The finale is book-ended by a letter Rick narrates to his dead son, Carl. In the letter, Carl wrote to his father before he died, he told Rick how he remembered going on walks as a kid with him, and Rick says in “Wrath” that he remembers, too, allowing fans a glimpse of a pre-apocalyptic Rick and Carl walking hand-in-hand. The beginning of the episode serves as a calm before the storm, taking the audience from the group gathered at the Hilltop making final preparations before the battle with the Saviors, while Negan, Eugene, and the rest of the Sanctuary put their own plan into place. Rick and Co., believing they have successfully taken out a group of Saviors (unaware Negan purposefully sacrificed his own people in order to trap Rick and the others), ultimately find themselves surrounded by Saviors on a hillside. In an episode encompassed by life-altering and game-changing decisions, Eugene himself — influenced by Rosita and Gabriel — saves the day when it’s revealed that he sabotaged the bullets he made for Negan to malfunction, causing the Saviors, including Negan, to take a bullet in the hand when they fired instead of slaughtering Rick and the rest of his allied forces.