Season 8 picks up on the road to war, and leads viewers on, what feels like, a Negan and Grimes war story as told from Rick Grimes and the communities. Episodes 8×03 and 8×04 follows the individual paths of Ezekiel’s Kingdom and Rick Grimes as they attempt to take opposing Savior compounds.

The Kingdom Falls 

King Ezekiel believes that he can lead his people into war with little to no casualties. I can recall four occasions in episode 8×03 in which an over confident King Ezekiel praised their ease of success with no losses. Anyone would know that boasting of confidence during a war of strategy would lead to an upset. I kept cringing every time King Ezekiel spoke about the Kingdom’s luck. I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for their luck to run out and sure enough it did.

King Ezekiel and his followers made way to the compound that they believed held The Savior’s armory.  The compound was a ghost town, no signs of Saviors, which had King Ezekiel believing the place was abandoned after the attack on the Sanctuary. However, nothing in the apocalypse comes easy which is a truth the Kingdom soon learned when gun fire rained down on them. Kingdom followers were quick to shield King Ezekiel from gunfire. Viewers learned, in episode 8×04, of the King’s fate as he crawled out from a pile of dead bodies that shielded him, and looked across a field of his dead followers.

King Ezekiel had little time to grieve the loss of his people as they turned into walkers. The episodes were centered more so on King Ezekiel and his story. Prior to episodes 8×03 and 8×04, fans only new that King Ezekiel is a zookeeper with former theater skills. He is not a “King”; Ezekiel is a man. This topic was brought to light as the King lost his reign after the devastating loss of his people. He had to look upon the zombified faces of those he grew to know and love as his own family. There is a religious undertone in this episode of the fall from grace, denouncing his title, and leading his people to slaughter. The sacrifice Shiva, who saved Ezekiel, in the end gave him a second life. Fans are interested to learn what will come of King Ezekiel. Will he regain the strength to lead his people? Will there be a re-birth, so to speak, as Ezekiel has lost his identity?

A Dynamic Duo

Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon continue to raid compounds with momentum. They come across a smaller compound that they too believed held majority of the Savior’s armory. However, when they arrived they learned from a Savior that the armory was transported to the compound that The Kingdom is currently at. Rick Grimes tries to make the most out of the time they had spent in vain. They take in baby Grace into his group and giving her to Aaron for safe refuge to be transported to Maggie at Hilltop.

There was that weird reunion of Rick and Morales. This hinted and threw out plot lines that were easily digested and chewed out by fans. In the end, Morales is killed and Rick leaves on the conquest to retrieve the guns from the other compound. Daryl Dixon is back to his “no shits given” mentality. He was quick to kill off the last surviving Savior of the compound leaving no time for the Savior to plead for his life. Rick seemed shocked at first by the brash action, but then carried on to finish the job they had come out to do.

The two cross paths with a fleeing Savior vehicle (the same vehicle that fled from Carol and Kingdom survivors). Daryl leads the charge firing shots from his motorcycle with Rick following close behind in pursuit until he hops cars to overpower the Savior driver. Rick miraculously leaves unscathed after taking a tumble down the hill in the car without a seatbelt. Daryl Dixon is quick to assist his partner in apocalyptic crime and they go to retrieve what could be the last of the Savior’s gun source.

Quick Thoughts

• Gregory is back at Hilltop and surprisingly Maggie allows him back in. Maggie however is less welcoming to Jesus’s gift of Saviors and is unsure what to do with the men that played a role in the death of her husband. Also with Father Gabriel being Negan’s new pet, will Maggie learn of the wicked and cowardly actions of Gregory which could ultimately kill Father Gabriel?