The Walking Dead Review: Hostiles and Calamities (Season 7 Episode 11)

We return to the Sanctuary on The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 11, “Hostiles and Calamities,” and while it’s still awful there, it’s a little more bearable than before.

With Negan’s return comes a certain tension that always seems to be present in scenes at the Sanctuary, but things don’t feel quite as hopeless as they did in the first half of Season 7.

Of course, Negan is still Negan, so early on “Hostiles and Calamities,” there’s a scene where some Saviors beat up Dwight — although the camera angle doesn’t actually show Dwight as he’s being beaten, and the scene quickly segues into the opening credits.

Later, Negan threatens to burn the doctor’s face and ends up shoving him into the furnace. We hear his agonized screams and see his torso burning as his legs hang there.

It sounds harsh, but this is actually an improvement from some of the gratuitous violence that occurred in the first half of Season 7. At this point, we’re well aware of how terrible Negan is, and he can still do terrible things without forcing the viewers to watch gory, disgusting scenes.

Part of the lack of hopelessness is also the fact that Eugene isn’t thrown into a dark cell like Daryl was. Eugene gets a cozy room with video games and books, and he’s even gifted a jar of pickles. Negan opts for manipulation with Eugene, and while it’s still troubling and stressful, it’s a hell of a lot easier to watch than Daryl’s torment and torture from “The Cell.”

By the end of the episode, it’s hard to tell if Eugene is genuinely joining the Saviors for his own safety or if he’s faking his allegiance in an attempt to infiltrate them.

He’s been a coward in the past, and if there ever was a time for him to go back to his old ways, it’s now, but he has grown significantly braver over the years. He was so close to Abraham, and his death might just be the thing that could give Eugene the courage to take Negan down from the inside.

Dwight, meanwhile, has lost one of the only people connecting him to his life before Negan — his wife (or, sort of, ex-wife), Sherry, who bolted after helping Daryl escape.

(Sherry conveniently disappears in a way that allows the possibility for her to return, since actress Christine Evangelista is now the lead in E!’s The Arrangement — much like how Heath disappeared after actor Corey Hawkins landed the starring role in FOX’s 24: Legacy.)

We haven’t spent a whole lot of time with Dwight, but the episode still manages to make you feel for him as he reads Sherry’s farewell letter, in which she says she loved the man Dwight used to be and apologizes for turning him into the man he is now.

The letter could have easily been cheesy or a bit too much for a character we don’t know that well, but instead it’s an emotional scene that should help viewers connect with Dwight a little more. It obviously doesn’t compare to, say, the previous episode’s Daryl-Carol reunion, but it does tug at your heartstrings a little.

Like Eugene, it’s hard to read Dwight at the end of this episode. This turn of events could possibly result in a downward spiral with Dwight becoming even more heartless and violent, or it could inspire Dwight to turn on Negan and escape the life that Sherry said was a fate worse than death.

The episode ends with Eugene — who seems to guess that Dwight lied to Negan about Shelly and the doctor — telling Dwight, “I am [on board]. Just like you … We are Negan.”

Whether that statement is genuine or part of a cover or a subtle attempt by Eugene to let Dwight know they’re on the same side (that is, not Negan’s side) remains to be seen.

But overall “Hostiles and Calamities” provides some interesting developments for the second half of the season without getting bogged down by Negan’s violence and terror.

What did you think of “Hostiles and Calamities”? Do you think Eugene is truly “100 percent Negan”? Share with us in the comments below!

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The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

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