TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.5 “The Big Scary U” (dir by Michael Strazemis)

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Could it be that I just watched a Negan-centric episode of The Walking Dead that wasn’t terrible?

It’s true! I’ll admit that I rolled my eyes a bit when I saw that tonight’s episode was going to be about Negan and the Saviors. Last season, though there were a few exceptions (particularly the episode where Eugene was first taken to the Sanctuary), the Savior episodes were my least favorite. But tonight’s episode was actually pretty good.

That doesn’t mean that it was great, of course. To be honest, I’m not totally sure that you could ever have a truly great Savior episode. Whenever I watch the Saviors, I always find myself thinking about The Others on Lost. One reason why the Others were such a fascinating group was because they weren’t just one-dimensional villains. Whenever one of the Others would say something like, “We’re the good guys,” you could actually see their point. There’s never been that type of ambiguity when it comes to the Saviors. Negan is an asshole. He has chosen to surround himself with other assholes. They were all probably assholes before the zombie apocalypse and they’ll continue to be assholes until Sanctuary is eventually overrun by walkers.

With all that in mind though, this was still a pretty good episode. If nothing else, this episode made it a little bit clearer why people started following Negan in the first place. Even when Negan was trapped in the trailer with Father Gabriel, he did not allow himself to show any fear. Instead, he was actually able to persuade Gabriel to make a run with him for the Sanctuary. Even his confession to Gabriel about his first wife mostly served to reveal that Negan is a master manipulator. He shared just enough to keep Gabriel intrigued. After spending almost all of previous season bellowing, Jeffrey Dean Morgan dialed things back just enough to make Negan interesting again. For that matter, tonight’s episode finally gave Seth Gilliam to show what he’s capable of when he’s actually given a decent line or two.

In the trailer, Negan told Gabriel that the Saviors would undoubtedly end up killing each other if they thought he was dead. That may have sounded arrogant at the time but it quickly turned out that Negan was correct. I think that’s also going to be the Saviors’s downfall. By literally setting himself up as the strongest man in the Sanctuary, Negan has also ensured that the Saviors are lost without his presence and direction. While all of his lieutenants may go out of their way to imitate Negan’s style, none of them have his leadership skills. It doesn’t matter how much Simon and Regina insist otherwise. They may say “I am Negan,” but everyone know that they’re not. That said, Negan’s sudden appearance after everyone had assumed he was dead will probably leave him in an even more powerful position. All messiahs return from the dead and Negan even returned with a man of God!

As for the rest of the episode, I didn’t really get the whole point of Rick/Darryl fight. (It did, of course, remind us of the difference between Rick and Negan. Rick forgave Darryl, something Negan would view as being a sign of weakness.) Josh McDermitt is obviously having a blast as Eugene. Eugene may be a traitor but McDermitt’s performance still makes me smile every week. And then there was weaselly Gregory, of course. I think we’re all ready to see a bunch of walkers pounce on Gregory.

As I watched tonight’s episode, I found myself making a few more predictions about the rest of season 8:

There’s no way that Gabriel is still going to be alive at the end of this season. He is so being set up for martyrdom.
If they get Dr. Carter back to Hilltop, does that mean that Maggie will finally have her baby?
Judging from the flashback/flashforward structure of this season (and the fact that they’re going to have to explain why Carl no longer looks like he’s 13 years old), I’m going to guess that there will be a considerable time jump between season 8 and season 9. Either that or Zombie Carl’s going to show at some point soon…

As always, we’ll see what happens!

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.4 “Some Guy” (dir by Dan Liu)

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(SPOILERS)

(YOU GET THE IDEA?)

My heart is broken.

It’s funny. If Ezekiel had been the one to die, I don’t think it would have upset me as much. If Carol had died, I would have been sad but tears would not have sprung to my eyes. Rick? Hey, Rick should have died a long time ago. I wouldn’t have gotten upset. I would have said, “That’s life. No one’s safe.”

Instead, Shiva died and now my heart is broken.

What’s funny is that TSL co-founder and editor-in-chief Arleigh Sandoc warned me that Shiva was probably not going to survive. Based on what he had seen in the comic, he told me exactly what was going to happen to her. So, I can’t say that I was totally surprised. Even if Arleigh hadn’t warned me, I remember the walkers eating that horse during the first season. I know that animals aren’t safe in the world of The Walking Dead.

Still, it broke my heart.

