The Walking Dead “The Other Side” was written by Angela Kang and was directed by Michael E Satrazemis. The title of the episode works on a couple of levels. First it refers to Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) getting to the other side of their dislike of each other as they come to a greater understanding. It refers to the ‘other side’ of the fence at the Saviors’ compound. It also refers to Eugene (Josh McDermitt) seemingly having chosen the other side. It also refers to Maggie (Lauren Cohen) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) getting to the other side of their estrangement. Reedus delivers perhaps him most intense performance of the series in this episode.
The episode begins with another musical montage as we see Maggie solidifying her position at the Hilltop. She and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) grow closer, with Enid clearly learning from Maggie, but also taking on a caretaker role for her, bringing her food, going with her to see Dr Carson (R. Keith Harris), and doing her best to protect her. Maggie, Enid, and Sasha work to train the Hilltoppers for the fight to come.
Sasha also watches over Maggie, but sees that Jesus (Tom Payne) is also stepping in to provide support. I liked the way this episode played a little bit with time, showing us Jesus giving Sahsa the map that she said she had at the end of the last episode, and then showing us the scene with Rosita arriving again.
There’s a terrific scene with Maggie and Jesus. She worries that they are taking up too much room in his trailer – something that Gregory (Xander Berkeley) will take him to task for later in the episode. Jesus tells her that he doesn’t mind – he grew up with a lot of people around, and we finally get a glimpse into his backstory. He tells her that he grew up in a group home. He tells her that making sure that she and Sasha felt a part of the Hilltop was the thing that finally made him feel a part of it too.
He tells Maggie that when he was first at the Hilltop, he was never there. This is the wandering Jesus that we first met. He tells her that he always found it hard to get close to anyone: neighbors, friends, boyfriends. And I loved that that is how they address the question of Jesus’ sexuality. No fuss, no muss, let’s move on. There’s a nice look between the two as Jesus looks at Maggie to gauge her reaction, and it’s clear he’s a bit unsure, but she simply smiles at him, accepting him and pleased that he’s confided in her.
She also tells him that he should try “it” sometime – meaning a relationship, truly getting close to someone. And then she adds, bittersweet, even if it doesn’t last. She’s clearly referencing Glenn. The camera cuts to Sasha at that moment too, acknowledging her fleeting relationship with Abraham. And then, Maggie is off to talk to the blacksmith about more spears, and wondering about trading for body armor when what she really wants is riot gear.
Sasha needs bullets for the rifle that Rosita has brought her and takes them out of Jesus’ hiding spot, just as Enid and Jesus come back into the trailer. Jesus is fine with her taking the bullets, and she tells him that she has a gun now. Jesus tries to persuade her not to go. He immediately knows why Rosita has come – the two are going after Negan.
It seems that Sasha might have been persuaded to wait, but Rosita is going with or without her and she’s determined not to be left behind and possibly miss her chance at getting revenge. However, she won’t hear of Jesus or Enid coming too, and she doesn’t want Maggie to know either. She tells them that Maggie needs them. Jesus tries to persuade her that Maggie needs her too, but Sasha has been watching. She knows that Maggie is safe at the Hilltop and has plenty of help. Jesus tells her that he wishes she would stay – but he knows she won’t: “It’s a long life. And then… it isn’t.” Jesus tells her to take whatever she needs, but he insists that Sasha and Rosita owe it to Maggie to tell her.
Sasha tasks Enid with protecting Maggie – “no matter what” – because Maggie is the future of Hilltop. And she tells Enid that Enid is also a part of that future. She hands Enid a green bracelet that she’s been working on for the baby and asks Enid to hold onto it for her until she gets back – she can work on it if she likes. It’s a nice passing of the torch for looking after Maggie, and of course from Maggie’s last name (before she started using Glenn’s) to the green balloons Glenn used as a signal, that color has special meaning. And of course, it’s also a sign of growth and life. Enid isn’t your normal teenager. She knows what Sasha is doing is a suicide mission. She also knows that she can’t lie to Maggie, so she tells Sasha she’s telling Maggie in ten minutes – it’s a way for her to do what both Maggie and Sasha need.
Sasha grabs her bag and is in the process of leaving when the alarm sounds – the Saviors are coming! It’s not an expected visit. Sasha grabs Abraham’s necklace and puts it on – not realizing that it’s the necklace that Rosita gave him. She and Rosita escape the compound through a secret exit in the wood box that goes under the fence.
Enid grabs Daryl and tells him to help find Maggie so the two of them can hide. Sasha is fully expecting Maggie to be right after them to get under and out, but there isn’t time and Enid hides them in the cellar. She promises to keep the Saviors away.
