And just when it looked like Rick would go on to defy Carl’s wishes, as well as Robert Kirkman’s source material, Rick called for Negan to be saved, which drew out Maggie’s impassioned protests.
(How he automatically knew that Negan’s jugular could withstand the slice, or that Siddiq could fix it, I have no idea.)
Rick succeeded in appealing to Negan’s Carl-appreciating nature, and got the cocky sumbitch to actually stand still and shut up for a few seconds, just long enough to slice his throat with a piece of the stained glass.
Which brought us to that rarely seen tree with the stained glass hanging from it, and we saw that was where Rick and Negan had their “final” showdown, in which Negan failed to quickly incapacitate Rick, and then talked too much instead of doing the deed.