Obviously Negan wanted to capture them alive and aside from the entire "how could they know they were desperate to get to Hilltop and they just won't turn around" thing, who in the world wouldn't assume that Rick and his marauders wouldn't shoot their way through the first small and lightly manned roadblock? Before this episode if you asked anyone "What would Rick do" in that situation I don't know anyone who wouldn't assume that he'd kill everyone and keep on going.
The writing on that was lulz... Knowing how many people were out there, you'd think that Rick would turn around back home after the second ambush -- ya, he had to get Maggie help, or get everyone killed trying?
And the first road block was so light, he could have overtaken it easily by turning around, dismounting and attacking by surprise -- a dozen of them just killed a few dozen Saviors recently.
Who here would have rushed Negan when he picked them for the killing? I mean what did they have to lose?
Speaking of having something to lose... The original Glenn/Michonne capture was bullshit. While they were kind of in an open area between trees, the Savior group was well off in the distance, and it was still a wooded area. Daryl and Rosita were a minute or two away, and Glenn and Michonne were well armed, so it looked like they gave in way too easy. Dive for cover, hope for the best, versus be captured and used as bait and becoming liabilities for the rest of your people.
These last two episodes just felt so contrived.