even suspected he was not still 100 percent committed, he’d be toast.
So, I don’t have any empathy for Dwight and I blame the writing.
Oceanside
I can buy that some Oceansiders wanted to fight. Going along with Natania was the path of least resistance. But why are we just seeing this just now? Again, the writers should have shown in Tara’s bottle episode some people grumbling about Natania’s stance and secretly wanting to fight, but since there was no opportunity, that’s why they just went along with her. It seemed like everyone was on the same page regarding the choice to stay insulated. And now seeing some of the Oceansiders willing to fight seems out of the blue. Or maybe they see an opportunity to fight and that makes them willing? It’s unclear.
I’m not here for the Rick-is-just-as-bad-as-Negan bullcrap. Rick does not want to put anyone into slavery, does not have harem of women that he rapes, or bashes people’s heads in for fun. He just wanted the guns, for a very good reason. And let’s remember the Oceansiders wanted to kill Tara on sight. Went as far as making her think they were going to let her go, then tried to kill her again. Everyone is doing the best they can here, under some awful circumstances.
Eugene and Sasha
Eugene’s behavior is totally within character. Sometimes, we are just as good as our environment. A little longer with TF, maybe he would have grown some bigger balls. But this is how his trauma from witnessing the Lucilling is playing out and it’s still very interesting to me and I want to see where it goes. However, clearly he is not doing a long con. He’s in this to live. He wants safety and if joining Negan gets him that, he’s fine with it.
Sasha is not making it out of season 7 (obviously!). It’s just a matter of how it all plays out. We now see how the pill that Eugene made might come into play. I hope that however she goes out, it will take Negan by surprise.