‘The Walking Dead’: Here’s What Carl’s Letter Said To Negan

Spoilers for the latest episode of The Walking Dead, “The Lost and the Plunderers” past this point!

Another episode of The Walking Dead is in the books, and so are the Heapsters, everyone’s favorite gang of Mad Max enthusiasts. Jadis (Polyanna McIntosh) is still alive, and contemplating her next move (for more on that, read our interview with McIntosh). But Carl (Chandler Riggs) is still dead, and if the end of the episode is any indication, so is any chance of Rick (Andrew Lincoln) winning his war with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Still, while the episode answered a few long-standing questions, like, “why does Jadis talk that way?” (because she’s an artist) and “why do the Heapsters live in a trash heap?” (because they’re artists) there’s still plenty left up in the air as we rocket towards the end of the war (one way or another). With that in mind, here are some of the biggest burning questions (and answers) for the latest episode.

So are we done with Alexandria for good?

Sure seems like it, as Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira) drive off from the burning ruins as the music swells in the background. Still, while Rick similarly torches any chance at Carl’s dream of world peace by episode’s end (more on that in a moment), on a thematic level Rick probably has to wrap back around to preserving the dream of Alexandria in some way or Carl’s death meant literally nothing. And on a technical level, Walking Dead has built literal houses in that town. It’s an actual neighborhood that they’ve built and lived in for years, so to pull up stakes permanently would be not just surprising, but expensive.

That said, it would be a refreshing change of pace. We’ve been stuck in the cul de sac that is the Alexandria Safe-Zone since Season 5. It would be nice to explore new places as the series moves forward.

Does Michonne want to die?

There’s a lot of “hey, did that character just decide to give up?” this episode, which is somewhat of a loose theme, and Michonne gets to yell “first!” There’s a moment when she’s fighting zombies at the gates of Alexandria that it all becomes too much for her. And the way Gurira plays the rest of the episode, speaking to Rick in a tiny, scared voice, it’s clear she’s been absolutely destroyed by Carl’s death. Makes sense, of course: Michonne lost her own son at the dawn of the zombie apocalypse, and now she lost her adopted son.

For my money, Michonne will persevere because she has to. But her comic book counterpart’s path — leaving to go be a pirate queen for a while after the war is over — is looking more and more likely.

What does Carl’s letter to Negan say?

Glad you asked, because Rick is rude enough to summarize (and frankly, at that point Rick is a very unreliable narrator). Here’s what I was able to make out, what with most of the letter covered by Rick/Rick’s fingers, and Carl’s kind of awful handwriting (what, there are no cursive classes in the zombie apocalypse?):

“Negan. This is Carl. Back when I … someone. I got bit. We didn’t care how… doing … I was just helping someone. How…

You might be gone. Maybe my dad made … he killed you – but I don’t think so. I think you …. working on a way out. Maybe you got out. Maybe … lost cause and you just want to kill all of us.

I think you have to be who you are. I … what you wanted. I wanted to ask you … I…

Maybe you’ll beat us. If you do, there’ll just … The way out is working together. It’s forgiveness. … have to be a … offers you peace …”

Anyway, I didn’t make it past the sentence without thinking, “Hello, Negan? This is dog.” But I guess that’s probably just me.

Is Negan going to find out about Simon’s betrayal?

First off, I want to point out the delightful detail that Simon (Steven Ogg) is holding an Iago style dagger when he pops up the coffin sent to Negan by the Hilltop. So in the sense that Simon is Iago styling whispering into Negan’s ear, yes, Negan will figure it out, and yes, kill him. Add in the blue paint on Simon’s foot, a Lady Macbeth style red hand if I’ve ever seen one, and you have Simon’s Shakespearean style death all but confirmed. Did I use the word “style” enough in this paragraph? Cool.

Hey, what’s Aaron doing exactly?

Uh, I think the Oceanside ladies were like, “leave us alone or we’ll kill you,” and Aaron (Ross Marquand) was like, “You know what, lemme hang around and mansplain to them a bit more, that should go fine.” Aaron, I know you have a death wish after your boyfriend died, but you have one of those blonde babies that this show frequently forgets about hidden somewhere, so please stop being a dumbo? Thanks.

What was up with the helipad near the Heap?

Great question? Though Jadis explained a bunch, seems like we’ve still got a lot more to learn about our banged friend.

What does zombie hamburger taste like?

I actually asked AMC this, though they weren’t able to respond before press time. I imagine it tastes like sweet, salty death.

Does Rick reload his gun by putting it in his holster, like in an arcade game?

Far be it from me to ask questions of the weapons experts at Walking Dead, but based on how he would fire several times, stick his gun into his holster, then take it out seemingly fully loaded, I would say yes.

Did Negan just beat Rick?

I mean… Kind of? First Negan absolutely gaslights Rick over the death of his own son. “I am sorry,” Negan says before continuing, “You know I wanted him to be part of things. I had plans. That kid… That kid [was] the future.” Which is about as messed up as you can get, you think, until Negan follows this up by saying, “Why are you making this so hard? Carl is dead because of you, because you couldn’t leave shit well enough alone.”

And from Rick’s perspective, Negan is right? We the audience know he’s crazy, and he thinks he’s saving people when he’s really ruling or killing them? But have you ever seen such a psychologically vicious own in the history of The Walking Dead? Yeah, Rick swears he’s gonna kill Negan, but that’s part of the point: his son died, Negan correctly points out that Rick blames himself, and has betrayed everything that Carl stood for — from any perspective.

That is messed up, and Rick is going to have to do some serious searching to see if he can ever come back from this. I think he can, because I’ve seen a few movies and TV shows. But oh man. Burn, Negan. Burn.

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