The Walking Dead Recap: Negan & Maggie's Relationship Just Got a Whole Lot Worse

The beginning of the end is here for "The Walking Dead," which debuted Part 1 one of its final season on Sunday evening.

It appears there are two groups our favorite survivors will be facing off against going forward -- the Commonwealth and the people who attacked Maggie's previous camp -- while also dealing with some drama a lot closer to home. Let's start with the Maggie and Negan of it all, as their story got the most airtime this week and led to quite the premiere cliffhanger.

The hour began with a big set piece following a group of Alexandrians on a supply run raiding some sort of military compound for food. It didn't go as planned and also wasn't as fruitful as the group hoped. After risking their lives, they only came away with enough food to last their rebuilding community another week.

Maggie suggested they go to Meridian, the last place she lived before it was taken over by a group of outsiders. She explained the place was packed with food, crops and animals and believed they outnumbered the people who took it over. "We just need to take it back," she said, before a group led by Maggie and including Daryl, Elijah, Gabriel, Alden and Negan took off to follow her plan.

Negan, however, quickly became frustrated with Maggie running the show. First, he suggested they wait out the rain instead of traversing the subway system during a storm, then he cautioned the group about entering a tunnel filled with wrapped up corpses. Both ideas were shut down by Maggie. When he later saved Alden from a walker, only to be told by Maggie to "pay attention" better going forward, he snapped.

Calling her a dictator who doesn't listen to anyone but herself, he said the group was on "a death march" and Maggie was its Pied Piper. He also said he believed the only reason he was invited on the trek was so she could kill him. "If we get through this, I'm not going back. She'll find a way, she'll find a reason, she'll do it herself away from the prying eyes of Alexandria, here in the jungle," he said to them all. "Me dying on your terms, it ain't happening."

He then pushed it way too far by adding he refuses to be "put down like a dog, like Glenn was." Yeah, that didn't help matters -- and the comment earned him a punch in the face from Daryl. Maggie then confirmed that, yes, the thought of killing him is "always" on her mind -- and reminded him that the Maggie who left Alexandria six years ago "is not the one standing over you now."

"There's a little bit of her left in me and that little bit is the only thing keeping you breathing," she warned. "I don't know how long that's gonna last ... so keep pushing me Negan, please."

As the group continued to fight off walkers reanimating all over the place in the tunnel, they tried to escape being eaten alive by boarding a subway train. While most of the group made it onto or into the train without issue, Maggie got stuck behind. As she cried for Negan's help to hoist herself up to safety, he simply stared at her, then walked away while she dangled above her death. The episode ended with a shot of her hand slipping.

Like Glenn before her, we have a feeling Maggie is going to escape this situation unscathed. Actually, we know she will, because AMC already released photos of her from future episodes -- including the one above showing her standing alongside Negan. The big question that remains, however, is how the others react when Maggie tells them all what happened. Can Negan ever be trusted? If you're Maggie, at this point, probably not.

The secondary plot of the hour revolved around the Commonwealth captors; Yumiko, Eugene, Ezekiel and Princess.

The group is seen going through an extensive vetting process, a process so exhausting that another pair of prisoners say they've been there for "reprocessing" for nine whole months. Clearly, the idea of spending nine months (or possibly more) in this processing center is not cool with our survivors, who devise an escape plan.

Thanks to Princess' excellent observation skills, they're able to steal some guard uniforms and almost walk straight out the back door before something stops them dead in their tracks. On the "Wall of the Lost" -- a wall covered in photos and letters of people members of the Commonwealth are searching for -- is a picture of Yumiko. The letter attached to it is from someone named Tomi, who's looking for their "sister Miko." Upon seeing the message, Yumiko simply says, "I have to stay."

In the comics, this is actually something that happens to Michonne, who learns her long lost daughter has been living in the Commonwealth this whole time. With Danai Gurira no longer on the show and her character off looking for Rick, that storyline has clearly been handed off to Yumiko. It should be interesting to see how this all plays out and what's hiding underneath this idyllic-seeming community. Remember, this is "The Walking Dead" we're talking about -- a good thing is never what it seems.

See what stars Eleanor Matsuura and Khary Payton teased about the Commonwealth when we spoke with them earlier this year below.