Review of The Walking Dead: Season Seven, Episode Four: “Service”

Review of The Walking Dead: Season Seven, Episode Four: “Service”

Chris Chalker, Staff Writer

A major bombshell was dropped in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead and right now we are going to dig back through the 90 minute episode that aired last Sunday, titled “Service,” which served as the fourth episode of season seven. So what exactly happened on “Service”?

(Major spoilers ahead! If you have not seen The Walking Dead season seven, episode four “Service” or do not want it to be spoiled, stop reading! You have been warned!)

Just a few days after Negan brutally murdered Sergeant Abraham Ford and Glenn Rhee with his barbed wire wrapped baseball bat, Lucille, Negan and his forces show up early to Alexandria for their supplies.

What was in store for us as viewers in the 90 minute episode? Quite a lot.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room…

The truth of Judith’s heritage

“She’s my daughter and I love her. But she’s  not mine.”

Rick dropped the truth bomb on us, revealing who is really Judith’s father.

After Michonne flips out on Rick for submitting to Negan and the Saviors, Rick tries to justify his actions.

Rick starts to tell Michonne what he’s been through, that his wife Lori slept with his best friend Shane. He then goes on to say that Judith is not his biological daughter, that she is Shane’s. Fans have speculated who Judith’s real father is for a long time now and the reveal has finally been made. Shane is Judith’s biological father.

Michonne is working on her shooting

“What’s the importance of this?” you may ask. Well, Michonne is not very good at shooting, as we can clearly tell in this episode. Her working on her shooting is actually a good thing. Fans of the comic series know that Rick originally ended up with Andrea, but ultimately, in the tv series, it didn’t work out that way as Andrea died in season three; but in the comics, Andrea is a good shot, the importance of Michonne working on her shooting is pretty big if it is headed where some people think it may be, meaning Michonne will end up like Andrea and become a great shot, which will help the group take Negan and the Saviors down.

Wait… did Daryl and Rick use Morse code?

Although Negan would not allow Rick and Daryl to talk, it looks like Rick and Daryl outsmarted the leader of the Saviors. If this theory is right, then what Daryl says is important. From what we can gather from the episode itself. There is an American morse code sign in Rick and Michonne’s house. It is possible that Daryl, being as resourceful as he is, learned morse code this way. If so, then who else knows morse code? From the looks of it, Father Gabriel Stokes might have actually picked up on it, as when he is with Rick by the graveyard, he brushes his pant leg, which may not seem significant, but given that nothing is as it seems on The Walking Dead, he very well may be signaling something to Rick. So where does Daryl come into this? Daryl blinks quite a few times, Rick notices this and he nods, which is strange. While his blinking may be because of how long he has been in that cell and the sunlight is affecting him, it seems more deliberate. When translated, it seems like Daryl is telling Rick “I-E-A-S-T”, or “East”, which could mean Daryl is trying to tell them where Negan’s Sanctuary is located, just east of Alexandria.

Maggie’s grave

Last Negan knew, Maggie Greene was just a grieving widow who had just lost her husband, Glenn Rhee, thanks, in part, to Daryl Dixon after he lashed out at Negan, who was taunting Rosita Espinosa, also largely due to Negan himself and his trusty bat, Lucille. Negan now thinks that Maggie is dead, both Gabriel and Rick played it up like she was, although they later confirmed that she is alive, but wouldn’t tell Negan that. Gabriel said he dug the grave knowing it would stay empty, but is there something in there? Negan does take the groups guns and other supplies and Rick seemed ok with that, so it’s not farfetched to say that they filled her grave with weapons, ammo, medicines, whatever they need.

Glenn and Abraham were buried

Alongside the empty Maggie’s grave, there are two more Graves that were dug. Rick and Gabriel Stokes bring Negan to them after Negan asks what became of Maggie. After the events of “Last Day on Earth”  (season six finale) and “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” (season seven premiere), Negan killed Abraham Ford, shortly after this, he was followed to the afterlife by Glenn Rhee. We watched as a teary eyed Eugene Porter, Rosita Espinosa, and Sasha Williams all take away Abraham’s body and we watched Aaron, Rick and Carl Grimes, Michonne, and

Rick threatens Spencer

“So I guess Glenn and Abraham were lucky too”

Spencer Monroe is the son of Deanna, who died last season. He’s not very important but  his actions in this episode are key. Spencer brought some guns, food, alcohol, etc. And hid them in his house under some floorboards. Rick later finds them and confronts Spencer on it later. After Spencer runs his mouth, Rick delivers a threat to him, along the lines of “if you talk to me like that again. I’ll break your jaw.” In the comics, Negan kills Spencer after he bad mouths Rick, so this may be coming up

Spencer almost costs Olivia her life

Olivia is the woman in charge of the armory and throughout this episode, Olivia’s life is put in danger by none other than, Spencer Monroe. Spencer hiding those guns proves to Negan that “someone is not a team player”. Negan threatened to kill Olivia unless the two missing guns from the armory are turned over to him. Eventually, Rick finds them and turns them over to Negan, but Olivia almost died because of Spencer. Not cool dude.