This post contains spoilers.
Welp. That was disappointing. After a mostly good season, The Walking Dead reverted back its old ways and pulled a fast one by killing “a character” but not showing us who it was and largely ruining an otherwise excellent introduction to the new big bad, Negan. I’ll get into that more later, but let’s start with a quick recap of the episode.
This season, particularly the second half, has been building to this episode and they did a good job creating tension early on. We heard the ominous whistling and saw strange lights in the dark. For the second episode in a row, we’re presented with images that we won’t understand until later. It was creepy and grabbed my attention immediately.
Morgan’s best Rick impersonation
We then cut to Morgan finding the horse we heard about from the guy in the body armor last week. This was a cool scene and it sort of underscored Morgan’s constant message that all life is precious. Though, the sign that literally said “You Are Alive” felt a bit on the nose. Perhaps this is foreshadowing something from the comics but, as someone who hasn’t read that far, it didn’t really do anything for me. This also kicked off the Morgan/Carol “B” plot of the episode which seemed tacked on and unnecessary.
That’s not to say I hated the idea of Morgan going after Carol or even the scenes themselves. On the contrary, the show has done a good job of setting up this Morgan and Carol story-line as a sort of personification of the larger debate over killing humans on the show. It seems like they wrapped up the debate with Morgan killing the Savior that was torturing Carol. He showed her that there is a time when its ok to kill a human to save someone you love, but only when there are literally no other options. It was also interesting to see the guys in the body armor, who are presumably from the next group we’re going to meet. Guys in body armor with horses and stabbing weapons….are we going to see some knights next year?? That is an exciting prospect.
Friend or foe?
Though, to be frank, I didn’t think we needed to have that plot resolved, or even updated, this week. I would have been content to have not seen Morgan or Carol at all until next season. It would have added some mystery to the search for Carol. The real problem was that it just distracted from the main event: the first appearance of Negan. We all knew Negan was coming this week and its all anyone cared about. I feel this plot line got lost and was used as more of a break from the action in the RV than to actually tell a story. I fear most people will forget about what we saw with Morgan and Carol and it just have to be rehashed next season, particularly the bit about the new group. There’s no way anyone is going to remember that when it gets revisited in October.
I really liked the interlude with the random survivor from the library running from the Saviors. It confirmed the the creepy whistling was their way of intimidating people and it worked. That was creepy as hell. It also showed us how ruthless they are when someone breaks “the rules.”
The main action this week was the journey to Hilltop to save Maggie and the confrontation with Negan. I liked how they used the complication with Maggie’s pregnancy as the reason to get people in the RV and head to Hilltop. It was done slightly differently in the comic but this way fit the show more and nothing was lost in translation.
So we have Rick and Co. taking Maggie to Hilltop to see the doctor and, hopefully, save the baby. I understand Rick and Carl and even a few other people wanting to go and help protect Maggie on the way to Hilltop. But why bring so many? Aren’t they worried about an attack from the Saviors on Alexandria? Yet, they bring Rick, Carl, Abraham, Sasha, Aaron, AND Eugene on the trip to Hilltop and leave Gabriel in charge of the defenses. I mean, who is left to defend the walls at this point? Spencer? It just feels like a stupid thing that the people of Alexandria, especially Rick, wouldn’t do. Especially after Rick was talking about how important it is to protect what they have in last week’s episode.
Basically every competent person in the group
Regardless, the RV group gets out on the road and it quickly becomes apparent that the Saviors are gunning for them. We see the random survivor from earlier used as an example of what they’re capable of doing. I liked the confrontation at the first roadblock, Rick tries to make a deal and act like a bad ass before his confidence is slowly eroded throughout the episode. He obviously has no idea what they’re dealing with. However, the speech from the lead Savior felt like a little too much foreshadowing. He tells Rick to treat this like it’s their “last day on Earth,” heavily implying that someone is going to die. But, we all knew that someone was going to die. They’ve been leading up to it and teasing it for weeks. We didn’t need that much more foreshadowing. Side note, Abraham continues to drop some of the best lines this season. “What the bitch?” might be my new favorite combination of words.
At times, all the different and escalating roadblocks felt excessive. As if they were just trying to pad the running time of the episode. But, I liked all of them. It showed the power that the Saviors have and how outmatched the group is at this point. Plus, they were legitimately intimidating and bad ass. I mean, who didn’t love that chain of walkers? It also allowed a lot of tension and fear to build up, especially in Rick. The problem with the pacing wasn’t the roadblocks, it was the constant interruptions by the “B” plot. I can’t help but think that the episode would have been better if the Morgan and Carol plot was dropped and the episode was a standard hour, as opposed to the 90 minutes we got.
Eugene has had some pretty good development over the last few episodes, he’s gone from meek and useless to being an actual survivor. Plus, he’s putting his smarts to good use with his bullet making scheme and his plan to draw off the Saviors by taking the RV himself. They really went out of their way to make it seem like he was about to die with that goodbye scene, I mean, he even gave the bullet making instructions to Rick. I doubt he’s going to die, but I liked the growth and courage we’ve seen in him lately.
Hi…
The end of this episode started so great. We have the group running through the woods, in the dark, and we hear that super creepy whistling again. You can just feel the fear in all of them. They know they’re over matched and there’s nothing they can do about it. The Saviors get them on their knees and we find out what those creepy lights were. It was the view of Darryl, Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita from that van. Now they’re all together, on their knees, and waiting to meet Negan.
I have to say, the Negan introduction was perfect, not to mention Lucille, who was indeed awesome. Jeffery Dean Morgan’s performance was was amazing. He was equally scary and charismatic, hilarious and menacing. He looked the part and played it like he was born to be Negan. His lines were lifted right out of the comic (minus a few hundred “fucks”) and it worked so well. The reactions of the group really sold it as well, especially from Rick. You could see on his face how scared he was, he dramatically underestimated these people and now someone he cares about has paid the price for his arrogance. It was indeed “pee pee pants city.”
The face of fear
That brings us to the biggest problem with this episode. We don’t know who paid the price! AMC nailed the most iconic villain in the series and his introduction but they still screwed it up. Some will say that this is a classic TV cliffhanger and it simply adds tension and a reason to come back next season. But, that’s the thing, there’s already a reason to come back next season. To see the fallout from the person’s death and find out how the group will deal with Negan and the Saviors. It seems like we’ve been building to this moment all season. Everyone knew a major death was coming, the show has been dragging it out and teasing us for weeks. But we didn’t get any release or catharsis from the end. We KNEW Negan was going to kill someone important, the question was who it would be. I mean, it can only be one of about 3 of the people that were there, they aren’t going through all this for Sasha or Aaron’s death.
You are so gonna regret crossing him…in about 6 months
The way this played out didn’t release any of the viewer’s tension, it was simply another cock-tease by AMC. A way to drag the reveal out until next season. To take such an iconic moment from the source material and cut out the end only serves to cheapen the moment and took away from an otherwise great ending. Seeing the character who died and seeing their death would have brought closure to this season and made all the waiting we’ve done worthwhile.
Make sure you come right back here for all your Walking Dead news this summer and follow me @drnerdlaw for all things nerdy and awesome.