Maybe it’s because I’m a cat person. Maybe it’s because Shiva died protecting her master, which is not exactly typical cat behavior. Ezekiel was at his weakest when Shiva sacrificed her life for him. And now that Shiva’s gone, Ezekiel is going to have to learn how to be a leader without her help. Before she died, he was shouting that he wasn’t a king. He shouted that he was just some guy who found a cat. The cat’s gone. Can Ezekiel prove that he deserves to be known as “your majesty?”

If not, maybe Jerry can step up and lead The Kingdom. Tonight, I was really impressed with Jerry and the actor who plays him, Cooper Andrews. They both did a great job. I know some people would say that Ezekiel should give the keys of the kingdom to Carol but I wouldn’t suggest that. Carol’s a badass but I still get the feeling that she’s just a day or two from snapping and killing everyone she sees.

As for the rest of tonight’s episode … who cares? Shiva’s dead…

Okay, okay, I know. I’m a semi-professional blogger! I need to get through this post and mourn later. Okay, just a few observations:

Does everyone just have an unlimited supply of bullets all of the sudden? One of the few things that I liked about the previous season is that the show did try to realistically deal with the fact that there aren’t many supplies in the post-apocalyptic world. But this season, everyone just seems to be shooting guns for the Hell of it. I’m not an expert on firearms but I do know that bullets aren’t like knives or arrows. They can only be used once.

So, I guess Rick is suddenly an action hero! I’m not complaining. A Rick who can suddenly jump into a speeding jeep is still preferable to a mopey, indecisive Rick who can’t bring himself to fight back.

Let’s give it up for Khary Payton, who did a great job tonight! Ezekiel is a character who I’ve sometimes found to be annoying but Payton did a great job. I think one reason why it was so unsettling to see Ezekiel acting so desperate was because The Kingdom has always provided the grim world of The Walking Dead with a little bit of fantasy. It’s always served as an escape from all the terrible things going on in the rest of the world. It’s very existence is a tribute to the power and importance of imagination. Seeing the fantasy shattered was not easy and that’s something Payton wonderfully captured in his performance.

This season’s flashback structure actually paid off tonight. I’m occasionally skeptical of shows that do the whole nonlinear timeline thing because I often feel that it’s just a gimmick, as opposed to really necessary storytelling device. But tonight, seeing the contrast between the confident Ezekiel and the nearly defeated Ezekiel was undeniably powerful.

Speaking of nearly defeated Ezekiel, what about that Savior asshole who was holding him prisoner? Oh my God, that guy had to be the most annoying bad guy ever! I was so happy when Jerry split him in two.

Tonight’s episode was not bad. It was exciting. The pace didn’t drag. And it made me cry.

Shiva, R.I.P.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.3 “Monsters” (dir by Greg Nicotero)

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Before watching tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, I was starting to worry that I might be impossible to please.

I spent all last season complaining that The Walking Dead was too talky and slow-paced. Then last week’s episode was pretty much nonstop action and I ended up getting bored out of my mind, largely because I didn’t feel like I had any sort of emotional stake in any of the characters. When tonight’s episode started, I was literally wondering if perhaps I’m destined to never be truly satisfied with anything that happens on The Walking Dead.

When the episode started with the attack still going on and Morales and Rick still talking, I was a little bit concerned. I was really worried that the entire episode was just going to be the two of them discussing what constitutes morality during the zombie apocalypse. I honestly didn’t remember much about who Morales was so I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly affected by his tales of woe and death. Morales explained that he lost everyone. Rick mentioned that he had lost a lot of people that he cared about. (Rick didn’t mention that most of them died as the result of Rick being a terrible strategist but no mater.) I was really starting to get concerned that the conversation was never going to end but then Daryl showed up and killed Morales. Thank you, Daryl. From now on, whenever a minor character threatens to hijack an episode, Daryl kills them. That’s the new rule.

The episode definitely picked up after the death of Morales. In fact, thing got so much better after Morales died that I almost felt as if, by killing Morales, the show’s producers, writers, and directors were specifically telling us, “Don’t worry. We learned our lesson last season. We’re not going to let random characters wander in and take over the show this season.”

As for the rest of the episode, I know that many would probably say that the fight between Morgan and Jesus was a highlight and I’ll agree that it was a very well-done sequence. (It helped that it was combined with scenes of Rick and Daryl fighting their own battle, for once giving us a chance to understand where all of these characters are in relation to each other.) The scenes with Aaron and Eric were definitely the episode’s emotional high point and the sight of Eric wandering around as a walker served as nice reminder that, before it all became about Negan and Alexandria, The Walking Dead a show about … well, the walking dead.

