For a full recap of the episode, visit The Walking Dead Wiki here. This article is a review of the episode in which specific details and events are discussed. SPOILERS may occur, so read at your own risk.
Thank the undead gods for Jeffrey Dean Morgan. His casting as Negan has been a big reason to look forward to this season of The Walking Dead. His villainy has been incredibly blunt and melodramatic up until now. This is the first time that Negan has felt insidious, manipulative, and actually scary. Granted, a big part of that comes during a scene where he’s imposing his will upon a group of women. That adds another layer of disturbing to all the proceedings.
But, even with an engaging performance, “Sing Me a Song” still has the feel of a wheel spinning episode. That’s a bummer because it certainly doesn’t start out that way. Carl killing two of Negan’s men? Excellent! It feels like the conflict is finally coming into play and… oh. Time to just strut around the Sanctuary and remind the audience how powerful Negan is. It’s a great opportunity to gain insight into Negan and that’s definitely welcome. However, it keeps the actual narrative drive at a standstill. Even Daryl doesn’t get much different to do. The show seems stuck in a quagmire of uncertainty.
It’s easy to see that this episode was meant to make us even more scared of Negan and it succeeds. I’ve lamented that they haven’t made Negan properly terrifying and this episode rectified that. Again, it’s unfortunate that a lot of that character building came at the cost of threatening women, but it’s effective in creating a despicable character. And as much as fans love him, Negan is supposed to be vile and hated. This episode did a good job of reminding us that. Everything else? A pretty standard season seven slog.
Best Moments of the Episode:
- Michonne whistling “The Farmer and the Dell” to lure the walkers out. Undeniably cool.
- Negan’s talk with Amber. This is the most menacing Negan has ever been in the show.
- Gore gag of the week doesn’t go to a zombie! Carl’s eye wins that coveted prize. Though Mark’s face ironing is a good second.
- “A baseball bat doesn’t have a p***y!” A rare moment of hilarity in this show, even if it is vulgar and tinged with malice.
- OK, Negan kissing Judith was way scarier than him bashing anyone’s brains in.
