Eh, not looking to debate as I've taken part in it before. Just my opinion on this with future speculation thrown in. People keep saying, eh, Rick got what was coming to him and deserved this. Brought it on himself, etc. It's true in a sense. He was looking for a fight and he was way too cocky in the way he was doing it. Meeting Negan has humbled the shit out of Rick and that's a damn good thing as he will never underestimate his enemy again nor anyone else in the group. (Daryl and Maggie did play a role in this, particularly Daryl as I'm pretty sure he's the one who suggested it and also let himself get done in by Dwight.) We all saw his defeat coming. He'd had a lucky streak for too long, and Negan being his bump in the road was foreshadowed.
I still am not convinced about the long-term implications for their overall survival. The decision to pre-preemptively strike the saviors was a understandable fear-triggered reaction to already being threatened by Negan (so yeah, Negan was gonna get them regardless), and to wanting to save Gregory's neck as well as the rest of hilltop because ultimately, that very well might be the only way to avoid famine for Alexandria. That's not to say that the decision to strike the saviors was the most rational nor the most moral thing they could have done, but it is understandable. In the real world, I'm not sure how he could have ever come up with a plan so good that not one member of Alexandria lost their life. Casualties are unavoidable. Doesn't mean Alexandria has lost the war. Of course better planning probably means less casualties, but Rick is only 2 in so far.
At the end of the day, I'm curious to see how this plays out for Rick in the future. I imagine his leadership might be challenged by a couple of members in the group in Season 7A. I'm particularly curious of Carl's reaction and if it'd be similar to after losing the prison. Hell, Rick will challenge his own capabilities after this one.
At the end of the day, it's not believable that the group of main character will lose. Obviously, they'll likely make a comeback and win the overall war. Looking at Negan, I'm a little surprised. This dude is one hell of a big bad, but the Saviors are just Rick's groups on steroids, with Negan being even cockier than Rick, or either really dumb given his status this late in the game. Even Rick knows you never leave the enemy alive. Once it's on it's on. At least kill all the strongest fighters. Rick should have been the first to go to show this was not a game, followed by Daryl, Michonne, Abe, Glenn, Sasha and Rosita in no particular order. Save the domination for the low level people like Aaron and Eugene.
Rick is still 30+ to Negan's 2 kills. That doesn't make much sense to me. But I think, like Rick, given the people Negan has dealt with before, he doesn't expect them to stand back up. Seems he will end up underestimating the group and now he has shown who he is. Rick and Negan have both exposed their necks and I'm curious in how the eventual rematch will play out.
Rick was still in that transition period between Shit Happens Rick and Throat Rip Rick
