SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for "The Cell," tonight's episode of AMC's "The Walking Dead," which has not yet aired on the west coast at the time of publication.


Last week, "The Walking Dead" gave viewers their first true look at the day-to-day of The Kingdom. In that way, tonight's episode, "The Cell," is its dark twin, as it focused exclusively on The Saviors' way of life.

We've seen glimpses of it before, but tonight was the first time we got to see the inner workings of their community from their point of view. Apparently, they keep their prisoners on solitary confinement, where they're fed nothing but dog-food sandwiches and are tortured with the same pop song every day.

That's what Daryl gets subjected to, and it's something new for fans of the comic. But "The Cell" also treats readers of Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's Image Comics series with more familiar practices. Just as on the page, The Saviors keep a wall of impaled zombies as protection, and Negan offers power deals to women in exchange for sex -- which leads to him having a complicated relationship with Dwight and his ex-wife. Then there's the kneeling, the well-organized labor, and more charismatic, profane speechifying from Negan himself.

Also of interest: We meet Dr. Carson (part of the Saviors in the comic book), and it appears Daryl may be slated to take on the Carl role as far as his relationship with Negan goes. More on all of this in our full recap and review in just a bit.