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Reviews
The Walking Dead: Honor (2018)
Best in a While
This episode features the departure of Carl Grimes, one of the few original cast members left. While I still have my doubts that the show can recover from this, I have to admit that his sendoff was decent. This is by far the best episode in a while, though mostly because it relies on memories and themes covered in previous seasons.
Watching Carl die was insanely sad, and was the first death to make me feel something since Beth's departure. Calling back to earlier seasons was a smart move and working with the established history did help bring the emotion to the scenes with Carl, Rick, and Michonne.
The rescue at the Kingdom was also done well, but the fact that Carol and Morgan eliminated a group of 20-30 people by themselves is a bit ridiculous. The kid killing Gavin at the end of the episode hinted that Morgan may need to step back, similar to what Rick did for Carl in season 4. Morgan, Ezekiel, and Carol are this kid's family now, and Morgan sees how his actions effect others.
Some scenes were dragged out, like some of the ideal world visions. I'm glad that Carl was killed by a walker, because if anyone from Negan's group had done it, Rick would've killed them all. Carl is the next Andrea, used to bring the two colliding groups together. A lot of this feels familiar, but this episode was a good sendoff to a long standing character. I may not agree with the decision to kill him (he had a lot of good stories coming up), but he got a decent sendoff.
My hopes that this show can improve are basically gone, but this episode proved that maybe they can redeem themselves to some extent. Farewell Carl, you will be missed.
The Walking Dead: Time for After (2017)
Back to Mediocrity
While I thoroughly enjoyed last weeks episode, I found this one to be almost unwatchable. They dragged out one major event across an hour of television. There wasn't much good about this episode, so let's dive in.
The characters are plain annoying. I have never wanted so many characters dead on this show. One or two annoying characters is fine, but when the total goes to five or six, you begin to question why you watch. Morgan is a moron. Daryl a borderline psychopath. Tara is clueless. And Eugene is plain infuriating at this point, and is basically beyond redemption. The only characters I rooted for this episode were Rick, Michonne, and surprisingly Rosita.
Only one major thing happened all episode: Daryl crashed a truck into the Sanctuary, letting in the walkers. Some will praise him I'm sure, but his petty quest for revenge is infuriating to watch. Nobody of major consequence died, but he just fed innocent people to the walkers. How anyone roots for him anymore is beyond me. The plan was working, what the hell?
Rosita learning from her actions was a refreshing take on her character, and I feel she can redeem herself in the future. Michonne backed out last minute, and I'm glad she's keeping her morals. Rick's fight was completely overdone and over dramatic. No way in hell did he kill that walker and single-handedly take down three people with no weapons on him. Bullshit.
Overall, the characters given the spotlight this week did nothing but dumb things to drag out the run time. Nothing major happened. And nobody major died yet again. This is All Out War. Death is imminent. No way in hell should all the major characters still be standing. I have a feeling the mid-season finale will disappoint, though I'm sure they'll kill some second-tier cast member to give some sense of danger to the events unfolding. This isn't a very strong season. Hopefully they can do better.
The Walking Dead: The King, the Widow and Rick (2017)
Getting Better
This episode is the best one this season, and character actions actually make sense for once. Light on action, this episode instead focused on the themes of war that make this story more interesting. Most actions make sense, and left me rooting for characters I had almost given up on.
Maggie's plan for the prisoners was well done, and throwing Gregory in with them had me laughing in sheer delight. Rick using the pictures taken in earlier episodes was a great reveal, and makes me think the trash people will side with Alexandria. Ezekiel's grief was believable and heartbreaking, and Carol supporting him deepens my suspicions that they will eventually become an item.
There were some character motivations that left me confused, mostly in why Michonne and Rosita had to check on the Sanctuary. I get they are restless, but it just seemed like a poor way to get them to team up with Daryl and Tara. Speaking of them, their motivations make sense, but I'm wondering what they plan to do to the Saviors. Until I see the plan play out, I'll remain on the fence about this subplot.
One last thing: how did Carl track down Siddiq again? This took me out of the scene, and overall their screen-time felt like filler disguised as character development. Overall, this episode helped set up for the final two before the break. Hopefully these subplots all lead to an explosive conclusion, but this season actually has me praying for slower episodes, as they can't seem to get much right when they go fast-paced. Overall, a well done episode.
The Walking Dead: Some Guy (2017)
A New Low
Holy hell, I have a feeling more people are going to be jumping ship after this episode. This was a more isolated affair, focusing mostly on Ezekiel, Carol, and the Kingdom. The whole hour is something that would've been in the first fifteen minutes in prior seasons, dragged out into a feature length affair.
Again, nobody of consequence dies. Everyone with a name survives, while all the red-shirts meet a horrible end, all highlighted by a flashback sequence showing these people are actual beings. But the sequence gives away everyone is dead, and spoils the revelation.