For me, though, the best part of tonight’s episode was Gregory showing up at Alexandria and begging to be allowed to come back in. Maggie, of course, immediately noticed that Gregory was driving Father Gabriel’s car. Gregory lied and said that he had just found the car. (Of course, we all know that he deserted Gabriel, leaving him with Negan.) When Maggie said that Kal had told them that Gregory went to see Negan, Gregory announced that Kal couldn’t be trusted.

Suddenly, Kal leaned over the side of the wall.

Gregory looked up at him. “Kal,” he sad.

Kal gave Gregory the finger.

Now, it may be a case of me being easily amused but that one hand gesture made the entire night for me. It was so simple and yet so appropriate that it was pure genius. If Gregory had been caught telling lies about Rick, Rick would have launched into a speech about why no one is allowed to lie in this new world. If Gregory had been caught telling lies about Negan, we would have had to spend three episodes listening to Negan’s lecture. Gregory got caught telling lies about Kal and Kal responded quickly, silently, and efficiently. Everyone on The Walking Dead should try to be more like Kal.

Anyway, Maggie did let Gregory back into the compound. Rick probably would have shot Gregory in the head. Maggie does things differently.

Speaking of which, at the end of the show, Rick promised a savior that he would be allowed to escape if he would just tell Rick and Daryl where they could find a case of guns. The savior told them and Daryl promptly shot him in the head. I can’t say that I blame Daryl. That’s just the way things work in the heartless world of The Walking Dead.

Anyway, despite a shaky start, this episode turned out pretty well. It was certainly a huge improvement on the previous two episodes of this season.

Allow me to end this review with a question and prediction.

First, the question: “Where’s Carl?”

A prediction: The first half of season 8 will end with a zombiefied Carl walking towards Rick. I know that would be a major departure from the comic book but, honestly, it makes sense. On the show, only two or three years have passed since Rick woke up from that coma. In the real world, it’s been nearly 8 years and Chandler Riggs isn’t getting any younger.

We’ll see what happens!

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.2 “The Damned” (dir by Rosemary Rodriguez)

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I want to make one thing absolutely clear: I tried.

Seriously, I tried to get emotionally involved in this episode but there’s really only so much time that I can spend watching people shoot at each other before I get bored. It’s kinda funny, to be honest. I spent all last season complaining about Rick not doing anything. Then, this episode comes along and it’s basically 45 minutes of Rick and the members of his militia kicking Savior ass. Rick is finally doing something. This entire episode was all about Rick doing something. And I was bored out of my mind.

Basically, this episode followed several different groups as they all launched concurrent attacks on different Savior compounds. A few minor members of Rick’s militia died but the majority of the victims were Saviors. For all of their fearsome reputation, it’s pretty obvious that the only really strong savior is Negan. The rest of them are just bullies and sycophants. Unless Negan is physically there to tell them what to do, they’re easily defeated. Over the course of the episode, a few of the dead reanimated and started eating anyone they could get their hands on. That was good. The show is called The Walking Dead, afterall.

During the attack, we were allowed a glimpse into some of the group dynamics in this new alliance. Perhaps the most intriguing scenes were the ones that features Jesus (Tom Payne) and Tara (Alanna Masterson) debating whether or not to execute a man who claimed to just be a civilian. Tara’s approach was significantly more ruthless than Jesus’s. Even when Jesus had both the opportunity and the justification to kill a savior, he still decided to merely knock the man out. Jesus said that Maggie would back him up. Tara replied that Rick’s got her back.

Meanwhile, King Ezekiel, Carol, and the rest of Team Renaissance Faire wandered through the woods, with Ezekiel going on and on with his faux royal posturing.

As for Rick, he ran into a guy named Morales who is now a part of the Saviors. Apparently, Rick met Morales in Atlanta. Considering that there’s only a handful of people still alive in the world of The Walking Dead, it’s actually not too shocking that Morales and Rick would run into each other again. It’s a small world. If Rick had run into Shane’s brother or maybe Carl (who we saw running away last week), it would be exciting. But Morales? Who cares?

Finally, Morgan apparently now feels that he’s achieved some sort of immortality. I guess that means that Morgan will eventually turn out of the be this season’s surprise sacrifice.

We’ll see what happens. Maybe this episode will pay off in the future but for now, it’s just forgettable.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.1 “Mercy” (dir by Greg Nicotero)

Posted on October 22, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Before I say anything about the 100 episode and 8th season premiere of The Walking Dead, I want to say thank you to the show’s producers for including a dedication to George Romero at the end of the episode.

