- Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for "The Walking Dead," season 10, episode 11, "Morning Star."
- Sunday's episode brought the long-coming war between the survivors and the Whisperers.
- It unexpectedly referenced one of the show's darkest moments from the season six finale and season seven premiere where Negan killed two fan-favorites.
- Episode director Michael Satrazemis told Insider that was intentional, forcing Daryl to play through a friend's death he has held himself responsible for.
- It prompts an important do-over not only for Daryl, but for the series. Many fans walked away from the show after the season seven premiere.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Sunday's episode of "The Walking Dead," sees Daryl, Aaron, Ezekiel, Carol, and more prepare to go to war with Alpha, Negan, and the Whisperer horde.
It also may have felt like déjà vu as the episode made some subtle (and not so subtle) references to the show's season six finale and controversial season seven premiere. Back then Negan boxed Rick's group in by blocking off roadways before violently beating Abraham and Glenn to death with a baseball bat.
On Sunday's episode, Daryl, tries to head to Oceanside for backup and to get the kids safely away from impending battle at the Hilltop. But he can't. One of the roads is blocked by a downed tree. One of their own is hanging dead. He's seen this before.
He quickly deduces one of his worst fears: Negan, after escaping Alexandria, is working with Alpha. He immediately knows it's pointless to try and travel any other roads. He's been through this before. He knows they'll be blocked, too.
"Yes, it's intentional," Michael Starazemis, who directed Sunday's episode of "The Walking Dead," told Insider of the nods to the season six finale and season seven opener. "We know that that's fresh in Daryl's mind. He's playing through it."
He knows that last time, this led to the death of two prominent group members. An outburst from him caused the death of fan-favorite Glenn. For a long time, Daryl held himself responsible for that loss. He almost shut himself off and barely said much on the show for a seasons seven and eight.
As the episode continues, there's a moment where the camera lingers over portraits of some of the prominent "Walking Dead" characters who they've lost along the way. The camera lingers on Glenn's portrait the longest. Before the battle begins at the episode's end, Daryl is also seen overlooking the graves at the Hilltop. Glenn is buried among them.
Instead of letting things play out the way they did last time, Daryl steps up as if to say, "Not again." He patches things up with Carol as best he can. He makes peace with Ezekiel. He comes up with a contingency plan to get the kids out if something goes wrong.
Daryl knows he may not be able to make up for the past, but he can at least fight to protect the future his friend and brother Rick Grimes built.
"When he mentions, 'It's Negan,' I think he's choosing to fight to the finish. They all are," said Satrazemis. "Some of the most beautiful moments of the episode are all leading up to that fifth act, with everybody saying goodbye, and trying to resolve a lot of their past complications."
The importance of referencing the season six finale: A do-over
For Daryl, this is a do-over.
It also feels like a bit of a do-over for "The Walking Dead."
When the show introduced Negan on the show, it was supposed to turn into a huge moment for the series. Instead, after 17 million tuned in for the premiere, only 12.5 million showed up for the following episode after Abraham and Glenn were killed. Viewership again dropped to 6.8 million after Carl died on season eight.
It's no secret the season seven premiere was the impetus for a lot of viewers turning away from the show. They were upset with the brutal deaths of two big characters and by the series becoming more or less "the Negan show." Even former star Michael Cudlitz has said the series probably shouldn't have killed off both characters in one episode.
By channeling that controversial moment on Sunday's episode, it looks like "The Walking Dead" is trying to make up for some of the ways it did wrong by fans all those years ago. Since taking over as showrunner, Angela Kang has defied the odds and succeeded at turning around the show by bringing the series back to its roots and making it more of an ensemble series despite losing some of the show's biggest stars.
"I love how Angela has designed this season," said Satrazemis. "There's so many internal complications. It's neat. All of the characters, and I think they all build to this point, and those middle three acts are really everybody realizing that they need to do this now. They need to try to quickly resolve everything. They're going to fight to the finish. And I think it became very poetic and beautiful because of it."
Over and over again, Kang hasn't been afraid to pull the trigger on a big series moment before the finale. The Whisperers killed 10 characters off ahead of a finale. (The deaths felt a bit watered down, and that may have been because the series was afraid of driving away more fans after the season seven opener.) More recently, Kang flipped the script by changing up a fan favorite from the comics into a spy for the enemy, a secret which the actor playing the character didn't even know until he walked onto set. It became the show's best twists in years.
If anyone's going to be successful in any sort of "do-over," it's Kang.
"It feels like a season ender," said Satrazemis of the action that happens on "Morning Star." The episode was so big, and it kind of leaves you in a spot. It felt like it could have been a season ender."
The only problem is it may be a few too many years outside of the gory season seven opener, which upset many, for any sort of redemption for those who dropped off years ago.
How Daryl and the others may avoid the same fate of years ago: Negan
Though Daryl thinks he's living through his worst nightmare, there's one important piece of information we don't know yet. Daryl believes Negan is working with Alpha. Alpha believes Negan is working with her and the Whisperers.
But where do Negan's allegiances really lie?
On Sunday's episode, Daryl, Ezekiel, Carol, Judith, and more are trapped at the Hilltop. We've seen in the past how much Negan cares for Rick's daughter Judith. He braved his survival in a snowstorm to save her. We're not convinced he would knowingly attack and harm those at the Hilltop if he knew Judith was among them.
Something tells us he may just be playing along until the moment is right to take Alpha and or Beta out. You may have missed it on Sunday's episode, but Negan even has a baseball bat in tow, which he very well could use again, but for a sense of good this time. Just as Dante fooled the people of Alexandria as a Whisperer spy, Negan very well may be doing the same for the people he wronged long ago.
Does everyone want to see the man who murdered two of their favorite characters as some sort of hero, though? Maybe if he dies and tries to go out as one.
But we'll have to wait until next week to see how that plays out. "The Walking Dead" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
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