The dude holding Ezekiel captive is incompetent and looks like he time traveled from the '70s. Carol goes from Rambo to damsel at the whims of the writers. And the fan support for Jerry is the only thing keeping him alive at this point, rather than him being an interesting character with something to give the narrative.
Again, bullets fly and nobody gets hit. The production values are terrible in this episode, with no recoil on weapons and lack of blood in certain scenes when things get shot. Sound effects go missing midway and logic goes out the window more often than not.
The biggest misstep was the Jeep chase scene. It was an obvious ripoff of Indiana Jones, and was so badly done I had to look away. No bullets hitting anything at point blank range, no major injuries for Rick or Daryl, and the bad guy dies. You couldn't find something more contrived even if you wanted to.
Overall, this episode was one of the worst to date. It gave away its hand early and tried to make us care for Ezekiel, but in the end I just wanted him to shut up. Hopefully the death of Shiva means a more likable Ezekiel, because if he doesn't drop the king act I am seriously gonna lose my mind.
The Walking Dead: Monsters (2017)
Decent
This episode is by far the best this season, but isn't without it's share of problems. Characters continue to annoy (Tara, Daryl, Morgan, and Gregory irritate me to no end). I'm just glad it wasn't a shootout episode like last week.
Something that bothers me is character motivations. Morgan and Jesus' conflict feels forced, and again they gave Tara Rosita's personality traits. Daryl is just killing everyone without thought. These things make me question why I root for this group, and maybe that's the point. But some character actions leave me more frustrated than intrigued.
This week is lighter on the action, and that's something that greatly benefits this episode. We instead delve into the themes of war and mercy, something each viewer has a different perspective on. When do we go too far? When do we grant mercy to those who have wronged us? The episode tries to tackle these questions, but ends up getting mixed results.
Again, nobody important died this episode (excluding Eric, Morales, and a few more red-shirts). But since there weren't constant bullets flying, it feels a little more plausible that our main heroes would survive this week.
I loved the interactions between Maggie and Gregory, and the power shift we see between the two. I'm not sold on Carol suddenly being happy go lucky like Ezekiel, but I digress. Morgan and Jesus fight felt like forced conflict/filler. Aaron's reaction to Eric's death was kinda cheap.
Overall it was a small step in the right direction, but it needs to buckle down on character motivations and start delivering some gut punching plot twists.
The Walking Dead: The Damned (2017)
Getting Worse
This show used to be one of my favorites. As a huge fan of the comics, I'd hoped the show would be able to do justice to the story lines and characters. It appears that the show needs new blood working on it, because it's getting incredibly predictable and stale.
Multiple characters appear to switch personalities with one another this episode. Tara becomes the new Rosita (despite being her old self one episode earlier) and Jesus becomes Morgan's old persona. Plot armor is again an issue, as nobody of major importance dies, even with all the bullets flying.
This whole episode was two firefights and a scouting mission. And none of the plot lines really got resolved. A ton of red shirts die, and a couple background characters that have been around a while, but nobody who's names you can actually remember.
Bullets continue to fly, and nobody gets hit. And if they do, they don't do a convincing job of staying dead. More than once this episode, I've seen dead bodies move. And not in the walker type way. I'm talking full on failing to pretend to be dead.
Any character drama feels incredibly forced, and only one scenario actually hit me. Rick seeing a baby after killing it's father was the one emotional beat that hit, even though there were numerous attempts throughout the episode. Instead of developing characters with interesting motives, they've managed to make me hate Morgan and Tara even more than before. I'm just happy Negan didn't appear this episode.
One more thing: enough with the fake outs. We all know nobody important dies on the show unless it's a mid-season or season finale.
The Walking Dead: Mercy (2017)
Swing and a Miss
After a really lackluster season 7, I went into the premiere hoping against hope that this show would capture some of it's former glory. Perhaps my hopes were too high, because nothing of great significance happened. For a show entering it's 100th episode, one would hope they'd pull out all the stops and remind people why it's one of the best shows on television. Instead, it made me feel as though this show has lost it's way. As said before, nothing significant happened.
A speech about hope from the three leaders, then they lead a herd to Negan's place. Gabriel is trapped with Negan at the Sanctuary. End of episode.
There was a genuine complaint about the lack of action last season, and this episode tries to make up for it, but in the least interesting way possible. Tons of bullets fly this episode, but hardly any find their mark. Everyone has terrible aim, and the fact that Negan isn't dead after this episode proves plot armor is strong in this show.
Numerous actions leave you questioning logic with this show, including but not limited to: shooting point blank and missing, shooting all the windows at the Sanctuary (even the one's several stories up), Gabriel's decision to help Gregory, and the fact that Negan is not dead.
As a fan of the comics, I can easily say this show is on it's way to ruining one of the best story arcs. I will continue to watch, but more and more I find myself wondering why I even bother. I want nothing more than for this show to get better. But I fear it's best days are behind it.