If you didn’t like episode 3, I don’t know what to say to you. You can even call episode 3 the best episode in the season so far from the opening scene alone. Except the parts with the kids playing cards and eating the horse meat, I found there was no filler in this episode. They even made a great episode with little to no Daryl, since we learned that he was captured by the Reapers after the opening scene, because of the episode 4 promo we got at the end of the episode. I believe episode 3 was an important episode for Maggie and Negan’s relationship going forward. She had to make a difficult choice with someone at the end of the episode and I believe that she made the right decision. I think that Negan thought that too. With all that being said, I give episode 3 “Hunted” a 9 out of 10 for the gore, blood, and fear that the Reapers caused and the Maggie and Negan storyline coming together…
If you know Maggie, she’s lost everyone and the kitchen sink. A rule should be, never get close to Maggie because everyone that she cares about usually dies. To name a few, she’s lost Beth, Glenn, Sasha, Hershel, Jesus, and now Cole, Elijah, Duncan, and Agatha. She has lost almost all of her group (the Wardens). To make matters worse, she had to put down Duncan herself and see Agatha die from a group of walkers. Cole and Elijah died in the opening scene by the Reapers. Not going to pat myself on the back, but I called Cole dying in this episode in my episode 3 predictions article on this website! Maggie was being hunted by the Reapers throughout this episode, until she found Negan and Alden in an abandoned warehouse. Alden got stabbed pretty bad in the stomach, which will come into play later, and Maggie was still tense with Negan throughout this whole episode. Negan saved Maggie twice. He saved her from a Reaper in the warehouse and pulling Maggie away from the group of walkers that got Agatha. Also another side point, the walker bite on the arm in the trailer wasn’t someone big. It was just Agatha when she got swarmed by the walkers. Feeling lost, Maggie has no other choice other than go with Negan because he is the only one still left to get to the Meridian.
Like I said above, Alden got stabbed in the stomach pretty bad by the Reapers and as a result, his mobility was limited throughout the episode. He killed some walkers, which was pretty badass, but Negan or Maggie had to help him walk at all times. Alden, Maggie, and Negan saw an abandoned church and saw to go inside for shelter to help Alden rest. At the church, Maggie was put in a difficult choice. Alden kept Maggie to kill him because he was slowing them down. Even Negan was kind of on board but Maggie shut that down real quick. She even told Negan that it was easy for him to kill people because of his days as the Saviors leader and killing Glenn and Abraham in season 7. Since Maggie is still in charge, Maggie had to choose if she should kill Alden or keep him on the route to the Meridian. Maggie ultimately chose to keep Alden at the church, while Negan and Maggie go off to complete the mission. Negan even gave Alden his knife to help him protect himself while he was alone in the church. Alden trusts Maggie to always make the right decision. We even learn this is why Alden left Negan to join Maggie in the first place. I believe that Maggie made the right decision by leaving Alden alive in the church. I have no idea if Alden is going to survive or not. I hope he survives, but knowing Maggie’s luck, Alden will probably be a walker when they go back to the church to go get him. With Alden out of the picture, it is now Negan and Maggie alone with only each other and have to learn how to trust each other to survive.
The other storyline in this episode was Carol, Rosita, Kelly, and Magna tracking their abandoned horses so Alexandra can transport goods and stuff for the wall. They brought back four horses, but Carol had a plan for one horse. She ended up killing a horse for food for Alexandra. She was visibly upset from doing it and Aaron walked into the barn while she was doing it. Magna even saw the blood on her hands while Carol was washing them later. You know they used it for meat because the kids were “complaining” that the meat didn’t taste good. The thing to takeaway from this story is that Carol is leading Kelly to believe that Connie is still alive. As a viewer, we know that Connie is alive and will return in episode 6, the latest, but Magna does not want Carol to mess with Kelly’s head. I thought that they would have found Connie’s note in this episode, but I think they will find it in episode 5, before she returns with Virgil in episode 6. Carol is visibly upset about something else too throughout the episode. I think it is because Carol and Daryl are fighting, ever since episode 18 and really since episode 9 when she let the cave implode on Connie and Magna. I do not know why she would be this bothered by it, but if we know Daryl and Carol, they will certainly makeup soon enough. They have to anyways because of their spinoff show with each other in the upcoming years to come.