Channing Powell | Through the Shattered Lens

“You owe us.” — Officer Dawn Lerner

[spoilers]

Season 5 of The Walking Dead has been on such a hot streak to begin the new season that it was bound to have a bit of a drop off sooner rather than later. Even the best shows needs to slow things down after sprinting right out of the gate. Tonight saw the show finally answer the question: Who took Beth?

“Slabtown” answers this question by dedicating an entire episode to it, but also focusing the entire episode on Beth herself. This is a character who has outlived it’s comic book counterpart and who had become a punching bag for fans and detractors alike. Beth Greene has been called worthless and whose only skill seems to be taking care of Lil’ Asskicker and singing for the group. Her character was one example of why the show’s detractors have called the writing on The Walking Dead one of it’s biggest flaws. Yet, the writers since Scott M. Gimple took over as showrunner seem to have found something salvageable about the youngest Greene.

Beth Greene’s character reclamation began all the way back in Season 4 where she began to show signs of understanding the rules which now govern the new world they all live in. When her new boyfriend was killed off in the last season’s premiere episode her reaction was to shrug it off and just remember the good times she had with him. This new found attitude would continue throughout season 4 yet Beth never sacrificed her hold on her humanity even as she finally adjusted to the new world she found herself in. It helped that she found a sort of big brother-like protector in Daryl who received emotional support from Beth as payment for teaching her how to better survive.

Now with tonight’s episode the initial reaction by most would be to groan and wonder if and when Daryl and Carol will come in with guns blazing to rescue her from what looks like a very bad situation. People wouldn’t be too harsh for thinking such a thing, but Gimple and his writers know that this was an opportunity to continue building up this new Beth Greene. Just as season 4 saw the emergence of Queen Badass Carol Peletier this season could further see Beth raise up her game and show everyone that she’s not useless and could more than take care of herself even when separated from everyone else.

It didn’t take long for Beth to realize that Officer Dawn and Doctor Edwards were more than just helpful faces. Dawn never even gives Beth a chance to think that her new situation was better than the one she left. Grady Memorial looked safe enough, but the “greater good” way that Dawn ran things was nothing more than a thin veneer over something that the Governor and last season’s Joe would approve of. In a move that harkens back to how drunks and poor people were shanghaied into indentured servitude on ships a couple hundred years ago, Dawn has built herself up a dictatorship all in the name of preserving civilization. She wanted to keep things as organized and law-abiding until rescue comes from the government and things go back to normal.

Beth saw right through this charade while Officer Dawn and Doctor Edwards fail to notice that the young, pretty thing in front of them has survived on the outside and grown to become a hardened fighter in her own right. She’s learned from the best (Rick, Daryl, Maggie and, to a certain extent, even from Carl himself) and throughout the episode we could see the wheels in her head turning, turning for a way to get herself out and back out in the world where she knew she had a better chance of surviving.

While the episode still slowed things down a tad too much in the beginning to set-up the final minutes, they weren’t as painful as similar slowdowns as in the past. We got to learn who at the same time as Beth did that her new protectors were bad news (some even quite open with the rapey angle) and that others also wanted out. While it would’ve been great to see the show make more use out of guest-star Keisha Castle-Hughes (will be great to see her on the upcoming season of Game of Thrones) there’s a chance that we might see more of Tyler James Williams’ as Noah who made good on finding a way out.

Is Noah the unseen figure Daryl called out in the end of last week’s episode?

I guess we will have to find out a couple weeks from now as the show now turns to focusing on the Abraham group as they head towards our nation’s capital. Now that we’ve gotten to see Beth prove herself as worthy as the rest (to some degree) of the Rick Grimes Gang, it’s now time to see if the writers have a way to make Abraham, Eugene and Rosita more than just one-dimensional characters to this point and time of the show.

Notes

“Slabtown” was written by Matthew Negrete & Channing Powell and directed by Michael E. Satrazemis.
Nice to see Tyler James Williams of Everybody Hates Chris on the TV once again.
Keisha Castle-Hughes of Whale Rider cameo’s as a ward of Grady Memorial who ends up ending the further rapey adventures of Officer Rapey McRaperton aka Officer Gorman.
Either Rick’s people just have had a lot of practice shooting zombie heads while on the move or Beth has been hiding just how good a shot she really is. She missed just one out of at least 15 shots.
Tonight’s episode was pretty much a whole new cast outside of Beth and until the very end with the appearance of Carol for a few seconds.
For a city that was supposedly bombed out by the government in the height of the zombie outbreak, Atlanta sure looks quite intact as it did in the season premiere. I guess the production designers on this show have never seen footage of German cities truly bombed out during WWII. This is how Atlanta should look.
Talking Dead guests tonight are John Barrowman (Arrow, Torchwood), Ana Gasteyer (SNL, Suburgatory) and Beth Greene herself, Emily Kinney.

Season 5

“Things aren’t over.” — Glenn Rhee

The ratings numbers for the mid-season premiere of The Walking Dead was again shocking critics and fans both. Ratings for the show just stupefies critics of the show who can’t seem to get a handle on why this show has gone beyond popular and into pop icon status. By now we can honestly say that the show’s writing will never reach the status of other current popular shows like True Detective, Game of Thrones or that of Breaking Bad. Yet, the show continues to appeal to millions of fans not just in the US but worldwide.

