After months of suspense, The Walking Dead has returned to continue it’s final season, picking up off where it last left off, with the people of Alexandria fending off a horde of walkers and the Reapers trying to take down Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan, The Vampire Diaries) team and their walker army with a hwacha.
To no surprise, none of those left in direct danger were actually hurt or in their perilous situation for too long.
The people in Alexandria had a little more to deal with, but Maggie managed to escape as soon as the arrows were fired. She did have a quick scare where one of the Reapers—who at first looked like Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Supernatural) which raised a lot of questions—had tried to kill her but was quickly taken out by one of the arrows from his own side.
Something noteworthy about this episode is that, while things had been left off in the middle of the night, the majority of the scenes took place during the day.
While it can be argued that it had been closer to the morning and, because the fighting took a while, the sun would’ve had enough time to rise, it just doesn’t make sense. There weren’t any scenes where the sun was just barely risen, and there weren’t enough hiding spaces in the compound for Maggie and Co. to be able to hide for even three hours, let alone enough for it to be near noon.
Regardless of production inconsistency, the two storylines were still entertaining and generally paid off the cliffhanger.
The cat and mouse chases with Daryl (Norman Reedus, The Boondock Saints) and the Reapers were interesting, though seeing more of Leah (Lynn Collins, Bosch) would’ve been great, especially since she’s made such a defining decision; Carver (Alex Meraz, Animal Kingdom) and the others should’ve been more bitter about things since they had been trying to get rid of Daryl since the very beginning, and while there had been a moment where some of the Reapers had hesitated under her command, it would’ve been interesting to see how she has to take power since only Daryl and the viewer know she killed Pope (Ritchie Coster, Happy!).
Regardless, Carver actually became an interesting character for a few seconds when he faced off with Maggie, Negan, and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari, Cobra Kai) in the hallway. After being a whiny jealous “nice guy” the entire first half of the season, it was great to actually see him be as competent as he portrays himself to be; he’s still an awful character, but at least he found a way to give something, even if it was only for a few seconds.
Of course, he was quickly subdued by Negan who didn’t abandon Maggie during the fight like it had initially seemed he would—it would’ve been a little strange for him to abandon them, but he’s never been easy to read.
Fortunately for Carver, Daryl came in to save his life to use as a bargaining tool; probably the only useful thing he’s ever done since being introduced.
Meanwhile in Alexandria, the adults have been fending off walkers non-stop for at least eight hours—or so the clear daylight would suggest—and have only just realized that Judith (Cailey Fleming, Peppermint) and Gracie (Anabelle Holloway, Tell Me Your Secrets) never made it upstairs.
Instead, they’ve been in the basement, barricading the basement door with a pipe while searching for additional weapons.
The scenes in the basement were by far the most tense of the entire episode. No one on Daryl’s team would die—save for Elijah, but he hasn’t been developed enough to have major impact—and there weren’t any major scenes with Rosita (Christian Serratos, Selena: The Series) or the group sent out to put out fires to foster any tension.
However, it was genuinely up in the air whether Aaron (Ross Marquand, Invincible) or Gracie would make it.
Aaron had an entire opening scene dedicated to a nightmare of him losing Gracie, who has already established herself to be a normal little girl and incapable of protecting herself like Judith, having multiple close calls in the last episode alone. It would’ve been a narratively brilliant choice if only one of them survived.
If Aaron died, it would’ve been devastating for Gracie who loves and relies on her father, and it could’ve set up a great arc for her as she deals with the guilt of him dying because she called for his help. Not to mention the loss everyone in Alexandria would’ve experienced, not just as people but as a town, Aaron being one of their most vital members.
If Gracie died, Aaron would too, even if only spiritually. Even if he chose to throw himself into rebuilding the town, he would still have destructive behaviors that would negatively impact himself and everyone around him, if he didn’t immediately self-destruct as soon as he found out. Not to mention the death of a little girl would be a dark reminder of the world they live in; it’s easy to get used to death, but everyone does have to take pause when it’s a child.
But, unsurprisingly, they both made it, though there were some moments when Aaron was wrestling with a walker underwater and clinging onto the pipe that it seemed it was the end for him; the visuals of the walkers in the water were also chilling, so the basement scenes in general were the strongest of the episode.
However, whatever relief and continued tension felt when Lydia (Cassidy McClincy, Castle Rock) found Aaron was wasted because they didn’t show the process of saving him.
While it makes sense for time, this episode failed to reach its full potential in that all of the stakes were resolved far too quickly and off-screen. There were three major stunt heavy scenes in the episode with all the other scenes being more subdued, which doesn’t make much sense when the two plots are about trying to survive against active threats with intent to kill.
Even Lydia’s line that Aaron would’ve done the same for her after she saved him fell flat because there were no stakes when it came to the actual saving part. Sure, it was hard to get him through the narrow window, but he was already out of the walker’s reach by then. While it’s understandable to leave a character hanging for the suspense, to return to them already out of danger wastes all that built up urgency, and kills whatever emotional moment characters may have a result because the viewer doesn’t have the same shared experience.
Also, the bargaining scene between Daryl and Leah didn’t feel high stakes even when they introduced the sniper; it only became exciting when it was revealed to be Gabriel (Seth Gilliam, Teen Wolf) on the other line, but that in of itself only reached so far. Maggie shooting everyone didn’t have any of the build up it should have to actually feel as impactful as it did, which is largely because all the tension developed between her and the others this entire season was almost entirely off-screen.
That being said, that scene was still fascinating for a number of reasons, all of which being centered on Maggie.
First and foremost, the fact that, when Daryl turned to look at her for input on the bargain, she immediately asked Negan for his opinion. After an entire half season of her leading the charge in telling him that no one cares about his opinion and that he should shut up, her first thought during a defining moment of their entire mission was to ask Negan what he thought.