While the rest of the Hilltoppers are hard at work, Gregory is hard at the bottle. He clearly doesn’t want to get involved or even acknowledge what’s going on. When Simon (Steven Ogg) shows up, Gregory’s first instinct is simply to ask him to keep drinking with him. Simon, however, is there on business, but clearly enjoys torturing Gregory – and for once, we can enjoy that happening to someone. Berkeley is delightfully slimey as always as he greets Simon like his old buddy. Ogg is also terrific. Gregory tries to score points by telling Simon he’s got his favorite – gin. But Simon doesn’t like gin anymore. Now he’s into tequila because he’s “an unusual kind of creature.” There’s no way he’s ever going to let Gregory achieve any kind of comfort level. Simon ominously tells Gregory he’s there for a “certain someone.” To his credit, Gregory doesn’t immediately try to give Maggie, Daryl, or Sasha up.
The action cuts to Daryl and Maggie hiding in the root cellar before we get the answer. It’s nicely shot to mimic Daryl’s time in the cell at Negan’s compound. Daryl seems to want to guard the door, but Maggie insists on calling him to the relative safety of the back of the room.
And then the action cuts again to Sasha and Rosita – further making us wait and ramping up the tension of what’s happening at the Hilltop. Once they’re out, Sasha really takes the lead. While the two try to start the car, Rosita sees the necklace. She asks if Sasha like it, and then tells her that she made it. It seems clear that Sasha didn’t know and wasn’t wearing it to make Rosita feel bad. But it also seems to color how she feels about the necklace herself. Sasha tries to make small talk, asking where Rosita learned to disarm bombs. She tells her someone she knew taught her. Rosita tells her that she doesn’t want to talk to Sasha – or be her friend. She doesn’t want to speak unless it’s about the mission.
Sasha looks mad and starts to march off, but thinks better of it and comes back. She tells Rosita what her plan is. It’s clear that she wants to take Negan out sniper-style – clean. It’s also clear that unlike Rosita who is simply consumed by hate, Sasha has thought about this rationally. Her plan gives them a chance of getting out alive. Sasha has more in her world – Maggie, Enid, Jesus – than just Abraham. Rosita insists that they have to go in to ensure that Negan dies. Sasha is equally adamant that she won’t miss. And I don’t think that she would have. Sasha points out that if they’re out “there,” they’re alive and they get another go – if they need one. At this point the two run into a bunch of walkers, and I loved the casual way the two simply go about dispatching them.
Enid almost puts herself in real danger in trying to keep Maggie safe. She tries to distract Roy (Brian Stapf) from poking around the root cellar by running up to him with some “veggies” – he tells her to slow down, they have time. And I was trying to remember if this was the same Savior who had the pedophile vibe with Enid in an earlier episode… regardless, she tries to give him the “vegetables” to take to the truck, but he’s not taking orders from Enid. He does take her knife, however, and still goes down into the root cellar.
Daryl and Maggie watch from their hiding place as Roy looks around the root cellar. There’s a gorgeous shot of just Maggie’s eyes as she sees Enid’s knife. She looks as if she’s almost snarling, and she’s clearly worried for Enid. I loved the use of the lighting and the crescendo of ominous music.
Simon finally reveals who he’s there for – it’s Dr Carson. For his own part, Carson actually stands up to Simon – he’s not giving them any more medicine and he’s got patients at the Hilltop to look after. When he wants to know why Negan suddenly needs two doctors, Simon is darkly humorous in “using his expression to convey the reason.” Did we know that the two doctors were brothers? I don’t remember or I missed that information previously. Harlan is relatively philosophical about it – asking if his brother pissed someone off.
Harlan tells Gregory that all his charts are in order, but that he has to make arrangements for his on-going patients. Gregory says he will, from the corner he’s been cringing in. And does anyone think he’s actually going to do anything proactive? Simon leaves them an entire crate of aspirin as a trade off for the doctor – as a medical solution.
Gregory actually asks for a word with Simon. He has to know that this is going to be a failure on his part that the community is going to find hard to overlook. Simon looks pretty shocked that Gregory isn’t just rolling over. Gregory tells Simon he has to keep the trust of his people – if he doesn’t, somebody with crazy ideas might take over – someone who won’t work so well with Negan. Simon wants names, but Gregory actually keeps it vague – as a worst case scenario. Simon tells him if he’s “having trouble of that kind” to come to him any time. He gives Gregory a note to get in any time – he’ll clearly help him keep control of the Hilltop – but Gregory should not pull any “shenanigans” – and of course, he promises not to. Simon tells him he’s a good producer and he doesn’t want him to be stressed. Simon does start to get pissed off when Gregory makes mention of leaving the doctor again though – Gregory gives up pretty quickly. Nobody is happy as the doctor gets in Simon’s truck and drives away.
Back in the root cellar, Daryl is going to go after Roy, and Maggie holds him back. Once Roy leaves, Maggie and Daryl come out of hiding and Daryl resolutely keeps his back to Maggie. She says to him, “You were going to kill that guy” and Daryl maintains that he deserved to die. Maggie says to Daryl, “Ever since you got here, you haven’t said a word to me.” She asks him to look at her. This may be Reedus finest moment to date in the series.
