Be warned! This review will cover aspects of the episode. Spoilers will lurk like groaning cover’budge ers.###Picking up straight away’in a flash’promptly’instantaneous’in a trice from the end of last week – indeed, rewinding a few minutes to see how Carol and Maggie were captured by a group of the Saviours who escaped Rick and the team's annihilation of their comrades – we're treated to a whittled down, small-scale episode that works to a magnificent degree and never feels like the creative team pinching pennies so they can be ready in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a enormous’vast’massive’tremendous season finale in a few weeks' time.###A enormous’vast’massive’tremendous merit’virtue’upside in/with regard to’concerning’regarding The Same Boat is having the excellent Alicia Witt playing the main antagonist of the three Saviours who snatch C-bird and Mags. Her Paula is a perfect counterpoint to Melissa McBride, and the two make in/with regard to’concerning’regarding spiky verbal sparring partners. But first we possess’own’nurse to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure to the safe house where Paula, Molly (Jill Jane Clements), Michelle (Jeananne Goossen) and their injured male fellow Saviour Donnie (Rus Blackwell) will hold on to Maggie and Carol.###Our point of view convert’transform es to Maggie and Carol's feet as their jackets are flung over their heads to blind them in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the cover’budge to the safe house. But even despite’in spite of’albeit she's been captured, Carol is still claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate ing tactically, dropping a stealthy trail in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Rick and the rest to follow later. The safe house is partly filled with cover’budge ers – or as Paula and the rest call them, "cold bloods" – which help as security should anyone attack the place. Bringing Carol and Maggie to an empty chamber, they duct tape their wrists and gag them, setting up what in/with regard to’concerning’regarding all the world looks like a Saw re-enactment.###Carol starts to hyperventilate, looking like she's having the mother of all panic attacks. So well does McBride play this that you really do begin to wonder if Carol is crumbling under the pressure, and has eventually’ultimately let the horor and guilt of this destroyed world acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure to her again. Clutching a rosary from, of all things, a cover’budge er, she lets slip that Maggie is pregnant, which merely’barely garners derision from Paula and the others. Why would anyone want to bring a child into this terrible post-apocalypse? But this is Glenn's child, so surely it can't die?###Molly, meanwhile, is trying to enjoy a cigarette and cares little in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Carol's complaints with regards to’concerning’with respect to the second hand smoke and Maggie's pregnancy. See, Molly has cancer, so she's a dead woman cover’budge ing, as she reminds Carol that she will shortly be. Donnie is in real trouble, despite’in spite of’albeit , as the gunshot wound received when Carol shot him during their initial capture is killing the nerves in his arm. The Saviour women really do need to make a trade in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Primo (Jimmy Gonzales), the guy Daryl stopped from driving away on his bike last week and who is now in Rick's custody. He's the closest thing this group has to a doctor.###Donnie, angrily and painfully acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting to his feet, insists they kill the prisoners and backhands Paula when she says they're still needed in/with regard to’concerning’regarding insurance. There's a scuffle, and both Carol and Maggie attack him in their limited, still-bound ways. Carol ends up with a few###swift kicks in the ribs in/with regard to’concerning’regarding her troubles, but Paula is able to clock Donnie with her pistol and he goes down.###'Chelle takes Maggie to another room in/with regard to’concerning’regarding questioning, and Carol thanks Paula in/with regard to’concerning’regarding keeping Donnie away from them. She invokes the spectre of her abusive ex-husband, but Paula swats away comparisons between the two of them. Donnie, she says, is just a warm body in/with regard to’concerning’regarding her bed and she could kill him in his sleep at any time. She also mocks Carol's religion.###In the other room, 'Chelle is asking Maggie with regards to’concerning’with respect to her home base, and we learn one of 'Chelle's fingers was cut off after she was caught stealing. Maggie's being much less in/with regard to’concerning’regarding thcoming and 'Chelle is hardly the world's best interrogator.