Even in his later years, Romero never quite got his due from either Hollywood or the critical establishment. He struggled to raise the money to make movies that would stay true to his vision. The critics who praised him often only did so grudgingly, often acknowledging his influence while still making snide remarks about his films. Too many critics are still unwilling to give unqualified praise to anything related to the horror genre. Despite all of that, George Romero is one of the most important and influential filmmakers of all time. It can be argued that without Romero and his Dead films, modern horror would look very different. If there’s one thing that we can be sure of, it’s that without Night of the Living Dead, there would be no Walking Dead.

As for tonight’s episode…

Well, it was certainly different from what we had to deal with for the majority of season 7. I mean, Rick actually did something other than sitting around in a catatonic state. While Negan was featured in this episode, he was used sparingly. He didn’t hijack the show, like he did for most of season 7. We didn’t have to sit through any fifteen minute Negan monologues. When this episode started with the various groups preparing for war, I figured that — following the usual pace of The Walking Dead — we would have 6 episodes of everyone getting ready, 6 episodes of everyone talking about being ready, and then 1 episode of actual fighting. Instead, for once, the show got right to it.

Does this mean that the show’s producers actually learned something from the less than positive reaction that some fans and critics had to the sluggish pace of season 7? We can only hope so.

I was happy to see Rick finally acting like the Rick that we once knew and loved. Gone was wimpy Rick. Instead, this Rick went straight to Negan, shouted out some threats, and then launched an attack on the Sanctuary. All of a sudden, Rick became a badass again and it’s about time!

At the same time, I think it can be argued that the attack was a waste of bullets. Sure, Rick and his people wanted to make a statement. They wanted to show the Saviors that they weren’t going to allow themselves to be pushed around anymore. But, as I watched round after round being fired at the Sanctuary, I remembered all of the times that we were shown Darryl pulling his arrows out of the head of a dead walker. Why? Because resources are limited in the world of The Walking Dead and anything wasted — like thousands of bullets — will never be replaced. Rick and his allies have a lot of guns but what good are they going to be if they run out of bullets?

That said, during the show, I was willing to set aside those concerns. Negan has been such a hateful and, if we’re going to be honest, annoying character that it was impossible not to feel a visceral thrill at the sight of someone finally fighting back.

As for the rest of tonight’s episode:

Is Carl growing disillusioned with his dad? To be honest, I’m just surprised that Carl’s still alive. Someday, Carl is going to have to shoot his father in the head, in order to keep Rick from turning into a walker. I have a feeling that’ll be the last scene of the last episode of The Walking Dead.
Why is Gregory still alive!? God, what a dumbfug toadsucker that guy has turned out to be.
So, now, Father Gabriel has been captured by Negan. I hope this doesn’t mean that we’re going to have to listen to Negan give a lecture on his opinion of organized religion.
Throughout tonight’s episode, we were given scenes of an older and happier Rick. He was living with Michonne and Judith. Carl was nowhere to be seen. There was a lot of talk of an upcoming festival. Were these legitimate flash forwards or were they just Rick’s fantasy of what life is going to be like if he defeats Negan? I’m leaning towards thinking they’re Rick’s fantasy. Rick always thinks that life can somehow get back to being normal and happy. All he has to do is find Sophia or defeat the Governor or make a new life as a pig farmer or kill Negan. It never works out like Rick thinks that it’s going to. However, it’s Rick’s refusal to give up his faith that makes him both a compelling and a tragic figure.
Rick was proud of himself after his battle with Negan but, as I watched Rick celebrate, it occurred to me that Rick always ends up thinking that, just because he’s won a battle, he’s won the war. Again, it just never seems to work out for him.
The Walking Dead is back! I thought this was a good episode and I’m cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season.

How does everyone else feel? What do you think? Is season 8 going to be a return to form for The Walking Dead or are we looking at another season 7? Regardless of whether you agree with me or not, I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 7.16 “The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life” (dir by Greg Nicotero)

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(SPOILERS, OF COURSE)

I will be the first admit that I’ve been very critical of season 7 of The Walking Dead. I’ve spent weeks complaining about the pace of the story and episodes that didn’t seem to go anywhere. I have been very open about my frustration with the one-dimensional villainy of Negan and my feeling that Rick Grimes is an incredibly overrated hero. I don’t take any of that back.

But you know what?

The seventh season finale of The Walking Dead was pretty damn good. Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t great. There were still pacing problems. There was still way too much time spent on Negan chuckling before launching into one of his marathon monologues. I would have preferred that, instead of ending with Negan announcing, “We are going to war!,” that the episode had ended with the war already over and Negan vanquished.

But, even with all that in mind, The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life was a well-executed finale and it went a long way towards making up for some season seven’s weaker moments.

