Spoilers through Season 8 of 'The Walking Dead' follow. Show The Walking Dead offered up its best episode of the season Sunday night, giving us some decent fight scenes and shoot-outs and raising the tension up a notch. Naturally, you won't hear me sing its praises without also offering up a few pointed criticisms. Let's talk about the bad first before getting to the parts I think were actually pretty decent. THE BAD Morales was a total waste. Probably the very worst part about this episode had to be Morales. Actor Juan Gabriel Pajera was written off the show before the end of Season 1, and made a surprise reappearance last week as his character, Morales. After 'Monsters' I'm really not sure what the point was. Lots of people speculated that this would lead to Rick having some character-building moments, questioning whether the Saviors were really all bad if an old pal like Morales could be part of the group. Turns out, "It doesn't matter. Not one bit," as Daryl says after killing Morales pretty much right away. I actually laughed out loud. Daryl just wasting the guy and telling Rick the honest truth like that is exactly why I enjoy Daryl as a character (sometimes, when he's actually given cool lines like that.) But the scene preceding Daryl's mercy killing (mercy to us, the audience, that is) was just abysmal. Morales is really, really angry at Rick for some reason. He keeps going on and on about how screwed Rick is now that the Saviors are coming back from the courtyard. (It turns out that yes, Aaron's people and Rick/Daryl are in the same compound; when Morales calls the Saviors, they abandon their fight below against a much larger force in order to go fight...Rick and Daryl...I don't really understand why, when Morales already has Rick hostage, but okay.) In any case, the entire bit with Rick trying to tell Morales what Negan has done, and Morales just answering with PURE ANGER and going on and on and on was painful to watch. Pajera was given far too many lines, and basically got caught in one of those classic TV faux pas...monologuing. (See, for example, The Incredibles, Game of Thrones 'The Mountain vs The Viper' etc.) It's a silly trope that originated with classic TV villains who would brag on and on at a critical moment, usually right when they captured the hero, ultimately screwing up their own dastardly plan thanks to sheer arrogance. The monologue gives the hero time to escape, or time for his allies (Daryl, in this case) to save them. So yeah, Morales was so smart that he stood with his back to the door, his gun trained on Rick, talking endlessly in a really angry tone of voice even though he has absolutely no reason to be personally angry at Rick (or at least divulges no reason during his screed.) Then Daryl kills him and when Rick says something to the effect of 'But he's from Atlanta!' Daryl responds, "It doesn't matter. Not one bit." Like I said, that's a fine line and true. Unfortunately, it also underscores how silly the entire scene was. They shouldn't have brought back Morales. They should have had the mother of the baby hold the gun on Rick. He just killed the father, now she's freaking out, crying, telling him that she'd kill him but Negan forbid them to kill him, Carl or "the widow." She could be talking about her baby, justifiably enraged that Rick just killed her man...then Daryl comes in and thwack, shoots her with his crossbow as Rick cries out "No!" See how much better that scene would have been? How it would have played into the events of last week, rather than the events of Season 1? How it would build off real emotions of loss and grief and anger, and when Daryl killed this mother of a small child, we'd feel gross about it, too, instead of just relieved that Morales finally shut up. I mean, after this episode I'm really grateful he was written off the show in Season 1, because not only were the lines bad, the delivery was even worse. Aaron sheds no tears. The other big moment of the episode came when Eric, wounded, was led to a tree by his husband, Aaron. In a long, long, drawn out conversation Aaron, played by Ross Marquand, kneels there crying. Or rather, he makes a "crying face" but sheds not one single tear. Marquand holds this face for quite a while. Honestly, he's just sitting there pretending (very obviously) to cry for what seems like forever, before just...leaving his husband to bleed out on a tree. The oddly bad acting here (or even stranger decision to not add a few eye drops to make it look as though Aaron was actually grieving rather than doing what I can only describe as an extended wince) was made even worse by the incredibly strange decision to have Aaron return to the gunfight. The bad guys were losing. Eric was bleeding out and needed help. If it were your husband/wife/loved one would you leave