by Editor’s note: this review of AMC’s The Walking Dead will contain some spoilers. I will try to keep them to a minimum, but they’re be there nonetheless. You’ve been warned.
Remember last week when I complained about how The Walking Dead seemed to be dragging its heals a bit? A lot of you disagreed (I know I’ve been dropping the ball on comments; it’s been incredibly busy lately), but after this week, you’ve got to see my point, right?
Of course, this was a Daryl episode. With him being most people’s favorite character and all, I imagine most are willing to cut him a bit of slack. And, to be completely honest, this wasn’t a bad episode by any means. It’s just that it’s coming in the middle of a couple of huge cliffhangers, and that’s kind of a drag.
There is one huge difference between this week and last, however, and I’m not just talking about how much more Daryl we get time around. No, I’m talking about the nice introduction we get to what I can only assume will be the next big villain our heroes have to deal with. Whether the largely unseen Wade is that villain, or simply a high-profile lackey, these new bad guys seem like serious trouble.
But enough about that. Let’s talk about the misadventures of Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha. We’ve been talking a lot about Daryl, so we might as well start there.
After leading the huge horde of zombies away from Alexandria, the three amigos prepare to head back home, only to be waylaid by some dudes with guns who may or may not be associated with Wade or the Wolves, who, in turn, may or may not be associated with each other.
Keep with me here.
Things go poorly here, and Daryl gets separated from the others, and also shot in the arm. Just a bit. And to make matters worse, he gets knocked out by a trio of people who escaped from Wade’s group, and think Daryl is one of the bad guys. One thing leads to another, Daryl escapes, then comes back with some insulin, and suddenly everyone is on friendly terms.
It seems like Daryl might have finally found some people to recruit into Alexandria when, well, this happens:
Yeah, he probably should seen this coming.
But, hey, free truck.
Meanwhile, Abraham and Charlie do some bonding. Abraham gets a new outfit, some cigars, and an RPG, which just might come in handy. One wonders whether this means Abraham is breaking up with Rosita, or just trying to start a post-apocalyptic swingers club. I imagine that questions will get answered before we finally find out what happened with Glenn.
The episode does end with a great stinger, however, with a voice on the radio calling for help.
Grade:
I note this review is rather brief Dave, I’m guessing that is a combination of the episode itself and the fact you have been so busy. 🙂 Hope you had a nice time with the family!
Not really a lot to say for or against this episode for me. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, it just was. I would actually like to sit down and watch this episode again to see some things I might have missed, like Tina (the diabetic) going down to those zombies… she seemed to go down way to easy for someone who has survived this long, so I wonder if she did it on purpose to save the other two, she mentions something similar to that earlier in the episode. Also the appearance of the hostile hunters is interesting for the season as a whole, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of Wade and the gang.
I’m also looking forward to Daryl getting his crossbow back, that exchange could have come off really cheesy but Norman Reedus delivered the line so well.
I will call you out on one major glaring thing you haven’t mentioned though Dave… at the end when Daryl talks on the walkie talkie… who says “Help”? The guy who stole the bike? Rick because Alexandria has been broken into by zombies? Glenn? When taken in context with rest of season that one word on the walkie talkie is pretty intriguing.
Oh man, the last sentence of the review is missing. I must have accidentally overwrote it when I added the grade.
Okay, fixed that. Now, onto your comment.
It’s definitely a little brief. I think I’m using up all my words on NaNoWriMo at the moment. Sorry about that.
Daryl had some great moments in the episode. I especially liked how he demanded that little wooden carving in exchange for the insulin. That was hilarious.
I don’t think that Daryl meant that he would hunt them when he said they would be sorry, I think he referred to them missing out on going with him to Alexandria.
He needs his crossbow though, so I’m betting he will just find the bike on the side of the road, with the guy and the girl torn to shreds or turned into walkers.
It was a decent episode, it’s just the fact that we’ve already been waiting for two weeks now to find out if Glenn is alive or not. I just hope they don’t make us wait until next year to find out.
“I’m betting he will just find the bike on the side of the road, with the guy and the girl torn to shreds or turned into walkers.”
I think you might be onto something here. It reminds me of an earlier episode when Rick and company wouldn’t pick up that hitchhiker, and then later take his backpack off his body.
The way Daryl told them they will be sorry for what they did, I’m hoping for something more important than just seeing them dead on the side of the road…
I could see it going a lot of different ways.
My person read on it is close to JAC’s. They’ll be sorry because going back to the other colony won’t work for them, and will probably get them killed. If they even survive long enough.
I have a feeling that this Wade guy (or who ever he is “working for”) could be like Carver in TWD the Telltale Video game (2nd season). If things go this way this could be an interesting story arc.
That could be cool. Carver made a good bad guy. You really got the sense of where he came from and how he got out of control.