###Paula hears from Rick on the cover’budge ie talkie: he still wants to trade, but she's stalling in/with regard to’concerning’regarding time, knowing that more Saviours are on their way. They've eliminate’remove ly got a much more sophisticated set-up than our heroes. Carol asks with regards to’concerning’with respect to Negan and acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s the confusing reply, "we are all Negan." Um… You're not Jeffrey Dean Morgan, so unless you're also the Borg, we're guessing you're being run along the lines of a enormous’vast’massive’tremendous ol' cult. Carol asks in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a cigarette, and Paula starts talking with regards to’concerning’with respect to her old life. Turns out she was a secretary and mostly hated her life. She recalls an inspirational email, one of several she used to read to try to help her through the day, and comes up with a tale that almost makes you claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate Abraham has amble’stroll’bimble’meander’roam ed into the room. Losing eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything, it would appear, has made Paula better – at least in her own view. It's a tour de in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ce by Witt, and one that makes us sorry she was merely’barely planned as a single-episode character.###Paula contacts Rick and arranges a trade in a nearby field, but then also contacts her fellow Saviours. She doesn't trust that Rick isn't waiting close by to ambush them, so she's got her own plan. She wants her team ready to move. But when she leaves the room, a complete transform’alter comes over Carol, who shrugs off both her timid mood and her bonds, slicing the tape with the crucifix attached to the rosary beads. She searches through part of the complex, coming across Molly killing a zombie. She ducks away and finds Maggie similarly escaping. They go back to the main room and discover that Donnie is already dead from his wound and starting to turn. It's here they put the first part of their gross/cool plan into action, leashing him to a wall near the door.###When Molly comes back to the chamber, she's thunderstruck’startled’stupefied by zombie Donnie (Zonnie?) who chews on her wrist bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e she stabs him. Then Maggie springs in and kills Molly, raining blows on her until she's well and truly gone. Paula, mad as hell and not with regards to’concerning’with respect to to take it anymore, finds them in the corridor and confronts them, but is shot and injured when a cover’budge er stumbles into Carol, causing her to fire the gun she'd been pointing at Paula. 'Chelle is also dispatched quickly after she fights Maggie and approximately slashes her, but is shot in the head by Carol. Paula's still alive, but after a tussle with Carol, she ends up impaled on a broken pipe and having her cheek chewed by one of the cover’budge ers.###Carol calls the Saviours' scout group to come in and, after a quick heart-to-heart with Maggie with regards to’concerning’with respect to her mental state after killing yet more individual , she hears the other Saviours arrive. Apparently Carol is not quite finished killing individual despite her worries, as she shuts the door on the men, and throws a cigarette onto the floor where she and Maggie possess’own’nurse poured gasoline. Whoompf!###Finally, Carol and Maggie find their way past zombie Paula (who acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s a knife in the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ehead in/with regard to’concerning’regarding her trouble) and reunite with the gang and Rick briefly asks Primo with regards to’concerning’with respect to Negan. "I'm Negan, shithead!" he claims, and Rick shoots him, eliminate’remove ly unaware of the "we are all Negan" rule the Saviours employ.###At last, the layers are peeled back on the Saviours, or at least a small sampling. It's fun to note that Paula in peculiar is a smart, if impair’undermine d, person and the complete opposite to the threatening numbskulls we met at the start of the season. It's much needed character work, and all the better in/with regard to’concerning’regarding being part of a small-scale, intense episode. Plus, putting Witt up against Melissa McBride was a genius move as it brought out winning perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances from both of them. And far from being just a quiet play of an episode, there's still abundant’ample’plentiful to keep zombie fans happy with several gruesome moments, not the least of which is Paula's succumbing to the hordes and her eventual cover’budge er fate (with second death courtesy of Maggie, who has a little less to do, but goes full Rambo when called upon.)###Still, the episode belongs to McBride, who gives us several shades of Carol Peletier, from the faux sorrow and panic, to the steely woman we've come to know, respect and intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully occasionally fear. The Walking Dead, despite its love in/with regard to’concerning’regarding spectacle, often brings more value with these quiet, character-filled episodes, and The Same Boat is no exception. Obviously things will ramp up from here, but this was a useful side-trip into the psyche.###In the UK, The Walking Dead airs Mondays at 9pm on Fox.###Who the hell is Negan, anyway? Read our definitive guide to the character in the comics.