On this week's episode of The Walking Dead, everyone is in a quarry and surrounded by a ton of walkers.
The show flashes back to right after Morgan witnessed Rick killing a man. Morgan hasn't seen Rick in quite some time and everyone is trying to get their lives back on track after dealing with quite a lot, emotionally. Back in the present, Rick narrates as everyone takes their places. Everyone seems under an incredible amount of stress.
Back in the past, a group who has been on a mission for a few weeks head back to Alexandria. Rick shows Morgan around the town and Rick tells Gabriel not to bury a killer inside the walls. They head out and find a quarry, filled to the brim with walkers. Rick saves Ron, running from some walkers and the walkers fall down into the quarry.
The plan starts to make sense as Daryl rides his bike down the road with the Walkers following behind him. Back in the past, Rick realizes that this is how the community is surviving because the Walkers end up in the quarry. Rick tells Ron that he shouldn't be out in the quarry because he's untrained and he could die.
Glen, blank, and blank have to clear a building because the walkers inside are making too much noise and it could distract them away from the path. Glen opens the door and finds it closed by a metal shutter.
Back in the past, Rick makes plans with the people of town for a way to get rid of the zombies of the quarry. Gabriel wants to help and Rick shuts him down pretty quickly, in the funniest moment of the week. They really need Carter's help with the plan, to make walls, but he is reluctant.
In the present, the wall works and then it cuts back to everyone building and preparing it. Back in the present, again, Glenn is still trying to figure out how to clear the building of zombies. Through teamwork, Noah, Glenn, and Heath clear the building before Daryl and his zombie horde arrive.
Back in the past, some zombies arrive while the group is building the fence and Rick uses this as an opportunity to try and get the people of Alexandria to kill them, but they're scared and struggling, so Morgan runs in and takes them all out.
Carter wants to get the people of Alexandria to revolt against Rick. Eugene overhears this and Carter is about to shoot him. Rick comes in and defuses the situation by trying to get Carter on his side... after holding a gun to his head.
Back in the present, Rick, Carter, and company are watching the horde go by. They're going to break out and make sure everything looks good, Carter starts heading out and gets bitten by a walker. He screams and walkers break from the pack. Rick saves him, but he won't stop screaming, and since he has been bit, Rick kills Carter. During their walk, a horn goes off from somewhere. It's pulling zombies away from the pack. It sounds like it's coming from Alexandria.
The opening of the episode is utterly confusing, pre-opening credits. There are walkers everywhere and they're in a quarry, but it all feels like a dream sequence that no one wakes up from. The confusion continues as everything goes black and white afterward. We haven't seen black and white used to portray a flashback, that I can remember, but we've had flashback scenes in the past. It's a weird choice. Sure, understandably, the comic is black and white.
The back and forth between the present and the past isn't a bad way to tell a story at all, but the first 15 minutes of the show has these segments cut into 2 minute pieces, and it's a tad frustrating, especially how it's jumping between this mysterious and thrilling mission the team is on in the present, to the past where everyone is coming to terms with the town getting back to normal. Small doses, here and there, would work, but it's just too much for this episode.
That really sums up my whole feeling about the episode. Conceptually, this is an amazing episode, but there are too many problems with the execution. The story flows nicely, but scene-to-scene, it's too jolting/jumpy and a miss-match of tones.
The opening was maddening and confusing, but as the episode went on, and things started making more sense, there's the realization that it plays out like that for a reason because it's a big story and the slow reveal of the story is just as interesting as the story itself.
This was a huge scale episode, though. This was the most walkers that have ever been in an episode to date, and seeing the long walker march was fantastic. Again, that story concept was really cool and unlike anything that's been on the show before. The group is smarter and more experienced so they know that problem needs to be stopped before it comes knocking on their door. It doesn't go to plan, but nothing ever does.
What this episode really did well was set up the potential conflict between Rick and Morgan. Morgan has changed a lot since the last time we've seen him and has more of a zen approach to life and he values life more than anything else. Rick is still in a leadership position and doesn't take chances with people anymore, even if that means killing someone. These two stances will turn into a problem for these strong characters, so we can expect them to come to blows at some point during this season.
Overall, this was a solid episode that reached for something really big and took some massive chances at the execution of how the episode was put together. The jumping back and forth between the present and the past became a bit frustrating and it may have worked better in larger chunks. However, the concept for the story was pretty fantastic. There's a lot of set-up here for the season and it's a pretty decent start for the sixth year of the show.
Questions of the week:
- The walkers are seen walking up a path in the quarry, in the past, which dead ends at two semi-trucks, blocking the patch. Where the heck are they going from there?
- How long did it take Daryl to lead the walkers on their 20-mile trip? (Well, as far as they got into it)
- New homes in Alexandria cost $800k? What a rip-off!
- Anyone else think Negan is honking the horn? Maybe Gabriel?