With this weekend’s episode of AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” I am beginning to doubt my commitment to this once “must watch” weekly show of mine. The episode, titled “Swear,” feature two minor characters, Tara Chambers (played by Alana Masterson) and Heath (played by Corey Hawkings) who disappeared on a supply run in the middle of last season. This episode only further dilutes the narrative with one plotline too many, and perfectly illustrates how desperately this show needs to get back on track. While I wrote a while ago about how the season premiere was less than ideal, I had high hopes for the season as a whole, with new characters and new communities being introduced (many of which I was familiar with due to reading the source material). However, this season has introduced them in a very odd and less than ideal way, by devoting a whole episode to each community. In theory, this is ideal, because it gives each community a chance to shine, and while it worked in one instance, the other instances were handled poorly by comparison.
The shining example of a community introduction done right was the second episode of the season, titled “The Well,” which showcased new community “The Kingdom” and its leader King Ezekiel (played by Khary Payton). This introduction served as a great breather to the premiere episode, and not only introduced the characters in an organic way, following two of our survivors who ended up in the community, but also expanded on The Kingdom in a way not done in the comic books. It explored the Kingdom's relationship with the Saviors, and examined how everyone lives there on a regular basis, very simple answers that were not divulged in the source material. The following episode, titled “The Cell,” however, was very dull and aggravating to watch. Ignoring the “Easy Street” song being played to death (not without reason mind you), the whole episode focused on Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) and Dwight (played by Austin Amelio), with Negan spliced throughout. Rather than focusing on how the sanctuary operates on a grand scale, it focused on the smaller character stories, with Dwight in particular having an incredible arc throughout the episode.
The Fourth episode, titled “Service” finally returns us to our regular cast of characters with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his community being visited by Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan). While it had some great moments, for a 90 minute episode filled with commercials, it didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know already or lead anywhere meaningful; Negan is in charge, and he’s got Rick by his beard hair. In the comic books, this visit actually lead somewhere meaningful, Carl heading off to kill Negan, but this event doesn’t actually happen until the following episode. The following episode, “Go Getters,” follows up on yet another plotline from the premiere regarding Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohen) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) at another community “The Hilltop.” Now, with each and every one of these episodes, we get more insight into some other community that’s not the main one, with our main heroes that we’ve been following since season one.
Now, as a fan of the comic books, I know that all this world building is leading to something big later down the line, but the way it was done in the comics works much better from a story perspective. We learn about each and every community through Rick’s (or Carl’s) eyes (or in Carl’s case, eye); rather than having a whole issue or 2 dedicated to each community, the comic introduced each community while moving the story along in a meaningful way. The show however hasn’t really moved the overall plot forward since the premiere (ironically, something that should have ended the previous season). The biggest thing that happened was Carl and Jesus (another Hilltop resident played by Thomas Payne) going to find where Negan lives. Granted, we have gotten some good character moments, but they’re few and far in-between commercials and padding. Rather than giving each community 10-15 minutes per episode to develop, they’ve opted for the more tedious route of giving each community the whole time slot.
Which brings me back to “Swear,” a whole episode dedicated to yet another mystery community with ties to the Saviors. In this case, Tara is our P.O.V. character, who navigates this area (apparently based on Oceanside, a community that appears long after the current storyline in the comics), and while Masterson is a great actress who plays a great side character, her charisma can’t save poor pacing and writing. The community in question doesn’t even get much development, hints of greatness here and there, but it gets pushed back to move this contrived story forward. Eventually Tara makes it back to Rick and co. and it remains to be seen if these people at Ocean Side (?) will be seen again in the show.
Personally, I’m not quite sure what to think of this season so far; on one hand, it finally covers the stories and characters I’ve waited for since they appeared, but on the other hand it’s done in such a slow and boring way that I can’t find myself caring about anything that’s happening. Maybe it’s because we haven’t seen that much of Rick, or the fact that it tries to develop things slower to either pad it out or leave no stone unturned. Maybe it’s the fact that they focus on the most trivial things rather than progressing the stories and characters. There are hints at something bigger coming, I even know that something bigger is coming, but for right now I have no clue how to feel about this show.
