Wednesday, October 25, 2017

What I’m Watching: The Walking Dead (Season Premiere)


The Walking Dead: Season 8, Episode 1 “Mercy” (B)

Here we go again. I went into this episode without much excitement since I feel that, even more than rolling my eyes at how cyclical this show has become, I just don’t care what’s happening anymore. Negan is likely the most formidable, evil villain this show has seen yet, though I’m partial to the Governor’s first season since I think the show was much stronger back then. At this point, Rick has demonstrated something he hasn’t felt for a while, which is that he’s confident, and his people are organized. Negan didn’t seem bothered when they showed up, but he did run when Rick and crew started firing at them. Darryl riding and causing explosion after explosion to keep the walkers behind him was cool and seemed to serve some purpose, but Negan was still the one asking Gabriel if he brought the right pants because of the big surprise that he had in store for them. Gregory proved totally useless, trying to scare off the Hilltop residents and failing, and then bailing and taking one of the vehicles with him. There was something enticing about seeing Ezekiel, Jesus, Rick, Maggie, and Gabriel having a pow-wow before battle, but all the quick shots of the supporting characters reminds me how little we’ll learn of most of them before they disappear for episodes at a time and then return to be shot in the eye with an arrow. Our good guys aren’t being nice anymore, killing on sight and setting walkers on those they leave alive, and there’s an odd silver lining to all this, featuring a gray-haired Rick in some probably imagined future. I don’t get it, and I don’t think we’ll have clarity anytime soon.

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