‘The Walking Dead’ Season 8, Episode 15: “Worth”

Warning: This review may contain spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of The Walking Dead.

“Worth” surprisingly isn’t terrible. In fact, it might be one of the better episodes this season. There’s solid acting, interesting writing, and some moments that leave you wondering what’ll happen next. It wasn’t perfect though. While this episode may have been good, it felt like they saved the resolution for every interesting plot point they had for this one episode. It seemed like they were in a rush to finish some character arcs before the finale, instead of pacing it out in previous, more boring episodes.

To kick things off, we say goodbye to everyone’s favorite GTA V character, Simon, in “Worth”. It’s a shame he was killed, but it’s okay because it’s satisfying. Whoever wrote Gavin’s death earlier in the season should take notes. Negan and Simon have a little fist fight that’s been building for awhile now. It’s nothing new as we’ve seen two characters duke it out before, but we actually see someone die when Negan quietly breaks Simon’s neck. And yes, it’s satisfying to watch, but everyone knew Negan was going to win. It’s not the finale yet, so the stakes weren’t that high during the fight. The only thing that could’ve made it better is if Negan used Lucille to kill Simon.

Dwight’s arc this episode is by far the most interesting, because it’s also secretly Negan’s arc too. Negan has a (fake) plan to surround the Hilltop, Dwight steals the plans and helps Gregory escape with them. After Simon is killed we see Negan promote Dwight, and the Dwight tells Negan he’ll happily help the Saviors deal with Rick. Negan then explains that he’s already helped with that. It was such an “oh crap” moment that was truly suspenseful. We see Dwight open his room and lo and behold, there’s Laura—the woman Dwight failed to kill. It’s so intriguing to see if Negan would kill both Simon and Dwight in the same episode. In the end, we see Negan explain to Dwight how he double-crossed the double-crosser, but decides to let him live. There are so many layers to this episode it’s honestly shocking. Where was this level of creativity for the last ten episodes?

But the resolutions don’t stop there. We finally get to see what was in the letter Carl wrote to Negan. Michonne reads it to him out of respect for the now deceased kid. That was nice to see, and of course Negan thinks it’s too far gone for peace. At the very end of the episode Negan stomps on his walkie talkie and that seemed wasteful. I understand that he doesn’t want to talk anymore, but he couldn’t just turn it off or take out the batteries? It’s a small thing, but something that doesn’t make that much sense.

The last resolution is more of a pseudo-resolution. Eugene is seemingly rescued by Rosita and Daryl, only to be told he’d be held prisoner by his former friends. This only lasts a short time, and Eugene quickly escapes by (disgustingly) throwing up on Rosita. Eugene reunites with people from Alexandria but it’s short lived, and he quickly returns to the Sanctuary to make more bullets.

At the end of the day, this is one of the better episodes this season has put out. And, while it’s nice to see so many plot points come to a close, it was clear that the writers were scrambling to wrap up most of the arcs before the season finale. Will Rick and Negan find peace? Will Dwight find sanctuary with Rick or will he be killed in the process? Can Eugene ever be redeemed? Hopefully we’ll find out soon.