“It ain’t just about getting by here,” Daryl told his corpse. “It’s about getting it all.”

The matter-of-fact killings represent a bloody shift in the overall policy toward the Saviors after weeks of appeasement — another promise that starting in February, things will be different. Any remaining doubts about the necessity of such coldblooded actions were erased in Alexandria, where a couple of Saviors pummeled Aaron for sport, and that was only the appetizer.

Because a few blocks away, at the same time, Spencer was doing his best Harry Ellis impersonation with Negan. (The “weaselly character tries to cut a deal with the villain” routine never works out.) I know you think Rick is working for you, Spencer says, but you can’t trust him. Make me the leader instead, and it will be smooth sailing.

Unlike the feckless Spencer, viewers have observed that for all of Negan’s flaws, he does have a genuine respect for people who, again, unlike Spencer, have some grit and integrity. Sure enough, Spencer’s intestines were soon spilling out in the street, giving us one last revolting vision to remember during the holiday break. After Rosita’s predictably ill-fated assassination attempt — my eyes rolled harder when the bat caught that bullet than Glenn’s did when the bat caught him — her face was sliced, Olivia met the end she’s always had coming, and Negan left with Eugene, tossing off more threats on his way out of town.

The upshot: Rick is done with appeasement. We next saw him pondering both the magical sign and his hatchet, before Michonne returned to give him the last hit of courage needed to push him over the top.

“We’re the ones who live,” she said. “That’s why we have to fight.”

I’d been wondering whether Rick’s servant act was just that — an act — or if he actually believed he was doing the right thing by working for Negan. It seems clear that he truly did, but those days are just as clearly over.