Two weeks. Two tremendously bad episodes to kick off this half season. The last episode at least had hope at the end with Aaron’s arrival, but did the show capitalize it or did it spiral down another dark path to insanity guided by Rick? Let’s find out, shall we?
Don’t read further if you haven’t seen the episode yet, as the review contains spoilers.
1. Rick’s off the rails
I know, I know, you’ll all bring up the scene where he tells Michonne that he can’t risk going into another place not knowing whether it will be like the prison for Michonne or Terminus for all of them, and how that makes a lot of sense. But Rick’s going a little nuts, and in a way that feels a bit inconsistent. Sure, it does make sense that he wouldn’t trust people, but there are scenes – like the one where Aaron and Eric are talking with each other and he creeps up in the shadows behind them – where he doesn’t just seem protective, but oddly villain like. I mean, straight up knocking Aaron unconscious when all he managed to do was show them pictures of walls seemed a bit unnecessary, and beyond that, Aaron calling him out felt necessary early on. When he said that there was no number he could say that Rick would believe for the amount of backup he had, that was completely accurate.
It wasn’t just Aaron, though. Michonne clearly thinks the guy is losing his shit, even if he still backs him. Glenn basically told him he was crazy very nicely towards the end. Carl almost lost his shit when he thought his dad was going to make them not go to this new community. There’s a fine line between being believably paranoid and just being legitimately nuts. Rick’s starting to veer into the latter direction, and while it works for a time, I hope the writers guide him back soon.
2. Team Aaron
Say what you will about the rest of the episode, but Ross Marquand’s Aaron very quickly became a personal favorite character in the show. I’m not overly familiar with his work, but Marquand’s Aaron is both excellently written and acted, and the actor layers in serious levels of intelligence and emotional depth to the character. The guy looks a lot like Topher Grace to me, and he brings an easy charm in the same way Grace does. It’s easy to root for him when Rick is acting so nuts comparatively, but one can’t help but root that he’s on the level not just for the main cast’s sake, but because we want the guy to stick around.
It was also pretty excellent seeing a gay couple worked in with him and Eric (straight from the comic, they are), especially given that they’re handled in a pretty cute, not over the top sort of way. I’m all in on Team Aaron. I hope this is the start of something beautiful in Alexandria.
3. Ensemble of Mannequins
My biggest complaint in this episode is how much it stood out that much of the ensemble cast didn’t get to do anything. How much of the cast had one or fewer lines in this episode? Half of it? Hell, Carol spoke for the first time this half season in this episode, I believe. I know, it was a busy episode with Aaron being introduced and Rick being run through the ringer, but there’s a big part of me that hopes we have some cullings soon.
Cruel? Sure. But the show suffers with a cast that’s so big and so many excellent actors and actresses getting almost no play whatsoever. This is more or less a ploy to hopefully kill more people off so Melissa McBride will have more to do, but come on, let’s kill some cast members, shall we?
4. Still rocking the zombie killing
Ahhhh. It’s always nice to have some good ol’ fashioned zombie killing in an episode to wash out memories of glacially paced, horribly handled previous episodes. And this one had some good stuff going in that department, as not only did they mow down a small town’s worth of roamers with their car but Rick, Glenn and Michonne got to blow off some steam with some serious action. It was a bit hard to follow, thanks to the darkness, but it felt very necessary after the unending calm of the previous two episodes.
Continued below5. Mostly a return to form
Overall, I’d say I liked this episode. Some direction was needed, and this episode gave the show that. While I can’t say I’m fond of mostly insane and unreasonable Rick, it’s easy to understand his mindset. How he’ll do in a new community with many of the amenities he once thought were lost forever – living in a house?! oh my stars and garters! – is uncertain, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
It was very nice having a moment like the one where the team went around the corner before Alexandria and Abraham and Rosita saw the Washington Monument, as it reminded them that civilization could still be an option. Hope is not a strategy, but something that springs eternal. We’ll see if that’s the case next week, but more of this and I will be Team Walking Dead once again. Probably.
