What I’m Watching: The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead: Season 7, Episode 2 “The Well” (B-)

Leave it to this show to have an impossibly-anticipated premiere and then spend the entirety of the follow-up episode not showing a single one of the characters who survived the hour. That may help drive up ratings, but I don’t actually love this tactic, something invented by “Lost” that I know frustrates me and other viewers and doesn’t necessarily lead to better storytelling. With a character as magnetic as Negan at this show’s disposal, it’s hardly productive to take an entire hour to focus on a character as lackluster as Carol, who, after freaking out for the first two seasons of this show, became so hardened that she’s not remotely sympathetic anymore. King Ezekiel did seem like a ridiculous figure, and it made sense that Carol wouldn’t want to have to participate in the charade. But there is something incredible about this universe that he has created, one that seems so completely immune to the effects of the outside world with a full awareness of the danger that lies right outside their walls. Morgan accepted the serenity since he has always had a different outlook on life, and he continues to look for the best in the world by leaving messages with the mailbox indicator. Ezekiel stopping Carol as she was about to leave to reveal that it’s all an act and he knows that he’s absurd gave him some depth, and he seems to have found a solid form of submission to Negan’s people that could enable Morgan and Carol to be the saviors who ultimately free their friends from his rule.

What I’m Watching: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season 1, Episode 8 “The Well” (B+)

This is just the kind of episode that this show needs to have. Its best asset is its choice of guest star: Erin Way, one of the best things about Syfy’s prematurely cancelled sci-fi series “Alphas.” Though she didn’t get to say much as the rage-possessed Petra, she was still an instance of smart casting and a great nod to a dearly departed genre show. The incorporation of Asgardian mythology, of the Marvel variety, into this episode, was fun, and I liked the multiple references to Thor and his agreed-upon dreaminess. This show isn’t going to be able to lean on its “Avengers” roots permanently, and I’m glad that it’s choosing what to include and what not to include wisely. Drawing out the rage once experienced by Ward and then May through the power of the staff was cool, and it helped to humanize two usually stoic characters. Seeing them bond at the end of the episode in a very emotionless but likely physical fashion was unexpected though not too surprising when you really think about it, and it’s going to devastate Skye when she inevitably finds out. Seeing the transformation that Ward and May underwent through the eyes of Skye, Fitz, and Simmons made it all the more impactful, and I am liking the dynamics of this team more and more as time goes on. Coulson’s continued probing into what happened to him while he was in Tahiti is proving to be involving, especially when presented in such a haunting way as it was at the end of this hour.