The Walking Dead recap: 'The Other Side'

Before we dive in, can we talk about Jesus for a second? The sexuality of Hilltop’s parkour warrior is known in the comics, but the show hadn’t addressed that aspect of the character’s personal life until now. Actor Tom Payne promised “he is the same as he is the comic books in that regard,” but he revealed more recently to Out magazine: “I was excited to first establish Jesus as a kick-ass ninja, then have the fact that he happens to be gay dropped in later. The way it’s done is subtle. It’s a small moment.”

The moment was indeed subtle, but unmissable: Sitting on a stoop with Maggie, Jesus mentions his life before the outbreak. “When I was first here [at Hilltop], I was never here,” he says. “I always found it hard getting close to anyone: neighbors, friends,” pausing before adding, “boyfriends.” Maggie responds with a warm smile, and that’s that.

It’s a rare, touching demonstration of their relationship, and one of the few from this week’s episode, which proved to be a somewhat frustrating hour.

A wordless montage shows the Hilltop colony training for a fight, Daryl closing himself off from his family, Maggie forming a stronger bond with Enid, Sasha planning for an attack on The Saviors, Gregory drinking to dull his own frustrations, and a recap of Rosita approaching Sasha at Abraham’s grave.

After overhearing Jesus’ conversation with Maggie, Sasha tries sneaking into the trailer to grab bullets hidden in a book. Jesus and Enid walk in and catch her doing it but offer them freely. Jesus again tries to convince her to not go after Negan in this way, which is perhaps one of my biggest gripes with Sasha. Why does she think she and Rosita can solve the Negan problem as a two-person army, while the group continues amassing forces? Has she even considered the fact that another Savior might step into Negan’s shoes, should their assassination plot pan out? Every solo act of aggression towards Negan has failed, leaving a trail of bodies as a reminder. Why do they think their plan will now succeed?

Sasha somehow convinces herself that she is no longer needed to secure the future of Hilltop, but everyone else is. What Jesus should’ve told her was, “You are needed — you helped protect Hilltop from the rampant walkers, you supported Maggie when she lost Glenn, you’ve been training everyone to fight back, and you ensured Rick and the others’ survival along the way. So, if you’re determined to go, don’t let that be your excuse.” Maybe then she’d face some deeper revelation. But, instead, he gave the equivalent of, “Well, I can’t stop you.” At the very least, they tell her to give Maggie a head’s up before she leaves, but a surprise arrival from Simon leaves her scrambling to slip out and Maggie and Daryl rushing into the basement to hide.

As Simon explains his visit should be a quick one, Sasha and Rosita go off to hot-wire a car, but their brief stretch of peace is interrupted by the sight of Sasha’s necklace. Rosita mentions she made it for Abraham, who then pawned it off to his new flame. This unfairly paints Abraham as the bad guy. Yes, it was a bad move on his part to gift something so specific and sentimental, but he’s gotten the short end of the stick; his death is practically a blip on the radar compared to the lasting impact of Glenn’s loss.

The pair resolve to only speak to each other if it pertains to the mission, so Sasha proposes they should attempt a long-distance kill on the off chance they can make it out of there alive — which is perhaps the first smart thing either of them have offered up on their suicide mission thus far. She offers another poignant dose of reality when she’s arguing with Rosita, who’s continuing her anger rampage: Maybe if she stops fighting everyone for a moment, she’ll consider the possibility there’s a more agreeable way to get what she wants.

Back at Hilltop, Enid can’t keep the promise she made to prevent The Saviors from wandering into Daryl and Maggie’s hiding place. So, one of them ends up walking down into the basement to grab more supplies he surely doesn’t need. Just as it seems he’s about to catch them, the episode breaks into a commercial to further tease the end result, which is that Maggie holds Daryl back from killing this unfortunate soul and they live to plot another day. Daryl’s moment with Maggie hit me hard as that rugged crossbow avenger broke down over Glenn’s death.

NEXT: Sasha’s unexpected move

Simon, meanwhile, reveals he’s there to take Dr. Carson (Maggie’s doctor and the brother of the doc who got burned alive a couple episodes ago) back to serve Negan at The Sanctuary. But he’s not leaving them high and dry: He drops off a massive crate filled with Aspirin. Gregory makes a bold move by bringing Simon to a secluded spot by the wall to bargain for their only medical expert. However, he nearly slips the fact that he might be overthrown by his own people. Simon offers to take care of that problem should it ever arise.

I’ve come to expect most of these Savior visits to be less stressful than they appear to be — unless they involve The Kingdom. Richard’s and now Morgan’s rage have revealed themselves in ways that heighten the tension. People across Hilltop and Alexandria are equally fed up with the regime. If they further poked the bear in subtle ways, it would produce the dread of, “Will Negan find out Rick’s plan? Will someone slip and bring about a preemptive brawl?” That hasn’t happened beyond The Kingdom since the coup was devised.

We soon get another rare, heartfelt confessional between Sasha and Rosita after the two find a car and stake themselves out in a building overlooking the entrance to The Sanctuary, where they spot Eugene ordering people around. Having been a brooding ball of rage for the past few episodes, we get a peek at Rosita’s past before the outbreak. She passed herself from guy to guy, learning their trades and then breaking things off when she outgrew them, which accounts for her unique set of skills. But when she met Abraham, she saw someone who considered her with the same regard. So when he broke things off, she turned her aggression to Sasha when she really was upset that he moved on before her. A moment like this was needed for Rosita, who’s been frustrating to watch for some time as she makes reckless decision after reckless decision. But now we have an idea why.

When they hear cars driving up, they position for Negan’s arrival. They watch as he comes out to greet his new addition, Dr. Carson, but Sasha can’t get a clean shot. So when they hear Eugene over the walkie saying Negan will be “indisposed in the boudoir,” they decide to infiltrate beyond the fence — a decision that will likely lead to one or both of their deaths.

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At Hilltop, Gregory is taking the Eugene route: Mistaking Simon’s offer as an act of genuine friendship, he commands Jesus to kick out the newbies from his trailer and put them to work, threatening to tattle on them to The Saviors should they revolt. Sooner or later, someone’s going to have to kill this man. Let’s hope it’s sooner.

Before Jesus leaves the mansion, Daryl storms in asking about Sasha and Rosita. Speaking of the devils, they rush up to the fence when Eugene is outside and try to rescue him, but he doesn’t want to leave and instead hurries back inside. After a few expletives at his betrayal, Rosita cuts away the fence. Sasha tells her to keep a look out as she pries it open the rest of the way, but instead she slips through herself and locks Rosita outside.

I get that Sonequa Martin-Green now has a role on Star Trek: Discovery, so she was probably gonna die anyway. But this move seemed cheap, and I didn’t buy it. By all accounts, she seemed like she wanted to live. She first offered the option of sniping Negan from a distance, then asked Rosita to teach her how to tie knots just in case it came in handy, but she always had Rosita in this with her as backup. I also still don’t see how she felt she wasn’t needed by anyone. If she truly felt that way, she could’ve been given more screen time to unravel that — maybe instead of watching Tara’s Oceanside excursion for an entire episode.

There’s a glimmer of hope, though, that she may live at least a bit longer. As Rosita rushes off in tears over the thought of Sasha’s presumed fate, she sees the shadow of Daryl, standing in the dark with his crossbow. With only a few episodes left, we’re on the brink of another blowout.