Coming back to The Walking Dead since its midseason finale “Hearts Still Beating” is a bittersweet affair. However, whereas very little seemed to happen in the first half of Season 7, the midseason premiere, “Rock in the Road,” more than made up for it. The action is engaging, and it appears that yes, the gang is finally back in action.
1. Protection and Deception
With the Alexandria Safe-Zone finally being introduced to the Kingdom on a “scavenging” mission, we have an interesting interrelation between a need to protect others, and the need to keep information from the general public.
On the one hand, we have the deal with how to handle the Saviors, a secretive operation that is not only kept from the Saviors themselves for obvious reasons, but also from the general populace of the Kingdom, as well as from a wide variety of people back in Alexandria. Contrasting from either of those places is the Hilltop Colony, where Gregory (whose name never fails to irritate me for reasons that might be well apparent) is willfully ignorant of any arrangement they had, protecting himself with his own self-deception about what had ever happened about any deal. His cowardice is further compounded with his incompetence, such as his unwillingness to accept that others might actually want to help train his people and the fact that he doesn’t even have awareness of how many people even work for him in the first place.
Outside of the Savior problem is another, perhaps even more interesting deception. Upon reuniting with Rick and his people, Morgan lies about what has been happening with Carol, perhaps to get her to stay away from the group as she wants to. If they believe she left but is alive, they are unlikely to continue to search for her. Still, for someone who is so adamant about peace, he also seems willing to be dishonest in order to keep it: an understandable, yet intriguing balance.
2. Diplomacy with King Ezekiel
The highlight of the quiet parts of this episode is undoubtedly the meeting between King Ezekiel and Rick’s crew. Aside from the usual comedy that comes from his intense overacting and the fact of meeting a man who has a tiger for a pet, there is also a very somber overtone to the whole situation. The attempts to persuade Ezekiel to provide manpower to the brewing army against the Saviors culminate in a heart-wrenching tale of the eponymous rock in the road. His ultimate decision not to give anything more than asylum for Daryl is therefore even more distressing, not to mention surprising for some who hoped that he would see the need to fight.
3. Rick Grimes’ Tightrope Trial
The highlight on the action side of things is definitely the scene with the bomb trap. The way in which the trap is handled, taking out a relatively small herd of walkers with minimal distress, proves that while the group struggled more often than not, they are definitely at least on their way back to their undead-slaying peak. The effects on the drive, with the metal wire slicing row after row of the undead in half, was exhilarating in a way that many previous encounters this season were not. As Michonne further states to Rick, they are “the ones who live,” meaning they deserve to have their lives back from the Saviors.
Rosita’s behavior around the event was at times confusing, and at times refreshing. On the confusing side, she somehow knew how to disarm an explosive, despite having absolutely no prior revelations about this knowledge. Did she learn from Abraham? If so, when? On the refreshing side, we have her refusal to be friendly with Sasha, which I enjoyed due to the fact that it resembles realism. After all, in Rosita’s words, “We had sex with the same dead guy [Abraham]. That doesn’t make us friends.” Unlike many other pieces in fiction, the fact that people fight alongside each other for an extended period in “The Walking Dead” does not mean that they like one another, since fighting walkers is so central to life.
4. Manhunt for Daryl
Daryl’s escape from the Sanctuary predictably led to the Saviors attempting to recapture and/or kill him. Negan’s eulogy for “Fat Joey,” wherein he complained that “Skinny Joey” would have to instead be just called “Joey,” was admittedly humorous, as per usual with him, though he did not make an on-screen appearance. Still, he seems to realize the seriousness of Daryl’s escape.
Even more contentious is Simon’s arrival at Alexandria. His ever more haphazard method of looking for Daryl shows that the Saviors are very angry about losing their prize captive, which makes me wonder what Dwight, his on-and-off archenemy, thinks of this situation, if he didn’t cause it in the first place.
5. Return of Oceanside
The episode ends on the return of the women from Oceanside. With Tara in the group that is surrounded by the enormous amount of armed women, is it possible that she forgot where they were going, or perhaps did not know the route from a car seat perspective, given she walked last time?
Regardless, the sheer number of their fighters is astounding. How many are there, anyway? A few dozen? A few hundred? It’s little wonder that rather than be worried, Rick smiles at their arrival, as he knows that this amount of warriors could be excellent soldiers in the fight against the Saviors.
On the whole, this episode shows a lot of promise for the season to come. Admittedly, the arc with the Saviors has gone very slow, especially compared to how the comics dealt with similar material, but alterations to the plot serve to make things both more dynamic on the whole and more interesting for viewers, whether enfranchised to the source material or not.
What did you think of the episode? Let us know in the comments.