At first, it didn’t seem like that would be the case. When the show started with Sasha in what appeared to be a cell, I will admit to rolling my eyes a little. “Please, God, no more cell monologues,” I thought as Negan popped into her cell and proceeded to give a monologue. Now that I know that Sasha was in the process of committing suicide, her scenes with Abraham and Maggie are undeniably poignant. But, at the time that I was first watching them, I have to admit that my first thought was that Abraham was getting more dialogue now that he was dead than he ever did while he was alive. When Abraham said that Maggie was carrying the future in her, I thought to myself, “She’s been carrying the future for two years. Is that baby ever going to be born?”

And, when Dwight told Rick that he had a plan and Rick asked to hear it, the only thing that kept me from throwing a shoe at the TV was that I wasn’t wearing any. “Rick doesn’t have a plan!?” I snapped, “All this time and he hasn’t come up with a plan!? No wonder Carl’s always looking for a new father figure!”

And then, finally, when the Scavengers revealed that they had been working with the Saviors all the time, I chalked it up to another case of Rick not being the strategic genius that everyone always seems to assume that he is. As Rick stood there with guns pointed at him, I mentally prepared myself for the task of having to sit through yet another Negan monologue.

At the time, I didn’t realize how skillfully The Walking Dead was toying with me and my expectations. In retrospect, I can see how perfectly the show played me. Of course, I would be frustrated with Rick. And, of course, I would be dreading the idea of another Negan speech. And, just when I was on the verge of giving up, the show gave us…

ZOMBIE SASHA!

The moment that Zombie Sasha burst out of that coffin is destined to be remembered as the 2nd greatest moment in the history of season 7. This was the only time that I can think of that anyone on the show made a deliberate decision to use zombiefication to turn themselves into a weapon. I’m going to assume that Eugene secretly slipped her some poison before she got in the coffin. It was too bad that Sasha had to die but, if you have to die, die with style. At least this is one death that Rick wasn’t indirectly responsible for. The blame for this one can be put on Rosita.

You may have noticed that Zombie Sasha was my choice for the 2nd greatest moment of season 7. What was the first?

RESCUE SHIVA!

After the disruption of Zombie Sasha, the Saviors thought they had regained control of the situation. Carl and Rick were on their knees. Negan was starting another monologue. I was starting to get frustrated again. And suddenly, out of nowhere, a tiger pounced! Ezekiel and the Kingdom showed up and basically kicked a lot of Savior ass. Negan fled. He may have extended his middle finger as he drove out of there but there’s no way to deny that the bully finally get his ass kicked. After all that has happened over the course of this season, it was nice to see Negan not only twice fail to complete a monologue but also get his ass kicked by a bunch of Renaissance Faire actors. It was pure chaos and it was beautiful.

As for the rest of the show, Rick somehow quickly recovered from being shot in the stomach and Michonne survived getting beaten half-to-death. Carl still has his one good eye and Father Gabriel showed up long enough to let us know that he’s still alive.

The Saviors lost a battle and, when Season 8 begins in October, it’s going to be time for war.

I’ll be watching.

Will you?

TV Review: The Walking Dead 7.15 “Something They Need” (dir by Michael Slovis)

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi there! Before I get around to saying what little I have to say about tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, I want to share something with you.

Next week is the season finale and, naturally, it’s an extended episode. I have two fears.

I fear that next week’s episode will be 70 minutes of Rick and Dwight sitting in a cell and discussing right and wrong.
I also fear that the episode will end with Rick standing on a hill, looking back at all of his followers, and announcing, “And now — we attack!” This will immediately be followed by the end credits and Talking Dead. See you once Season 8 starts!

If either of those happen, this will be my response:

I have such mixed feelings about the pace of The Walking Dead. On the one hand, I appreciate that it’s a show that literally takes place after the end of the world. Civilization is over and sometimes, that is best represented by stillness. There’s no need for anyone to hurry because there’s really nowhere to go. There are no more jobs. There are no more movies. There are no more clubs. There are no more schools. There’s nothing. The only thing that matters in the world of The Walking Dead is survival and, often times, it’s necessary to move slowly and with caution to survive.

On the other hand, this season has been so slow! It feels as if it has taken Rick longer to organize this attack than it took for Lafayette to sail across the ocean and track down Gen. Washington. Yes, I appreciate why the pace is deliberate but there’s really only so many times that you can watch the same scene play out over and over again.

Tonight was a perfect example. It featured three storylines, all of which were way too dragged out. Tonight was basically 30 minutes worth of story stretched out to a full hour.

