The Walking Dead Review: Sing Me A Song (Season 7 Episode 7)
The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 7, “Sing Me a Song,” is the second-to-last episode before the end of Season 7A a.k.a. the half-season where almost nothing happened for seven solid episodes.
“Sing Me a Song” is another supersized episode, and it uses the extra minutes for a bunch of short subplots, a tour of sorts of Negan’s compound, and lots and lots of Negan being terrible.
It’s become a pattern with Season 7, but once again, everything on this episode just feels like set-up to something bigger.
With the midseason finale coming up, let’s break down all the pieces this episode put into place and how they could play out in the next episode.
Negan
Welcome to Negan’s compound, where the rules are made up by Negan (and strictly enforced), and the points are literally essential to your survival.
We got to see some of the compound through Dwight and Daryl’s eyes in “The Cell,” but thanks to Carl, we get an actual tour this time.
What does this tour accomplish?
For one, It gives Negan and Carl some weird sort of bonding time. It’s hard to tell if Negan is ever being genuine with him or not. Does he actually feel kind of bad for making fun of Carl’s eye or is he using faux sympathy as manipulation and psychological torture?
After the tour, he and Carl go back to Alexandria. Although they did bring Saviors with them, Negan’s still off his home turf, which could be used as a weakness.
And, if he does feel some sort of connection to Carl, that may affect some of his decisions about what to do with the Alexandrians. But whether that’s good or bad for Carl and everyone else remains to be seen.
Dwight and Sherry
The tour of the compound also expands on how much Negan torments Dwight about Sherry, despite calling Dwight one of his best men, and it shows a bit of Sherry’s defiance against Negan.
Dwight and Sherry have both settled into their lives under Negan’s thumb, but “Sing Me A Song” reveals some cracks in their facades that could be exploited to convince them to turn against Negan.
Based on the handwriting alone, it seems likely that Sherry is the one who is urging Daryl to escape, and maybe she’ll be able to convince Dwight to let him go or even help him.
Aaron and Rick
Aaron and Rick’s scenes are so few and so brief in this episode that to justify their existence at all, they must have stumbled upon the motherlode of all hauls, including some weapons.
With Negan in their territory, if they are able to return to Alexandria with a new cache of guns, they might be able to figure out how to get the upper hand — if not now, then at some point down the road.
Rosita
Even though it’s no haul, Rosita has her one bullet for Negan, but she’s also going to be facing him with Eugene’s “slow your roll” warning in her head.
It’s a sad scene to watch, since Eugene has come so far in the past few seasons, and Rosita just knocks him back down because she knows she can get him to do what she wants by crushing his confidence.
Maybe Eugene’s warning, and her twinge of guilt for being so cruel to him, will make her consider saving her bullet for a more opportune moment.
Michonne
Michonne is too smart for this storyline.
Going on her own “I’m Going To Go Kill Negan Myself” mission? Sure. But being driven by emotion wouldn’t necessarily make her as reckless as Rosita or Carl. This particular plan just seems like the writers needed a way to get Michonne to the compound or a way to get her off on her own.
Michonne knows how loyal Negan’s people tend to be. This woman could be willing to sacrifice herself to protect Negan and/or kill Michonne. Or she could just easily lead Michonne into a trap.
Still, if she does wind up at the compound, she could end up helping Daryl escape.
There are a few other pieces to consider, too. We haven’t seen the Kingdom since its first appearance. We don’t know if the Hilltop will factor into anything happening in Alexandria.
There’s also Jesus, who either parkoured off Negan’s truck and is somewhere at the compound where he could help Daryl escape, or parkoured into/under the truck and is back at Alexandria, where he could help fight Saviors.
While there are certainly a lot of elements that have the potential to combine for a great midseason finale, it’s hard to imagine that it will be that explosive of an episode, at least not compared to previous Walking Dead midseason finales.
Big deaths, big action sequences, high stakes are what we’ve come to expect, but considering how badly fans were burned from the last Walking Dead season finale, going into the Season 7 midseason finale with low expectations seems like a good idea.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- Chandler Riggs gives a great performance in this episode — trying not to cry over his eye in front of Negan, the “You Are My Sunshine” scene, even telling Negan to jump out a window. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a formidable scene partner on this show, and Riggs definitely holds his own opposite him.
- Did anyone else think Michonne was going to go back to her old ways and chop off those two Walkers’ jaws and arms?
- It’s either a good haul in that trailer Rick and Aaron found or it’s Salazar Slytherin’s locket.
- The ending is so abrupt that I legitimately thought there was an error with my video player that made it suddenly, randomly jump to the end credits.
What did you think of “Sing Me A Song”? What are your hopes for the midseason finale? Share with us in the comments below!
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The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.
Katie Houlis
Katie is a recent college graduate who spent most of her free time at school binge-watching shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fringe, and Hannibal. She has watched every single episode of Lost at least ten times each (yes, even “Stranger In A Strange Land”). Current favorites include a bunch of comedies, lots of superhero shows, and a few shows with quite a bit of murder in them.