In a cruel twist of irony, despite Negan saying, “you know what I think,” it’s actually extremely difficult to tell what he thought for the rest of the episode from that point; and the same could be said for Maggie.
It’s clear why she decided to kill everyone and wound Leah, Negan had told her how he would’ve killed all of them if it meant he got to keep what he had, and the two of them are far more similar than she would ever care to admit.
That being said, it’s difficult to tell whether she regrets it or not, and whether he respects her decision or is horrified.
At first, it’s clear Maggie believes in what she’s doing, especially when it came to killing Carver for Elijah to avenge his sister Josephine—that’s the one death she clearly doesn’t regret—but it’s hard to tell whether she regrets what she did or if she’s just struggling to come to terms with the fact that she agreed with Negan and took his advice.
Not to mention the additional emotions after she went back to the church to find Alden (Callan McAuliffe, Flipped), which was actually a very well-done scene. It was very subdued in its impact and her cradling his head before killing him had a quiet horror and pain to it that worked very well.
Though it must be said that Maggie should’ve expected this since she left him with, at most, a week’s worth of food and water, while it’s not clear how long they were gone, it was definitely enough time for him to succumb to something.
It was directly after that scene, however, that the confusion only continued because Negan showed up, and their interaction was a mess, which is representative of their relationship as characters so it can be forgiven to some degree.
Negan doesn’t start off very strong since, despite being a character who seems to be cognizant of how people perceive him and actively uses that to his advantage, his entire demeanor seemed to make it clear that he was going to kill Maggie by the end of his little speech and, since that wasn’t his plan, it’s a little weird that he would want to put her on edge like that.
But even more confusing was his decision to leave.
Fans had been surprised when Negan had actually chosen to stay at the end of his character specific episode last season, as his original arc in the comic series was to bury Lucille and just leave, which he had suggested at the start of that episode.
While it makes sense that they probably wanted to resolve his relationship with Maggie before he left—as well as probably use him as a way to develop and establish Maggie’s character as she is now—it’s strange to have him leave out of the blue when things were just starting to work out.
Or, rather, it makes sense, but it feels wrong in its placement. He probably won’t be gone for long—it just doesn’t make sense for the final season and Lydia’s reaction alone almost confirms a reunion scene—but it’s still a strange choice. They’ll probably explain it and it’ll make sense, but it’s disappointing, especially since all three groups are back together again.
Speaking of, while it’s fun that they’re connecting all the dots, the next two episodes had better fill in all the steps this episode skipped in favor of ending on the cliffhanger of Rick becoming a facist.
The last episode following the Commonwealth group saw Eugene (Josh McDermitt, The Loudest Voice) in prison and backed into a corner to reveal the location of Alexandria. While it’s understandable he would have to comply, there’s a lot unanswered, which is probably intentional, but it had been such a long time since they were even seen that it took a second to even connect the dots as to what was happening.
But while that is more forgivable as it does add more mystery and intrigue for when those scenes are shown, the same choice doesn’t fit as well for the group who had been sent to put out the fires.
Aaron, Carol (Melissa McBride, The Reconstruction of William Zero), Jerry (Cooper Andrews, Shazam!), Magna (Nadia Hilker, The 100), Kelly (Angel Theory, Kinderfänger), and Connie (Lauren Ridloff, Eternals) had all left in the middle of the night to put out the fires and close the breaches, which is why Rosita and the few other adults were put in charge of the children.
While already major characters, they had set up major conflict and resolution as Carol had volunteered to go with Connie when they were first heading out, most likely to have the tough conversation about how Carol’s actions nearly killed Connie at the end of the last season.
However, due to time and story structure, the next time any of these characters were seen was when they had all regrouped, and only to show where Aaron is when Gracie calls for him.
While having flashbacks to what happened at the Commonwealth before they showed up makes sense, it makes less sense to go back to the conversations that happened that night between these characters because it’s not as directly related. It does make sense why they had to prioritize and structure the episodes the way they did, it is still something to note, even if it was unavoidable.
But despite all the criticisms, the episode was still good and set up interesting conflict for later, what with Gabriel, Daryl, and Maggie now reconsidering their decisions and how they want to go about leading and protecting their people from now on.
It was also interesting to see Leah when she was hiding, as it hints that she may be back, which would be great since she’d just made a huge decision that impacted her character so much.
It would’ve been nice, however, to include Dog in that scene. After all, he hadn’t been seen since before Leah chose not to kill that family hiding out in an abandoned building, so there were already many questions as to where he was for the entire siege, let alone how he was going to react when his parents once again split up. After he had sided with Leah when she first appeared, there was an easy way to incorporate him into the scene that would’ve helped to show how Daryl is truly feeling and responding to the situation.
But no matter what, it was great to see that Dog was okay, even though he definitely deserved way more screen time.
The reunion scene at the end before the Commonwealth showed up was great too—though it would’ve been better if Negan was there so Lydia wouldn’t have had to fake a smile and maybe Hershel would’ve even interacted with him. It was great to see everyone hugging and the kids running to Daryl, but the hands down best part was when Daryl saw Connie.
Watching him drop a bushel of apples in shock then use his clumsy signing really helped the pay off of his group being gone and returning, as it was really the most emotional reunion in this scene; he’d thought she’d died in that cave collapse months ago, it was sweet.
In the end, it was a good premiere, and while certain criticisms can be given, when considering how the entire show has been set up and executed for the past decade they’re almost all forgivable due to everything done thus far.
What matters now is how things will move forward with Alexandria and the Commonwealth, as well as how the series itself will inevitably conclude.
Rating: 7.5/10