The Walking Dead is basically a horror soap opera that’s airs on a basic cable network. But each and every week the show airs a new episode it beats everything put up against and more than holds its own with NBC’s Sunday Night Football. It’s a show that has had and continues to have issues with it’s writing and some of its characters, but for some reason the whole affair resonates with the millions who wait with anticipation for each new episode and news to appear.

Even detractors and strong critics of the show (some of who, vehemently hate the whole thing’s success and popularity) manage to still watch the show if just to poke fun and tear it down. It’s almost as if by doing so they can find that secret ingredient as to why the show remains so popular and successful.

Tonight’s episode focuses on the rest of the prison group who fled their sanctuary after the battle with the Governor’s forces. Last week it was more on the fleeing Rick, Carl and Michonne and their journey from the brink of despair to at least a semblance of hope and acceptance. We begin with the duo of Daryl and Beth who fled the prison on foot.

It’s an odd pairing that puts together one of the show’s most badass and pragmatic characters with one of it’s most hopeful (at least now with Hershel Dead). It’s a cold opening and section of the episode which includes diary readings by Beth of her renewed faith and need to continue to live after the group arrives at the prison. Once again we see the ghost of Hershel looming over all the survivors like a shade trying to give them hope to live for the next day despite the travails and horrors they’ve just left behind and still looking forward to.

The same goes for pretty much all the little groups who made it out of the prison. We see each and everyone of them not just fleeing for their lives, but also trying to get find a reason to continue on. With Tyreese and his group of Lizzie, Mika and Baby Judith it’s to continue on if just for the sake of keeping the girls alive. His road seems to be the toughest with three little girls to keep safe which makes his reaction to seeing Carol alive (at this time Rick hadn’t told Tyreese about Carol’s confession in regards to Karen’s death) was one of relief.

With Sasha, Bob and Maggie we see a trio dealing with the events they’ve just fled in their own ways. Sasha seems to be the most pragmatic with wanting to keep moving forward, scavenge for food and find a shelter. On the opposite end of the spectrum we see Maggie still dealing with the murder of her father (Hershel) and not knowing if her younger sister is still alive and, worst yet, if her husband (Glenn) made it out. It falls to Bob to find a middle ground between the two women’s agendas. Ironic considering that Bob, in the first half of the season, who was always unsure whether he truly belonged in the group and if his own personal demons meant he was a liability (yes and, to a degree, yes also). When they come across the prison bus that Maggie thought Glenn was in full of zombies and its passengers either turned or devoured one could almost see the light of hope fading from Maggie’s eyes. So, it was such a relief (again finding relief of any kind seems to be one of tonight’s theme) when Glenn wasn’t on the bus in one form or another.

Then there’s the final section of the episode where we find out that Glenn definitely survived the attack on the prison, but was left behind (due to the fact he left the bus to try and find Maggie during the battle) all alone in the ruins of their former sanctuary. He doesn’t know whether anyone else made it out and if his wife was amongst them. For a moment when back in their cell room he breaks down and seems to want to just shutdown and not deal with this new world anymore, but once again his time spent with Hershel brings him back from the brink.

Even new to the gang, Tara Chalmers, looks like she’ll fit in with Rick and his gang. She seems to survive when everyone else around her dies. Tara also harbors her own demons with the biggest being her participation in attacking the prison and getting pretty much everyone in her group killed. She’s troubled and hurting emotionally which makes her a perfect fit for Rick’s group.

Yet, the episode tonight all ended it’s three different sections with a sense of hope. The biggest being news that a new sanctuary might just be close enough for them to find shelter and safety once more. The biggest reveal of all in tonight’s episode is the arrival and introduction of three new characters whose impact on Rick’s people may just be as important and game-changing on the show as it was in the comics.

With the group slowly finding their bearings it looks like the apocalyptic battle that sent them all in different directions wasn’t the end. Things are definitely not over for Rick and his people. Will this new sanctuary hinted at in tonight’s episode become a new Woodbury or will it be something that Rick and his people can turn into something even better than the prison. The prison was sanctuary but was never an ideal place to restart whatever form of civilized society the survivors were hoping for. Maybe this new place they’re headed to will be that place.

Notes

Tonight’s episode was written by Matthew Negrete & Channing Powell and directed by Tricia Brock.
At least now the question of what happened to baby Judith has now been answered.
Lizzy looks like she’s turning out to be the very proper sociopath.
We get some resolution as to what happened to Tara’s sister, but only through Tara’s recollection of her being swamped by zombies after killing the Governor.
Some very fine work by Greg Nicotero’s wizards over at KNB EFX with the zombie kills and flesh-eating (I think these two things are part of why people continue to return to this show despite detractors and critics yelling to everyone and no one why it’s stupid to do so).
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you all Sgt. Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa and Eugene Powell played respectively by Michael Cudlitz, Christian Serratos and Josh McDermitt.
Talking Dead Guests: Alanna Masterson of The Walking Dead, Joe Kernen of CNBC Squawk Box and Jim Gaffigan