In Alexandria, Gregory again showed himself incapable of … well, just about anything. Nobody has any respect for Gregory. Maggie had to save him from a walker. Gregory’s either going to get killed by Negan or he’s going to get bitten by a walker. I think he actually had the potential to be an interesting character (and Xander Berkeley is certainly a good actor) but Gregory is so obviously doomed that it’s hard to really care about him one way or the other.

In Sanctuary, Sasha is somehow not dead. Instead, she’s in that same little cell that Daryl was in. Negan was apparently impressed by her suicidal attack. Why that would impress Negan, I’m not sure. Anyway, Negan killed a savior who was on the verge of raping Sasha. That’s a good thing, though you have to wonder if Negan set the whole thing up just so he’d have an excuse to play the hero. He wants to bring Sasha over to his side. Again, I’m not sure why. Mostly, I assume that Sasha’s alive so that she can be used as a hostage if Rick ever actually gets around to launching this attack that he’s been going on about.

(In many ways, Sasha being alive epitomizes this season’s greatest flaw. She’s not alive because there’s any real logic behind her somehow not being dead. Instead, she’s alive so she can be used as a plot device later on. Keeping Sasha alive comes at the price of whatever consistency had previously been established as far as Negan’s character is concerned.)

And finally, Tara told Rick about Oceanside so Rick and his people went down there and took all their guns. The scenes of Rick bullying the Oceansiders were mixed in with scenes of Negan trying to bring Sasha over to the Saviors. I got the feeling we were supposed to compare the contrasting leadership styles of Rick, Negan, and Gregory. Gregory is inneffectual. Rick will do what needs to be done but only when he doesn’t have any other choice. Negan just talks too much.

At the end of the episode, Rosita returned from Sanctuary. Accompanying her was … DWIGHT! So, Dwight was the man she saw in the shadows. Rick pointed a gun at him and told him to get on his knees. Apparently, next week’s episode will feature Rick talking to Dwight in a cell. I just hope they don’t spend too much time talking.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, this episode was way too slow for me. But, at least Rick does seem to be inching closer to finally launching that attack.

HURRY UP, RICK!

Maggie and Gregory do …. something.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 7.14 “The Other Side”

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead was the type of episode that drives me crazy. It was an episode where hardly anything happened and what did happen played out very slowly. In fact, I eventually ended up getting so bored that I started trying to imagine how The Walking Dead could ever come up with an episode slower than “The Other Side.”

After giving it some thought, I decided the only way it could happen would be if Terrence Malick agreed to be a guest director during season 8. As I sat waiting for something to happen in the episode that I was actually watching, I found myself imagining what the Malick-directed episode would be like.

I envisioned Rick standing alone in a vibrantly green field. The grass is high and the blowing wind creates gentle waves of nature. Rick looks up to the incredibly blue sky and sees one extremely white cloud floating over. Rick looks down at the ground. An egg hatches. A bird is born. Rick stares at the bird. The bird stares at him. They both flash back to prehistory. A sabre tooth tiger eats a caveman who looks suspiciously like Norman Reedus. Rick blinks. Rick’s back in the field. Christian Bale walks by, dressed up like a 1930s Oklahoma dust bowl farmer. He looks at Rick. Rick stares back. Christian Bale walks on.

On the soundtrack, we hear Ben Kinglsey’s voice. “What is this nature of man that refuses to accept that death begins with life and life ends with death? Will the grass blow for an eternity?”

Rick looks off in the distance. Walkers are approaching.

On the soundtrack, we hear Jessica Chastain’s voice: “I will wait you at the other end of the river, where the two waters meet in life and diverge in death.”

“Shane, Glenn, and old Dale Horvath,” Rick mutters, “Always you are at war within me.”

The walkers calmly walk by Rick. Rick notices that a man in animal skins is with the walkers and yet, the man is not eaten because he has returned to a more innocent and primitive state….

And so on and so forth.

Anyway, as for what actually did happen during tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, I guess this was a pretty good example of why I should be careful what I ask for. For weeks, I’ve been defending Rosita and saying that people should let her attack the Sanctuary. Well, tonight, she and Sasha finally made it to the Sanctuary and that attack did not go quite as planned. First off, Eugene refused to go back to Alexandria with them. (A better name for the Sanctuary would be Stockholm because Eugene’s got a huge case of Stockholm Syndrome, am I right or am I right? Thank you, I’ll be here all night.) Then Sasha announced that Rosita needed to go back to Alexandria and ran into the Sanctuary to create a diversion. With Sasha undoubtedly getting shot up by Negan’s goons, Rosita ran off but then stopped when she saw someone in the shadows. I’m assuming it was Daryl.

