This episode didn't do much to win me back over...I'll keep watching for now as I have years invested in this show. But anymore I'm just watching it to make fun of it, it seems.
I love Jeffrey Dean Morgan but his performance as Negan is garbage. The best villain on this show is Simon (played by Steven Ogg). I'd have rather seen him as Negan.
So they have the place surrounded while Negan and his top men stand outside with no cover...why doesn't someone just pop them all with a rifle? Instead we get a few minutes of Negan's usual schtick - the over the top line deliveries, with stupid dramatic pauses, emphasizing certain words in each sentence (each emphasized word coming with the typical Negan "lean back, arms spread, Lucille in one hand).
I hope they don't go the route of the comic and spoilers:end of spoilers
keep Negan alive. Negan should have been a source of great story arcs and great injection of energy into the show...but it's really killed any momentum. I guess he doesn't translate to the screen very well...or maybe it's just the way he's chosen to play it, and nobody has told him (no show-runner/director/producer) to tone it down a bit.
I think we're at the point where AMC should seriously consider going to war here and ending the series, but they don't want to kill this cash cow. They should have massive casualties and have the survivors "move on" at the end towards something new...which is left to the imagination of the viewers. Or end it with Maggie having her baby...a sign of new hope.
They will probably string this along through 12 seasons, though, because people want to see Daryl ride his bike and shoot crap.