them bleeding on a tree? Not when there are plenty of other fighters back there who can keep up the good fight. So naturally, Eric dies. I'm not sure that Aaron could have saved him, but in a show more concerned about how people would actually behave, rather than one where the writing philosophy is "just because," we would have at least seen Aaron try to save him, try to patch his wounds or staunch the bleeding. A stomach wound with the bullet out isn't necessarily fatal, but even if they made Eric die, at least they could have done it with Aaron there. Instead we get a second scene with Aaron pretending to cry, shedding no tears, as Eric wanders off as a zombie. Nobody offers to go kill him, weirdly enough. I dislike everything about how this was handled, though once again Eric is a character with almost no development or real part to play so it's not like we really lost anyone important. It would have been far more interesting to have Aaron die and Eric survive, but whatever. At least, in the end, Rick gives the baby to Aaron and we get a sweet, circle-of-life moment. New life rushes in to fill the void. King Ezekiel is a terrible leader (at least in battle.) I think Ezekiel is taking over Negan's place this season as Most Annoying Character. His ridiculous leadership style and Shakespearean speeches just make me roll my eyes at this point. The episode opens to his group along with Carol as they hunt down bad guys. There's some really awkward, artsy cuts between Ezekiel giving his motivational speech and the crew taking out Saviors. I hate these kind of edits. Just give the speech then go fight, we don't need confusing faux-artsy editing to make it feel more dramatic. In any case, Ezekiel proclaims that "not one" of the Kingdom's fighters will fall in the day's assaults. It's one of the stupidest things you could possibly say as a leader in battle. Realistically, if you're about to undertake a series of gunfights, some people are going to die. Maybe they won't, but you generally want to under-promise and over-deliver, not the other way around. The smart thing to say would be something like: Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live -- at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!! Yes, I just quoted Braveheart. It's a great, simple speech about fighting for freedom. He readily admits that if you fight, you may die. But if you run, you may regret not fighting for the rest of your life. Ezekiel on the other hand offers up a nonsensical prediction, as though he's some psychic, that nobody will die. That the fight will go just great. Not only will we win, we'll win without any casualties. As a leader, what happens when, shortly after making this speech, one of your people gets killed. Do you backtrack to "Only one of us will die this day!" He leaves himself no room here. Once any casualties happen, his entire motivational speech is ruined and his leadership undermined by his own stupidity. In the end, he's forced to eat his words. They don't scout one of the compounds very well, and it happens to be the compound where the guns Rick and Daryl were looking for are stored. A hidden Savior opens up fire and takes out...well we're not really sure, but he takes out a huge number of Ezekiel's people. It's a massacre and then the credits roll. And Ezekiel is left to choke on his words. What a moron. I'm just entirely fed up with the king at this point, and his stupid, CGI tiger. THE GOOD Rick & Daryl Fortunately, we did have some good moments this week. Rick and Daryl's shootout with the Saviors was much better than other gunfights this season. They actually ran out of ammo at one point (guess they didn't get the guns with infinite ammo...) They have to use strategy and timing and there's even a little bit of tension in the fight, though we know neither will get killed because of plot armor. Still, a good fight and enjoyable. Later, when they send everyone else off (Aaron with the baby) a lone Savior, for reasons we will never know, decides to shoot at them. Rick makes him a deal: Come out and drop your weapon, give us the information we need, and we'll give you one of our many spare cars, a full tank of gas and let you go your merry way. It's a sweet deal and the Savior takes him up on it, revealing that the Saviors moved the big guns. Then Daryl shoots him. This is another great Daryl moment. He's not interested in taking prisoners. He has no patience for sentimentality. And he made no deal himself. Rick is a little perturbed, but not to the point of shedding tears. Jesus & Morgan I think it's a little weird that Jesus is suddenly Mr. Peace and Mercy, but I'll set that aside. He's not wrong, necessarily. Executing all those prisoners would be seriously screwed up. Not even Negan did that to Rick's group after they murdered his