(By the way, I know we’re all supposed to get mad at Rosita for potentially messing up Rick’s plans but seriously, can you blame her? Rick only has one plan: Do nothing until that’s no longer an option, sacrifice half of your people on a suicide mission, and make sure Carl survives to lose another eye.)

This all happened in the final ten minutes of the episode and it was pretty good and exciting. But to get to that point, we had to sit through a seemingly endless slog of scenes that mostly felt like filler. The Saviors showed up at Alexandria and, once again, we had to watch Simon bully Gregory while everyone else stood around and shook their head in disgust. Because Negan set his last doctor on fire, he decided to take Alexandria’s doctor.

“OH MY GOD!” the audience was supposed to shout, “Maggie’s pregnant and Alexandria has lost their only doctor!”

(Maggie’s been pregnant for a while now and she’s still not showing. Trying to figure out how much time has actually passed in The Walking Dead is almost as much fun as trying to figure out how long they were actually on the island on Lost.)

And yes, Negan arbitrarily taking someone else’s doctor because he stupidly killed his own does reinforce the fact that Negan is a jackass and something needs to be done about him. But seriously, it all played out so slowly. And it’s not like Gregory was going to refuse to hand over the doctor or anything. Other than Daryl almost coming out of hiding to attack someone, nothing unexpected or particularly interesting happened during all of that. It was all just more Savior bully bullshit.

When we weren’t in Alexandria, we spent an eternity watching Rosita raise and lower a rifle. At one point, I was scared that the whole rest of this season would just be Rosita raising the rifle, looking through the scope, and then lowering it.

Fortunately, this episode ended with some action but it took forever to get there. There’s only two more episodes left in this season so hopefully, the show will pick up the pace a little. Because, seriously, if season 7 ends with Rick announcing that it’s finally time to attack as he stares at the Sanctuary in the distance, I’m going to throw a fit.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 7.13 “Bury Me Here” (dir by Alrick Riley)

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“We have to get ready. We have to fight.”

“We do … BUT NOT TODAY.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake! Will somebody please fight the goddamn saviors so that the damn show can move on to something other than tense stand-offs and rambling monologues from Negan’s goons!?

*sigh*

Okay, that’s out of my system. Let’s talk about the latest episode of The Walking Dead.

Judging from some of the response that I’m seeing online, a lot of people are proclaiming Bury Me Here to be one of the best episodes of season 7. I really can’t agree, though I will say that those who are saying that Lennie James was “Emmy-worthy” tonight are not incorrect. James had some great moments and it was nice to be reminded that Morgan is actually one of the more interesting characters on The Walking Dead.

For that matter, there was a lot of good acting on display tonight. Not just Lennie James but also Karl Makinen, who made you sympathize with Richard even if you couldn’t exactly blame Morgan for beating him to death at the end of the episode. The title’s episode came from Richard’s request and, by the end of the show, you did feel that Richard had earned the right to pick his own burial site.

(A lot of fans turned on Richard when, a few episodes ago, he suggested sacrificing Carol in order to bring Ezekiel in Rick’s war with the Saviors. Well, Richard shouldn’t have suggested that and yes, he did make some mistakes tonight. But goddammit, at least Richard was doing something other than growing melons.)

You know who else did a good job tonight? Logan Miller. He did a good job, even when the show’s script when out of its way to sabotage him. Has anyone ever been as obviously doomed as Miller’s Benjamin? From the minute Benjamin showed up tonight, we know he was dead. He offered to help out Carol. He looked up to Morgan. He had naive hope for the future. He had a girlfriend. He gave Morgan an uglyass painting for his uglyass room. Benjamin was so doomed and yet, Logan Miller brought at least a little bit of poignancy to his character’s obvious fate.

But, with all that in mind, tonight’s episode still moved way too slowly for me. It felt like a throwback to the first half of the season, before the show’s writers apparently realized how boring it was to have to sit through a new Savior monologue every week. There were hints of the show that we all want The Walking Dead to be. Even Morgan’s murder of Richard was a return to the unflinching yet plot-appropriate brutality that brought The Walking Dead its initial success. There were good moments but there were plenty of slow moments too.

Of course, that’s the way it’s almost always been with The Walking Dead. At the show’s best, the good moments are so good that they cause you to forget about the slow moments. At its worse, the slow moments are so slow that you give up on watching before the episode reaches the good moments. And then you have episodes like the one that aired tonight, where the good moments are good on their own and the slow moments are slow on their own and the whole thing never quite comes together. Tonight’s episode was a good thirty minutes stretched out to an average hour.