Daryl is crying even as he turns around. He tells Maggie repeatedly, “I’m sorry.” She tells him it wasn’t his fault, but Daryl knows Glenn’s death is on him. I liked how he squared his shoulders and shook the hair out of his eyes – to show Maggie respect and really look her in the eye. She tells him, “No. It wasn’t. You’re one of the good things in this world. That’s what Glenn thought. And he would know cuz he was one of the good things too.” And then Maggie loses it too. Cohen also delivers in this scene. Maggie confesses that she wanted to kill that guy too – she wants to kill them all – and watch them die – but they have to win. And she asks Daryl to help her win, and Daryl nods.
Sasha and Rosita finally manage to get a car and set up in Sasha’s sniper’s nest. Sasha sees Eugene working the fence, and Rosita is sure he’s working some angle. Rosita is amusing herself by tying knots and Sasha asks her to teach them to her – she’s knows a bunch, but not those. Rosita says it won’t matter soon, but Sasha insists it might. Rosita eventually does show her.
Rosita takes a turn watching the yard and see Eugene giving orders. Sasha tells her, we got lucky with you – you know how to do everything. Rosita finally sits down and tells Sasha who taught her about bombs, cars, tying knots – there were others. Guys who wanted to protect her, like there was no way she could look after herself. And she couldn’t then – and she hated the way that felt. She says, “They didn’t even notice I was picking up everything they could do and doing it better.” She’d outgrow them and “bounce.”
Sasha asks if that’s how it was with “him.” Rosita tells her that she fell in with Abraham because he saw that she “could handle her shit.” She tells Sasha she never looked back – until it was over. She tells Sasha that when they got to Alexandria she was acting like it was all good, because he wasn’t – and then suddenly he was all good. She couldn’t get used to being safe, to trust it.
When Abraham bounced, Rosita admits that she thought she hated Sasha – but maybe she just hated that Abraham figured out his shit first. Rosita tells Sasha that she’s never told anyone any of that – who she was, what she did. It’s very much like a final confession. She feels stupid for wasting so much time because now she’ll never be able to tell Abraham that she was happy that he was happy. But she does get to tell Sasha. She asks if Sasha was happy and Sasha says she was.
Rosita says it wasn’t Abraham’s time, and Sasha says Abraham would have wanted to go out fighting “but that asshole with the bat took that away too.” She doesn’t see any point to his going out that way. Sasha remarks that they all want that. She tells Rosita that no matter how it goes down, she’s got her back – and Rosita says she’s got hers.
Simon pulls in with the doctor – Maggie’s doctor! Negan comes out to greet him, but Sasha can’t get a clean shot. They hear on the walkie talkie that Eugene is sending Saviors into the surrounding buildings to look for walkers and that Negan won’t be coming back out – he’ll be “busy in the boudoir.” Rosita confirms – change of plans. They’re going in.
Gregory calls Jesus into his office. He reprimands him for slacking on his scavenging and for having too many people in his trailer! Gregory has “assignments” for the newcomers. Jesus sees through him and says he must be really afraid if he’s trying to split everyone up. Gregory fires right back with a threat of the Saviors. Jesus wants to know if Gregory is threatening him. Gregory tries to brush it off as him being sarcastic but Jesus isn’t letting it go. Gregory dismisses Jesus – and starts hitting the tequila. Clearly, Simon is trying to ensure that Gregory stays drunk and pliable.
As Jesus comes out of Gregory’s office, Daryl is there. He wants to know where Rosita and Sasha are.
There’s a pretty funny scene as Eugene tells one of the Saviors that they need to beef up the security of the fence in this particular area. The guard starts bragging that he’s so much better than the last guard, and Rosita shoots him. Eugene is immediately cringing on the ground. Rosita tells him that they’re breaking him out, and Eugene tells them no, he’s not going with them. He didn’t ask them to come! He warns them that others are coming, so they should go. Sure looks like that’s the definitive proof that Eugene has changed sides – opting for whoever can keep him safest.
Sasha looks Rosita out of the compound, telling her – “It’s not your time. There’s got to be a point to it. They need you.” And Sasha runs off into the compound, leaving a furious Rosita on the outside. Rosita runs away only to encounter the silouhette of someone with longish hair holding a crossbow. Is it Daryl or is it Dwight (Amelio Austin)???
It certainly seems that Sasha is not making it out of this season alive. Gregory’s time as leader of the Hilltop is also clearly coming to an end soon. Could Daryl have gotten there that quickly? Would he have gone to stop them? Would he leave Maggie after promising to help her win? This was a slightly less action-packed episode that slowed down and allowed us to have some emotional development of the characters. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