people in cold blood. To just execute all these people would be horrific. On the other hand, I can understand where Morgan is coming from also. These are dangerous killers. There are many of them and they'll be difficult to properly guard, drawing away important resources from the war. Indeed, when they finally arrive at Hilltop with the prisoners, all I can think is "How on earth will they feed them all?" It's going to be hard enough to just watch them. They'll need to use the restroom, which almost always provides a means of escape. They'll need to be fed from increasingly dwindling supplies. A couple dozen remaining prisoners will require a pretty sizable, round-the-clock watch. But still, killing them in cold blood feels wrong, and Jesus is on the side of the angels here. He won't stoop to worse than the enemy they're fighting. But when zombies attack, killing some of the prisoners, one string of Saviors escapes into the woods. Morgan pursues, killing one of them (though not the skinny dude with long hair who we all want him to kill.) Then Jesus shows up and stops him from killing the rest. We all have mixed feelings at this point, but at least having mixed feelings is a sign that the show is doing something right. It's pitting two opposing views against one another and giving the characters a hard choice. That's what makes good TV, and I hope we get more like it in the rest of Season 8. The best part by far, however, was the Jesus vs. Morgan fight. I'm really not a fan of Jesus as a character or his portrayal by Tom Payne, but he was great in combat against Lennie James's Morgan. Morgan is a vicious fighter with that bo staff, but Jesus holds his own remarkably well, ultimately besting Morgan after one of the best hand-to-hand fights we've had in a long time on this show. After, Morgan says "I'm not right. I know I'm not right, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong." He's basically saying he knows he's not right in the head, but just because he's mentally unstable doesn't mean he's wrong about letting the prisoners live. I suspect that in the end they will cause great and terrible harm to our heroes, and Jesus will be mortified. But the fact is, Jesus isn't wrong either. There just isn't a perfect answer to this conundrum. Even at Hilltop, Maggie doesn't really know what to do. I don't know why Maggie lets Gregory back in. He's a traitor who can't be trusted and certainly isn't well-loved by anybody. There is no pro-Gregory contingent lobbying for his return (though that would be more interesting.) I just really dislike Gregory and have no idea why Maggie relented. Send him to fend for himself. I suppose he still has a part to play. Scattered thoughts.
In any case, I did enjoy this episode a lot more than the past two. It was more tense, more surprising, and had some good dialogue. The whole Morales bit was beyond terrible, but after that it picked up considerably. The bad fake crying scene between Aaron and Eric could have been fixed so easily, so I'm a little confused why it ended up so unbelievable. And King Ezekiel is just too much at this point and needs to be scaled back in the same way Negan's been scaled back. Or maybe, if we're lucky, he'll be so traumatized by his horrible leadership that he'll just become his true self and ditch the persona. It's just too much. Let me know what you thought of the episode in the comments and, as always, thanks for stopping by! Update: I accidentally called Daryl 'Dwight' several times for some reason. I have no idea what happened. I guess I just lost my mind for a moment. Is Season 8 of Game of Thrones good?Instead, they tried to load as many epic battles and as much incredible CGI into the final season as they could. Season 8 is the weakest, but it's still good. It's just "Good" in amongst a series that constantly hit "Excellent" makes it really stand out... How much did Season 8 episode 3 of got cost?Game of Thrones fans, the time has finally come, but how much does it cost to bring the Battle of Winterfell to our screens? HBO's budget for the final season was $90 million, which equals roughly $15 million per episode, according to the Daily Beast; however, that number does not include reshoots or special effects. How good is Game of Thrones Season 5?Game of Thrones Season 5 sacrificed important subplots and character development, resulting in a less compelling narrative. Despite its flaws, the fifth season still had standout moments and showcased the show's ability to create original storylines. How much did the battle of Winterfell cost?4 The Long Night — $15 million Like the previous episode, it takes place entirely at Winterfell, depicting the final battle between the combined armies of the living and the Army of the Dead, thus ending one of the series' primary plotlines. |