One final note — and I realize that I’ve said this a million times in the past and I’m probably say it a million times in the future — the Saviors are so fucking boring! Yes, I know that they’re bullies and they are properly hissable villains. You never feel anything but good when you see a savior die. But the show continues to act as if the Saviors are the most compelling bad guys since Milton inadvertently made Satan the most interesting character in Paradise Lost. Quite some time ago, I grew bored with various Negan lieutenants popping up, rambling on and on about tributes, and then demanding that everyone hand over their guns.

(That said, I am going to give some special credit to Josh Mikel, who, tonight, made Jared into the most loathsome savior of all.)

So, that’s why I say this: HURRY UP AND GET TO THE WAR! If Rick and Negan are not in the middle of an official war by the end of the season, I worry about the future of The Walking Dead….

TV Review: The Walking Dead 7.12 “Say Yes” (dir by Greg Nicotero)

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Early on, during tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, I saw Rick smiling and I thought to myself, “Oh, shit…”

See, it’s a general rule that, whenever Rick’s happy, something terrible is about to happen. Rick is not allowed to be happy. Remember what happened when he was happy about being reunited with his wife, son, and best friend Shane? Remember what happened when he thought he could make a new life as a pig farmer? Nothing good is allowed to happen to Rick.

So, when it briefly appeared that Rick might be dead towards the end of the episode, I thought he very well might be. I have to admit that I was kind of excited about the idea. Who would step up to take Rick’s place? (Daryl.) Who would Michonne love without Rick around? (Daryl.) Who would Carl look up to if Rick was dead? (Daryl’s the obvious answer but knowing Carl, he’d probably run off and ask Negan to adopt him.) And I have to admit that, as a reviewer, I was looking forward to not only writing about the impact of Rick’s death but also seeing all the extra hits that my post would get. I’ll admit it, I’m not that innocent.

Of course, then Rick suddenly emerged from hiding and started killing walkers. He even got to do a badass slow motion weapon toss to Michonne. Eventually, if The Walking Dead is to have any integrity, Rick and every other major character, no matter how popular or important, is going to have to die. But tonight was not that night.

(Of course, next week’s ~~season finale~~ episode is called “Bury Me Here,” so it sounds like someone will be leaving us…)

Tonight’s episode was almost totally devoted to Rick and Michonne and, after all the darkness of the past few episodes, it was nice to see them actually enjoying themselves. As much as I dread seeing Rick smile, I kind of enjoy it too. Since Rick tends to carry the weight of the world on his soldiers, it was nice to see that he actually can get some sort of pleasure out of his violent existence. The fighting, smiling, and lustful Rick that we saw tonight was a nice change from the neutered and whiny Rick who we had to deal with during the first half of the season. This is the Rick that we want to see!

(On twitter, I suggested that another reason why Rick was so happy was because, for once, he didn’t have to deal with one-eyed Carl standing in the background and making him feel guilty. Some people apparently did not appreciate my theory, which leads me to wonder when we all suddenly decided that we liked Carl again.)

Tonight, Rick and Michonne were not the only people looking for guns. Rosita also went searching but could only find one cap gun and a walker with a double chin. Father Gabriel, of course, used this as an excuse to lecture her about hate and violence but you know what? Shut up, Father Gabriel. How and why are you even still alive at this point? I don’t blame Rosita for being mad and I don’t blame her for wanting to take action. And if Rosita’s plan to kill Negan is running the risk of ruining Rick’s plans — well, that’s probably a good thing. Rick’s plans never work. Ask Herschel how well Rick’s plans work. Ask Glenn. Ask Abraham.

(Checking on twitter, I see that I’m kind of alone as far as my sympathy for Rosita is concerned. It’s interesting how the people who are continually upset when Daryl doesn’t automatically kill everyone that he meets are apparently the same people upset about Rosita having “an attitude.” Whatever, people.)

Anyway, this was a pretty good episode. As much as I may bitch about Rick as a leader, I was happy to see him actually get a chance to enjoy himself without the world automatically ending. Michonne, who has been underused lately, finally got a chance to remind the viewers of what a badass she truly is. The moment when she thought Rick was dead was a moment of great acting from Danai Gurira.

As for next week’s episode, it’s getting close to the season finale! Who will live? Who will die? (Eugene, probably. And, hopefully, sanctimonious Father Gabriel.) We’ll find out next week!

(CORRECTION: Due to my notoriously short attention span, an earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that next week was the season finale. I apologize for the error. — LMB)