Spoilers for The Walking Dead's latest episode are below, so be warned.
Two of the characters who have suffered the most in The Walking Dead Season 7 have been Daryl Dixon and Maggie Rhee, née Greene. Daryl was already in rough shape in the Season 7 premiere due to a gunshot wound, and spending a chunk of episodes wallowing naked in squalor after watching Glenn being beaten to death because of his actions didn't help. For her part, Maggie was desperately ill and suffering complications from her pregnancy and reeling from the death of her husband. The two ended up stuck in Hilltop together, and "The Other Side" trapped them in a cellar together, leading to an incredibly cathartic exchange about poor Glenn:
Daryl: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.Maggie: It wasn't your fault.Daryl: It was.Maggie: No. It wasn't. You're one of the good things in this world. That's what Glenn thought. And he would know, because he was one of the good things, too. And, uh, I wanted to kill that guy, too. I wanted to string them all up and watch them die. But we have to win. Help me win.
Oh, Glenn. You've been dead for months, but you still manage to work as the moral compass in the zombie apocalypse. In the grand tradition of Daryl bonding with Greene sisters, he was pretty much still the surly guy with the chip on his shoulder and hair in his face until he was trapped and forced into an emotional breakthrough. He broke down into tears as he apologized, and kudos to Maggie for giving him the hug he clearly needed to get his head on straight again. She has shown a great deal of strength in Season 7, and absolving Daryl of his role in Glenn's death and embracing him is more than most could manage in the zombie apocalypse.
Of course, Daryl did need to be corrected at least a little bit on the Glenn front. As much as he was the immediate cause for Negan to flip out and beat Glenn to death, everything we've seen of Negan has indicated that it was only a matter of time before he snapped and made an example of another Alexandrian. If it wasn't going to be Glenn because Daryl acted out, it was going to be somebody else in that clearing in the Season 7 premiere. It was rotten luck for Glenn - and Maggie, really - that Negan picked Glenn, but Daryl couldn't have known at that point what would happen. If anything, he would have expected that Negan would beat the stuffing out of him rather than one of the others.
Hopefully, Maggie and Daryl's basement conversation will allow both of them to move forward in their fight against the Saviors. Neither of them was operating at full capacity in Hilltop; they may be able to produce some epic results now that they've cleared the air, hugged it out, and gotten back on the same page. Something tells me that Glenn would be very proud. I know the catharsis of their chat did me good as a viewer; I can only hope that it will help them work together to find a way to avenge Glenn and defeat the Saviors.
You can catch new episodes of The Walking Dead on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. A lot happened this week, what with one character subtly coming out and another possibly making a huge sacrifice, so be sure to tune in to see what happens next. Check out our midseason premiere schedule and our summer premiere guide for a look at all your other viewing options now and in the not-too-distant future.
